外刊精读（丁晓钟）（上）

The Guardian《卫报》

Amazon profits surge as investment in faster shipping pays off
Revenues rise to $87bn for fourth quarter of 2019
Christmas holidays were best in online retailer’s history
Dominic Rushe Thu 30 Jan 2020 16.57 EST
亚马逊利润激增，因为更快的运输投资获得了回报
2019年第四季度的收入增至870亿美元圣诞假期是在线零售商历史上最好的
多米尼克·鲁西 星期四2020年1月30日美国东部时间16.57

Amazon’s massive investment in faster shipping paid off for the tech company over the Christmas holidays with record sales and four times as many customers taking advantage of its free one-day shipping offer over the shopping season compared with last year.
在圣诞节期间，亚马逊在快速出货方面的巨额投资为这家科技公司带来了丰厚的回报，销售额创下历史记录，在购物季节中，利用免费一日运送服务的顾客数量是去年的四倍。

Amazon is spending billions making one-day shipping the default for its Prime members and the gamble helped drive its revenues up over $87bn for the final quarter of 2019, or $29bn a month, compared with $72.4bn in the fourth quarter of 2018.
亚马逊正在花费数十亿美元，将其金牌会员的默认一日发货服务作为赌注，这场赌博帮助推动了其2019年最后一个季度的收入增长了870亿美元，即每月290亿美元，而2018年第四季度的收入为724亿美元。

Profits increased to $3.3bn in the fourth quarter, up from $3bn in the same period last year, after a fall of 25% from July to September due to its costly shipping investments. Amazon’s shares shot up over 10% in after-hours trading.
第四季度的利润从去年同期的30亿美元增至33亿美元，此前7月份至9月份利润下降了25％，原因是其昂贵的运输投资。盘后交易中，亚马逊股价飙升了10％以上。

1.Amazon profits rocket on(因为，凭借，靠) investment gains(n.收益，投资) from faster shipping.
2.surge/soar/skyrocket/spike/boom/balloon/rocket 激增，飙升
3.ship 运输，运送，货运
4.pay off 取得成功，有回报
5.revenue 收入
6.billion(bn) 十亿
7.trillion 万亿
8.quarter 季度
9.retailer 零售商
10.retail/retailing giant 零售商巨头
11.EST （美国）东部标准时间
12.the tech company 这家科技公司
13.record sales 创纪录的销售额
14.take advantage of 利用
15.offer 特价
16.compared with/to //in comparison with 与…相比较
17.default 违约，默认
18.Prime member 金牌会员
19.gamble 赌博，冒险
20.drive sth up=push sth up 使…上升，增加
21.the same period 同期
22.Fiscal quarter 财政季度
23.due to=thanks to 因为
24.costly 昂贵的，代价高的
25.share 股价，股份
26.shoot up 上涨
27.After-hours trading 盘/市后交易

The New York Times《纽约时报》

Flying Into Patchy Fog, Kobe Bryant’s Pilot Had a Decision to Make
The weather was good when the helicopter with nine passengers left Orange County. But as they flew north, it quickly grew worse.
By Dave Philipps, Tim Arango and Louis Keene
Jan.27, 2020 Updated 9:44 p.m. ET
科比·布莱恩特（Kobe Bryant）的飞行员飞入团雾，做出了一个决定。当有9名乘客的直升机离开奥兰治县时，天气很好。但是当他们飞向北方时，情况迅速恶化。戴夫·菲利普斯（Dave Philipps），蒂姆·阿兰戈（Tim Arango）和路易·基恩（Louis Keene）2020年1月27日，下午9:44(东部时间)更新。

CALABASAS, Calif. — The helicopter carrying the basketball legend Kobe Bryant on Sunday morning circled over a golf course in Los Angeles’s Griffith Park, awaiting clearance from air traffic controllers to continue its flight into the hills.
加利福尼亚州加利福尼亚州卡拉巴萨市—载有篮球传奇人物科比·布莱恩特的直升机在周日上午盘旋在洛杉矶格里菲斯公园的一个高尔夫球场上，等待空中交通管制员的许可继续飞往山上。

The weather 55 miles south in Orange County, where the helicopter had departed less than an hour earlier, had been fine — four miles visibility. Mr. Bryant had made the same flight from near his home on the coast to the Camarillo airport, north of Los Angeles near Mr. Bryant’s basketball academy, many times.
在奥兰治县以南55英里处的天气很好，直升飞机不到一个小时就离开了那里，能见度为4英里。布莱恩特多次从海岸附近的家到洛杉矶以北的布莱恩特篮球学院附近的卡马里洛机场进行了相同的飞行。
1.patchy fog 团雾
2.pilot 飞行员
3.helicopter 直升机
4.fly north 往北飞
5.legend 传奇
6.circled over a golf course 在高尔夫球场上盘旋
7.await=wait for 等待
8.clearance 许可
9.air traffic controllers 空中交通管制员
10.flight 飞行
11.55 miles south Orange County 55英里以南的奥兰治县
12.depart 离开，启程(depart from) departing CEO 即将离任的CEO
13. visibility 能见度
14.visible 可见的
15.invisible barrier=glass ceiling 无形的障碍
16.Mamba Academy/Spirit 曼巴学院/精神
17.north of 以北
18.many times=multiple times 多次

New Scientist 《新科学家》

Microplastic pollution reduces animal life at the bottom of lakes
ENVIRONMENT 31 January 2020
By Adam Vaughan
微塑料污染减少了湖泊底部的动物
环境2020年1月31日
亚当·沃恩（Adam Vaughan）

Hotspots of microplastics can significantly reduce the number of certain animals vital to the ecosystems at the bottom of lakes, ponds and canals.
微塑料集中的地方可以显著减少对湖泊，池塘和运河底部的生态系统至关重要的某些动物的数量。

We know our waterways are being contaminated by plastic particles, but we don’t know if this is harming the animals that live at the bottom of freshwater bodies of water, which are a crucial source of food for larger species.
我们知道我们的水道受到塑料颗粒的污染，但是我们不知道这是否会损害淡水水域底部的动物，淡水水域是大型物种的重要食物来源。

Now, a study has found that exposing a family of worms called Naididae to a high concentration of microplastics roughly halved their number. Losing the Naididae worms matters, says study author Paula Redondo-Hasselerharm at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands.
现在，一项研究发现，将名为Naididae的蠕虫科暴露于高浓度的微塑料中，其数量大约减少了一半。荷兰瓦赫宁根大学和研究机构的研究作者Paula Redondo-Hasselerharm说，失去Naididae蠕虫很重要。

1.microplastic 微塑料
2.animal life at the bottom of lakes=animal life living at/dwelling at/residing at/inhabiting the bottom of lakes
3.inhabitant=dweller 居民，居住者
4.microeconomics 微观经济学
5.macroeconomic 宏观经济学
6.animal life 动物
7.plant life 植物
8.hotspots 热点，(引申义)聚集的地方，集中的地方
9.We should do all/everything(尽最大努力)in our power to foster(培养) good habits vital to sucess.
10.ecosystem 生态系统
11.the Grand Canal 大运河
12.waterway 水道
13.be contaminated 被污染
14.plastic particles 塑料颗粒
15.fine particles 细微的颗粒
16.particulate matter 微粒物质
17.freshwater bodies of water 淡水水体
18.food chain 食物链，食品连锁店
19.larger species 大型物种
20.a family of worms 蠕虫科
21.concentration 浓度
22.roughly 大约
23.halved(half) 减少了一半
24.upset the biological balance 打破生态平衡
25.In light of the raging outbreak of the novel coronavirus,a growing share of wage earners are opting for working from home.(介词短语引导的原因状语)
鉴于新冠病毒的肆虐爆发，越来越多的工薪阶层选择在家工作。
in the light of =considering/given 鉴于
26.a growing share of wage earners are opting for working from home，significantly pushing/driving down operating costs of companies across industries.
极大地降低了各个行业的运营成本
across the industry 整个行业

Time 《时代周刊》

Warren Buffett Is Selling His Newspaper Empire After Lamenting Industry Is ‘Toast’
BY KATHERINE CHIGLINSKY AND JOHN J. EDWARDS III / BLOOMBERG
JANUARY 29, 2020
沃伦·巴菲特在哀叹报业(the newspaper industry)大势已去/行将就木后,将要出售他的报业帝国
由凯瑟琳·奇格林斯基和约翰·J·爱德华三世/布隆伯格
2020年1月29日

Warren Buffett is getting out of the newspaper business.
沃伦·巴菲特（Warren Buffett）将退出报纸行业。

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to sell its BH Media unit and its 30 daily newspapers to Lee Enterprises Inc., which owns papers including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for $140 million in cash. Lee has been managing the papers for Buffett’s company since 2018, and Berkshire is loaning Lee the money for the purchase.
伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司（Berkshire Hathaway Inc.）同意将其BH媒体部门及其30家日报出售给里氏企业公司（Lee Enterprise Inc.），这家公司拥有包括圣路易斯邮报报纸，以1.4亿美元现金的价格(出售)。自2018年以来，李先生一直在管理巴菲特公司的报纸，而伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司也将为李先生的收购贷款。

Buffett, who got a job delivering papers as a teenager and invested in the industry to capitalize on its one-time local advertising stronghold, lamented last year that most newspapers are “toast.” BH Media, which owns papers across the country, has been cutting jobs for years to cope with declining ad revenue.
巴菲特（Buffett）少年的时候就得到了一份送报纸的工作，并在该行业进行了投资，以利用报纸行业原来有的(一度有的)地方性的广告堡垒(据点)，并感叹去年大部分报纸大势已去。 BH 媒体在全国各地拥有报纸，已经裁员多年，以应对广告收入下降的情况。

“We had zero interest in selling the group to anyone else for one simple reason: We believe that Lee is best positioned to manage through the industry’s challenges,” Buffett said in a statement Wednesday.
Buffett在周三的一份声明中称：“因为一个简单的原因，我们对于将该集团出售给其他公司毫无兴趣：我们相信，李氏是设法应对行业挑战的最佳人选。”

1.Person of the Year 年度人物
2.newspaper empire 报业帝国
3.emperor 皇帝，帝王
4.lament 哀叹，悲痛，痛惜
5.toast 吐司；考，烘（面包等）；干杯，祝酒；为…干杯，向…祝酒；深受敬慕的人，最受推崇的人；完蛋，遭殃(a person in desperate straits)
6.acquire/buy/purchase/take over 收购
7.require v.需要
8.merge 合并，融合
9.nature 自然
10.nurture 培养，培育
11.rural 乡村的，农村的
12.trending topic 热门话题
13.trending search 热搜
14.We are running in the red.我们的运营正在亏损/赤字。
15.in the black 有余额，有余钱
16.get out of=pull out of=withdraw from 退出
17.incorporated(inc) adj.有限责任公司
18.sell sth to sb for money
19.loan sb for sth 借某人钱做某事
20.purchasing power 购买力
21.deliver papers 送报纸
22.capitalize on sth 充分利用
23.one-time 原先有的
24.stronghold 堡垒，据点
25.cut jobs=shed jobs=laying off employees 裁员
26.had zero interest in 对…毫无兴趣
27.zero tolerance 零容忍