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Business this week
本周經(jīng)濟(jì)要聞
Federal air-accident investigators began looking into what caused a spaceplane owned by Virgin Galactic to explode over theMojave desert during a test flight, killing one pilot. The accident is a setback for the burgeoning private space industry. Virgin Galactic had been hoping to take rich tourists to the edge of space in the aircraft perhaps as early as next year. Sir Richard Branson, its founder, promised to keep the project going and build a second spaceplane. He had planned to be aboard the inaugural passenger flight.
維珍銀河航空公司旗下的一架飛船，在測(cè)試飛行中于莫哈維沙漠上空發(fā)生爆炸，導(dǎo)致一名飛行員死亡。聯(lián)邦航空事故調(diào)查員已對(duì)此展開調(diào)查。此次事故給熱火朝天的私人太空飛行產(chǎn)業(yè)澆了盆涼水。維珍銀河航空公司本來爭(zhēng)取在明年將富翁級(jí)別的乘客送往太空邊緣。公司創(chuàng)始人理查德·布蘭森爵士承諾，將建造第二艘太空船以繼續(xù)該項(xiàng)目。布蘭森曾計(jì)劃親自參與首次太空游覽。
Access to the internet
走近互聯(lián)網(wǎng)
Robert Hannigan, the head of Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency, called for more support from internet giants such as Google and Apple in gathering information about suspected terrorists. He described social-media sites as “the command and control networks of choice” for terror groups, and criticised the extra security measures being added to the internet by companies in their efforts to deter surveillance by Western spies.
英國(guó)情報(bào)機(jī)構(gòu)政府通信總部負(fù)責(zé)人羅伯特?漢尼根發(fā)出呼吁，要求互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭（諸如谷歌與蘋果）提供更多協(xié)助，以收集疑似恐怖分子的信息。他說，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)已經(jīng)成為恐怖組織“指揮和控制的手段之一”。一些公司為防止西方間諜侵入，給網(wǎng)絡(luò)增設(shè)了安全措施，此舉也遭到了漢尼根的炮轟。
Haruhiko Kuroda, the governor of the Bank of Japan, strongly defended the massive expansion of the government's quantitative-easing measures, announced on October 31st. Mr Kuroda said that he would do whatever it takes to cure Japan's “chronic disease of deflation”, though critics think the scale of the new initiative will distort markets. After the policy was revealed the Nikkei stockmarket index jumped to a seven-year high and the yen tumbled against the dollar.
10月31日，日本銀行行長(zhǎng)黑田東彥表示堅(jiān)決支持政府實(shí)施的大規(guī)模量化寬松政策。黑田稱將竭盡全力，以消除日本的“慢性通縮”。不過批評(píng)家認(rèn)為，新的量寬舉措將扭曲市場(chǎng)機(jī)制。新政一經(jīng)公布，日經(jīng)指數(shù)即創(chuàng)七年來新高，而日元對(duì)美元的匯率下跌。
Inflation in the euro zone will remain below the European Central Bank's target of almost 2% until at least 2016, according to the latest official economic forecast from the European Commission, which also sharply reduced the outlook for growth next year, to 1.1%.
歐盟委員會(huì)最近發(fā)布的官方預(yù)測(cè)認(rèn)為，至少到2016年，歐元區(qū)的通脹水平可以保持在2%以下，而這是歐洲央行設(shè)定的目標(biāo)。同時(shí)，委員會(huì)將明年的經(jīng)濟(jì)預(yù)期增長(zhǎng)率大幅下調(diào)至1.1%。
America's economy grew at an annualised rate of 3.5% in the third quarter, thanks in part to increased government spending and exports. But the unexpectedly large growth of the trade deficit in September suggests that the GDP figure will be revised downwards.
得益于政府財(cái)政支出和出口兩個(gè)方面的增長(zhǎng)，美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)第三季度增長(zhǎng)率如按全年計(jì)算，達(dá)到3.5%。但出人意料的是，九月份出現(xiàn)了大規(guī)模貿(mào)易逆差，所以全年的GDP增速可能反而下調(diào)。
Amid the rouble rubble
盧布泡沫
The announcement by Russia's central bank that it would curb its support for the rouble pushed itto new lows against the dollar and the euro. The bank spent more than 30 billion propping up the currency in October and it raised interest rates to 9.5% just recently. Limiting its interventions will increase inflation, but also protect foreign reserves and help avert the risk of a full-scale currency crisis.
俄羅斯央行曾宣布減小對(duì)盧布的支持力度，隨后盧布對(duì)美元和歐元的匯率雙雙跌至新低。為了支撐盧布，俄國(guó)央行于10月投入超過300億美元，近來更是將利率上調(diào)至9.5%。減少干預(yù)將增加通脹，但也能保護(hù)外匯，并有助于避免全面貨幣危機(jī)。
The price of Brent crude sank to a four-year low afterSaudi Arabia cut its price for oil forAmerica while raising it elsewhere, seen by some as an aggressive move by the Saudis to increase market share. With the Saudis trying to boost oil imports intoAmerica, BHP Billiton, meanwhile, was hoping to test a ban on oil exports fromAmerica by selling oil it has extracted but processed only very lightly inTexas.
沙特阿拉伯降低對(duì)美油價(jià)，同時(shí)提高對(duì)其他地區(qū)的價(jià)格。此舉導(dǎo)致布倫特原油價(jià)格跌至四年以來的新低，此舉被看做沙特在有意搶占市場(chǎng)份額。在沙特試圖擴(kuò)大對(duì)美石油出口的同時(shí)，必和必拓想打個(gè)擦邊球，繞過美國(guó)原油出口禁令，出口產(chǎn)自德州的超輕質(zhì)油。
A report by the IMF's internal auditor concluded that having first advised countries to adopt fiscal stimulus during the global financial crisis, the fund's later push for austerity had “turned out to be a mistake and its timing unfortunate”, because the recovery was fragile. Christine Lagarde, who has led the IMF since 2011, said the auditor's report benefited from hindsight.
國(guó)際貨幣基金組織一份內(nèi)部審計(jì)報(bào)告稱，雖然該組織首先建議各國(guó)采取財(cái)政刺激政策以應(yīng)對(duì)全球經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)，但經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇如履薄冰，使得后來該組織推行的緊縮政策“成為錯(cuò)誤時(shí)機(jī)的錯(cuò)誤選擇”。2011年就任國(guó)際貨幣基金組織總裁的克里斯蒂娜?拉加德認(rèn)為，這份報(bào)告不過是馬后炮罷了。
The trial of the most senior Swiss banker to be charged with helping Americans evade tax came to a swift end, when a jury inFlorida took just over an hour to find him not guilty. Raoul Weil used to run the wealth-management division at UBS. The prosecution's case was based partly on testimony from his former subordinates, some of whom struck deals to avoid prosecution. His defence team was so confident about winning that it didn't bother calling any witnesses.
近年頗有一些瑞士銀行家因涉嫌幫助美國(guó)客戶逃稅而在美國(guó)受審。其中級(jí)別最高者當(dāng)屬Raoul Weil，他曾在瑞士聯(lián)合銀行掌管財(cái)富管理部。此案審理得相當(dāng)迅速，佛羅里達(dá)州的陪審團(tuán)僅用一小時(shí)即宣判其無罪。控方雖然找到了Raoul Weil從前的一些下屬充當(dāng)污點(diǎn)證人，不過辯護(hù)團(tuán)隊(duì)信心滿滿，甚至沒有傳喚證人。
Alibaba issued its first earnings report since making its stockmarket debut in September. The Chinese e-commerce company's revenue in the third quarter grew by more than half, to 2.7 billion, from the same period last year, mostly because many more people inChina are using mobile devices to shop.
9月上市后，阿里巴巴首次發(fā)布財(cái)報(bào)。這家中國(guó)電商第三季度營(yíng)收達(dá)27億美元，同比增幅過半。這主要得益于通過移動(dòng)設(shè)備購(gòu)物的中國(guó)客戶大大增加。
Ryanair,Europe's biggest low-cost airline, reported solid earnings for the latest quarter and raised the outlook for its annual profit. The butt of many jokes about poor airline service, Ryanair has refocused on attracting business passengers and overhauled its systems, reducing its online booking process from 17 to five clicks. Its boss, Michael O'Leary, who once described passengers as “idiots”, said that being nice was new to him, but was turning out to be a winning strategy.
歐洲最大的廉價(jià)航空公司瑞安發(fā)布財(cái)報(bào)，顯示最近一個(gè)季度收入穩(wěn)定；該公司隨之提高了預(yù)期年利潤(rùn)。瑞安曾因糟糕服務(wù)為人嗤笑，如今重新關(guān)注商務(wù)客戶，并徹底改進(jìn)網(wǎng)上訂票系統(tǒng)，將有關(guān)步驟從17項(xiàng)精簡(jiǎn)為5項(xiàng)。老板邁克爾?奧利瑞曾將旅客稱為“白癡”，他表示善待他人在他的字典里是個(gè)新詞，不過這招非常奏效。
A tasty deal
美味交易
United Biscuits, a British baker that includes Jaffa Cakes and Twiglets among its brands, was sold by its private-equity owners toYildiz,Turkey's biggest food company, for a reported 2 billion.
聯(lián)合餅干公司旗下坐擁佳發(fā)蛋糕和Twiglets兩大品牌。私募股權(quán)擁有者將其出售給土耳其最大的食品公司Yildiz。據(jù)說收購(gòu)價(jià)格為20億英鎊。譯者：韋永睿 校對(duì)：江虹蕾
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