經濟學人精讀筆記17：無現金時代，電子支付大勢所趨

標簽（空格分隔）： 經濟學人

Part 1

The dash off cash

Rich countries must start planning for a cashless future

For the past 3,000 years, when people thought of money they thought of cash. From buying food to settling bar tabs, day-to-day dealings involved creased paper or clinking bits of metal. Over the past decade, however, digital payments have taken off—tapping your plastic on a terminal or swiping a smartphone has become normal.

揮金如土
發達國家必須開始為無現金的未來做計劃
在過去的3000年里，每當提起錢，人們總會想到現金，從購買食物到酒吧吧臺結算消費，日常交易用到的都是皺巴巴的紙幣或叮當作響的硬幣，然而，過去十年間，數字支付已經興起——在終端上刷卡或刷手機已經變得平常，

• dash off 匆忙完成，迅速完成，The dash off cash 指把錢快速完成，意為揮金如土，

dash [ dash ]單獨使用表示“使破滅”

dash / shatter (sb's) hopes 使（某人的）希望破滅

A failure would shatter the hopes of many people... 一次失敗會使很多人希望破滅，

【記憶方法】ash（灰燼）都d（ie）了，希望就更沒了，

• from …to…
  這是一個常見的舉例子的表達，在外刊中的出現頻率很高，結構為n. from A to B，A和B就是n.的兩個例子

在《金融時報》一篇講在線支付的文章有這么一句話：Mobile payments are widely used for everything from high-street shopping to ride hailing.從商業街購物到叫車服務，移動支付得到廣泛使用，

• When people thought of sth they thought of sth當人們想到某事時，他們想到了什么，

我們在寫作中將兩個事物聯系起來時就可以用到這個句型，如when we thought of childhood we thought of friends當我們想到童年的時候，我們想到了朋友，【寫作推薦】

• settle bar tabs 結清酒吧賬單

settle v. 付錢 These insurance companies take forever to settle a claim.這些保險公司要拖很久才支付索賠款項，【熟詞僻義】

tab n.賬款；賬目 The tab for the campaign was nearly $500 million. 活動的費用將近5億美元，

• day-to-day dealings 日常交易

【類似表達】daily trading/ daily transaction/ daily dealing

注意紙幣/硬幣這兩個表達“creased paper和clinking bits of metal”

creased paper 皺巴巴的紙張也就是紙幣

clinking bits of metal 其中clink指叮當作響， bits of指些許的；小片的，bits of metal指金屬片，clinking bits of metal指金屬片的叮當聲，clinking coins指響叮當的硬幣

• take off (突然）成功 In 1944, he met Edith Piaf, and his career took off.1944年，他遇到伊迪絲?琵雅芙，從此他的事業飛黃騰達，

此外take off還有“(飛機) 起飛離開/脫去/休假”的意思,要注意根據具體的語境進行區分，

• tap plastic on a terminal 終端機劃卡

plastic本義“塑料的”比如：plastic bag塑料袋，文中作名詞指“銀行卡”, plastic surgery整容手術

• terminal n.(計算機) 終端

還記得2016年鬧得沸沸揚揚的“韓國薩德部署”事件嗎？薩德全稱為末段高空區域防御系統，英語：Terminal High Altitude Area Defense，縮寫：THAAD故稱薩德，其中末端的就是terminal這個詞，

terminal常見作名詞“火車/汽車的終點站”比如2004年夢工廠出品的著名電影《幸福終點站》的英文名就是The Terminal

terminal還可以做形容詞①晚期的，不治的；致命的He has terminal lung cancer.他患有晚期肺癌，a terminal patient晚期病人

②末端的；末梢的

terminal examinations (= at the end of a course, etc.)期末考試

• swipe [swa?p] 作為動詞有“刷（卡）”的含義（to pull a plastic card through a machine that can read the electronic information on it）

Swipe your card to open the door.刷卡開門，現在也逐漸引申為“滑動（螢屏）”的意思，

Part 2

Now this revolution is about to turn cash into an endangered species in some rich economies. That will make the economy more efficient—but it also poses new problems that could hold the transition hostage.

如今，這場革命即將要把一些發達國家的現金變為“瀕危物種”，數字支付能夠讓經濟更高效，但同時也帶來了一些可能會阻礙經濟轉型的新的問題，

• endangered species 瀕危物種

• pose義為“構成；引起”(to create a threat, problem, etc. that has to be dealt with)，尤指構成或引起各種困難,經常搭配threat，danger，risk，problem等詞

比如氣候變化是全球發展的一個長期威脅：Climate change poses a long-term threat to global development.

再比如失業率上升正在給政府造成嚴重的問題：Rising unemployment is posing serious problems for the administration.

• transition n. 過渡; 轉變; 變遷

• hostage n. 人質

Part 3

Countries are eliminating cash at varying speeds. But the direction of travel is clear, and in some cases the journey is nearly complete. In Sweden the number of retail cash transactions per person has fallen by 80% in the past ten years. Cash accounts for just 6% of purchases by value in Norway. Britain is probably four or six years behind the Nordic countries. America is perhaps a decade behind. Outside the rich world, cash is still king. But even there its dominance is being eroded. In China digital payments rose from 4% of all payments in 2012 to 34% in 2017.

全球各國淘汰現金的速度雖然不同，但至少方向是明確的，某些國家甚至已經幾乎完全消除了現金，在過去十年間，瑞典人均零售現金交易次數下降了80%，換算至價值來說，現金僅占挪威購買金額的6%，英國可能比北歐國家落后四至六年，美國可能已經落后了十年，除開發達國家外，現金仍是王道，但即便是在這些不發達國家，現金的主導地位也正在遭受撼動，在中國，數字支付占總支付之比已經從2012年的4%上升至2017年的34%了，

• eliminating 淘汰

• at varying speeds 以不同的速度

【原文理解】the direction of travel 直譯“旅行的方向”，在文中的指這次電子支付前進的方向，與后文的journey旅程相呼應，

• cash transactions 現金交易

• account for sth to be a particular amount or part of sth（數量上、比例上）占

這個短語在外刊中出現的頻率很高，我們來看三個來自經濟學人的例句：

[經濟學人. Environmental economics in China] First, despite the common assumption that industries such as steel or coal are vast, they in fact account for a small, shrinking share of the Chinese economy. 首先，盡管人們普遍認為鋼鐵或煤炭等行業規模龐大，但實際上占中國經濟的份額很小，而且還在不斷萎縮，

[經濟學人. Environmental economics in China] China accounts for about two-fifths of global production of electric cars. 中國的電動汽車產量約占全球的五分之二，

• purchases vt. 購買；贏得

• Nordic countries 北歐國家

• dominance n. 優勢;支配地位

• eroded vt. & vi. 侵蝕, 腐蝕

Part 4

Cash is dying out because of two forces. One is demand—younger consumers want payment systems that plug seamlessly into their digital lives. But equally important is that suppliers such as banks and tech firms (in developed markets) and telecoms companies (in emerging ones) are developing fast, easy-to-use payment technologies from which they can pull data and pocket fees.

在兩股力量的作用下，現金正在走向滅亡，其一是需求——年輕的消費者希望支付系統能無縫接入他們的數字生活，其二，同樣重要的是，（發達國家市場的）銀行和科技公司以及（新興市場的）電信公司等供應商正在開發快捷、便利的支付技術，它們可以從中獲得資料并收取小額費用，

• die out 滅絕，消失

die away逐漸消失，逐漸模糊 die down（燈光）逐漸暗淡 die of/from sth死于…

old habits, die hard舊習難改

• force n. If you refer to someone or something as a force in a particular type of activity, you mean that they have a strong influence on it.力量，影響力；

For years the army was the most powerful political force in the country.多年來，軍隊一直是這個國家最強大的政治力量，

enter / come into force指法律、規則等“開始生效；開始實施”(to start being used)，比如 Parking restrictions in the town centre came into force last month. 市中心限制停車的法規于上月開始實施，

• demand vt. 要求

• plug into 接通，把…接入，插進

• seamlessly 無縫的 Plug seamlessly into 無縫插入

【寫作推薦】當我們需要闡述發生某件事情的兩個原因，且第二個原因比第一個原因更重要時，我們可以用one is…，but equally important is that… ，如Reading is popular because of two forces, one is that it can help us acquire knowledge, but equally important is that it can help us broaden our horizon and grow our mind.閱讀盛行的原因有兩個，一個是它可以幫助我們獲取知識，但更重要的是它可以幫助我們開闊視界，獲得心靈的成長，

其中 equally important is that…是倒裝句，可以避免頭重腳輕的問題，正確的語序是that… is equally important.

• easy-to-use 便捷的，簡單好用的

user-friendly adj.方便非專業用戶的；便于使用的；易于掌握的

Part 5

There is a high cost to running the infrastructure behind the cash economy—ATMs, vans carrying notes, tellers who accept coins. Most financial firms are keen to abandon it, or deter old-fashioned customers with hefty fees.

現金經濟背后運營的基礎設施成本高昂——自動取款機、運鈔車、收取硬幣的收納員，大多數金融公司都樂于拋棄現金交易，或者以高昂的手續費將傳統客戶拒之門外，

• ATM =Automatic Teller Machine 自動取款（出納）機

• vans n. 廂式貨車

• be keen to do sth渴望做某事

《經濟學人》中一篇關于杭州正在建設西湖大學的文章提到：Keen to host a top-class university, it offered Mr Shi tempting terms.由于急切渴望擁有一所頂尖大學，杭州給施一公（現西湖大學校長）開出了誘人的條件，

【類似表達】關于“渴望做某事”的多樣表達，這里列出一些短語可替換我們常用的want to do sth very much

• be eager to do sth/be eager for sth比如《福布斯》雜志中有一篇文章論述福特和通用兩家汽車公司所開發的無線技術的不同，其中說到：Ford is eager to bring mobile features into its cars as soon as possible. 福特迫切希望盡快給旗下汽車配置無線技術，

• yearn to do sth/yearn for sth比如《衛報》中一篇關于美國猶太人宗教信仰的文章中提到：By contrast, some older Trump supporters, who fear a homogenizing globalism, admire Israel for preserving Jewish identity while yearning to preserve America’s Christian identity in ways that exclude Jews.相比之下，一些較年長的擔心全球主義同質化的特朗普支持者卻欽佩以色列人，因為他們在保留自己猶太人身份的同時又渴望以排斥猶太人的方式保留美國的基督教徒身份，

• long to do sth/ long for sth
  比如《經濟學人》中有一篇書評參考了一位讀者寫給作者的信：Reading your book, I began to long for the days when people wrote letters to each other. 讀您的書讓我渴望回到人們仍相互寫信的日子，

• be hungry for sth/ be thirsty for sth這兩個詞組的用法類似，都很形象，比如《經濟學人》一篇關于金星的報道提到：MsJin describes herself as having been “a little Chinese boy thirsting for the West”.金女士將當時的自己描述為一個渴望西方的中國小男孩，

• be dying to do sth / be dying for sth表示“極度渴望…”

比如《福布斯》雜志中有一篇關于投資理財的文章提到：The landscape is riddled with pretenders who are clever and dying to get their hands on your assets.投資界滿是狡猾老道的覬覦者，迫不及待地想占有你的財產，

• abandon v.放棄，舍棄

【相關表達】abandon sth. in favor of sth. 為獲得…（更好或更需要的事物）放棄…. He abandoned teaching in favour of a career as a musician.他棄教從事音樂，【寫作推薦】

abandon sb to his fate讓某人自生自滅,聽任...

The government had abandoned the refugees to their fate .政府拋棄了難民，讓他們聽天由命，

• deter [d??t??r]v.to stop someone from doing something, by making them realize it will be difficult or have bad results 威懾；使不敢 I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告訴他我不感興趣，可他卻不罷休，

undeterred adj.if you are undeterred by sth, you do not allow it to stop you doing what you want未被嚇住的；不灰心喪氣的 Undeterred by his early failures, he decided to keep writing.他沒有被一開始的失敗嚇倒，決定堅持寫作，

undaunted [?n?d??nt?d]也可以表示“無畏的”、“勇敢的” (not afraid of continuing to try to do something in spite of difficulties or danger)，在外刊中出現頻率較高，與undeterred用法一樣，比如： Undaunted by the enormity of the task, they began rebuilding the village.他們不畏任務艱巨，開始重建村莊，

• hefty詞根是heft n. the weight of sb/sth 重量 She was surprised by the sheer heft of the package. 就那包裹沉甸甸的分量夠她吃驚的了，

hefty [?hefti] adj. [usually before noun] 1. big and heavy高大健壯的; 笨重的 a tall, hefty man一個高大健壯的男人hefty camera equipment笨重的照相器材

2. a hefty amount of something, especially money, is very large〔尤指金錢〕大量的，巨額的 a hefty fine巨額罰款

3. (BrE) a hefty blow, kick etc is done using a lot of force有力的，重重的 He aimed a hefty kick at the door.他對著門猛踢了一腳，a hefty shove一記猛推

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