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[E382]The Dhaka caper|经济学人

2016-03-21 LearnAndRecord

本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第12期,Business and Finance版块。

Cyber-crime

Online thieves unseat the governor of Bangladesh’s central bank

Mar 19th 2016 | DELHI

IT WAS as audacious as any heist and yet unlikely material for a Hollywood blockbuster[1]. Hackers masquerading as[2] officials from Bangladesh’s central bank[3] asked the New York branch of the Federal Reserve[4] to transfer nearly $1 billion to private bank accounts in Sri Lanka[5] and the Philippines. By the time authorities cottoned on[6], $101m had been nicked. On March 15th Atiur Rahman, the governor of Bangladesh’s central bank, took the blame[7] and resigned.

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注释

[1]好莱坞大片

[2]化装成,冒充成,假装成

[3]孟加拉(中央)银行

[4]美联储

[5]斯里兰卡

[6]cotton on 明白,领会

(to begin to understand a situation or fact)

I'd only just cottoned on to the fact that they were having a relationship.

我那时才明白他们在谈恋爱。

[7]承担过错/过失;负过失的责任

生词

audacious [ɔː'deɪʃəs]

 a  to take  or  

大胆的;敢于冒险的;鲁莽的;放肆的He  the  as  and audacious.他认为这是一项宏伟而大胆的计划。an audacious /大胆的评论/建议

heist [haɪst]

a  in which  things are taken  and often from a  or 

抢劫(罪)a $2 million  heist涉案价值200万美元的珠宝抢劫案

nick [nɪk]

to  something

偷I've had my  nicked again.我的自行车又被偷了。All , who's nicked my ?好吧,是谁顺手牵羊拿走了我的尺子?

If the  nick someone, they  them for  a

抓获,逮捕They nicked him for  at seventy in a fifty   .他因在限速50英里的区域内开到了时速70英里而被他们逮捕。

to  someone or to  them too much 讹诈;收取高额费用$50 for a  like that - we were nicked! 花50美元吃这样一顿饭?我们被宰了!to make a   in a  or an 

刻痕于;使有缺口Paintwork on the  of a   to get nicked and .楼梯转角处的油漆往往容易被刮擦剥落。

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That has not stopped the finger-pointing[1]. In the manner of[2] a bank customer complaining about fraudulent credit-card charges[3], Bangladeshi authorities say the Fed, which was acting as the central bank’s bank, should not have paid out anything at all. The Fed says the instructions it received were legitimate. The Philippine authorities cannot say what happened to the $81m sent to their country. Much of the money disappeared in its opaque casinos[4], which they say are not covered by rules to prevent money laundering[5] (a worry in itself). The CCTV system[6] at a bank branch where some of the money was withdrawn was not working.

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注释

[1]finger-pointing(when someone is accused of doing something wrong)

(对某人的)指摘,责难;相互指责;转嫁责任

There's the usual finger-pointing when mistakes are made.

出了错误后又是一贯的相互指责。

[2]以……方式;照……的式样

[注]对于此事,孟加拉银行的处理方式,就像银行的客户在抱怨银行信用卡不公正的收费的处理方式一样,(后一句解释说明),互相推卸责任。

[3]欺骗性的信用卡收费/费用

[4]不透明的赌场/娱乐场

[5]洗钱

[6]闭路电视监控系统

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Even the criminals (of which nothing is known) should kick themselves[1]: were it not for a typo in one of their requests, dozens more payments might have gone through. Staff at the central bank of Sri Lanka, who blocked a $20m onward transfer[2] on the grounds[3] that it was odd for a central bank to be making a big payment to a private account, covered themselves in glory[4]. Deutsche Bank[5], which reportedly spotted a payment to a “fandation*” and asked for a clarification, also comes out looking vigilant.

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注释

[1]kick oneself 严厉自责;(说错话或做错事后)自责;感到懊悔;遗憾;内疚

[2]前向转发, 向前转发

[3]由于...的原因

[4]cover yourself in/with glory

(to be very successful and earn admiration) 功成名就;取得很大成功;赢得赞赏

He didn't exactly cover himself with glory in his last job. 

他干的最后一份工作并没有真正让他功成名就。

[5]德意志银行

*駭客將「foundation」(基金會)誤拼成「fandation」,促使通匯銀行德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)向孟加拉央行要求驗證,進而阻止這筆交易。 

生词

typo ['taɪpəʊ]

a   in a  made when it was  or 

打字(或排印)错误

vigilant ['vɪdʒɪl(ə)nt]

always being  to  things,   

警觉的;警戒的;警惕的Following the   at the , the  have been  to be  vigilant.机场的炸弹恐吓事件之后,全体员工都被告诫要格外警惕。

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Mr Rahman, a development economist who was due to retire this summer, admits he is “not a technical guy”. It was as much his delay in revealing the fraud—the finance minister claimed he first read about it in the papers—as the loss itself that made his position untenable.

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生词

untenable [ʌn'tenəb(ə)l]

 a  or  that cannot be  or against 

(理论或论点)难以捍卫的,站不住脚的

 a  that cannot  as it is(局面)难以继续的,难维持的If three  in four no   the , isn't this an untenable ? 如果四分之三的人不再支持政府,这样的局面就难以为继了吧?

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The attack is hardly an isolated incident[1]. Criminal gangs are adept at[2] hacking into e-mail accounts and sending instructions to bankers asking them to wire large sums. Corporate treasurers[3] are now warned not to trust e-mails that appear to come from the boss, requesting that a payment be made.

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注释

[1]isolated incident(an isolated action, event, example etc happens only once, and is not likely to happen again)

[2]擅长于,精于,善于

[3]财务主管

生词

wire [waɪə]

to  a  using an   , to  an  of  to someone in this way

用电报传送;(尤指)电汇The   wired millions of  to   to the .保险公司向其账户里电汇了几百万美元以支付该款项。 Luckily my  wired me two hundred .幸运的是,爸爸电汇给我200美元。

[注]wire,熟词僻义。

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Kaspersky Lab[1], a cyber-security firm, last year claimed $1 billion had been siphoned from financial institutions in this way. The Bank of England said it faced “advanced, persistent and evolving cyber-threats”. If a brave producer does take on the story of the Dhaka caper[2], expect plenty of sequels.

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注释

[1]卡巴斯基实验室

[2]Dhaka 达卡(孟加拉首都)

caper [美国俚语](图谋)犯罪,(尤指抢劫等)犯罪活动,持械抢劫;勾当

生词

siphon ['saɪf(ə)n]

to  take  from an  or other , and use it for a  for which it was not 

非法挪用(资金),侵吞He  his  when it was  that he had been  off  from the  for his own use.他非法挪用公司钱款为己所用的行为败露后,便丢掉了工作。

sequel ['siːkw(ə)l]

a ,  or  which  the  of a , .

(书、电影或戏剧的)续篇,续集I'm  the sequel to 'Gone with the Wind'.我正在读《飘》的续集。

an  which  after and is the  of an 后果;结局There was a  sequel to last Thursday's   when the  for    his .贸易部长突然宣布辞职,上星期四的丑闻曝光便有了戏剧般的结局。

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以上言论不代表本人立场。

生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries

原文摘自《经济学人》,仅外语学习之用。

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