Ditching cash requires high Internet penetration and state support 摈弃现金需要很高的互联网普及率和国家支持

    • Cashless adj.无现金的；无现款的
    • Ditch n.沟渠，壕沟 v.开沟；摆脱；丢弃

    ON JULY 27th，outside Brookly’s hipper-than-thou Smorgasburg street-food market，a dozen hungry visitors stand idle amid the barbecue fumes. Rather than queuing for food，they are waiting at a cash machine. Yet inside the market，vendors are trying to wean their customers off cash. Gourmets who use Apple Pay，a mobile-payment service，receive hefty discounts on their purchases. “Apple Pay us the difference，”one trader explains.
    七月27日，在纽约布鲁克林时尚的斯摩格斯堡小吃集市外，几十个饥肠辘辘的游客在烧烤的烟雾中百无聊赖地排着队。他们不是等着买吃的，而是等着到取款机上取钱。而在集市里，商贩们试图让顾客不再依赖现金。吃货们如果使用移动支付服务Apple Pay，可以享受很大的优惠。“苹果会给我们补差价。”一名商贩解释道.

    • hipper-than-thou 比你时髦，时尚
    • street-food 街头美食
    • stand idle 袖手旁观；闲置着；工厂停产
    • fumes n.烟气 v.表达气愤
    • queuing n.排队 v.排队
    • vendors n.供应商，销售商
    • wean vt.使断奶；使断念；使放弃 n.幼儿
    • gourmet n.美食家
    • hefty adj.重的；肌肉发达的；异常大的 adv.强有力的；非常 n.体格健壮的人 a hefty fine：巨额罚款
    • discount n.折扣；贴现率 vi.贴现；打折出售商品 vt.打折扣；将…打折扣；贬低；低估；忽视
    • purchase v.购买；获得，赢得；升起，举起 n.购买；购买的东西；支点；年收入；紧握；起重装置
    • trader n.交易者；商人；商船
    • queue up to do sth/for sth 竞相，抢着（做某事）
    • wean sb off / from sth 使（某人）逐渐戒除（你不赞成的事）

    Most transactions around the world are still conducted in cash. However, its share is falling rapidly, from 89% in 2013 to 77% today. Despite the attention paid to mobile banking in emerging markets, it is rich countries, with high financial inclusion and small informal economies, that have led the trend. Within the rich world, more-digitised societies tend to make fewer cash payments. In Nordic countries like Norway and Denmark, where 97% of people use the internet, around four out of five transactions were already cashless by 2016, according to a recent review chaired by Huw van Steenis of the Bank of England. In contrast, internet penetration in Italy is just 61%, and 85% of transactions there were still handled in cash in 2016.
    世界各地的大部分交易仍在使用现金，但所占份额正在迅速下降，从2013年的89%下降到了如今的70%。尽管新兴市场也在关注移动银行业务，但引领这一趋势的还是金融普及程度高，非正规经济规模小的富裕国家。在富裕世界中，数字化程度高的社会往往更少使用现金支付。英国央行的Huw van Steenis近期主导撰写的一项报告显示，在互联网普及率达97%的挪威，丹麦等北欧国家，在2016年约80%的交易已经是无现金交易。相比之下，意大利的互联网渗透率只有61%，2016年那里85%的交易仍是现金交易

    • rapidly adv.迅速地，很快地；立即
    • emerging v.浮现；变得显眼；被知晓；恢复过来 adj.走向成熟 ；新兴的 emerging market：新兴市场
    • financial adj.金融的；财政的，财务的
    • inclusion n.包含；内含物
    • informal n.非正式的；不拘礼节的；随便的；通俗的；日常使用的
    • within prep.在…之内；在…里面 adv.在内部；在里面 n.里面；内部
    • contrast n.明显差异；对比，对照；明显不同的人；图像明暗对比度 v.对比，对照；显出明显的差异，与…形成差异
    • penetration n.渗透；突破；侵入；洞察力
    • handled adj.有把手的，有把柄的 v.使用；负责；触摸；指挥；买；卖
    • a fall in share prices 股票价格的跌落
    • Lead the trend 引领趋势，引领潮流
    • Who’s chairing the meeting? 谁主持这次会议？ 椅子做动词

    Beyond this broad pattern, decisions by both individual firms and governments have large effects. At the company level, installing infrastructure for contactless payments bears fast fruit. AT Kearney, a consultancy, finds that in rich countries the number of transactions per card has risen by 20-30% within three years of contactless technology becoming widespread. Banks can accelerate the process by building fast, low-cost systems that enable direct transfers between accounts, such as iDEAL in the Netherlands or Swish in Sweden. America has ditched banknotes faster than its modest 75% internet-penetration rate would suggest because it is the domestic market of many large firms promoting digitisation, such as card networks (Visa, MasterCard), tech giants (Apple, Google) and payment apps (PayPal, Venmo).
    除了这一总体模式外，企业和政府的决策也都起到了很大的作用。从企业层面上看，安装非接触式支付的基础设施带来了立竿见影的效果。咨询公司AT Kearney发现，在非接触式技术普及的三年内，富裕国家每张银行卡的交易次数增加了20%到30%。银行可以建立快速，低成本的系统来实现账户之间的直接转账，从而加速这一进程。荷兰的iDEAL或者瑞典的Swish等系统就属于此类。美国75%的互联网普及率不算太高，相比之下它去现金化的速度显得更快，这是因为美国是许多推动数字化的大公司的本土市场，比如Visa，万事达等银行卡网络，苹果，谷歌等科技巨头，以及PayPal，Venmo等支付设备。

    • pattern n.模式；图案；样品 vt.模仿；以图案装饰 vi.形成图案
    • individual adj.个人的；个别的；独特的 n.个人，个体
    • infrastructure n.基础设施；公共设施；下部结构
    • contactless adj.无触点的；不接触的；遥控的
    • consultancy n.咨询公司；顾问公司
    • widespread adj.普遍的，广泛的；分布广的
    • accelerate vt.使…加快；使…增速 vi.加速；促进；增加
    • low-cost adj.廉价的；价格便宜的
    • banknote n.纸币
    • modest adj.谦逊的；适度的；端庄的；羞涩的
    • penetration n.渗透；突破；侵入
    • promote vt.促进；提升；推销；发扬 vi.成为王后或其他大于卒的子

    Public policy also makes a difference. Some cities, such as London and Amsterdam, have banned on-board cash payments on public buses. Estonia—the birthplace of Skype, an internet-telephony app—has been a leader in digitising public services, such as filing taxes and voting. Its residents are comfortable using new technology and sharing data, and often snub cash. Japan, in contrast, uses more cash than its internet usage would indicate. Historically, it had a sleepy credit-card monopoly entrenched by regulation, which discouraged foreign firms from investing.
    公共策略也起到了一定作用，伦敦，阿姆斯特丹等城市已经禁止在公共汽车上使用现金支付。互联网通讯应用Skype的诞生地爱沙尼亚是公共服务数字化（如报税和投票）方面的先驱。该互联网居民乐于使用新技术和共享数据，通常都不爱用现金。相反，日本的现金使用量与其互联网普及率相比则显得有些多。过去日本的监管阻碍了外国公司的投资，使信用卡陷于垄断，了无生气。

    • birthplace n.出生地；发源地
    • indicate vt.表明；指出；预示；象征
    • monopoly n.垄断；专卖权
    • entrenched adj.根深蒂固的；确立的，不容易更改的 v.确立；保证；挖掘壕沟
    • regulation n.管理；规则；校准 adj.规定的；平常的
    • discouraged adj.灰心的，丧气的 v.使…灰心；阻止；劝阻
    • investing v.投资；授与
    • snub v.冷落；斥责；抵制；停住 n.冷落；止住 adj.短平而上翘的

    So far, cash has proved stubbornly difficult to stamp out completely. Even in Sweden, a front-runner, one in four transactions involves it. But a tipping-point may loom. Handling cash is expensive. Studies estimate its overall cost to society at 0.5% of GDP. As more payments become digital, this burden will fall on ever fewer stores, shoppers and banks. If cash-withdrawal fees rise to $10 a time, even technophobes and older shoppers may start paying for those truffle fries with their phones.
    到目前为止，事实证明很难完全摒弃现金。即使在非现金交易方面领跑的瑞典，也有25%的交易涉及现金。但是可能很快就会迎来转折点。处理现金的成本很高。研究估计它给社会带来的总成本为GDP的0.5%。随着数字化支付的普及，承受这一负担的商店，购物者和银行也将会越来越少。如果提现费用涨到每次10美元，即使是技术恐惧者和年长者也会开始使用手机买松露薯条。

    • stubbornly adv.顽固地；倔强地
    • stamp out 扑灭；踩灭；消灭，根除
    • front-runner n.竞争中的领先者；赛跑中跑在前面的人
    • tipping-point 倾斜点
    • burden n.负担；责任；船的载货量 vt.使负担；烦扰；装货于
    • cash-withdrawal 取现金
    • technophobes 技术恐惧症
    • truffle n.松露；块菌；松露巧克力糖
    • loom large 令人忧虑，令人恐惧