2022年经济学人 微软以690亿美元收购游戏公司动视暴雪

The world this week -- Business

本周国际要闻——商业

In what is by far the biggest-ever takeover in the gaming industry, Microsoft agreed to buy Activision Blizzard¹, the company behind the "Call of Duty" series and "Warcraft", for $69bn.

微软同意以690亿美元收购《使命召唤》系列和《魔兽争霸》背后的公司动视暴雪，这是游戏行业有史以来规模最大的一笔收购。

Microsoft is hungry for new content as it seeks to develop a Netflix for games, which can be streamed from any device, such as phones, and not just its Xbox console.

微软渴望获得新的内容，该公司正寻求开发游戏界的Netflix，这些游戏可以在手机等任何设备上呈现，而不仅限于Xbox游戏机。

Gaming "will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms", stated Satya Nadella, Microsoft's boss.

微软老板萨蒂亚·纳德拉表示，游戏“将在元世界平台的发展中发挥关键作用”。

Unilever said it would not increase its 50bn pounds ($68bn) offer for GlaxoSmithKline's consumer health-care business, which in effect ends its pursuit of a deal.

联合利华表示，它不会提高对葛兰素史克消费者保健业务500亿英镑（680亿美元）的收购报价，这实际上结束了其对这笔交易的追求。

Its ambitious play for the business, which includes such familiar brands as Advil, Nicorette, Panadol and Sensodyne, and in which Pfizer owns a 32% stake, didn't go down well with Unilever's investors².

联合利华雄心勃勃展现在它的业务中，其中包括Advil、Nicorette、Panadol和Sensodyne等人们熟悉的品牌，辉瑞拥有联合利华32%的股份，不过投资者们并不看好联合利华在业务上的雄心。

The conglomerate's stock swooned when news of the bid was made public.

收购消息公布后，该集团的股票暴跌。

ExxonMobil laid out its strategy to reduce carbon emissions³, with an aim to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and a pledge to reduce them by a fifth by 2030 compared with 2016.

埃克森美孚公布了其减少碳排放的战略，目标是到2050年实现净零排放，并承诺到2030年将碳排放减少五分之一（相比2016年水平）。

But the plan counts only the company's own greenhouse gases from its production of oil and gas, and not the broader category of "Scope 3" emissions, which are generated across a firm's value chain, suppliers and customers.

但该计划仅算入了该公司本身在石油和天然气生产中产生的温室气体，而没有计算更广泛的“范围3”排放，即公司的价值链、供应商和客户产生的排放。

Providing reassurance⁴ that pandemic restrictions⁵ really do apply to everyone, Antonio Horta-Osorio resigned as chairman of Credit Suisse after the bank's board reportedly found that he broke quarantine rules, including on a trip to the Wimbledon tennis final in July.

瑞士信贷董事长安东尼奥·奥尔塔-奥索里奥的辞职向人们保证，疫情限制措施确实适用于所有人。此前有报道称，该行董事会发现他违反了隔离规定，包括在7月份前往观看温布尔登网球决赛。

Mr Horta-Osorio had held the job for less than nine months.

奥尔塔-奥索里奥担任这一职位不到9个月。

The global job market will take longer to recover from the Covid-19 crisis than had been thought, according to the International Labour Organisation⁶.

据国际劳工组织称，全球就业市场从新冠危机中恢复的时间将比预期的要长。

Its latest forecast estimates that there will be 52m fewer jobs in 2022 compared with 2019, and that a full recovery in 2023 "remains⁷ elusive⁸".

其最新预测估计，与2019年相比，2022年的就业岗位将减少5200万个，而2023年的全面复苏“仍然难以实现”。

Another surge in Covid and supply-chain bottlenecks⁹ caused Germany's economy to shrink by up to 1% in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with the third, according to an initial official estimate.

根据官方的初步估计，新冠病例再次激增和供应链瓶颈导致德国经济在2021年第四季度比第三季度萎缩多达1%。

For the whole year, German GDP rose by 2.7%, though output was still 2% lower than in 2019, before the pandemic.

德国全年GDP增长2.7%，但产出仍比2019年疫情前低2%。

1 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

2 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

3 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。

4 reassurance   

n.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• He drew reassurance from the enthusiastic applause.热烈的掌声使他获得了信心。
• Reassurance is especially critical when it comes to military activities.消除疑虑在军事活动方面尤为关键。

5 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

6 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。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

9 bottlenecks   

n.瓶颈( bottleneck的名词复数 )；瓶颈路段（常引起交通堵塞）；（尤指工商业发展的）瓶颈；阻碍

参考例句：

• Roadworks are causing bottlenecks in the city centre. 道路施工导致市中心交通阻塞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At five o'clock in the afternoon the city streets are a series of bottlenecks. 下午五点市中心的街道就成了拥挤不堪的窄路。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》