千呼万唤始出来，支付宝2018年度账单今天终于出炉了。

面对账单，朋友圈里是这样的，“我哪来这么多钱”、“我啥时候花了这么多钱”、“失忆式消费”、“该还花呗了”，...，于是乎催生了今天的热门词汇「账单式小康」，也登上了微博热搜榜单。

而除了2018年度账单之外，今天和「支付宝」有关的还有一件大事。

新浪财经报道，据启信宝信息显示，支付宝（中国）信息技术有限公司于2018年12月18日更名为瀚宝（上海）信息技术有限公司。此前2018年8月29日，该公司法人代表由马云变更为叶郁青。

网友表示，“我花呗是欠的马云的，凭啥要还给叶郁青！”

后来，支付宝官方回应了：

支付宝的运营主体实际上是「支付宝（中国）网络技术有限公司」，而非上述变更的「支付宝（中国）信息技术有限公司」。

所以，花呗该还的还是要还！

那么，我们今天要学习的内容当然是和「支付宝（Alipay）」有关啦！

What is Alipay？

Alipay is China's leading third-party online payment app. Find out how it's also evolving into a global lifestyle super app.

下面是节选自《经济学人》2018年5月一篇介绍移动支付相关的文章，里面介绍了支付宝（Alipay）：

Alipay, a smartphone-based payment system now ubiquitous in China and spreading fast abroad, has its origins in a service devised for Taobao, an online platform run by Alibaba where small businesses sell direct to Chinese consumers. Customers were reluctant to pay for goods before they had received them. So buyers would send their orders by fax to Alipay to hold their money in escrow and release it when delivery was confirmed. In 2008 this system was transformed into mobile “wallets” in which the money is held.

ubiquitous

表示“无所不在的”，英文解释为“If you describe something or someone as ubiquitous, you mean that they seem to be everywhere.”举个🌰：

Coffee shops are ubiquitous these days.

如今好像到处都是咖啡馆。

还有一个意思相近的词pervasive，表示“到处存在的，到处弥漫着的，遍布的”，英文解释为“Something, especially something bad, that is pervasive is present or felt throughout a place or thing.”如：the pervasive influence of television 电视无所不在的影响。

devise

表示“想出，设计，发明（新的方法）”，英文解释为“to plan or invent a new way of doing something”，如：devise a plan/system/machine，举个🌰：

She devised a method for quicker communications between offices.

她想出一种加快办公室之间通信联络的方法。

区分：revise 表示“改变；修正，修改”，英文解释为“to change something because of new information or ideas”，如：revise the article/revise the plan；也可以指“（考试）温习，复习”，英文解释为“to study facts again, in order to learn them before an examination”，举个🌰：

Revising for exams gives you a chance to bring together all the individual parts of the course.

考前复习给你一个把课程各独立部分融会贯通的机会。

escrow

escrow /ˈɛskrəʊ/ 表示“暂交第三者保管的款项（或资产/资金/地产/合约）”，英文解释为“Escrow is money or property that is given to someone, but kept by another person until the first person has done a particular thing or met particular requirements.”如：a property held in escrow 暂由第三方保管的财产，举个🌰：

His stake has been held in escrow since the start of the year.

自年初，他的股份已经交由第三方暂时保管。

接着，我们看看2018年1月31日纽约时报（New York Times）一篇介绍中国旅行指南的文章中提到的无现金（Cashlessness）这一特点：

Cashlessness

无现金

You'll notice blue and green QR codes at nearly every business in China, from the glitziestboutique to the most humble dumpling shop. WeChat Pay and Alipay are gradually turning the Chinese economy cashless: Simply enter the amount you want to pay, scan the business's QR code, and boom, you have paid directly from your bank account. It's something of a revolution — one that you, as a tourist, will not be a part of.

在中国，上至奢华的时装店，下至最简陋的饺子馆，不论在哪你几乎都能看见蓝色和绿色的二维码（QR codes）。微信支付和支付宝逐渐让中国经济向无现金转变：只需输入你想支付的金额，扫描商家的二维码，就能直接用银行账户进行付款。这是一种革命——一种你身为游客无法参与的革命。

glitzy

glitzy /ˈɡlɪtsɪ/ 表示“时髦华丽的；富丽堂皇的；耀眼夺目的”，英文解释为“having a fashionable appearance intended to attract attention”，举个🌰：

He celebrated his birthday at a glitzy party there.

他在那为自己举办了一个豪华铺张的生日宴会。

boutique

boutique /buːˈtiːk/ 表示“时装店；精品店”，英文解释为“a small shop that sells fashionable clothes or other objects”。

而说起支付宝，不可避免地就会提到阿里巴巴和腾讯之间的“科技界主导权之争”，特别是“微信支付(WeChat Pay)”和“支付宝(Alipay)”间的竞争。

下面的段落节选自2018年6月1日纽约时报（New York Times）。

Tencent Holdings and the Alibaba Group are ratcheting up their no-holds-barred contest to dominate the ways 770 million internet users communicate, shop, get around, entertain themselves and even invest their savings and visit the doctor.

腾讯控股和阿里巴巴集团正在升级一场没有限制的竞争，主导7.7亿网民交流、购物、出行、娱乐，甚至投资储蓄、看病的方式。

ratchet up

表示“稳步提高；使...稳步提高”，英文解释为“If something ratchets up or is ratcheted up, it increases by a fixed amount or degree, and seems unlikely to decrease again.”，举个🌰：

Inflation will ratchet up as the year ends.

通货膨胀会随着年底临近而只升不降。

no-holds-barred

表示“（讨论、情况等）不受任何限制的”，英文解释为“a no-holds-barred discussion, situation etc is one in which there are no rules or limits”，举个🌰：

Viewers had been promised a no-holds-barred interview with the former mayor.

电视观众得到保证将会看到一次与前市长无所不谈的访问。

Today, their fiercest fight is over digital money kept on smartphones. Mobile payments have transformed the Chinese economy. Both giants, plus Ant Financial, an Alibaba sister firm, are spending big to gobble up pieces of the action.

如今，它们争夺得最激烈的是智能手机上的数字货币。移动支付已经改变了中国的经济。这两大巨头，再加上阿里巴巴的姐妹公司蚂蚁金服，正在斥巨资吞下更多的份额。

gobble up

gobble /ˈɡɒbəl/

gobble up主要有几个含义：

1）表示“狼吞虎咽（地吃），大嚼，大口吞食”，英文解释为“to eat something very quickly, especially in an impolite or greedy way”，也可以说gobble down/或者不用介词，举个🌰：

We gobbled up all of the cake in one evening.

我们一个晚上就把蛋糕全部吃光了。

2）表示“很快用掉、消耗掉（钱款、土地等）”，英文解释为“to quickly use a lot of a supply of something such as money or land”，举个🌰：

Inflation has gobbled up our wage increases.

通货膨胀抵消了我们工资的增长。

3）表示“吞并（较小的公司）”，英文解释为“if one company gobbles up a smaller company, it buys it and takes control of it”，举个🌰：

Air France gobbled up its main French rivals, Air Inter and UTA.

法国航空公司吞并了它在法国的两个主要竞争对手——法国国内航空公司和法国联合航空运输公司（Union des Transports Aériens）。

At the moment, both Chinese giants are hustling to find more ways for people to transact using their wallet and not the other's. Alibaba's shopping sites and physical stores do not allow users to pay for stuff with WeChat. Tencent-backed companies, such as the retailer JD.com or the service platform Meituan-Dianping, either downplay Alipay as a payment option in their apps or do not accept it at all.

目前，两家中国巨头都在忙于寻找更多方式，让人们使用自己的数字钱包进行交易，而不是对方的钱包。阿里巴巴的购物网站(shopping sites)和实体店(physical stores)不允许用户使用微信支付。腾讯支持的公司，如零售商京东或服务平台美团-大众点评，要么将支付宝作为其应用程序的次一等支付选择，要么根本不接受它。

downplay

表示“淡化…的重要性，对…轻描淡写”，英文解释为“to make something seem less important than it really is”，举个🌰：

Police sources yesterday downplayed the significance of the security breach.

警方昨天的消息对这次安全缺口的重要性轻描淡写。

The payments contest will at least propel both companies to keep expanding their kingdoms, including overseas. Alibaba is pouring billions of dollars into online shopping ventures in India and Southeast Asia. Tencent is backing start-ups around the world that have even a distant chance of enriching its ecosystem.

支付竞赛至少会推动两家公司不断扩大它们的王国，包括海外。阿里巴巴正在向印度和东南亚的网上购物企业注资数十亿美元。世界各地的创业公司只要有一丝丰富其生态系的机会，腾讯就会投资。

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来源：经济学人、纽约时报