經濟學人精讀筆記11：你還會逛物體書店嗎？

標簽（空格分隔）： 經濟學人

Part 1

New ways of selling books clash with France’s old pricing rules

Can a “one book, one price” principle survive e-commerce?

A book is so much more than mere ink and paper. So insist French booksellers, who for nearly four decades have successfully lobbied to keep the forces of the free market at bay.

在法國，新的書籍銷售模式與舊的定價規則相沖突
“一書一價”原則能否在電子商務的洪流中繼續生存
說起書籍，它不僅僅是墨水和紙張，法國書商一直是這樣認為的，近40年來，他們的游說成功地遏制了自由市場的發展，

• clash [kl??] n. [C] an argument between two people or groups because they have very different beliefs or opinions 爭論；交鋒；矛盾

The plans put oil companies in a head-on clash with environmentalists. 這些計劃使石油公司和環境保護主義者發生了正面沖突，

• survive v.幸存；幸免于難；艱難度過

The company managed to survive the crisis.公司設法渡過了危機，

【古詩文鑒賞】順天者存，逆天者亡，Those who follow the Heaven’s law will survive; those who go against it will perish.

• lobby [?lɑbi] v.to try to influence a politician or the government and, for example, persuade them to support or oppose a change in the law 游說（從政者或政府）
  【熟詞僻義】lobby的名詞意思我們很熟悉是“大廳”

lobby against sth try to persuade people in power not to approve (sth such as a law)游說當權者不要通過(某項法案等);通過政治活動、寫信等防止(某事)

The cotton farmers from the South lobbied against a law to allow importing cotton from Egypt.南方的棉農對議員進行游說,反對通過一項準許從埃及進口棉花的法律，

lobby for sth try to persuade people in power to approve (sth such as a law) or take (action); try to obtain (sth) by political action, writing letter, etc.疏通,游說當權者批準(某處法案)或采取(某種活動);試圖通過游說或疏通活動獲得(某物) They are lobbying for a reduction in defence spending.他們正在為減少國防開支而游說議員，

【近義詞辨析】lobby/dissuade/ persuade這組詞都可以表示“使某人相信或同意”，其區別是：

*lobby 特指游說議員而使議案得以通過;

*persuade 的意思是“說服”,指通過情感、意愿等辦法說服某人從而去做所希望的事，We're trying to persuade manufacturers to sell them here.我們正在努力勸說制造商在這里銷售，

*dissuade 的意思是“勸阻”,意指通過勸說讓某人別干某件冒險、不明智或預計產生不良后果的事，I tried to dissuade him from giving up his job.我勸過他，讓他不要放棄自己的作業，

• hold/keep sb/sth at bay 不讓（敵人）接近；防止（問題惡化）= ward off

I'm trying to keep my creditors at bay.我在竭力避開債主，

Charlotte bit her lip to hold the tears at bay.夏洛特咬住嘴唇不讓眼淚流出來，

• forces n. 力量；武力；魄力；軍隊
  vt. 強迫；強加；促使，推動

Part 2

A law passed in 1981 bans the sale of any book at anything other than the price decreed by its publisher. Authorities are cracking down on those trying to flog the latest Thomas Piketty or J.K. Rowling at a discount.

1981年，法國通過了一項法律，要求任何書籍必須以出版商規定的價格來出售，法國當局正在打擊那些試圖打折出售托馬斯·皮凱蒂或J·K·羅琳最新作品的人，

• decree v.|d??kri:|(decreeing, decreed, decreed)to decide, judge or order sth officially 裁定；判決；頒布

The government decreed a state of emergency.政府下令進入緊急狀態，

• crackdown on sth / sb 指“嚴厲的打擊；鎮壓”

The government has cracked down on informal sources of financing from which much vc funding has flowed, for example. 比如，政府打擊了非正式融資來源，而大量風投資金正是從這些渠道而來，[經濟學人：Unicorns in winter]

【類似表達】clamp down on sth

Last year regulators focused on the financial system, clamping down, for instance, on borrowing to buy bonds. 去年，監管機構專注于治理金融體系，例如限制借錢買債券，[經濟學人：Life After Digging]

• crackdown連起來作名詞：嚴厲的打擊；鎮壓

a military crackdown on student protesters 對抗議的學生實行的軍事鎮壓

【近義詞辨析】 break / burst / crack / crush / fracture / shatter / smash這些動詞均可以表示“打破、弄碎”

*break :常用詞，含義廣泛，多指猛然用力將堅硬物打破或損壞，All the windows broke with the force of the blast.爆炸的力量震碎了所有的窗戶，

*burst :指某物因內部外部壓力過大而出現嚴重破裂、爆開或賬破，That balloon will burst if you blow it up any more.你再給氣球充氣，它就要爆了，

*crack：多指因長期使用或經受壓力，物體表現呈現裂紋、裂口或破裂、裂開，但一般沒成碎片，

The ice cracked as I stepped onto it.我一踩冰就裂了，

*crush: 指用力把東西壓破或變形，

The car was completely crushed under the truck.小轎車被卡車壓得完全變形了，

*fracture: 比crack的破裂程度更深更嚴重，常指斷裂，醫學上指骨折，

His leg fractured in two places.他的一條腿有兩處骨折，

*shatter : 指破裂為許多支離破碎的碎片，多用指易碎事物，He dropped the vase and it shattered into pieces on the floor.他失手把花瓶掉到地板上摔碎了，

*smash :（嘩啦一聲）打碎，打破，破碎指突然而猛烈地重擊某物，使之破碎或完全變形，

Several windows had been smashed.幾扇窗戶劈里啪啦打碎了，

• flog v.出售 By the mid-1960s similar gizmos were being flogged by door-to-door salesmen. 到了60 年代中期，推銷員開始上門兜售類似的小玩意，

flog 作動詞也有“鞭打”的意思，拓展一個寫作

推薦使用的地道表達：flog a dead horse字面意義是“鞭打一匹已經死掉的馬”；引申義“做徒勞無益的事” You're beating /flogging a dead horse by trying to persuade Simon to go to Spain with us. 你勸西蒙跟我們一起去西班牙是在白費功夫，【寫作推薦】

【類似表達】be a wasted effort 白費力氣

in vain 枉費心機；徒勞無益；白費力氣

• at a discount 打折出售

discount n.折扣 它通常用在表示某個具體的折扣，比如：They're offering a 10% discount on all sofas this month.本月他們給沙發售價統統打九折，

【類似表達】

*cut-rate adj.costing less than standard price打折扣的

cut-rate goods打折商品

*cut-price adj.打折扣的 cut-price supermarkets 折價超市

*on sale 打折
They were all on sale, so we saved some money! 它們都在打折，所以我們省了些錢，（for sale強調待售，on sale是促銷，on sale更常用的口語含義就是"大減價"，）

I got something on sale. 我趁打折的時候買了一點東西，這里也可以用bought（buy）表示“買”，但got更加地道和口語化，

一定要注意打折是on sale而不是on sales，sales通常用在：sales assistant售貨員 /sales department 銷售部

*“數字%+ off”也是“打折”的意思，比如：30% off 打七折, 20% off 打八折 They're offering a 10% discount on all sofas this month. 本月他們給沙發售價統統打九折，

Part 3

The fixed-price rule is meant to keep customers loyal to their local bookshop and out of the clutches of supermarkets and hypercapitaliste American corporations.

But the advent of e-commerce and e-readers has prompted questions worthy of their own tomes. Can you fix the price of a book if it is part of an all-you-can-read subscription service? Are audiobooks books at all? And what of authors who self-publish?

固定價格的規定是為了讓顧客忠于當地的書店，并免受超級市場和美國超級資本主義公司的傭訓，
但電子商務和電子書的出現引發了一些值得我們探討的問題，作為“隨你讀”訂閱服務中的一本書，你能確定它的價格嗎？有聲書算是書嗎？還有那些由作家自己出版的書籍呢？

• fixed adj.固定的fixed prices固定價格 people living on fixed incomes靠固定收入生活的人們

• set adj.固定的Mornings in our house always follow a set pattern.在我們家，每天上午的生活總是遵循一種固定的模式，

• the advent of the coming of an important event, person, invention, etc.（重要事件、人物、發明等的）出現，到來

The advent of AI technology changes our life beyond recognition. 人工智能技術的出現大大改變了我們的生活，【寫作推薦】

• tome n.|t??m |(formal) a large heavy book, especially one dealing with a serious topic （尤指理論性的）大部頭書，巨著

• subscription 指“訂閱，訂購”，an annual subscription 訂購一年的費用，

如果想表達“訂購、訂閱某物”需要用到介詞to：a subscription to sth

比如訂閱經濟學人，可以說take out a subscription to The Economist或者直接用動詞subscribe：subscribe to The Economist

• clutches n. 控制；手；離合器；緊急關頭

• hypercapitaliste 超級資本主義

• advent n. 出現, 到來

Part 4

Tweaks have been made to preserve the principle of one book, one price. In 2011 the rule began to apply to digital tomes.Free delivery by online sellers was prohibited on the grounds it implied a subsidy on the delivered books (prompting websites to charge all of 0.01 for postage). But a new challenge to the policy is proving thornier.

為了維持一書一價的原則，法國當局已經做出了一些調整，2011年，線上銷售的大部分書籍開始適用這一規定了，規定禁止線上賣家對書籍包郵，因為包郵就意味著對書籍的配送給予了補貼（線上賣家只得收取0.01歐元的郵費），但事實證明，這項政策面臨著更加棘手的挑戰，

• tweak 作動詞意為“擰，扭，扯”，后引申為“輕微調整、改進”，相當于slight changes/fine tuning既可以作名詞，也可以做動詞.

[經濟學人.Epic Fall] Facebook seems to think it only needs to tweak its approach. Facebook似乎認為自己只需微調方式方法

• free delivery 包郵，另一種說法是“postage included ”

make deliveries 送貨，送快遞

home delivery service 送貨上門

pick up post 取快遞

• ground 除了“地面”還有“充分的理由；根據”的意思
  on the grounds that 以…為由
  The case was dismissed on the grounds that there was not enough evidence. 此案以缺乏足夠的證據為由被駁回，

on …grounds 以…為由,因為
He retired from the job on health grounds .他因健康原因退職，

no grounds for sth. 沒理由…
You have no grounds for complaint.你沒有理由抱怨，

【相關表達】其他有關ground的地道表達：

be thin on the ground意思是“不是隨處可見，少有的”

與之相反，be thick on the ground 表示“隨處可見，到處都是”比如Cheap houses aren't as thick on the ground as they used to be.廉價房不再像從前那樣隨處可見了，

sth has become fertile ground for sth.
fertile ground本義是“肥沃的土壤”，該句型可理解為“成為…的溫床，成為…的沃土”，比如談到社交媒體的影響，我們可以說：Social network has become fertile ground for stalking, harassment and cyber bullies. 【寫作推薦】

prepare the ground (for sth) = pave the way (for sb/sth) v.（為…）鋪平道路，創造條件，（為…）準備條件，鋪路.

The mushroom development of technology will pave the way for improving our economy. 科學技術的迅猛發展將為我們改善經濟狀況鋪平道路.

• postage n.|?p??st?d?| the cost of sending a letter, etc. by post 運費，郵費和上文的delivery作同義替換

All prices include postage and packing .所有的價格都包括郵資和包裝費，

• thornier是形容詞thorny的比較級

thorny ['θ?:ni] 來源于名詞thorn，thorn指“植物莖上的刺”，其對應的形容詞thorny義為“多刺的；帶刺的”，引申義為“棘手的；麻煩的；引起爭議的”(causing difficulty or disagreement)，是一個很形象的小詞，

《經濟學人》在報道馬云卸任以及劉強東事件時也用到了這個詞：The two events have concentrated minds on a thorny, long-standing problem in Chinese corporate governance: “key-man risk”. 這兩起事件突顯了中國企業管理中存在的一個棘手的、長期存在的問題：“關鍵人風險”，

與之相近的還有一個詞knotty，其本義是“盤根錯節的”，引申為“難以解決的，棘手的”，

• prohibited vt. 阻止，禁止

Part 5

Used books are exempt from the pricing rule. Third-party sellers on Amazon are accused of using this as a way to apply forbidden discounts: selling brand-new books as “second-hand” to make them cheaper.

So fans of bleak fiction can purchase a copy of the latest Michel Houellebecq novel, “Sérotonine”, for 11.71 ($13.21) on Amazon, roughly half its mandated price. Its seller claims it is in “perfectly new” condition.

二手書籍是不受定價規則限制的，有人指控，亞馬遜上的第三方賣家利用這種方式避開了打折禁令：將新書當作“二手書”以更便宜的價格出售，
因此，致郁系小說迷可以在亞馬遜上以11.71歐元（約合13.21美元，大約是其法定價格的一半）的價格購買米歇爾·維勒貝克最新的小說《血清素》，賣家則聲稱書是“全新的”，

• exempt sb / sth from sth
  to give someone permission not to do or pay something 免除，豁免

Charities are exempted from paying the tax. 慈善團體免付這項稅款， His bad eyesight exempted him from military service. 他因視力不好而免服兵役，

• brand-new adj.全新的，嶄新的=fire-new

• mandate [?m?nde?t] v. to tell someone that they must do a particular thing 命令，指示；強制規定

Justice mandates that we should treat all candidates equally. 公平原則要求我們應該平等地對待所有的候選人，

• bleak adj. 荒涼的，無遮蔽的；陰冷的；黯淡的，無希望的；冷酷的；單調的

Part 6

Amazon claims its practices are legal. But booksellers are fuming, and their political allies with them. “This is a major preoccupation,” complained Franck Riester, the culture minister, at a booksellers’ shindig this week. He says new legislation may be needed.

亞馬遜聲稱其行為是合法的，但書商和他們的政治盟友則感到憤怒，法國文化部長弗蘭克·里斯特本周在一次書商座談會中抱怨稱：“現在的當務之急是解決這一問題，”他表示，想要解決這一問題可能需要新的立法，

• fume 一般做名詞“煙，煙霧”，也作動詞“（對…）大為生氣，十分畝訓”非常形象，可以想象一下“氣到冒煙”常用搭配~ (at/over/about sb/sth) to be very angry about sth （對…）大為生氣，十分畝訓

She sat in the car, silently fuming at the traffic jam. 她坐在汽車里，心中對交通堵塞感到十分畝訓，

• a big/major/chief preoccupation 當務之急

By now this had become a major preoccupation for him. 現在這已成為他的當務之急.

Their chief preoccupation was how to feed their families. 他們關注的首要事情是如何養家糊口.

【類似表達】priority n. [pra?`?r?t?] 優先事項；最重要的事；當務之急
The government's priority is to build more power plants. 政府的首要任務是建造更多的發電站，

• allies n. 同盟國；同盟者；助手；伙伴

• shindig n. 狂歡會,舞會,吵鬧,騷動

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