《经济学人》赏析:The Chinese are coming

本文由 现象级英语--经济学人共读小组 完成。前言、标题、配图、作者介绍及1-2段由路人丁完成,3-5段由灿灿由完成,6-7段由Becky完成。

本次赏析,我们选了比较熟悉的文章,一篇有关我们中国的文章。通篇看下来,非常舒服,毕竟少了那么多需要了解的背景。同时,我可以了解下他们是如何向外国人解释他们不熟悉的东西。

这篇文章是来自The World in 2019,里面全是预测2019年全球发展趋势。 现在开始步入正题。

标题及配图

首先,看到这个题目The Chinese are coming,我想起了BBC的纪录片The Chinese are coming。这个纪录片主要讲了中国的崛起以及其带来的影响和产生的问题。
BBC:The Chinese are coming

其次,它也表示中国的支付方式铺天盖地地来了。

通过副标题,我们就能提前猜到文章的主要内容是有关支付宝及微信支付。

整个配图充满的都是很具有中国特色的生肖挂件。今年是狗年,估计接下来的中国猪年生肖挂件还没普遍上架,只能选择当前的狗年。

另外有些版本有这句“Chinese methods of payment will spread round the world”。虽然这句有助于对题目的解释,但是没有也不影响理解。

语言点

  • cuddly:它主要是说 (动物玩具)“柔软的,适合搂抱的”。我们就很容易注意到配图里的猪宝宝都是很柔软的。
    但这个词在这里修饰的是“QR”,它更应该表示“designed to be easy to like and not to offend people”。

作者Simon Long

《经济学人》文章一般没有署名,而这里有。这是国际版块主编写的,而不是中国版块的主编写的。而国际版块关注的是世界范围内普遍的东西。这再次有力说明了中国支付方式在世界范围内的普及程度。

下面我们来介绍一下此文的作者Simon Long。除了负责《经济学人》国际版,Simon Long还写 “Banyan”专栏。在当国际版主编以前,他主要负责金融和经济版块(finance and economics), 而此文涉及的支付属于金融范畴,我们就来欣赏他的文章,看他如何从金融的角度来讲述。

Paragraph 1
①IN SOME backwaters, metal discs and rectangular pieces of paper (known as “cash”, apparently) are still in vogue as a way to pay for things. ②Remarkably, some people still fill out slips of paper, sign and date them and consign them to the post (“cheques”). ③But three other ways to pay are gaining ground: by internet transfer; by plastic card, signed, authenticated by a code number (“chip and PIN”) or “contactlessly” wafted in the vicinity of a vendor’s terminal; and by mobile phone. ④In 2019 this last technique will advance further, and Chinese methods of payment will spread remorselessly round the world.

段落赏析

这段主要介绍世界现存的主要付钱方式。作为曾主编过金融版块的人,他出手不凡,以本质的形式介绍各个支付方式,从农村到城市,从不普遍到普遍,从原始到科技化。最后点出了本文的主题:中国的手机支付方式。

Ways to pay for things

另外有关移动支付,《经济学人》出过专门的报告How mobile money is spreading,大家可以配合着读。

词句精读

  • gain ground:gain ground的意思是“想法、理想等越来越流行,逐渐为人接受”,比如三种方式正逐渐被人接受,文章里是这么说的:“But three other ways to pay are gaining ground.”。
    《经济学》主编Doniel Franklin代表期刊记者们展望2019年,其中第11条:“It’s the year of…the vegan, “slow social”, gender self-ID and civil partnerships (gaining ground on traditional marriage in a growing number of countries).”。
    男性不一定比老婆挣得多这一观念越来为人接受,我们可以这么说“The idea that men could earn less than their wives is gaining ground in the society.”。

  • in the vicinity of:in the vicinity of的意思是“在……附近”。这比较正式,可以替换“close to”“near”。
    除了接触式刷卡外,还有一种就是在终端附近挥一下的刷卡方式,跟waft配合,很形象,这篇文章是这是就么写的:“contactlessly” wafted in the vicinity of a vendor’s terminal。
    Los Angeles Times在一篇有关反对对移民小孩实行催泪弹的文章里:“It’s unfortunate that women and children were in the vicinity of the group trying to enter the U.S,” he added.
    学校旁边有很多零食店,我们可以说:“There were a lot of snack shops in the vicinity of the primary school.”

  • remorselessly:remorseless的意思是“(of something unpleasant) relentless”,表示“(尤指不快的事)无休止的”。它的副词形式表示“不停地”。常用的表示“不停地”有continuously, continually, non-stop, unfailingly。
    《经济学人》在描述中国发展时,也用这个词:“For the next 37 years, its share grew remorselessly, accelerating around the time of its entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2001.”
    比如她老师不停的强调基础算术及文学,我们可以说:“Her teacher focused remorselessly on the basics of numeracy and literacy.”。

  • ②Remarkably, some people still fill out slips of paper, sign and date them and consign them to the post (“cheques”).
    一连串动作在一句里写完,很紧凑,脑海里就出现迅速签支票的画面。这里的sign and date表示“签名及签日期”。

Paragraph 2
①Two Chinese systems are expanding abroad. ②One is Alipay, a smartphone-based system devised for Taobao, an online platform run by Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce behemoth. ③Now under Alibaba’s affiliate, Ant Financial (an institution that in 2018 raised funds on terms suggesting its market value was about $150bn, more than Goldman Sachs’s), it claims some 870m users. ④Its rival is WeChat Pay, a product of Tencent, a social-media giant. ⑤Most Chinese use both.

段落赏析

第二段主要描写这种两支付系统,用的是总分总的结构。第一句及最后一句都是用简单句。中间先介绍支付宝,然后是微信支付。

词句精读

  • behemoth & giant:表示“巨头”。这里有两个词表示“巨头”,一个是“behemoth”,另一个是“giant”。此外,还有“titan”,“goliath”, “goliath”, “juggernaut”。

  • some:在“it claims some 870m users”句里,some的意思是“[ADV 副词] (用于数目前)大约”,可以替代用烂的“about”。这个用法我以前没有接触过,想表示“大约”时就可以用起来。
    《经济学人》说股市跌去5万亿,它就用到了"some":“Some $5trn was wiped off the value of shares globally. ”
    我已经学英语近20年了,就可以说“I have studied English for some 20 years.”

  • 如何向老外介绍中国东西:

    • 用有点熟悉的东西解释不熟悉的,用熟悉的东西解释有点熟悉的。
      Alipay: a smartphone-based system devised for Taobao
      Alipay估计让人更蒙了,借Taobao来说明。
      Taobao:an online platform run by Alibaba
      相对来说,Taobao就相对不熟,所以借Alibaba来说明。
      Alibaba: a Chinese e-commerce behemoth
      Alibaba对于外国人不陌生。
      这一系列环环相扣的解释彻底让读者明白支付宝是什么了,同样的方式来解释微信支付了。
      WeChat Pay:a product of Tencent
      微信支付是腾讯的产品。
      Tencent:a social-media giant.
      腾讯是一个社交巨头。
    • 除了有关联关系间的介绍,还可以跟比较知名的外国公司作对比。
      Ant Financial:Alibaba’s affiliate
      Ant Financial:an institution that in 2018 raised funds on terms suggesting its market value was about $150bn, more than Goldman Sachs’s
      这句可以补充介绍蚂蚁金服。

Paragraph 3
①And both are expanding overseas. ②By one account a third of Alipay’s users are abroad. ③In the summer of 2018 it processed 2.6 times as many foreign transactions as in the same period a year earlier. ④Like WeChat Pay, it set off abroad in pursuit of the growing numbers of Chinese tourists. ⑤Outlets in more than 40 countries accept it. ⑥Besides expanding under its own name, Alipay is buying stakes in local payments companies across Asia—including Paytm in India, ePaisa in Pakistan and Dana in Indonesia. ⑦WeChat Pay is also expanding into South-East Asia.

段落赏析

本段讲的是支付宝和微信支付的海外扩张。他们是跟随着中国人海外旅游的热潮而展开的,超过49个国家的奥特莱斯购物中心都可以使用。支付宝更是入股了很多亚洲国家当地的支付公司,微信支付也扩张到了东南亚国家。

词句精读

  • stake:意思是“股份,股本”,“if you have a stake in a business, you have invested money in it”,常用搭配是“hold / have a stake in sth”。比如说我们要表达,他在这家公司拥有 51% 的股份,就可以说:He holds a 51% stake in the firm. 另外,stake还有“风险”的意思,常用搭配是“at stake”,表示有风险,成败难料,if something that you value very much is at stake, you will lose it if a plan or action is not successful.

背景补充

outlet,本意是“出口,出路,通风口,排泄口”。Outlet首创于美国,已有上百年历史,是欧美发展最为强劲的零售业态,并逐渐风靡盛行欧美、东南亚等诸多国家。最初Oulet为工厂直销店,后慢慢形成类似shopping mall的Outlet购物中心,继而发展成独立的零售业态。

Outlet

Paragraph 4
①The payment systems they are introducing are so ubiquitous in China that even beggars use them. ②They are based on Quick Response (QR) codes, the square, black-and-white dot matrices first introduced in Japan’s car industry in the 1990s. ③These will take market share at the expense of other payment systems for two main reasons. ④One is the size of the Chinese market and the continued growth of the Chinese economy. ⑤The other is that they are easy to use—and cheap, requiring only a smartphone.

段落赏析

本段讲的是这两种支付系统在中国太普遍了。他们都是基于二维码,这个最初是由日本引入到了汽车行业。之所以盛行的原因,一个是中国市场的体量和中国经济的增长;另一个是使用的便捷性和低廉性,有智能手机就可以了。

词句精读

  • ubiquitous:意思是“无处不在的”,“seeming to be everywhere - sometimes used humorously”,近义词为“common”。 比如,我们想表达,如今好像到处都是咖啡馆,就可以说:Coffee shops are ubiquitous these days.

  • at the expense of:意思是“以…为代价;由…支付费用;在损害……情况下”,可以替换为“at the cost of”。我们想表达,不要因次要问题而冲淡了中心任务,就可以说:Don't stress minor issues at the expense of the central task.

Paragraph 5
①To see how they might take hold, consider Finland. A Finnish payments firm, ePassi, grew out of a software company under pressure from its staff in 2007 to give them tax-free benefits in kind, such as gym memberships and massages (Finland is a nice place). ②Balking, out of digital amour proper, at doing this with paper vouchers, it devised a virtual substitute—first in the form of text messages and then as a smartphone app, where users would select the payee from a list or map.

段落赏析

本段是用芬兰举例,讲移动支付如何占据主导地位。通过举epassi的例子,说明虚拟替代纸质带来的便利。

词句精读

  • take hold:表示“完全控制/影响某人或某物”,“If something takes hold, it gains complete control or influence over a person or thing.” 可以用“take charge”和“take control”来同义替换。我们想表达,她感到一种奇怪的兴奋感控制住了自己,就可以说:She felt a strange excitement taking hold of her.

  • in kind:在这里的意思是“以货物(服务)代款”,“a way of paying for something with goods or services instead of money”,可以说是payment in kind, 以实物支付;an allowance in kind,实物津贴。另外,in kind 还有“ <回报等> 以同种的事物,同样地”,比如,我们想表达,我以侮辱回报他的侮辱,就可以说:I repaid his insult in kind.(有点以牙还牙的感觉,可是切记:冤冤相报何时了~)

  • balk at:意思是“阻止,反对”,“If you balk at something, you definitely do not want to do it or to let it happen. ”我们想表达,即使是生物专业的大学生都可能会反对动物实验,就可以说:Even biology undergraduates may balk at animal experiments.

背景补充

ePassi, ePassi is the leading electronic payment system for personnel benefits in Finland. ePassi是员工福利方面的电子支付系统,在ePassi的官网上可以看到,服务范围涵盖了购物、娱乐、交通、饮食、健身等各方面,重点是:这些都是给员工的福利!(要不连《经济学人》的编辑都赞叹芬兰是个好地方啊~)

ePassi

Paragraph 6
①Then it tied up with Alipay, keen to serve the 300,000-400,000 Chinese tourists who visit Father Christmas and other attractions each year. ②It realised that QR codes would work for its own product as well. ③Alexander Yin of ePassi says he would travel with a selection of QR-code print-outs and two smartphones. ④Merchants he approached would at first be apprehensive, but soon see the system’s attractions. ⑤In 2018 ePassi announced a tie-up with Nordea, the biggest bank in the Nordic countries, to offer a QR-code-based mobile-payment system more widely.

段落解析

本段接上文,ePassi随着业务扩展开始与Alipay合作(为中国游客提供服务),进而发现二维码的妙处,推广给更多的商家,并与Nordea银行合作,广泛开展基于二维码的移动支付系统。

词句精读

  • tie up with:to connect something with something else. 把…与…密切联系起来。比如现在很多心理问题都指向原生家庭,很多心理医生可能都会询问:Does this tie up with anything in your own childhood?

  • attraction:这段中出现了两个attraction,一个表常见的“吸引”,另一个则表“名胜古迹,景点”。

  • ④Merchants he approached would at first be apprehensive, but soon see the system’s attractions.
    这是一个省略了whom的定语从句,非常生动地表现出商人们对二维码支付的态度转换——由最初不安到被吸引。

Paragraph 7
①Some people may resist the QR revolution. ②But China is coming for them, too, in the shape of China UnionPay, a state-controlled firm that dominates China’s payment-card market. ③Already its cards are accepted by more than 41m merchants and 2m ATMs in 170 countries. ④And it is planning a big overseas push.

段落分析

很多人反对二维码的兴起,但中国正在快速拥抱它,银联也在推广,并开始在海外布局。大势已到~

词句精读

  • resist:If you resist something such as a change, you refuse to accept it and try to prevent it.抵抗,反对。人们常说要抵制诱惑,但对于甜食爱好者来说,who can resist starting the day with chocolate?

  • in the shape of:You can use in the shape of to state exactly who or what you are referring to, immediately after referring to them in a general way. (精确说明所指)以…的形式,也就是。比如年底领导找你谈心,你对于心灵鸡汤已经完全免疫,只对物质要求丰富,就可以说:What I needed now was a little hope in the shape of a pay rise.

  • push:If someone or something pushes an idea or project in a particular direction, they cause it to develop or progress in a particular way.这里的push有推进,扩张,发展之意。比如年终总结时,你认为业务发展比流程化对公司现阶段而言更重要,就可以强调We should continue to push the business forward.

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