经济学人137:互联网根本不互联

 　　Internet economies

　　互联网经济

　　Going local

　　变得地方性

　　The internet is not that global after all

　　互联网根本不那么具有全球性

　　Jul 14th 2011 | from The Economist¹ print edition

　　THE internet is flattening² the world. Or so they say. Yet new statistics from the OECD, a rich-country think-tank, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) show that the global “network of networks” is shaped by local forces.

　　据称互联网正在抹平这个世界。然而，来自富裕国家智囊团(欧洲)经济合作与发展组织（OECD）及波士顿咨询集团(BCG)的新数据显示全球“网络之网”是由地方性的要素形成的。（无线通信技术的融合以及非接触式近距离无线通信技术的产生，构成了“网络的网络”(Network of networks)，相关基础设施也已经准备就绪，建立在基础之上的先进应用不断增加。高效能的SIM卡是这些技术发展的最终动力。——译者注）

　　The OECD’s statistics on broadband internet access in its member countries have long been closely watched (in particular the mediocre³ ranking of America, which still lags behind most of Europe in high-speed links). The organisation⁴ has now broken out numbers on wireless⁵ broadband subscriptions⁶. And the national differences turn out to be even bigger (see chart).

　　长期以来，经济合作与发展组织发布的有关其成员国宽带上网的数据就被密切关注（尤其是美国二流的排名，在高速链接方面仍然落后于大多数的欧洲国家）。该组织还公布了无线宽带的订购数量，结果显示在这方面国与国之间的差异更大（见图）。

　　BCG, for its part, in a new study of 46 countries, looks at how businesses, consumers and governments use the net. The data show that different countries have distinct internet economies. Britain’s internet infrastructure⁷ rates poorly, mainly because of its slow broadband speeds, but it has the highest per-person online spending and its government agencies are very active. Hong Kong, by contrast, tops the world in connectivity, but its consumers prefer to spend their money offline.

　　波士顿咨询集团方面，在一项对46个国家展开的新研究中，着眼于企业、顾客及政府如何使用网络。数据显示，不同国家有各自独特的互联网经济。对英国的互联网基础设施的评价很差，主要是由于它的宽带速度慢，但英国的网络购物消费及其政府却是非常的活跃。相比之下，香港的连通性能世界第一，但香港消费者们更不喜欢网购。

　　The differences spring from a country’s political and economic heritage. South Korea, for instance, has more political ambition than Britain to lead in broadband. If the British like to shop online it is not least because they also like to use credit cards, the easiest means to pay online. In Hong Kong, with its dense⁸ retail⁹ infrastructure, there is not much need for consumers to shop virtually.

　　这些差异源自于一个国家的政治传统及经济传统。例如韩国，引领宽带，它比英国更有政治野心。倘若英国消费者钟情网购，其中相当重要的原因是他们也喜欢使用信用卡，而使用信用卡又是网上支付的最简单方法。在香港，因其零售基础设施密集，网购就没有多大必要了。

　　To compare countries, BCG has come up with an “e-intensity index”. South Korea, Denmark and Sweden come out on top, whereas India, Egypt and Indonesia wind up at the bottom. Some countries, including Britain and Japan, do much better than would be expected given their GDP per person; others—Saudi Arabia and Italy—do worse.

　　为了在国与国之间作出比较，波士顿咨询集团提出了“电子强度指数”。韩国、丹麦和瑞典名列前茅。而印度、埃及和印尼以垫底告终。考虑人均国内生产总值，一些国家，包括英国和日本在这方面要比预期做的好；其他国家——沙特阿拉伯和意大利在这方面做得要比预期差。

　　Some of these differences will certainly go away, says Paul Zwillenberg of BCG. But overall, he predicts, the internet will continue to become more and more local: cultures are different, so the more people go online, the more the internet will resemble them. “There will be hundreds of internet flavours,” he says.

　　当然，其中的一些差异将消失，波士顿咨询集团的保罗?兹韦伦勃格如是说。但他预计，总体而言，互联网继续变得越来越具地方性：文化各异，故上网的人越多，互联网就与他们越相似。“将会有成百上千的互联网种类，”他说。

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 flattening   

n. 修平 动词flatten的现在分词

参考例句：

• Flattening of the right atrial border is also seen in constrictive pericarditis. 右心房缘变平亦见于缩窄性心包炎。
• He busied his fingers with flattening the leaves of the book. 他手指忙着抚平书页。

3 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

4 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

5 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

6 subscriptions   

n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助

参考例句：

• Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

8 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

9 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。