2019年经济学人 一周要闻 沃尔玛停售手枪弹药 优步股价创新低 互联网公司爆隐私丑闻

 

Uber’s share price hit a new low ahead of the expected passage of a bill in California that would reclassify the employment status of the company’s drivers in the state from contractor¹ to employee, a threat to its low-labour-cost business model.

预计加州将通过一项法案，将优步司机在加州的就业状况从合同工重新划分为雇员，这对优步的低劳动力成本商业模式构成威胁。在此之前，优步股价创下新低。

Walmart decided² to stop selling ammunition³ that can be used in military-style weapons and handguns. The retailer⁴ has come under pressure to do more to curb⁵ gun sales since last month’s mass shooting at one of its stores in El Paso. This week a gunman murdered seven people at random⁶ in west Texas. Walmart stopped selling handguns in the 1990s and semi-automatics in 2015, but the latest surge in shootings has led to calls for parents to boycott⁷ its stores in the back-to-school season.

沃尔玛决定停售可用于军用武器和手枪的弹药。自上月埃尔帕索一家门店发生大规模枪击案以来，这家零售商一直面临着采取更多措施遏制枪支销售的压力。本周，一名枪手在德克萨斯州西部持枪杀害了7人。沃尔玛在上世纪90年代停售手枪，于2015年停售半自动手枪，但最近的枪击事件激增，引发了家长在返校季抵制其门店的呼声。

A key ally of Muhammad bin⁸ Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, was put in charge of Saudi Aramco. The promotion⁹ of Yasir al-Rumayyan to chairman makes the on-off ipo of the state oil company more likely; it could come as early as next year.

沙特王储、实际统治者穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼的主要盟友被任命掌管沙特阿美(Saudi Aramco)。亚西尔·鲁迈扬(Yasir al-Rumayyan)晋升为董事长，使这家国有石油公司更有可能进行断断续续的上市事宜;上市最早可能于明年实现。

Nickel prices soared to five-year highs after the Indonesian government brought forward a ban on exports of nickel ore to December, two years earlier than it had proposed. The metal is used in stainless¹⁰ steel and increasingly in batteries for electric cars, an industry which Indonesia wants to develop domestically.

在印尼政府将镍矿石出口禁令提前两年至12月后，镍价飙升至5年高点。这种金属用于不锈钢以及越来越多的电动汽车的电池中，而印尼希望在国内发展电动汽车行业。

A web of intrigue¹¹

阴云密布

There were more privacy scandals involving internet companies. Google was fined $170m in America for illegally collecting data from child users on its YouTube site in order to target them with ads. And a two-year hacking¹² campaign was uncovered (by Google’s researchers) that tapped into text messages and photos on hundreds of thousands of iPhones. As a reminder¹³ that no one is immune, the Twitter account of Jack¹⁴ Dorsey, Twitter’s boss, was briefly¹⁵ hijacked¹⁶; a number of offensive messages and a bomb threat were tweeted out.

涉及互联网公司的隐私丑闻越来越多。谷歌在美国被罚款1.7亿美元，原因是该公司在其YouTube网站非法收集儿童用户的数据，目的是向他们投放广告。(谷歌的研究人员)还揭露了一项为期两年的黑客活动，该活动窃听数十万部iphone手机上的短信和照片。提醒大家，没有人能幸免，就连推特老板杰克·多尔西(Jack Dorsey)的账户也曾被短暂盗号;在推特上发布了一些攻击性言论和炸弹威胁。

1 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

4 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

5 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

6 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

7 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

8 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

9 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

10 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

11 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

12 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

13 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

14 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

15 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

16 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。