“本文中的英文部分来自“经济学人”杂志。译文是个人学习、欣赏语言之用，谢绝转载或用于任何商业用途。本人同意平台在接获有关著作权人的通知后，删除文章。”
The proposed merger of the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse seemed headed for collapse. The final nail in the coffin was said to be the LSE’s rejection of an ultimatum from European antitrust regulators for it to sell its stake in a bond-trading platform in Italy. The LSE reportedly rejected the demand without consulting its intended German partner. The British and German exchanges announced their intention to merge a year ago, before Britain voted to leave the EU.
伦敦证券交易所和德国证券交易所的合并似乎走向末路。伦交所拒绝了欧洲反垄断监管机构的最后通牒-要求它在意大利债券交易平台出售其股份。这被视为致命一击。 伦敦证券交易所据报甚至没有询问其德国合作伙伴就拒绝了这一请求。英国和德国的交易所一年前宣布他们打算合并，时间正好在英国投票离开欧盟之前。
Prosecutors in South Korea charged Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of Samsung, and four other executives with bribery and corruption following a lengthy investigation. Mr Lee is accused of directing $38m in bribes to an associate of the country’s president in order to smooth the merger of two Samsung affiliates. He denies wrongdoing.
经过漫长的调查之后，韩国检察官指控李在镕-三星公司实际负责人，以及其他四位高管参与了贿赂和腐败活动。 李在镕被指控向国家总统的联系人贿赂3800万美元的贿赂，以顺利合并两家三星子公司。 他否认参与任何不法行为。
OneWeb, a startup that plans to launch a constellation of small satellites that will provide internet connection to remote places, is to merge with Intelsat, one ofthe biggest operators of commercial satellites. The deal is backed by SoftBank, a technology group, which has invested in OneWeb. The transaction relies on some bondholders in Intelsat agreeing to a debt swap, which should bring its $15bn debt load into a lower orbit.
OneWeb是一家计划发射一系列小型卫星的初创公司，它们将为偏远地区提供互联网连接。OneWeb计划与商业卫星最大运营商之一Intelsat合并。 这笔交易得到了SoftBank的支持，SoftBank是一个科技集团，已经投资了OneWeb。 该交易的达成还有赖于Intelsat的一些债券持有人同意债务互换。这将降低其150亿美元的债务负担。
Warren Buffett revealed that Berkshire Hathaway, his investment company, had more than doubled the number of shares it owns in Apple, giving it a stake worth around $18 billion. Apple is now one of Berkshire’s biggest equity holdings.
沃伦·巴菲特透露，他的投资公司伯克希尔哈撒韦公司拥有苹果公司的股份数量已经翻了一番，价值约180亿美元的股份。 苹果已成为伯克希尔持有股票最多的公司之一。
India’s economy grew by 7% in the last quarter of 2016 compared with the same period of 2015. That was a more robust figure than economists had expected, given the government’s surprise decision in November to withdraw 86% of the banknotes in circulation in an effort to curb corruption and counterfeiting. Demonetisation led to long queues at shops and banks and disrupted businesses.
与2015年同期相比，印度经济在2016年第四季度增长了7％，比经济学家预期的更强劲。特别是鉴于政府11月份出人意料地取消了86％的流通纸币以遏制腐败和假冒。货币改革导致商店和银行排起了长龙，影响了商业正常秩序。
A slump in oil prices and revenues caused Nigeria’s economy to shrink in 2016 for the first time in 25 years. GDP contracted by1.5% as oil production tumbled. A shortage of dollars, used by many businesses to pay for imports, also contributed to the slowdown. The IMF forecasts that the economy will grow by 0.8% this year and 2.3% in 2018.
2016年，油价和收入下滑导致尼日利亚经济25年来首次萎缩。由于石油生产下滑，GDP缩减了1.5％。 许多企业进口所需的美元短缺也造成了经济放缓。国际货币基金组织预测，今年经济增长0.8％，2018年增长2.3％。
Stock markets reached new record highs, buoyed in part by a positive reaction to Donald Trump’s speech to Congress. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index closed above the 21,000 mark, a little over a month after it breached 20,000. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ indices also scaled new heights.
股票市场达到了新的历史高点，部分原因是对唐纳德·特朗普国会讲话的积极反应。道琼斯工业平均指数收盘于21,000点以上。突破20,000点后只花了一个月多月。 标普500和纳斯达克指数也创新高。
Noble Group reported a small profit of $8.7m for last year. Noble was once Asia’s biggest commodities-trading firm, until it was hit by a double whammy of plunging commodity prices and questions about its accounts (until a review found they conformed to industry standards).
Noble集团披露去年取得870万美元利润。 Noble曾经是亚洲最大的商品交易公司，但受到商品价格暴跌和账户问题的双重打击。（账户问题在稽核后发现是符合行业标准的）。
In Britain, Sir Philip Green reached a settlement with regulators to top up the insolvent pension fund for workers at BHS, a bankrupt retail chain that he once owned. The collapse of BHS revealed a huge shortfall in its pension scheme; an inquiry in Parliament described the episode as “the unacceptable face of capitalism”.
在英国，菲利普·格林爵士已与监管机构达成和解，补足BHS员工的养老基金。BHS是他曾经拥有的一家已倒闭的零售连锁企业。BHS的崩溃暴露出其养老金计划出现巨额短缺; 议会的调查将这一事件描述为“资本主义的不可接受的面孔”。
Travis Kalanick issued a mea culpa. The chief executive of Uber admitted that “I need leadership help” after video footage emerged of him launching a verbal tirade at an Uber driver who had criticised the ride-hailing app’s business model. It is another dent in Uber’s image; it also faces allegations of sexual harassment from a former employee.
Travis Kalanick为自己的过失道歉。 他在一则视频短片中出现并语言攻击了一位Uber司机，这位司机批评叫车APP的商业模式。时间发生之后，Uber首席执行官承认，“我需要领导的帮助”。 这是Uber形象的另一个麻烦; 它还面临来自一位前雇员的性骚扰指控。
Snapchat priced its IPO at $17 a share, above the price range it set out in its prospectus. Demand was strong for the most eagerly awaited stockmarket flotation from a tech company in years.
Snapchat的IPO价格定为每股17美元，高于其招股说明书中设定的价格区间。市场对于技术公司的需求相当强劲，因为这类公司近年来在股市表现最佳。
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, said he intends to fly people around the Moon by the end of next year. Two wealthy space tourists have apparently volunteered for the return flight, which would take a week and be controlled by autopilot. But the brave adventurers may not want to pack just yet. The Falcon Heavy rocket needed to launch the Moon capsule has not yet come into operation.
SpaceX的创始人Elon Musk说，他打算在明年年底之前将实现载人绕月飞行。 两个富裕的空间游客显然是自愿报名参加往返飞行，行程需要一个星期，飞行由自动驾驶仪控制。 但勇敢的冒险家们还不能现在就准备好行囊。用于发射月球舱的猎鹰重型火箭尚未投入使用。
Penguin Random House won an auction for the rights to publish the memoirs of Barack and Michelle Obama. Although the rights were sold jointly the memoris of the former president and first lady will be published as separate books. The $65m that Penguin is reportedly paying is well above the $15m that Bill Clinton got for his memoirs and the $10m that George W. Bush obtained for his.
出版商Penguin Random House赢得了巴拉克和米歇尔奥巴马回忆录的版权拍卖。 虽然版权是联合出售的，前总统和第一夫人的备忘录将作为单独的书出版发行。 根据报道，企鹅支付的6500万美元大大高于比尔.克林顿为他的回忆录所获得的1500万美元，以及乔治·布什获得的1000万美元。