2019年经济学人 Facebook推出“天秤币”(1)

 

Business

来源于《商业》版块

Facebook

脸书

Coin flip¹

抛硬币

The social network’s grand designs for virtual cash could be surprisingly consequential—including for itself

这家社交网络对虚拟现金的宏伟设计可能会产生令人惊讶的结果——包括对它自己

A global digital currency would make sending money across the world as easy as texting. It would do away with fees, delays and other barriers to the flow of cash. It might give those in less developed countries access to the financial system and a means to protect hard-earned wages against runaway² inflation. It could trigger a wave of innovation in finance, much as the internet did in online services.

一种全球数字货币将使向世界各地汇款变得像发短信一样容易。它将消除费用、延误和其他阻碍现金流动的障碍。这种数字货币可能会使欠发达国家的人成功进入金融体系，并保护辛苦挣来的工资不受失控通胀的影响。还可能像联网在线服务一样引发金融领域的一波创新浪潮。

That, in a nutshell, is what Facebook promised on June 18th. Within a year, the social network will launch a new currency to be known as Libra, in honour of an ancient Roman unit of mass—it is also the word for “pound” in many romance languages. Inevitably³, Facebook dished out a generous helping⁴ of trendy words like crypto and blockchain. Unable to contain its appetite for Silicon⁵ Valley platitudes⁶, Facebook claimed that its mission was to “empower billions of people”. Making money or strengthening its market power are, apparently⁷, a sideshow.

简而言之，这就是6月18日脸书做出的承诺。在一年内，这家社交网站将推出一种名为“天秤币（Libra）”的新货币，命名为纪念古罗马的一个质量单位——在许多罗曼语中，“Libra”也是“磅”的意思。不可避免地，Facebook创造了不少诸如crypto（加密）和blockchain（区块链）等时髦词汇。由于无法抑制自己对硅谷陈词滥调的胃口，Facebook宣称其使命是“赋予数十亿人权力”。 显然，赚钱或增强其市场实力只是一个次要事件。

Notwithstanding the guff, the commercial potential is indeed significant—as are the potential problems. If each of Facebook’s 2.4bn users converted a slice of their savings⁸ into Libras, it could become a widely circulated currency. It could also, if broadly adopted, vest unprecedented⁹ power in the hands of its issuer. In a tacit acknowledgment that its mishandling of user data, tolerance¹⁰ of the spread of misinformation and other sins have devalued its stock with policymakers, users and potential partners—though not investors—Facebook wants to outsource the running of Libra to a consortium of worthies¹¹ recruited from the world of finance, technology and NGOs. The consequences for the global financial system could be significant. So could the impact on Facebook’s business.

尽管是些废话，但商业潜力确实很重要——潜在的问题也是如此。如果脸书24亿用户中的每一位都将自己的一部分储蓄转为天秤币，天秤币可能会成为一种广泛流通的货币。如果广泛使用，发行者还能得到前所未有的权力。默认其对用户数据的处理不当，容忍错误信息的传播和其他错误使其股票在政策制定者、用户和潜在合作伙伴(尽管不是投资者)眼中贬值，在这种众所周知的情况下，脸书希望将天秤币的运营外包给一个财团，由来自金融界、科技界和非政府组织的知名人士组成。这对全球金融体系可能产生重大影响。也可能对脸书的业务产生重大影响。

1 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

2 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

3 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

6 platitudes   

n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子

参考例句：

• He was mouthing the usual platitudes about the need for more compassion. 他言不由衷地说了些需要更加同情之类的陈腔滥调。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He delivered a long prose full of platitudes. 他发表了一篇充满陈词滥调的文章。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

9 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

10 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

11 worthies   

应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征

参考例句：

• The world is peopled with worthies, and workers, useful and clever. 世界上住着高尚的人，劳动的人，有用又聪明。
• The former worthies have left us a rich cultural heritage. 前贤给我们留下了丰富的文化遗产。