2021年经济学人 一周要闻 金沙以60多亿美元出售美国赌场

Las Vegas Sands, founded by the late Sheldon Adelson, reached an agreement to sell the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas to private-equity and property investors¹ for more than $6bn. The investors are taking a punt that Sin City will rebound² when COVID-19 restrictions³ are eased. The deal underpins⁴ Las Vegas Sands’ focus on its casinos in Macau and Singapore, the backbone⁵ of its business.

由已故的谢尔登·阿德尔森(Sheldon Adelson)创立的拉斯维加斯金沙集团(Las Vegas Sands)达成协议，将拉斯维加斯的威尼斯人酒店以超过60亿美元的价格出售给私募股权和房地产投资者。投资者正在押注，当新冠肺炎限制措施放松时，“罪恶之城”将会回暖。这笔交易巩固了拉斯维加斯金沙集团对其业务支柱——澳门和新加坡赌场的关注。

Both Lufthansa and International Airlines Group, the owner of British Airways⁶, reported big annual losses. Looking for ways to save cash, BA has reached an agreement to defer⁷ 450m pounds ($628m) in pension deficit⁸ contributions.

汉莎航空和英国航空的母公司——国际航空集团都报告了巨额年度亏损。为了寻找节省现金的方法，英航已达成协议，将推迟缴纳4.5亿英镑(6.28亿美元)的养老金赤字。

COVID-related restrictions brought about a 6% drop in energy-related carbon-dioxide emissions⁹ last year, according to the International Energy Agency. But as demand picked up, so did emissions, which were 2% higher in December 2020 than in December 2019.

根据国际能源署(IEA)的数据，去年，与新冠病毒相关的限制措施使与能源相关的二氧化碳排放量下降了6%。但随着需求的增加，二氧化碳的排放量也在增加，2020年12月的排放量比2019年12月高2%。

There may be a new president in the White House, but Amazon still finds itself caught in political crosshairs. Joe Biden warned the retail¹⁰ giant this week not to interfere¹¹ with a vote by workers at a warehouse¹² in Alabama on whether to unionise, a first for all the employees at an Amazon facility. Meanwhile, Amazon was forced to change the recent redesign of its app logo, because the Twitterati thought it resembled Hitler.

白宫可能会易主，不过亚马逊(Amazon)发现自己仍然陷入了政治焦点。本周，拜登警告这家零售巨头，不要干涉阿拉巴马州一家仓库的工人就是否成立工会进行的投票，这是亚马逊工厂所有员工首次进行这类投票。与此同时，亚马逊被迫改变了最近重新设计的应用程序logo，因为推特达人们认为这个标志很像希特勒。

Birkenstock was sold to a private-equity firm backed by LVMH in a deal worth 4bn euros ($4.8bn). Associated with hippies in the 1970s until they became de rigueur for hipsters in the 1990s, Birkenstock sandals trace their history back to Germany in 1774; the current design dates from the 1960s. The Birkenstock family will no longer be sole owners, but they will retain a minority stake.

路易威登集团支持的一家私募股权公司将以40亿欧元(合48亿美元)的价格收购勃肯（Birkenstock）品牌。勃肯凉拖在20世纪70年代与嬉皮士联系在一起，直到20世纪90年代成为嬉皮士的一种必备品。勃肯凉拖的历史可以追溯到1774年的德国；当前的设计始于20世纪60年代。勃肯家族将不再是该品牌唯一的所有者，但他们还将保留少数股权。

Maezawa Yusaku, a Japanese tycoon¹³, invited applications for eight places on his planned trip around the Moon, pencilled in for 2023. Meanwhile SpaceX, the firm that will fly Mr Maezawa and his companions, was testing a prototype version of the rocket he hopes to use. The machine managed to return to its landing pad after flying 10km into the air, but blew up a few minutes later.

日本富商前泽友作(Maezawa Yusaku)计划在2023年绕月球旅行，他将挑选8名同伴一同前往。与此同时，将为前泽友作和他的同伴们提供飞行服务的SpaceX公司正在测试他希望使用的火箭原型。这枚星舰原型机在飞到10公里的高度后成功返回了着陆平台，但几分钟后爆炸了。

1 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

2 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 underpins   

n.基础材料( underpin的名词复数 )；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的第三人称单数 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• A powerful sense of mission underpins everything he does. 一种强烈的使命感支撑他所做的一切。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His presence at the crime underpins the case against him. 案子发生时他在场对他更不利。 来自辞典例句

5 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

6 AIRWAYS   

航空公司

参考例句：

• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。
• At one point the company bought from Nippon Airways a 727 jet. 有一次公司从日本航空公司买了一架727型喷气机。

7 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

8 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

9 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

10 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

11 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

12 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

13 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。