经济学人上有一篇文章就讲到了电商发展的利弊,文章标题是E-commerce takes off,今天公众号“高斋外刊双语精读”就带大家一起来看看其中的一些观点。这篇内容既适合练翻译,也适合学写作,提高阅读理解。
经济学人原文:Since retailing touches the economy and society in so many ways, e-commerce is already having broad effects well beyond the industry itself. Small new manufacturers are able to challenge big, established ones, thanks to the ease of selling goods online. Consumers are enjoying a broader choice of goods and more price transparency than ever before. But for bricks-and-mortar shops these are difficult times. In some parts of the world shopping malls are being blighted as their customers move online. Many traditional retail jobs will vanish as shops close and the remaining ones use more automation.
高斋参考译文:零售业关系到经济和社会生活的方方面面,因而电子商务影响广泛,其影响范围已经远远超出行业本身。网上销售十分便利,一些新兴的小型制造商如今已有能力挑战大型老牌制造商。消费者的购物选择比以往任何时候都丰富,价格透明度比以往任何时候都要高。但对实体店而言,眼下正是困难时期。在世界某些地区,顾客转向线上消费导致一些商场陷入生存困境。大量实体店铺关闭,继续经营的门店也更多采用自动化技术,许多传统零售行业的岗位即将消失。
第一句:Since retailing touches the economy and society in so many ways, e-commerce is already having broad effects well beyond the industry itself.
零售业关系到经济和社会生活的方方面面,因而电子商务影响广泛,其影响范围已经远远超出行业本身。
1. Since在这里表示原因。because和since的区别: 前者语气强,而since语气弱,前后因果关系是自然而然的。
2. retailing指零售业。实体零售业称为physical retailing,网上零售业称为online retailing。
3. 熟词偏义:touch在这里的意思是“对……有影响,关系到/涉及……”,后面可以接sb或者sth,相当于affect。比如:
科学影响着我们生活的方方面面。
英文就可以说:
Science touches/affects almost every facet of our life.
4. 固定句型:A touch B in so many ways可以当作一个固定句型来记,表示“……影响到……的很多方面;……影响到……的方方面面”,touch也可以换为affect;
“……影响到……的很多方面;……影响到……的方方面面”还可以说affect many/all aspects of//almost every facet of...
我们常说“对生活的方方面面都产生影响”,英文可以写为...affect all aspects of/almost every facet of one’s life. 举个例子:
你生活的方方面面都将受到影响。
All aspects of your life are to be affected.
5. 同义表达:have broad effects表示“影响广泛;产生广泛影响”,“影响广泛”还可以说have wide-ranging impacts/implications。如下图经济学人所示:

6. 固定表达:well beyond表示“远远超出”,可以替换为far beyond,动词短语就是go far beyond。well beyond sth itself可以当作一个固定搭配来记,意思是“远远超出什么本身”。
看到well beyond,我想起在纽约时报中看到的这句话,其中有far beyond her means的用法:
That month, she started an appeal on Shuidichou, an online crowdfunding site, saying that medical costs that would add up to nearly $30,000 were far beyond her means. Family and friends had already made loans and she was desperate, she said.
就在那个月,她在众筹网站“水滴筹”发起呼吁,称高达20万元的医疗费用远远超出自己承受能力。她说,家人和朋友已经借钱给她,她很绝望。
7. 英语写作句型:sth have broad effects well beyond sth itself可以表示“sth影响广泛,影响范围远超其本身”。
“影响远远超过……”这个句型还可以写为the effects/impacts of sth extend/reach far beyond ...例如,新冠疫情造成的影响远不止病毒本身。英文就可以说Covid-19’s effects reach far beyond the virus.
再来看看researchgate上这句话:
The Internet is becoming more and more integrated in all forms of retailing and the impact of digitalization goes far beyond the phenomena of e-commerce.
互联网与各种形式的零售越来越相互融合,数字化的影响远不限于电子商务。
第二句:Small new manufacturers are able to challenge big, established ones, thanks to the ease of selling goods online.
网上销售十分便利,一些新兴的小型制造商如今已有能力挑战大型老牌制造商。
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