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It took eight minutes for shoppers to blow a billion dollars buying items from China's largest online retail company, Alibaba. It was during Singles Day — the biggest online shopping event in the world.
中国最大的网上零售公司阿里巴巴在光棍节八分钟销售额破十亿美元，这是世界上最大的网购盛典。
The BBC reports that 14 hours into the event, sales on Alibaba had climbed to $10 billion. That's more than the grand total of last year's online sales on Singles Day.
英国广播公司报道称，活动14小时内阿里巴巴的销售额已攀升至一百亿美元，超过了去年双十一的总销售额。To put this into perspective, the biggest online shopping day in the U.S. — Cyber Monday — only hit $2 billion in sales last year.
就这一点而言，美国最大的网购日“网络星期一”去年销量仅为20亿美元。
So what is Singles Day? Alibaba started the tradition in 2009. The company is the owner of the Singles Day brand, though other retailers also have major sales, like Black Friday, all in the name of single people buying gifts for themselves.
那么什么是光棍节呢？阿里巴巴于2009开始这个惯例。公司成为光棍节品牌的拥有者，尽管其它零售商也有大型促销活动，像“黑色星期五”，所有的单身人士给自己买礼物。
It's often described as the "anti-Valentine's Day" and falls on 11/11. Get it?
它经常被称为“反情人节”并落于11 月11日。明白吗？
According to Forbes, it's now the most profitable online sales holiday in the world, and it's only getting bigger.
据福布斯报道，现在它是世界上最赚钱的在线销售节日，而且只会越做越大。
And this year's Singles Day kicked off in style. Businesspeople and celebrities led a four-hour television show to celebrate the launch of the sales event. Even Daniel Craig and Kevin Spacey chimed in.
今年的光棍节开场别具一格。商人和各界名流举行四小时的电视节目庆祝活动开始。甚至丹尼尔·克雷格和凯文·斯贝西也发话了。
"If I were allowed to shop in your 'Singles Day,' I wonder how cheap I could get for a new burner phone, for example, because one burner is never really enough, is it? I'd order 10 if I were you."
一个根本不够用，不是吗?如果我是你我就订十部。
But they weren't the only ones showing support for the holiday. The Chinese government also encouraged the event, as China's economy is slowing down and the country is transitioning into a more sustainable economic model.
他们并不是光棍节的唯一支持者。随着中国经济的放缓及正在过渡到更可持续发展的经济模式，中国政府同样对此活动表示支持。
译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
