The world this week Business
01
疯传一个多月后，LVMH以169亿美元的价格收购美国奢侈珠宝品牌蒂芙尼Tiffany，它超越了2017年收购Dior的70亿，成为LVMH收购史上规模最大的一笔交易。
In the biggest-ever take over in the luxury-goods industry, LVMH, a French globalconglomerate, announced its acquisition of Tiffany, an American jeweller founded in 1837 and known for its flagshipstore on Fifth Avenue in New York. LVMH is paying $16.9bn, more than the roughly $14.5bn that was suggested when the transactionwas first mooted in Late October. The deal represents a success for Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s boss and controlling shareholder, who had courted Tiffany for some time.
conglomerate: a large company formed by joining together different firms联合大公司；企业集团
flagship: ①the main ship in a fleet of ships in the navy旗舰②the most important product, service, building, etc. that an organization owns or produces（某组织机构的）最重要产品，最佳服务项目，主建筑物，王牌
transaction: ~ (between A and B)a piece of business that is done between people, especially an act of buying or selling（一笔）交易，业务，买卖
moot：to suggest an idea for people to discuss提出……供讨论
court: to try to please sb in order to get sth you want, especially the support of a person, an organization, etc.（为有所求，尤指寻求支持而）试图取悦，讨好，争取
02
The magic trick
The flotationof Alibaba’s shares on the Hong Kong stockmarket raised $11.2bn, making it the most valuable share offering this year, ahead ofthe $8.1bn that Uber raked in at itsIPO in May. The stock rose by 6.6% on the first day of trading in what is a secondary listing in Alibaba. Its shares are also listed in New York.
flotation: the process of selling shares in a company to the public for the first time in order to raise money（公司的）发行股份
ahead of: further advanced than sb/sth; in front of sb, for example in a race or competition领先
rake in: If you say that someone is raking inmoney, you mean that they are making a lot of money very easily, more easily than you think they should. 轻易地大捞 (钱财)
IPO: initial public offering (the act of selling shares in a company for the first time)（公司股票的）首次公开发行，上市
03
美国优步公司在英国首都伦敦的出租车运营牌照25日到期。伦敦交通局决定，不向优步发放新牌照，缘由是发现这家企业存在安全隐患。
Uber lost its licence to operate in London, again. The ride hailing company has 45,000 drivers in the city, one of its biggest markets. London’s transport regulator raised more concerns about safety, including 14,000 fraudulenttrips by unauthorised drivers. Uber is appealing against the decision and can continue to operate while it does so.
licence: an official document that shows that permission has been given to do, own or use sth许可证；执照
fraudulent: intended to cheat sb, usually in order to make money illegally欺骗的；欺诈的
appeal against: to make a formal request to a court or to sb in authority for a judgement or a decision to be changed上诉；申诉
04
自上周澳大利亚金融犯罪监察机构AUSTRAC对这家该国最古老的、第二大银行提起诉讼后——指控其违反反洗钱法洗钱超过2300万次，包括未被发现的助长儿童剥削的款项——西太平洋银行一直处于危机之中。
The chief executive of Westpac resigned and the chairman said he would step down next year, as Australia’s second largest bank faced mounting criticism about its response to a money-laundering scandal. A regulator has accused Westpac of failing to monitor more than 23m suspect transactions, some of which enabled child exploitation in the Philippines. The bank has found itself in politicians’ cross-hairs. Australia’s treasurer said it had been indifferent to the scandal; the attorney-general noted that it was an “unbelievably serious”matter. Westpac has reportedly cancelled its Christmas party.
Westpac: 西太银行
step down：If someone steps down or steps aside, they resign from an important job or position, often in order to let someone else take their place. 退位
launder：to move money that has been obtained illegally into foreign bank accounts or legal businesses so that it is difficult for people to know where the money came from洗（钱）
exploitation： ①a situation in which sb treats sb else in an unfair way, especially in order to make money from their work剥削；榨取②the use of land, oil, minerals, etc.利用；开发；开采
treasurer: a person who is responsible for the money and accounts of a club or an organization（俱乐部或组织的）司库，会计，出纳，财务主管
05
嘉信理财（Charles Schwab）是一家总部设在旧金山的金融服务公司，成立于30年前，如今已成为美国个人金融服务市场的领导者。周一（11月25日），嘉信理财（Charles Schwab，SCHW.US）宣布计划以260亿美元的全股票交易收购折扣券商宏达理财（TD Ameritrade，AMTD.US）。此次两家最大的上市折扣券商合并，意味着一个规模庞大的交易平台即将诞生：客户资产超过5万亿美元，其中3.8万亿美元来自嘉信理财，1.3万亿美元来自宏达理财。
Charles Schwab, America’s biggest discount broker, struck a $26bn deal to acquireTD Ameritrade, a rival. The pair had recently been engaged in a price war, both ditching the transaction fees they charged customers. The combined group will have around $5trn in client assets.
discount broker: 折扣经纪人。收取较低佣金，但不提供投资顾问的股票经纪人。
rival：a person, company, or thing that competes with another in sport, business, etc.竞争对手
06
The Brazilian real fell to a new low against the dollar, after Brazil’s finance minister said he was “not worried”about a strong greenback. The slideprompted a brief interventionby the central bank to prop up the currency. The country’s current-account deficithas risen sharply this year, and interest rates have tumbled.
real: the standard monetary unit of Brazil, divided into 100 centavos 雷亚尔; 巴西货币标准单位
greenback: an American dollar note美钞
slide: a change to a lower or worse condition降低；跌落；衰落
intervention: the act of intervening in a situation. 干涉
prop up: to support it or help it to survive. 支撑; 维持
deficit: the amount by which money spent or owed is greater than money earned in a particular period of time赤字；逆差；亏损
tumble: decrease rapidly (价格或水平) 暴跌
07
据外媒报道，谷歌解雇了四名员工，理由是他们违反了公司的数据安全政策。这家一度因其开放的企业文化而受到尊重的科技巨头，因为这项举措加剧了公司管理层与激进员工之间的紧张关系。Google以屡次违反数据安全政策为由解雇了四名雇员，而这四人与组织员工抗议有关。Google在给雇员的内部备忘录中辩解称，四人遭到解雇不是因为他们在工作期间看了文档和日程表，而是“搜寻、访问和传阅了工作范围之外的商业信息”。
Google reportedly fired four employees who had been active in organising protests at the company and had apparently tried to gain access to private internal documents. The tech giant pioneered an office culture that mixes politics with work, which it may now regret.Vociferous staff have pressed management to drop an AI contract for the Pentagon and have walked out over sexual harassment and a search-engine project for the Chinese government. Their latest gripeis Google’s work for immigration enforcement. Google has told employees to tone it down and reduced staff meetings to one a month.
vociferous: expressing your opinions or feelings in a loud and confident way大声疾呼的；喧嚣的；大叫大嚷的
gripe: a complaint about sth.抱怨；怨言；牢骚
enforcement: If someone carries out the enforcement ofan act or rule, they enforce it. 执行
tone down: to make a speech, an opinion, etc. less extreme or offensive使（讲话、意见等）缓和；使温和
08
In an effort to boost profits and its feeble share price, Telefónica announced a plan tohive off its operations in Spanish speaking Latin America and focus on its core markets in Spain, Brazil, Germany and Britain, where it brands itself as O2. The telecoms group also wants to expand its business in the internet of things and cloud computing.
Telefónica: 西班牙电信公司（Telefónica）是全球领先的运营商，提供通信、信息和娱乐解决方案，在欧洲和拉丁美洲都设有运营机构，其在拉丁美洲的客户已经超过2.2亿。
hive off: to separate one part of a group from the rest; to sell part of a business 把一部分分离出来；卖掉公司的一部分
09
On the lookout for new superdrugsthat will replenishits portfolio, Novartis offered to buyThe Medicines Company for $9.7bn. TMC’s crown jewelis inclisiran, a treatment that has been found to be highly effective in drug trials at reducing “bad”cholesterol, and which a patient needs to inject only twice a year.
replenish: to make sth full again by replacing what has been used补充；重新装满
portfolio: the combination of investments that a particular person or company owns. 投资组合
Novartis: 即全球医药健康行业的跨国企业诺华集团，世界三大药企之一，诺华集团拥有多元化的业务组合，涵盖创新专利药、眼科保健、非专利药、消费者保健和疫苗及诊断等多个领域，并在所有领域处于世界领先位置。
crown jewel：he crown, sceptre, and other precious objects which are used on important official occasions by the king or queen. 王冠; 权杖; (代表王权的)珍贵物品
inclisiran: 一种RNAi疗法，患者每年仅需接受2-3次注射即可控制胆固醇水平。
010
当地时间11月21日周四晚间，特斯拉正式发布了造型奇特的全电动皮卡——Cyber-truck。Cyber-truck的名字结合了“赛博朋克”（Cyberpunk）和“卡车”（truck），车身外形充满未来感，特斯拉CEO马斯克称，其设计部分受到电影《The Spy Who Loved Me》（《海底城》）和《银翼杀手》的影响。然而，市场对如此“酷炫”的皮卡并不是很感冒。周五收盘，特斯拉股价收跌6.14%，报333.04美元，市值蒸发近40亿美元。
Tesla’s share price struggled to recover from the drubbing it took after an unforeseen event at the launch of its new Cyber-truck, which has been described as a cross between a futuristic car from “Blade Runner”and a SpongeBob SquarePants character. The vehicle’s supposedly armoured-glass windows shattered when a steel ball was hurled at them during a demonstration. “Maybe that was a little too hard,”said a startled Elon Musk, Tesla’s boss.
shatter: to suddenly break into small pieces; to make sth suddenly break into small pieces（使）破碎，碎裂
011
Sedol, going, gone
Lee Sedol, a Go champion, who in 2016 lost a celebrated match against AlphaGo, anartificial intelligence program, announced his retirement. AI programs now compete intournaments. Mr Lee reflected: “Even if I become number one, there is an entity that cannot be defeated.”
tournament: a sports competition in which players who win a match continue to play further matches in the competition until just one person or team is left. 锦标赛
entity: something that exists separately from other things and has its own identity独立存在物；实体
Lee Sedol: 李世石，韩国著名围棋棋手，世界顶级围棋棋手。2016年3月9日起，李世石与谷歌计算机围棋程序“阿尔法围棋”（AlphaGo）进行围棋人机大战。截止3月15日，李世石不敌人工智能“阿尔法围棋”，以总比分1:4落败。（虽然李世石以 1：4 的比分落败，但在比赛的第四局，李世石的惊天翻盘却让他成为了迄今为止唯一一个战胜过 AlphaGo 的棋手。） 2019年11月19日，李世石向韩国棋院递交了辞呈，正式宣布退役。