又中又英——shoot through the roof
Michael Chugani 褚简宁
2020-08-13 04:17 HKT
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Do you know how many centibillionaires there are in the world? Just three. Do you know who they are? Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Do you know what the word “centibillionaire” means? It means a person with US$100 billion ($100,000,000,000). In the past, it was hard to believe anyone could amass (accumulate) such wealth. That’s why the Oxford Dictionary doesn’t have this word. It has the word “centimillionaire”, which means a person with US$100 million ($100,000,000). It has the word “billionaire”, which means a person with US$1 billion ($1,000,000,000).
Now that there are three centibillionaires in the world, and I am sure there will be more in the future, Oxford Dictionary may have to include it as a word. Jeff Bezos was the world’s first centibillionaire. Bill Gates was the second. Mark Zuckerberg joined this super-rich club last week after Facebook’s shares shot through the roof on the news that the company will start a rival to the video-sharing app TikTok. The expression “shoot through the roof” or “go through the roof” means to increase very quickly to a very high level. People used to amass their wealth through old-fashioned businesses such as department stores, property development, and playing the stock market. Nowadays people amass wealth through high tech-business.
The well-known American investor Warren Buffett knows how to play the stock market well but his wealth is only about US$77 billion, making him the world’s fourth richest man. It is doubtful he can become a centibillionaire soon. But his nickname is the “Oracle of Omaha”. He was born in Omaha in the US state of Nebraska and still lives there. The word “oracle” used this way means an expert or a specialist in something who can give advice. As a stock market oracle, he may one day become a centibillionaire too. Now that there are three centibillionaires, will there be a trillionaire ($1,000,000,000,000) one day? That’s only one zero more than a centibillionaire but in actual amount it’s a lot more. Experts say there may be trillionaires in about 60 years.
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你可知道，世界上有几多位centibillionaires？只有三位。你知道他们是谁吗？就是亚马逊创办人杰斯‧贝佐斯、微软创办人比尔‧盖兹，以及脸书联合创办人马克‧朱克伯格。你又可知道，“centibillionaire”是甚么意思？它是指千亿美元（US$100,000,000,000）富翁。过往实在很难令人相信，有任何人得以积聚（amass）这样庞大的财富。因此，牛津字典并没有收录这个字。字典有“centimillionaire”，即有一亿美元（US$100,000,000）的富翁；它亦有“billionaire”，即有十亿美元（US$1,000,000,000）的富翁。
现在，世上有三位千亿美元富翁（centibillionaires），我肯定亦将陆续有来，牛津字典或要收录这个字了。杰斯‧贝佐斯是世上第一位千亿美元富翁（centibillionaire），比尔‧盖兹是第二位。当上星期有消息指，脸书将会开始与影片分享程式TikTok较量后，公司的股价便暴涨（shot through the roof），马克‧朱克伯格亦随之跻身这个超级富豪俱乐部。习语“shoot through the roof”或“go through the roof”是指迅速飞涨至很高的水平。人们过往是透过传统商业如百货公司、地产发展以及炒股票来积累（amass）财富；今天，人们则透过高科技业务去积聚（amass）财富。
知名的美国投资者华伦‧巴菲特非常熟悉怎样去投资股票市场，但他的身家也只有大概七百七十亿美元，令他成为世上第四位最有钱的富豪。他能否很快晋身为千亿美元富翁（centibillionaire）也是一个疑问。不过，他的暱称是“Oracle of Omaha”。他生于美国内布加斯州的奥马哈，现在还住在那里；oracle在这里的意思是能提供预测意见的专家或权威人士。身为股票市场的「先知」（oracle），他或许有天也能成为千亿美元富翁（centibillionaire）呢。现在已有三位千亿富翁（centibillionaires），不知可有一天，会有一位万亿富翁（trillionaire，$1,000,000,000,000）出现呢？虽然只是比千亿富翁（centibillionaire）多一个零，但实际数目来说是要多许多钱。专家们说，大概六十年内，或许就会出现万亿富翁（trillionaires）了。
[email protected]
中译：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚简宁
Now that there are three centibillionaires in the world, and I am sure there will be more in the future, Oxford Dictionary may have to include it as a word. Jeff Bezos was the world’s first centibillionaire. Bill Gates was the second. Mark Zuckerberg joined this super-rich club last week after Facebook’s shares shot through the roof on the news that the company will start a rival to the video-sharing app TikTok. The expression “shoot through the roof” or “go through the roof” means to increase very quickly to a very high level. People used to amass their wealth through old-fashioned businesses such as department stores, property development, and playing the stock market. Nowadays people amass wealth through high tech-business.
The well-known American investor Warren Buffett knows how to play the stock market well but his wealth is only about US$77 billion, making him the world’s fourth richest man. It is doubtful he can become a centibillionaire soon. But his nickname is the “Oracle of Omaha”. He was born in Omaha in the US state of Nebraska and still lives there. The word “oracle” used this way means an expert or a specialist in something who can give advice. As a stock market oracle, he may one day become a centibillionaire too. Now that there are three centibillionaires, will there be a trillionaire ($1,000,000,000,000) one day? That’s only one zero more than a centibillionaire but in actual amount it’s a lot more. Experts say there may be trillionaires in about 60 years.
＊＊＊＊＊
你可知道，世界上有几多位centibillionaires？只有三位。你知道他们是谁吗？就是亚马逊创办人杰斯‧贝佐斯、微软创办人比尔‧盖兹，以及脸书联合创办人马克‧朱克伯格。你又可知道，“centibillionaire”是甚么意思？它是指千亿美元（US$100,000,000,000）富翁。过往实在很难令人相信，有任何人得以积聚（amass）这样庞大的财富。因此，牛津字典并没有收录这个字。字典有“centimillionaire”，即有一亿美元（US$100,000,000）的富翁；它亦有“billionaire”，即有十亿美元（US$1,000,000,000）的富翁。
现在，世上有三位千亿美元富翁（centibillionaires），我肯定亦将陆续有来，牛津字典或要收录这个字了。杰斯‧贝佐斯是世上第一位千亿美元富翁（centibillionaire），比尔‧盖兹是第二位。当上星期有消息指，脸书将会开始与影片分享程式TikTok较量后，公司的股价便暴涨（shot through the roof），马克‧朱克伯格亦随之跻身这个超级富豪俱乐部。习语“shoot through the roof”或“go through the roof”是指迅速飞涨至很高的水平。人们过往是透过传统商业如百货公司、地产发展以及炒股票来积累（amass）财富；今天，人们则透过高科技业务去积聚（amass）财富。
知名的美国投资者华伦‧巴菲特非常熟悉怎样去投资股票市场，但他的身家也只有大概七百七十亿美元，令他成为世上第四位最有钱的富豪。他能否很快晋身为千亿美元富翁（centibillionaire）也是一个疑问。不过，他的暱称是“Oracle of Omaha”。他生于美国内布加斯州的奥马哈，现在还住在那里；oracle在这里的意思是能提供预测意见的专家或权威人士。身为股票市场的「先知」（oracle），他或许有天也能成为千亿美元富翁（centibillionaire）呢。现在已有三位千亿富翁（centibillionaires），不知可有一天，会有一位万亿富翁（trillionaire，$1,000,000,000,000）出现呢？虽然只是比千亿富翁（centibillionaire）多一个零，但实际数目来说是要多许多钱。专家们说，大概六十年内，或许就会出现万亿富翁（trillionaires）了。
[email protected]
中译：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚简宁
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