文章導讀
本文選自《經(jīng)濟學(xué)人》2019年7月20日文章。自從Facebook要推出Libra電子貨幣后，美國各界都不淡定了。在金融界，《華爾街日報》一直發(fā)文抨擊Libra，畢竟Libra動(dòng)了華爾街的奶酪；在政界，Facebook高管受?chē)鴷?huì )議員聽(tīng)證更是家常便飯。Facebook高管稱(chēng)，Libra的盈利將來(lái)自廣告，挖掘交易數據也需要用戶(hù)同意。丑聞纏身的Facebook為什么要推出一種全球金融工具？又是否能做好這款電子貨幣？
由于篇幅較長(cháng)，本文節選原文標題和全文重點(diǎn)段落進(jìn)行精講，
選文精講
Facebook says it will behave better from now on
Facebook說(shuō)，從現在開(kāi)始會(huì )表現得更好
Promise 承諾
Jul 20th 2019
THE SCENE is becoming familiar: a Facebook executive is hauled before Congress in Washington, DC; a public grilling ensues. At least on July 16th and 17th American lawmakers looked better prepared than they were a year ago when they displayed little idea of Facebook’s business during hearings over its failure to stop a rogue consultancy from harvesting data on 50m users without permission. This time David Marcus fielded mostly sensible questions about the social network’s nascent cryptocurrency project, Libra, which he heads. Would transaction data be mined for valuable spending patterns? How will Facebook make money from Libra, which is to be governed by an independent body based in Switzerland?
grill: 嚴厲盤(pán)問(wèn)，此外該詞還有“炙烤”的意思
ensue: 接著(zhù)發(fā)生
nascent: 新興的、初生的
這一幕變得越來(lái)越熟悉:Facebook的一位高管被帶到華盛頓特區的國會(huì )面前;公眾的拷問(wèn)隨之而來(lái)。至少在7月16日和7月17日，美國國會(huì )議員們看起來(lái)比一年前準備得更充分了，當時(shí)他們在聽(tīng)證會(huì )上對Facebook的業(yè)務(wù)幾乎一無(wú)所知，該公司當時(shí)因未能阻止一家流氓咨詢(xún)公司在未經(jīng)許可的情況下收集5000萬(wàn)用戶(hù)的數據而接受聽(tīng)證。這一次，大衛·馬庫斯回答了有關(guān)這家社交網(wǎng)絡(luò )公司新興加密貨幣項目Libra的大部分合理問(wèn)題。交易數據會(huì )被挖掘出有價(jià)值的消費模式嗎?Facebook將如何從Libra賺錢(qián)?Libra將由一個(gè)總部位于瑞士的獨立機構管理。
Mr Marcus offered reasonable answers. User consent will be required to mine transaction data; money will come from advertisers, happy to pay to gain access to consumers more willing to part with their money thanks to easier online payments. The big question on everybody’s mind was different, however: why on Earth would scandal-plagued Facebook launch a global financial instrument at all?
scandal-plagued: 丑聞纏身的
馬庫斯先生給出了合理的答案。挖掘交易數據需征得用戶(hù)同意；Facebook的盈利將來(lái)自廣告商，他們愿意付費，以獲得更愿意掏錢(qián)的消費者，因為在線(xiàn)支付更加便捷。然而，每個(gè)人心里都有一個(gè)大問(wèn)題：丑聞纏身的Facebook究竟為什么要推出一種全球金融工具?
聯(lián)系客服
