India’s tech industry chalked up another big deal, with the acquisition of BillDesk by Prosus for $4.7bn. Founded in 2000,BillDesk is India’s oldest online-payments platform. Prosus, the investment arm of Naspers, a SouthAfrican internet group, wants to combine BillDesk with its PayU fintech business, creating one of the world’s biggest payment systems.印度的科技行业又有了一笔大交易，Prosus以47亿美元收购了BillDesk。BillDesk成立于2000年，是印度最古老的在线支付平台。南非互联网集团Naspers的投资部门Prosus希望将BillDesk与它的PayU金融技术业务结合起来，创建世界上最大的支付系统之一。
ponder/ˈpɒndə(r)/ 仔细考虑衡量ramification /ˌræmɪfɪˈkeɪʃn/影响Tech regulators invarious countries pondered the ramifications of the passage of a bill in SouthKorea that curtails the power of app-store providers such as Apple and Google, by allowing users to pay developers directly for their apps. The legislation also stops the inappropriate removal of apps from online stores. The head of Epic Games, which is fighting Apple’s and Google’s strangle hold on the market, described the bill as a milestone in personal computing.各国的技术监管机构都在思考韩国通过的一项法案的影响，该法案的通过允许用户直接将使用应用程序的费用支付给开发者，遏制了苹果和谷歌等应用商店供应商的权力。这项立法还阻止了网上商店不适当地删除应用程序的行为。正在与苹果和谷歌对市场的垄断行为作斗争的Epic Games公司的负责人将该法案描述为个人计算领域的一个里程碑。
plead/pliːd/ 辩护In San Jose the trial got under way of Elizabeth Holmes for criminal fraud at Theranos, which she founded. The startup was a darling of Silicon Valley until 2015, when investigative journalists found that the revolutionary technology it used for blood testing didn’t work. Ms Holmes has pleaded not guilty to defrauding investors.在圣何塞，对伊丽莎白-霍姆斯（Elizabeth Holmes）的审判正在进行，她创立的Theranos公司涉嫌刑事欺诈。这家初创企业曾是硅谷的宠儿，直到2015年，调查性记者发现它用于血液检测的革命性技术并不奏效。霍姆斯女士对欺诈投资者的行为不认罪。
drubbing/ˈdrʌbɪŋ/ 痛打彻底失败The share price of Just Eat Takeaway recovered from the drubbing it received when New York City’s council extended a cap on the amount that food-delivery apps can charge restaurants to use their services. Just Eat owns Grubhub, which has a 35% share of the market in the Big Apple.Many American cities imposed temporary caps on food-delivery charges at the start of the pandemic, as lock downed diners got an appetite for the service,but some now want to make the caps permanent.当纽约市议会延长了食品递送APP向餐馆收取的服务费的上限时，Just Eat外卖公司的股价从其受到的痛击中恢复了过来。Just Eat拥有Grubhub，后者在纽约的市场份额为35%。许多美国城市在疫情开始时对食品递送收费设置了临时上限，因为被封闭的食客对这项外卖产生了兴趣，但现在有些城市想让这一上限永久生效。
Zoom reported $1bnin quarterly revenue for the first time. Net profit rose sharply, to $317m. But its share price plunged amid concerns about growth prospects for the video-conference company as more workers return to the office. Zoom is taking steps to diversify by moving into the virtual customer-contact business. Zoom公司首次报告了10亿美元的季度收入。净利润大幅上升，达到3.17亿美元。但是，随着越来越多的工人回到办公室，人们对这家视频会议公司的增长前景感到担忧，其股价大幅下跌。Zoom正在采取措施，通过引入虚拟客户联络业务来实现多元化。
notched up 创下完成consecutive /kənˈsekjətɪv/连贯的连续不断的The S&P 500 notched up its seventh consecutive month of gains in August. The American stockmarket index has risen by a fifth since the start of the year and more than doubled since the outbreak of covid-19 in March 2020, as investors shrug off concerns about inflation, labour shortages and supply-chain issues. In Europe the STOXX 600 also recorded its seventh straight month of gains, its best run since 2013.标普500指数在8月份连续第七个月上涨。自今年年初以来，美国股市指数已经上涨了五分之一，自2020年3月爆发covid-19以来上涨了一倍多，因为投资者摆脱了对通货膨胀、劳动力短缺和供应链问题的担忧。在欧洲，STOXX 600指数也录得连续第七个月的上涨，这是2013年以来的最佳表现。
The euro zone’s annual rate of inflation jumped to 3% in August, from 2.2% in July. In Germany inflation hit 3.9%, according to the country’s statistics office, the highest since December 1993. Like its counterparts in America, Britain and elsewhere,the European Central Bank thinks the pressure on prices from the reopening of economies will ease next year. 欧元区的年度通货膨胀率从7月份的2.2%跃升至8月份的3%。根据德国统计局的数据，德国的通货膨胀率达到3.9%，是1993年12月以来的最高值。与美国、英国和其他地方的同行一样，欧洲央行认为经济重新开放对价格的压力将在明年得到缓解。
undergo /ˌʌndəˈɡəʊ/ 经历忍受Brazil’s GDP contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter compared with the first. The decline was unexpected, even though the country underwent another wave of covid-19.巴西第二季度的GDP与第一季度相比收缩了0.1%。尽管该国经历了另一波covid-19，但这种下降是出乎意料的。
A judge approved a bankruptcy plan that breaks up Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. The plan largely protects the drug company’s controlling Sackler family from liability claims related to the painkiller’s role in America’s opioid crisis. 法官批准了一项破产计划，将奥施康定(OxyContin)的制造商普渡制药(Purdue Pharma)拆散。该计划在很大程度上保护了该药物公司的控股人萨克勒家族，使其免于承担与该止痛药在美国阿片类药物危机中所扮演的角色有关的责任索赔。
Rivian, anelectric-vehicle startup that is backed by Amazon and specialises in vans,filed for an IPO. 由亚马逊支持、专门生产货车的电动车初创公司Rivian申请IPO。
ebullient /ɪˈbʌliənt; ɪˈbʊliənt/ 热情洋溢的Ryanair’s businessis rebounding strongly, according to Michael O’Leary, its ebullient chief executive. Europe’s biggest airline expects its flight capacity to be almost back to normal this October.It is busily expanding its fleet to 600 aircraft, up from 450, over the next few years.据瑞安航空热情洋溢的首席执行官Michael O'Leary称，瑞安航空的业务正在强劲反弹。欧洲最大的航空公司预计，今年10月其航班容量将几乎恢复正常。它正忙于在未来几年内将其机队从450架扩大到600架。
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