经济学人:美国终于向数字支付下手了(1)

时间:2021-04-05 18:31:00 编辑:Melody 可可英语APP下载 | 可可官方微信:ikekenet

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A digital-payments system that favours consumers,not banks and credit-card firms, is long overdue.
一个利于消费者而非银行和信用卡公司的数字支付系统早就应该出现了

America is home to both Silicon Valley and Wall Street, yet it has long seemed in the dark ages on digital payments.
美国是硅谷和华尔街的故乡，但它似乎长期处于数字支付的黑暗时代。

A cosy credit-card duopoly, consisting of Visa and Mastercard, works with the banks to issue cards,
作为信用卡领域的两强垄断集团，Visa和万事达与银行合作发行信用卡，

with the result that there has been too little competition and sky-high profit margins.
他们的游刃有余却造成市场缺乏竞争，利润率成了天价。

Having outdated and expensive digital financial plumbing is no mere technicality:
过时且昂贵的数字金融体系不仅会带来技术上的问题：

as online shopping becomes a bigger part of everyday spending, it threatens to become a heavy tax on innovation.
随着网购在日常开支中所占比重逐渐加大，它还有可能会给创新带来重负。

And it means too few people, especially in poorer households, have access to cheap and simple financial tools.
这意味着极少数人才能够获得廉价、简单的金融工具，尤其是对贫困家庭而言。

Thanks to the pandemic, there has been a surge in payments online and experimentation by consumers with new services provided by digital-payments firms.
多亏了新冠疫情，在线支付以及消费者尝试数字支付公司提供的新服务的次数均在激增。

In the past quarter the volume of transactions on PayPal was 36% higher than a year earlier.
过去一个季度，PayPal的交易量比去年同期增长了36%。

The number of people using Square's digital Cash App rose by 50% to 36m during 2020.
2020年，使用Square数字现金应用程序的人数增加了50%，达到3600万。

Investors are now betting that these two firms, together with Stripe and Adyen (which is Dutch), form a quartet that can take on America's stodgy financial establishment.
投资者们估计，这两家公司连同Stripe和Adyen（荷兰公司）打算四家联手与美国古板的金融机构展开较量。

PayPal is worth $275bn, nearing Bank of America, the country's second-biggest lender.
PayPal市值2750亿美元，接近美国第二大银行美国银行的市值。

Despite the rise of innovative firms, fees for American consumers have yet to fall by much.
尽管创新型公司不断崛起，但美国消费者的手续费仍没有大幅下降。

扫描二维码进行跟读打分训练

1. And it means too few people, especially in poorer households, have access to cheap and simple financial tools.

have access to 得接近;得会见;得进入

All the rooms have access to the Internet.

所有的房间都可以接入互联网zO(90Lf9ED8s*gjtGhB。

2. By contrast, China’s big fintech firms charge below 0.5%.

by contrast 相比之下

The private sector, by contrast, has plenty of money to spend

相比之下，私营部门就有很多钱可供开销t;ah(a(I~3yg。

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重点单词		查看全部解释
commerce	['kɔmə:s]	想一想再看 n. 商业，贸易	联想记忆 X 单词commerce 联想记忆： com共同，merce＝merchant（n 商人）－共同经商－商业
outdated	[.aut'deitid]	想一想再看 adj. 旧式的，落伍的，过时的
contrast	['kɔntræst,kən'træst]	想一想再看 n. 差别，对比，对照物 v. 对比，成对照<
pervasive	[pə:'veisiv]	想一想再看 adj. 普遍的，蔓延的，渗透的	联想记忆 X 单词pervasive 联想记忆： per全部+vas走+ive表形容词…全部走遍→遍及的
scale	[skeil]	想一想再看 n. 鳞，刻度，衡量，数值范围 v. 依比例决
overdue	['əuvə'dju:]	想一想再看 adj. 过期的，未兑的，迟到的
competition	[kɔmpi'tiʃən]	想一想再看 n. 比赛，竞争，竞赛
innovative	['inəuveitiv]	想一想再看 adj. 革新的，创新的
establishment	[is'tæbliʃmənt]	想一想再看 n. 确立，制定，设施，机构，权威	联想记忆 X 单词establishment 联想记忆： establish建立+ment表名词,“行为或结果”→建立，设立
dynamic	[dai'næmik]	想一想再看 adj. 动态的，动力的，有活力的 n. 动力