2019年经济学人 一周要闻 上海开展自动驾驶载客测试 通用汽车工人罢工 WeWork推迟IPO

 

WeWork postponed¹ its ipo amid tepid² interest from investors⁴ and a drop in its expected stockmarket value. The office-rental firm has never made a profit and was trying to go public amid market doubts about the prospects⁵ for other loss-making startups that have floated shares this year. Adam Neumann, WeWork’s hipsterish CEO, said he was “humbled” by the experience.

由于投资者的兴趣不温不火，加之其预期的股票市值下跌，WeWork推迟了IPO。这家办公室租赁公司从未盈利，并试图在市场对今年上市的其他一些亏损初创企业的前景产生怀疑之际上市。WeWork的首席执行官亚当·诺伊曼(Adam Neumann)表示，他对这一经历感到“惋惜”。

Another blockbuster ipo that was shelved earlier this year was back on track, but in a much slimmer form. Anheuser-Busch InBev started taking orders for an offering of shares in its Asian division minus its Australian business, which it sold after pulling the ipo two months ago. The brewer⁶ will float the shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange at the end of the month.

今年早些时候搁置的另一宗轰动一时的ipo重新进入正轨，但规模要小得多。百威英博(Anheuser-Busch InBev)开始接受除澳大利亚业务以外亚洲业务的股票发行订单。两个月前，百威英博取消了澳大利亚公司的ipo计划并将其出售。该啤酒商将于本月底在香港交易所上市。

Under pressure from an activist⁷ investor³, at&t was reportedly considering whether to divest⁸ its Direc tv business, a satellite-media provider that the telecoms giant acquired in 2015 as part of its diversification⁹ strategy. Elliott, an activist hedge fund, revealed recently that it has bought a stake in at&t and criticised its management’s approach to acquisitions, which has saddled the company with around $160bn in net debt.

据报道，在一位激进投资者的压力下，at&t正在考虑是否剥离其卫星媒体提供商Direc tv业务。作为多元化战略的一部分，at&t于2015年收购了这家电信巨头。对冲基金维权人士埃利奥特(Elliott)最近披露，该公司已购入美国电话电报公司(at&t)的部分股权，并对其管理层的收购方式提出批评，这种方式导致该公司背负了约1600亿美元的净债务。

The United Automobile¹⁰ Workers union held its first strike at General Motors since 2007. Around 48,000 employees downed tools, disrupting more than 50 factories and car-parts warehouses¹¹. A collective-bargaining deal agreed to in 2015 has expired, but the company says the pay rises and other terms in a new contract are generous. The union argues that it made sacrifices when GM faced bankruptcy¹² in 2009, and that its workers should be rewarded for creating “a healthy, profitable industry”.

美国汽车工人联合会在通用汽车公司举行了自2007年以来的首次罢工。大约4.8万名员工罢工，导致50多家工厂和汽车零部件仓库陷入混乱。2015年达成的一项集体谈判协议已经到期，但该公司表示，新合同中的加薪和其他条款是慷慨的。工会认为，2009年通用汽车面临破产时，工会做出了牺牲，工人们应该因创造了“一个健康、盈利的行业”而得到奖励。

Facebook announced its plans for an independent “oversight board” to regulate decisions it makes about censorship on the social network. The board will hear its first cases in 2020, and will eventually have 40 members.

Facebook宣布计划成立一个独立的“监督委员会”，对其在社交网络审查方面做出的决定进行监管。该委员会将于2020年首次审理案件，最终将确定40位成员。

Sandoz stopped distributing its Zantac heartburn medicine while regulators investigate the presence of an impurity¹³ called NDMA, which is classified as a probable human carcinogen. The Swiss drugmaker said that this was a precautionary measure.

Sandoz停止销售其Zantac胃灼热药，而监管机构正在调查一种名为亚硝基二甲胺(NDMA)杂质的存在，亚硝基二甲胺被列为一种可能的致癌物质。这家瑞士制药商表示，这是一项预防措施。

The move towards autonomous¹⁴ cars stepped up a gear when Shanghai became the first city in China to allow test vehicles to carry passengers. The riders will be volunteers and a driver will sit in the car, but if there are no accidents on Shanghai’s complex and busy road system the three car firms that have been granted the permits will get the green light to increase their fleets.

当上海成为中国首个允许测试车辆载客的城市时，自动驾驶汽车的发展加快了步伐。乘客将以志愿者的形式招募，车内将配备司机，如果上海复杂繁忙的道路系统没有发生事故，那么三家获得许可证的汽车公司将获准增加车队。

1 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

2 tepid   

adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的

参考例句：

• She bent her mouth to the tap and drank the tepid water.她把嘴伸到水龙头底下去喝那微温的水。
• Her feet firmly planted on the tepid rough brick of the floor.她一双脚稳固地立在微温而粗糙的砖地上。

3 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

6 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

7 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

8 divest   

v.脱去，剥除

参考例句：

• I cannot divest myself of the idea.我无法消除那个念头。
• He attempted to divest himself of all responsibilities for the decision.他力图摆脱掉作出该项决定的一切责任。

9 diversification   

n.变化，多样化；多种经营

参考例句：

• The seminar was to discuss diversification of agriculture. 该研讨会讨论的是农业多种经营。 来自辞典例句
• Firm diversification is increasingly achieved by the means of takeover and merger. 通过接管和兼并，厂商经营范围日益多样化。 来自辞典例句

10 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

11 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

12 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

13 impurity   

n.不洁，不纯，杂质

参考例句：

• The oxygen reacts vigorously with the impurity in the iron.氧气与铁中的杂质发生剧烈的化学反应。
• The more general impurity acid corrosion faster.一般来说杂质越多酸蚀速度越快。

14 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。