2016年经济学人 苹果公司与FBI僵持就不解锁 能奈我何 富士康收购夏普又起波澜

 

Andrew Mackenzie, the Anglo-Australian company's chief executive, said the mining industry was in a “new era” and needed “a different dividend¹ policy to handle that”.

这家英奥公司的首席执行官安德鲁·麦肯齐表示，采矿业已进入“新时代”，需要“采取不同的股利政策应对”。

BHP duly slashed² its dividend by 74%.

随后必和必拓公司大幅削减派息，高达74%。

A proposal that would have seen a Chinese tech company take a stake in an American one fell apart after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government body, said it would open an investigation³.

中国科技公司清华紫光（Tsinghua Unigroup，北京清华大学下属控股子公司）原本可以以38亿美元收购美国西部数据（Western Digital，总部位于加利福尼亚州欧文镇）15%的股份，

The $3.8 billion deal would have given Tsinghua Unigroup, which is linked to Tsinghua University in Beijing, a 15% holding in Western Digital, which is based in Irvine, California.

不过在美国外国投资委员会（Committee on Foreign Investment）决定调查该交易后，双方达成的协议破裂。

Sharp, a struggling Japanese electronics company, said it had agreed to a takeover from Foxconn, a Taiwanese firm that assembles the iPhone in China.

日本电子公司夏普（Sharp）步履维艰，近日称已接受台湾公司富士康（Foxconn，主要业务是组装苹果手机）的收购协议。

But Foxconn announced a delay to sealing the bid because Sharp had inserted new terms into their agreement.

不料，富士康发布声明称因夏普在协议外又提交了一些新文件，要推迟签约。

Foxconn had bid for Sharp against a fund backed by the Japanese government.

据悉，富士康打败了日本政府支持下的基金机构成功竞标夏普。

北美食品供应商Sysco欲收购英国同行Brakes

Sysco, an American company that is the world's largest supplier of catering⁴ food, agreed to buy Brakes Group, a food-services firm in Britain with operations in other European countries, in a deal valued at $3.1 billion.

全球最大的餐饮食品供应商美国Sysco同意以31亿美元的价格收购英国食品服务经销商Brakes集团。

Brakes supplies food to pubs as well as hospitals, restaurants and schools.

该集团也在欧洲其他国家开展业务，向酒吧、医院、饭馆以及学校提供餐饮服务。

The rhetoric⁵ intensified⁶ between the FBI and Apple over a legal order to get the company to unlock an iPhone used by one of the attackers in last December's terrorist attack in California.

FBI要求苹果公司解锁一凶犯的手机遭拒绝，该凶犯参与去年12月加州的恐怖袭击，FBI与苹果公司目前僵局未破，“解密战斗”愈演愈烈。

A Department of Justice filing claimed that Apple's argument—that unlocking the phone would weaken its encryption protections—was a marketing⁷ ploy⁸ to strengthen its business model.

司法部指出，苹果公司有关解锁手机会削弱其加密保护的争辩实际上是一种加强商业模式的市场策略。

Tim Cook, Apple's boss, said that what the FBI was asking it to do was the “software equivalent of cancer”.

苹果首席执行官蒂姆·库克反击称FBI是要求苹果公司制造“等同于癌症的软件”。

America's consumer-safety commission deemed that no brand of hoverboard (self-balancing scooters that don't actually hover) currently on the market is safe.

美国消费者安全委员会警告称，目前市面上任何一种悬浮电动滑板（需要磁悬浮地面支持的近似飞行自动平衡滑板）都不安全。

The agency said it had received 52 reports of fires caused by batteries overheating in hoverboards in the past few months, which in two cases caused homes to burn down.

该委员会称过去的几个月就已收到52份关于该滑板电池过热导致着火的报道，其中有两起滑板着火导致房屋烧毁。

1 dividend   

n.红利，股息；回报，效益

参考例句：

• The company was forced to pass its dividend.该公司被迫到期不分红。
• The first quarter dividend has been increased by nearly 4 per cent.第一季度的股息增长了近 4%。

2 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

5 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

6 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

8 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。