通勤學英語 15Mins Today

每日跟讀#474: Listen Carefully, Book Lovers: Top Authors Are Skipping Print

 

When Michael Lewis had an idea for his next book, a contemporary political narrative, he decided he would test it out first as a 10,000-word magazine article, as he often does before committing to a yearslong project.

當麥可．路易士有了下一本書的構想，是一個當代政治故事，在投入持續一年的創作計畫前，他決定依照往例，先用一萬字的雜誌文章試水溫。

But this time he made a surprising pivot. Instead of publishing the story in Vanity Fair, where he has been a contributing writer for nearly a decade, he sold it to Audible, the audiobook publisher and retailer.

不過這次他做了一項出人意表的關鍵動作。他沒有把文章交給擔任特約作家近十年的浮華世界雜誌出版，而是賣給有聲書出版及零售商Audible。

“You’re not going to be able to read it, you’re only going to be able to listen to it,” Lewis said. “I’ve become Audible’s first magazine writer.”

路易士說：「你無法閱讀它，你只能夠聽它。我成為Audible的第一個雜誌作家。」

Lewis is part of a growing group of A-list authors bypassing print and releasing audiobook originals, hoping to take advantage of the exploding audiobook market. It’s the latest sign that audiobooks are no longer an appendage of print, but a creative medium in their own right. But the rise of stand-alone audio has also made some traditional publishers nervous, as Audible strikes deals directly with writers, including best-selling authors like historian Robert Caro and novelist Jeffery Deaver.

路易士是跳過紙本書籍、發行原版有聲書的暢銷作家之一，這個成長中的族群希望把握有聲書市場爆發的良機。而這也是個最新的跡象，顯示有聲書不再是紙本書的附屬品，已自成一種創意媒介。而這種獨立有聲書的興起，例如Audible直接和作家簽約，包括歷史學家羅伯特．卡羅和小說家傑佛瑞．狄佛等暢銷書作家，也讓一些傳統出版商感到緊張。

Audible, which is owned by Amazon and the biggest player with more than 425,000 titles in its online store, has an enormous advantage in this increasingly crowded arena. Amazon has been pushing audiobooks on its platform, listing them as “free” with a trial Audible membership, which costs $15 a month, and includes a book each month. (The typical price of a la carte audiobooks ranges from about $15 to $40 depending on the length.)

屬於亞馬遜旗下的Audible是最大的有聲書商，它的線上商店有超過42萬5千冊書，在這日益擁擠的市場中享有巨大優勢。亞馬遜一直在自家平台推動有聲書，在Audible試用會員期間，有聲書是免費的；會員月費15美元，每月贈送一本書。（通常單本有聲書的售價從大約15美元到40美元不等，取決於其長度。）

In the past five years, Hachette has doubled the number of audiobooks it produces; it will release about 700 titles this year. Penguin Random House will put out roughly 1,200 audio titles, up from 652 in 2014, and now has 15 recording studios. Macmillan Audio will release 470 audiobooks this year, a 46 percent increase over 2017. Two of the company’s biggest recent hits are the audiobooks for James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty,” which has sold more than 167,000 copies, and Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” which sold about 320,000.

五年來，阿歇特出版的有聲書數量已經翻倍，今年將出版約700冊。比起2014年的652冊，企鵝藍燈書屋今年將出版約1200冊有聲書，目前擁有15座錄音室。麥克米倫公司有聲書部門今年將發行470冊，比2017年多了46%。這家出版社最近最暢銷的書中就有兩本是有聲書，分別是詹姆斯．柯米的「更高的忠誠」，已售出超過16萬7000冊；以及麥可．沃夫的「烈焰與怒火」，約售出32萬冊。

Ellen Archer, president of HMH Trade Publishing, said she expects the audio release will boost print sales, rather than cannibalizing them. “The marketing muscle they’re going to put behind this book is going to drive interest in the print version,” she said.

霍頓．米夫林．哈考特貿易出版集團總裁艾倫．亞徹說，她預期有聲書的發行能提升紙本書銷售，而非吞食紙本。她說：「他們投入有聲書的行銷資源，將帶動對紙本書的興趣。」

Source: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/330427/web/

文／Alexandra Alter譯／莊蕙嘉

For more daily shadowing articles, please visit www.15mins.today

每日跟讀#473: Hard Lessons (Thanks, Amazon) Breathe New Life Into Retail Stores

 

Malls are being hollowed out. Shops are closing by the thousands. Retailers are going bankrupt.

購物中心愈來愈空蕩，數以千計的商店關門大吉，零售商接連倒閉。

But it may be too early to declare the death of retail. Americans have started shopping more — in stores.

但是要宣告零售業已死，恐怕還嫌太早，美國民眾已開始買得更多－在店裡。

Old-school retailers are experiencing some of their best sales growth in years.

傳統派零售商正經歷多年來少見的業績成長。

The strong revenues start with a roaring economy and an optimistic consumer. Americans, whose wallets are filled with more cash from the tax cuts, have been spending more.

強勁的營收首先由興盛的經濟和樂觀的消費者帶動，因為減稅而皮夾裝滿更多現金的美國民眾，持續花得更多。

The boom also reflects a broad reordering of the $3.5 trillion industry, with fewer retailers capturing more of the gains. Stores that have learned how to match the ease and instant gratification of e-commerce shopping are flourishing, while those that have failed to evolve are in bankruptcy or on the brink.

這波景氣也反映出這個3.5兆美元產業的廣泛重整，較少的零售商控制更多的收入。學會如何與電子商務購物的輕鬆與立即滿足匹敵的商店正欣欣向榮，那些無法與時俱進者則不是破產就是在破產邊緣。

“The retailers that get it recognize that Amazon has forever changed consumer behavior,” said Barbara Kahn, a marketing professor and former director of the retailing center at the Wharton School. “I shouldn’t have to work to shop.”

「那些學到了教訓的零售商體認到，亞馬遜已永久改變消費者的行為。」華頓商學院行銷學教授、零售學中心前主任芭芭拉．卡恩說。「我不應該費力去購物。」

Many successful stores are now a cross between a fast-food drive-through and a hotel concierge.

許多成功的商店現在是速食店得來速和飯店服務台的混合體。

Target’s shoppers can order sunscreen or a Tokidoki Unicorno T-shirt on their phone, pull up to the parking lot and have the items brought to their car.

目標百貨的顧客可以打電話訂購防曬乳和Tokidoki的獨角獸系列T恤，開車到店外停車場，讓店家把商品送到車上。

Nordstrom lets customers in some stores make returns by dropping their items into a box and walking out.

諾斯壯百貨讓某些店面的顧客退貨時只要把商品放在盒子內就可以離開。

Walmart is employing 25,000 “personal shoppers” to select and package groceries for curbside pickup.

沃爾瑪雇用2萬5000名「個人購物員」，挑選及打包日用品，讓顧客在路邊就能取貨。

In recent weeks, all three retailers reported stronger-than-expected sales growth for the quarter. Traffic to Target’s stores and online sites grew at its fastest pace since the company began keeping a record a decade ago.

最近數周，這三家零售商都公布了比預期更強勁的季銷售成長。造訪目標百貨門市及網站的客流量，出現了該公司十年前開始紀錄以來最快速的成長。

Doomsayers have predicted that online shopping, led by Amazon, would one day conquer all of retail. As store closings set a record last year, no class of retailer was spared.

末日論者曾經預測，亞馬遜所引領的網路購物，終有一日將征服整個零售界。去年歇業店鋪之多創下紀錄時，沒有任何零售類別能夠倖免。

But the pace of closings has slowed, as the most unprofitable stores have been culled and the weakest companies have collapsed. At this time in 2017, nearly 5,700 stores had shut across the United States, according to Coresight Research, a retail analysis and advisory firm. So far this year, about 4,480 have closed.

然而歇業速度已經放緩，最不賺錢的店鋪已被淘汰，最弱的公司也都垮了。根據零售分析及顧問公司核心觀點研究的統計，2017年的此際，全美有近5700家店鋪關門，今年迄今約為4480家。

Hiring is up, with an average of roughly 50,000 retail jobs being added each month since February, according to the National Retail Federation.

聘雇人數也增加，據全國零售協會的統計，自今年2月以來，每月平均約有5萬個新增工作機會。

Source: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/331924/web/

文／Michael Corkery譯／莊蕙嘉

 

For more English shadowing practice, visit www.15mins.today

每日跟讀#473: Hard Lessons (Thanks, Amazon) Breathe New Life Into Retail Stores

 

Malls are being hollowed out. Shops are closing by the thousands. Retailers are going bankrupt.

購物中心愈來愈空蕩，數以千計的商店關門大吉，零售商接連倒閉。

But it may be too early to declare the death of retail. Americans have started shopping more — in stores.

但是要宣告零售業已死，恐怕還嫌太早，美國民眾已開始買得更多－在店裡。

Old-school retailers are experiencing some of their best sales growth in years.

傳統派零售商正經歷多年來少見的業績成長。

The strong revenues start with a roaring economy and an optimistic consumer. Americans, whose wallets are filled with more cash from the tax cuts, have been spending more.

強勁的營收首先由興盛的經濟和樂觀的消費者帶動，因為減稅而皮夾裝滿更多現金的美國民眾，持續花得更多。

The boom also reflects a broad reordering of the $3.5 trillion industry, with fewer retailers capturing more of the gains. Stores that have learned how to match the ease and instant gratification of e-commerce shopping are flourishing, while those that have failed to evolve are in bankruptcy or on the brink.

這波景氣也反映出這個3.5兆美元產業的廣泛重整，較少的零售商控制更多的收入。學會如何與電子商務購物的輕鬆與立即滿足匹敵的商店正欣欣向榮，那些無法與時俱進者則不是破產就是在破產邊緣。

“The retailers that get it recognize that Amazon has forever changed consumer behavior,” said Barbara Kahn, a marketing professor and former director of the retailing center at the Wharton School. “I shouldn’t have to work to shop.”

「那些學到了教訓的零售商體認到，亞馬遜已永久改變消費者的行為。」華頓商學院行銷學教授、零售學中心前主任芭芭拉．卡恩說。「我不應該費力去購物。」

Many successful stores are now a cross between a fast-food drive-through and a hotel concierge.

許多成功的商店現在是速食店得來速和飯店服務台的混合體。

Target’s shoppers can order sunscreen or a Tokidoki Unicorno T-shirt on their phone, pull up to the parking lot and have the items brought to their car.

目標百貨的顧客可以打電話訂購防曬乳和Tokidoki的獨角獸系列T恤，開車到店外停車場，讓店家把商品送到車上。

Nordstrom lets customers in some stores make returns by dropping their items into a box and walking out.

諾斯壯百貨讓某些店面的顧客退貨時只要把商品放在盒子內就可以離開。

Walmart is employing 25,000 “personal shoppers” to select and package groceries for curbside pickup.

沃爾瑪雇用2萬5000名「個人購物員」，挑選及打包日用品，讓顧客在路邊就能取貨。

In recent weeks, all three retailers reported stronger-than-expected sales growth for the quarter. Traffic to Target’s stores and online sites grew at its fastest pace since the company began keeping a record a decade ago.

最近數周，這三家零售商都公布了比預期更強勁的季銷售成長。造訪目標百貨門市及網站的客流量，出現了該公司十年前開始紀錄以來最快速的成長。

Doomsayers have predicted that online shopping, led by Amazon, would one day conquer all of retail. As store closings set a record last year, no class of retailer was spared.

末日論者曾經預測，亞馬遜所引領的網路購物，終有一日將征服整個零售界。去年歇業店鋪之多創下紀錄時，沒有任何零售類別能夠倖免。

But the pace of closings has slowed, as the most unprofitable stores have been culled and the weakest companies have collapsed. At this time in 2017, nearly 5,700 stores had shut across the United States, according to Coresight Research, a retail analysis and advisory firm. So far this year, about 4,480 have closed.

然而歇業速度已經放緩，最不賺錢的店鋪已被淘汰，最弱的公司也都垮了。根據零售分析及顧問公司核心觀點研究的統計，2017年的此際，全美有近5700家店鋪關門，今年迄今約為4480家。

Hiring is up, with an average of roughly 50,000 retail jobs being added each month since February, according to the National Retail Federation.

聘雇人數也增加，據全國零售協會的統計，自今年2月以來，每月平均約有5萬個新增工作機會。

Source: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/331924/web/

文／Michael Corkery譯／莊蕙嘉

 

For more English shadowing practice, visit www.15mins.today

每日跟讀#472 : Trailing Carbon Footprints Across Borders

 

Over the past decade, both the United States and Europe have made major strides in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions at home. That trend is often held up as a sign of progress in the fight against climate change.

在過去十年中，美國和歐洲在減少各自的溫室氣體排放方面取得了重大進展。這種趨勢經常被高舉為對抗氣候變遷有成的一個標誌。

But those efforts look a lot less impressive once you take trade into account. Many wealthy countries have effectively “outsourced” a big chunk of their carbon pollution overseas, by importing more steel, cement and other goods from factories in China and other places, rather than producing it domestically.

但是，一旦把碳交易納入考量，這些努力可就大為失色了。許多富裕國家透過從中國大陸和其他地方的工廠進口更多的鋼鐵、水泥等商品，而不在國內生產，實質上將大部分碳汙染「外包」到海外。

Britain, for instance, slashed emissions within its own borders by one-third between 1990 and 2015. But it has done so as energy-intensive industries have migrated abroad. If you included all the global emissions produced in the course of making things like the imported steel used in London’s skyscrapers and cars, then Britain’s total carbon footprint has actually increased slightly over that time.

例如，英國1990年至2015年間將國內碳排放量削減了三分之一，但英國在做到這點的同時，能源密集型產業也向海外遷移。若把倫敦摩天樓和汽車所用進口鋼材等物料製造過程產生的全球所有碳排放量計入，英國那段時間總體碳足跡實際上還略有增加。

“It’s a huge problem,” said Ali Hasanbeigi, a research scientist and chief executive of Global Efficiency Intelligence, an energy and environmental consulting firm. “If a country is meeting its climate goals by outsourcing emissions elsewhere, then we’re not making as much progress as we thought.”

能源暨環境顧問公司「全球效率智識」負責人、研究科學家哈禮傑說：「這是一個巨大的問題。如果一個國家透過將碳排放外包到其他地方來達成氣候目標，我們取得的進展就沒有自以為的多。」

Hasanbeigi is an author of a new report on the global carbon trade, which estimates that 25 percent of the world’s total emissions are being outsourced in this manner. The report, written with the consulting firm KGM & Associates and ClimateWorks, calls this a “carbon loophole,” since countries rarely scrutinize the carbon footprint of the goods they import.

哈禮傑是一份全球碳交易新報告的作者之一，報告估計，世界碳排放總量的25％以這種方式外包。這份與顧問公司KGM ＆ Associates和非政府組織「氣候工作基金會」合著的報告，把這一點稱為「碳漏洞」，因為各國很少仔細檢視進口商品的碳足跡。

That may be changing. Last fall, California’s lawmakers took an early stab at confronting the issue by setting new low-carbon standards on the steel the state buys for its infrastructure projects. But dealing with imported emissions remains a thorny problem.

這種情況可能正在改變。去年秋天，美國加州的立法當局著手及早因應這個問題，為加州基礎設施工程採購的鋼材設定新的低碳標準。但處理進口商品排放量仍然棘手。

Some environmentalists see it as the next frontier of climate policy.

一些環保人士認為，處理進口排放是氣候政策下一個有待討論的領域。

The new report, which analyzes global trade from 15,000 different sectors — from toys and office equipment to glass and aluminum — builds on previous academic research to provide one of the most detailed pictures yet of the global carbon trade.

這份新報告分析了全球貿易1萬5000個不同領域，從玩具、辦公設備、玻璃到鋁，以先前的學術研究為基礎，極其詳盡地描繪了全球碳交易。

Not surprisingly, China, which has become the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, remains the world’s factory. About 13 percent of China’s emissions in 2015 came from making stuff for other countries. In India, another fast-growing emitter, the figure is 20 percent.

毫不意外，已成為全球最大二氧化碳排放國的中國大陸仍然是世界工廠。2015年大陸約13％的碳排放量來自為其他國家製造產品。在排放量同樣快速增長的印度，這個比率是20％。

The United States, for its part, remains the world’s leading importer of what the researchers call “embodied carbon.”

至於美國本身，則仍是研究人員稱為「實體碳排放」的世上最大進口國。

Source: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/332222/web/

作者／Brad Plumer譯／李京倫

每日跟讀#472 : Trailing Carbon Footprints Across Borders

 

Over the past decade, both the United States and Europe have made major strides in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions at home. That trend is often held up as a sign of progress in the fight against climate change.

在過去十年中，美國和歐洲在減少各自的溫室氣體排放方面取得了重大進展。這種趨勢經常被高舉為對抗氣候變遷有成的一個標誌。

But those efforts look a lot less impressive once you take trade into account. Many wealthy countries have effectively “outsourced” a big chunk of their carbon pollution overseas, by importing more steel, cement and other goods from factories in China and other places, rather than producing it domestically.

但是，一旦把碳交易納入考量，這些努力可就大為失色了。許多富裕國家透過從中國大陸和其他地方的工廠進口更多的鋼鐵、水泥等商品，而不在國內生產，實質上將大部分碳汙染「外包」到海外。

Britain, for instance, slashed emissions within its own borders by one-third between 1990 and 2015. But it has done so as energy-intensive industries have migrated abroad. If you included all the global emissions produced in the course of making things like the imported steel used in London’s skyscrapers and cars, then Britain’s total carbon footprint has actually increased slightly over that time.

例如，英國1990年至2015年間將國內碳排放量削減了三分之一，但英國在做到這點的同時，能源密集型產業也向海外遷移。若把倫敦摩天樓和汽車所用進口鋼材等物料製造過程產生的全球所有碳排放量計入，英國那段時間總體碳足跡實際上還略有增加。

“It’s a huge problem,” said Ali Hasanbeigi, a research scientist and chief executive of Global Efficiency Intelligence, an energy and environmental consulting firm. “If a country is meeting its climate goals by outsourcing emissions elsewhere, then we’re not making as much progress as we thought.”

能源暨環境顧問公司「全球效率智識」負責人、研究科學家哈禮傑說：「這是一個巨大的問題。如果一個國家透過將碳排放外包到其他地方來達成氣候目標，我們取得的進展就沒有自以為的多。」

Hasanbeigi is an author of a new report on the global carbon trade, which estimates that 25 percent of the world’s total emissions are being outsourced in this manner. The report, written with the consulting firm KGM & Associates and ClimateWorks, calls this a “carbon loophole,” since countries rarely scrutinize the carbon footprint of the goods they import.

哈禮傑是一份全球碳交易新報告的作者之一，報告估計，世界碳排放總量的25％以這種方式外包。這份與顧問公司KGM ＆ Associates和非政府組織「氣候工作基金會」合著的報告，把這一點稱為「碳漏洞」，因為各國很少仔細檢視進口商品的碳足跡。

That may be changing. Last fall, California’s lawmakers took an early stab at confronting the issue by setting new low-carbon standards on the steel the state buys for its infrastructure projects. But dealing with imported emissions remains a thorny problem.

這種情況可能正在改變。去年秋天，美國加州的立法當局著手及早因應這個問題，為加州基礎設施工程採購的鋼材設定新的低碳標準。但處理進口商品排放量仍然棘手。

Some environmentalists see it as the next frontier of climate policy.

一些環保人士認為，處理進口排放是氣候政策下一個有待討論的領域。

The new report, which analyzes global trade from 15,000 different sectors — from toys and office equipment to glass and aluminum — builds on previous academic research to provide one of the most detailed pictures yet of the global carbon trade.

這份新報告分析了全球貿易1萬5000個不同領域，從玩具、辦公設備、玻璃到鋁，以先前的學術研究為基礎，極其詳盡地描繪了全球碳交易。

Not surprisingly, China, which has become the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, remains the world’s factory. About 13 percent of China’s emissions in 2015 came from making stuff for other countries. In India, another fast-growing emitter, the figure is 20 percent.

毫不意外，已成為全球最大二氧化碳排放國的中國大陸仍然是世界工廠。2015年大陸約13％的碳排放量來自為其他國家製造產品。在排放量同樣快速增長的印度，這個比率是20％。

The United States, for its part, remains the world’s leading importer of what the researchers call “embodied carbon.”

至於美國本身，則仍是研究人員稱為「實體碳排放」的世上最大進口國。

Source: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/332222/web/

作者／Brad Plumer譯／李京倫

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