Public-sector net debt in Britain rose above 2trn pounds ($2.6trn) for the first time. The government’s debt at the end of July was roughly equal to GDP.
英国公共部门净债务首次超过2万亿英镑(约合2.6万亿美元)。7月底,英国政府的债务大致与该国的国内生产总值持衡。
American Airlines confirmed that it would slash 19,000 jobs in October, when the requirement to retain staff ends under the conditions of the federal bail-out of the aviation industry. The government was said to be considering a new rescue package for America’s biggest airlines.
美国航空公司证实,将在10月份削减1.9万个工作岗位,届时在联邦政府纾困航空业的条件下,保留员工(岗位)的要求将会结束。据说,政府正在考虑为美国最大的航空公司制定新的救助计划。
Virgin Atlantic reached a vital agreement with creditors that will allow a 1.2bn pounds ($1.6bn) private-refinancing plan to proceed. The cash-strapped airline was unable to secure a rescue deal earlier in the year from the British government.
维珍大西洋航空公司与债权人达成了一项至关重要的协议,允许价值12亿英镑(16亿美元)的私人再融资计划继续推进。今年早些时候,这家资金紧张的航空公司未能获得英国政府的救援协议。
Rolls-Royce reported a 5.4bn pounds ($6.8bn) pre-tax loss for the first six months of the year. The engineering company has been hurt by the grounding of flights during the pandemic; airlines pay it based on how many hours they use its engines.
劳斯莱斯报告称,今年前六个月税前亏损54亿英镑(约合68亿美元)。这家引擎制造公司受到了疫情期间航班停飞的影响;航空公司根据使用引擎的时间来支付费用。
In contrast to the aviation industry’s woes, the boom in home shopping has led Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, to create 16,000 extra permanent jobs in its online business, mostly warehouse pickers and drivers.
与航空业的困境形成鲜明对比的是,居家购物的繁荣为英国最大的连锁超市乐购(Tesco)的在线业务领域额外创造了1.6万个固定工作岗位,其中大部分是仓库拣货员和司机。
Purveyors of electronic goods have also done well as people spend more time at home. Best Buy reported a 242% increase from online revenue in its most recent quarter. Trade has been so brisk that the American retailer could run out of some goods, such as game consoles.
由于人们长时间待在家里,电子产品供应商的收益也十分可观。百思买(Best Buy)最近一个季度的在线收入增长了242%。交易如此活跃,以至于美国零售商的一些商品可能售罄,比如游戏机。
The cost of building Crossrail, which will link west and east London by train and is Europe’s biggest infrastructure project, rose again, to 18.7bn pounds ($25bn). The opening date was again pushed back, to mid-2022. It was supposed to open in 2018.
欧洲最大的基础设施项目Crossrail的建设成本再次上涨,达到187亿英镑(约合250亿美元)。该项目将通过铁路将伦敦的东、西部连接起来。通车日期再次被推迟到2022年中期。原计划于2018年通车。
Once a scourge of the music industry because of its pioneering platform that allowed people to share tunes, illegally, over the internet, Napster was sold for $70m by RealNetworks, its current owner, to Melodyvr, a startup based in London. Napster was forced to close in 2001 but the name lived on and it reinvented itself as a music-streaming service.
Napster曾因其允许用户在互联网非法分享音乐的开创性平台而成为音乐产业的一个灾难,如今,它的所有者RealNetworks以7000万美元的价格将其卖给了总部位于伦敦的初创公司Melodyvr。2001年,Napster被迫关闭,但这个名字依然存在,它将自己重新定位为一家音乐流媒体服务公司。
Don’t touch your face!
千万别触摸面部!
Kentucky Fried Chicken’s latest ad campaign dropped the “finger lickin’ good” slogan it has used for 64 years, because it doesn’t “quite fit” with clinical advice on COVID-19.
肯德基在最新的广告宣传活动中放弃了使用了64年的“吮指”广告词,因为其与新冠肺炎的临床建议“不太相符”。