比特币暴跌 | 双语快报

一句话导视：

比特币暴跌；油价持续上涨；澳大利亚出台新法要求社交媒体为新闻付费；英国失业率创五年新高；波音飞机公司再受重创。

原文来自：

The Economist, FEBRUARY 27TH - MARCH 5TH 2021

比特币下跌

Bitcoin speculators had a jittery week, pushing the cryptocurrency down from a record high. Janet Yellen, America’s treasury secretary, added to the febrile atmosphere when she described bitcoin as an “extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions”. Meanwhile, New York state’s attorney-general branded Tether “fraudulent” and barred the stablecoin—commonly used to buy bitcoin on crypto-exchanges—from trading in New York. Tether long claimed its coin was backed one-to-one by the dollar, but New York concluded that it overstated its reserves and is “a stablecoin without stability”. 

比特币投机者经历了紧张不安的一周，将这种加密货币从创纪录的高位推低。美国财政部长珍妮特•耶伦(Janet Yellen)将比特币形容为“一种极其低效的交易方式”，为这种狂热的气氛火上了一把火。与此同时，纽约州总检察长称Tether（注：一个比特币交易平台）为“欺诈”，并禁止它的稳定币（通常用于在加密交易中购买比特币）在纽约交易。Tether一直声称稳定币是与美元是一对一等价的，但纽约认为它夸大了自己的储备，是“一种没有稳定性的稳定币”。

The knock to bitcoin was a factor behind a sharp fall in Tesla’s share price. The electric-car maker made a controversial $1.5bn investment in bitcoin recently. Shortly before the cryptocurrency plunged, Elon Musk mused that its price seemed “too high”. The drop in Tesla’s stock at one point wiped $15bn off his fortune. 

比特币受到的打击是特斯拉股价大幅下跌的原因之一。这家电动汽车制造商最近对比特币进行了一笔有争议的15亿美元投资。在这种加密货币暴跌前不久，埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)曾沉思称，其价格似乎“太高”。特斯拉股票的下跌一度让他的财富蒸发了150亿美元。

Oil prices extended their gains, with Brent crude closing above $67 a barrel for the first time in 13 months. The covid-19 vaccine roll-out in rich countries has given rise to hope among traders that as restrictions are phased out, the demand for energy will increase.

油价延续涨势，布伦特原油(Brent crude) 13个月来首次收于每桶67美元以上。在富裕国家推广covid-19疫苗让贸易商产生了希望，认为随着限制措施逐步取消，对能源的需求将会增加。

The Australian government passed its new law requiring social-media companies to pay for news content, after reaching an agreement with Facebook in their dispute over the legislation. Facebook had blocked all Australian news publications from its platform, claiming the law punished it for content shared by users. The government amended its bill, adding arbitration measures that would set the fees social-media firms have to pay for news if they cannot reach commercial deals with publishers. Facebook is to pay $1bn to Australian media firms over the next three years, a similar amount to that pledged by Google. 

澳大利亚政府通过了一项新法律，要求社交媒体公司为新闻内容付费。此前，澳大利亚政府与Facebook就这一法律纠纷达成了协议。Facebook屏蔽了其平台上的所有澳大利亚新闻出版物，称自己因向用户分享内容而受到这项法律的惩罚。政府修改了法案，增加了仲裁措施，规定如果社交媒体公司不能与出版商达成商业协议，它们必须为新闻支付的费用。Facebook将在未来三年内向澳大利亚媒体公司支付10亿美元，与谷歌承诺的金额相近。

Britain’s unemployment rate hit 5.1%, the highest level in five years. The rate is expected to increase over the coming months, once the government starts withdrawing its support for workers on furlough. 

英国的失业率达到5.1%，是五年来的最高水平。预计在未来几个月，一旦政府开始撤回对休假工人的支持，这一比率还会上升。

Boeing 777 wide-bodied jets powered by Pratt & Whitney engines were grounded, after an engine failed on a United Airlines plane shortly after it took off from Denver airport. Boeing’s 737 max fleet has only recently been allowed to fly again following a 20-month grounding. 

美国联合航空公司(United Airlines)一架飞机在丹佛机场起飞后不久发生引擎故障，由普惠(Pratt & Whitney)引擎驱动的波音777宽体客机被停飞。波音737 max机队在停飞20个月后，直到最近才被获准重新起飞。