In its biggest acquisition yet, Apple agreed to pay 3 billion for Beats Electronics, a specialist in pricey headphones and music-streaming.  在迄今最大的一笔收购中，苹果公司斥资30亿美元收购了一家专门经营昂贵的耳机和音乐流媒体服务的专业公司—Beats Electronics。

　　The growth of streaming services has posed a threat to music sales on Apple's iTunes.  流媒体服务的增长已经威胁到苹果旗下Itunes的音乐销量。

　　As part of the deal the co-founders of Beats, Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre, will join Apple. 作为收购协议的一部分，Beats联合创始人吉米·艾尔文和安德烈·罗米尔·扬也会加入苹果公司。

　　Pfizer, an American drugs company, has conceded defeat, at least for now, in its pursuit of AstraZeneca, a British competitor.  美国制药公司辉瑞已经承认,至少目前还未能成功收购英国制药商阿斯利康。

　　The proposed 70 billion takeover would have created the world's biggest drugs firm.  这笔打算以700亿英镑成交的收购原本将创造世界最大的药品公司。

　　The deal was opposed by some politicians on both sides of theAtlantic.  但是大西洋两岸的一些政治家们却极力反对这笔收购。

　　British MPs voiced worries over potential job losses in research centres, while inAmerica the concern was Pfizer avoiding taxes.  英国的下院议员们表示他们担心这可能会造成各研究中心出现失业情况，而在美国人民担心辉瑞公司会借此逃税。

　　AstraZeneca's board rejected the offer, saying it undervalued the company.  阿斯利康的董事会拒绝辉瑞的报价，认为其市价被低估。

　　Under British takeover rules, Pfizer must wait six months before it can make another approach. 而根据英国的收购法规，辉瑞公司只有等到6个月后才能实施其他方案。

　　Google unveiled its latest driverless car.  近日谷歌发布了最新款的无人驾驶汽车。

　　It plans to build 100 prototypes from scratch, rather than modifying others' vehicles as it has done in the past.  谷歌计划从零开始，生产100原型车，而非像以往那样改造其他车型。

　　The car has no steering wheel or pedals, only a stop and a go button.  这款车没有方向盘和脚踏板，仅仅只有停止按钮和启动按钮。

　　The two-seater electric vehicle can travel up to25mph and the firm hopes to pilot it on Californian roads within two years.  这款双座电动汽车时速可达25英里，谷歌希望在两年内在加州的公路上进行试驾。

　　However, there remain significant regulatory and legal barriers to its spread. 然而，该车的推广还会面临巨大的规章和法律的障碍。

　　A delicate truth 脆弱的真相

　　The Financial Times says it has found flaws in the data used in Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the bestselling analysis of inequality by Thomas Piketty.  《金融时报》称其发现了托马斯·皮克提的《21世纪资本论》中用于销售分析的数据有漏洞。

　　The paper said it had uncovered transcription errors and flawed formulae in spreadsheets and that some of the data appeared to be cherry-picked.  报道称书中的报表有录入谬误并运用了错误的公式，此外的一些数据似乎是刻意挑选的。

　　Mr Piketty responded that the FT was wrong to suggest that this casts doubts on his conclusion that inequality is becoming more entrenched. 皮克提则回应称，《金融时报》错误地质疑了自己世界变得越来越不平等的结论。

　　GlaxoSmithKline, a British drugmaker, is being investigated by the UK's Serious Fraud Office.  英国制药公司葛兰素史克正受到英国反严重诈骗办公室的调查。

　　The exact nature of the investigation is not known, but two weeks ago China charged three of the firm's executives with corruption,  虽然此番调查的具体性质尚不明晰，但是两周前，中国已经指控该公司的三位高管的腐败行为，

　　alleging that GSK had bribed doctors to prescribe its medicines.  称该公司贿赂中国医生在处方中使用其药品。

　　The firm said it intended to co-operate fully with the SFO. 该公司则称将全力配合SFO的调查。

　　The battle for control of Club Méditerranée, a French holiday firm, continues.  争夺法国度假酒店集团—地中海俱乐部的战斗仍在继续。

　　Last year, Fosun, a Chinese conglomerate, and Ardian, a French private-equity firm, launched a joint bid to take Club Med private.  去年，一家中国企业集团复星国际和一家法国私募股权公司阿迪安联手竞标，欲将地中海俱乐部收入囊中。

　　Some shareholders took the matter to the French courts, arguing the bid was too low and lacked transparency.  一些股东将此事告到了法国法院，认为这个竞标价格太低且缺乏透明度。

　　Now it seems a rival bidder, the Bonomi family from Italy, may attempt a takeover of its own.  如今，另一家竞标者—来自意大利的博诺米家族可能会成功完成收购。

　　Club Med has been successful at attracting Asian tourists to its all-inclusive resorts. 地中海俱乐部一贯以全方位服务的度假村成功吸引亚洲游客。

　　Coming in from the cold 摆脱孤立

　　BP signed a deal with Rosneft, a state-owned Russian oil company in which it owns a 20% stake, to explore for hard-to-reach shale oil in the country.  英国石油公司与俄政府旗下的俄罗斯石油公司签署协议，将持有后者20%的股票，并开采该国的深层油页岩。

　　The agreement comes despite American sanctions against Igor Sechin, Rosneft's boss, relating to Russia's intervention in Ukraine.  尽管美国因俄罗斯干涉乌克兰而对俄罗斯石油公司的掌门人伊戈尔·谢钦进行了制裁，但是该协议仍顺利达成。

　　The deal was signed at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russia's answer to Davos, which many Western firms boycotted. 协议在圣彼得堡国际经济论坛上签署。

　　Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, provided some hints on how it intends to tackle the threat of deflation when its governing council meets in June.  欧洲央行行长马里奥·德拉吉透露了些许消息，即理事会在6月份碰头时将如何应对通缩带来的威胁。

　　In a speech he suggested that, along with interest-rate cuts,  他在最近发表的一次讲话中表示，除了要削减利率以外，

　　there will be an attempt to boost credit in southern Europe by providing long-term funding to banks on the condition that they deploy it to expand business loans. 还会通过向银行提供长期融资以刺激南欧的信贷，条件是南欧国家将这笔资金用于扩大商业借贷规模。

　　Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, said that banks have been too slow to reform themselves following the financial crisis.  国际货币基金组织主席克里斯蒂娜·拉加德表示，在金融危机爆发后，各大银行进行改革的节奏太慢。

　　Ms Lagarde said that some banks are still too big to fail and would pose a systemic risk if they got into trouble.  她还表示有些银行尾大不掉，一旦陷入困境，将会给银行体系带来风险。

　　In a subsequent speech, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, said that growing inequality was undermining trust in capitalism. 在接下来的讲话中，英格兰银行行长马克·卡尼称越发严重的不平等现象正在破坏人们对资本主义的信任。

　　Rio Tinto agreed on a $20 billion deal with the government ofGuinea to mine iron ore.  力拓矿业集团与几内亚政府达成价值200亿美元的协议以开采铁矿石。

　　The Simandou project had seen a decade of wrangling over who owns the concession to mine the site. 十年来，关于西芒杜开采项目特许权拥有者的问题一直纷争不断。

　　The firm will also build a650km railway and a deepwater port to service the mine. 此外，力拓还将修建650千米的铁路和一个深水港来服务该开采项目。

　　Soldier, spy 士兵，间谍

　　Unconfirmed reports suggested that China has told state-owned companies to stop working with American consulting and technology firms, for fear of industrial espionage.  未经证实的消息报道称，中国已经通告国企中断与美国咨询和技术公司的合作以防范行业间谍活动。

　　It has also reportedly told some banks to stop using IBM servers.  据称，部分中国银行还被告知停止使用IBM的服务器。

　　The tit-for-tat move, if true, comes after America indicted five Chinese army officers of cyber-spying on American companies, including Alcoa and US Steel. 此前，美国起诉5名中国军官通过网络监视包括美国铝业公司和美国钢铁公司在内的美国企业；如果报道属实，中方此举就是在报复美方的指控。