A decade ago, November 11th was a tongue-in-cheek cultural “celebration” of single people in China. In 2009, retailer Alibaba turned the day into the country’s version of Black Friday — and eight years later, sales from the Chinese e-commerce’s one-day event has nearly doubled those from Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US combined.
十年前，11月11日，在中國大家還是戲謔是單身狗慶祝的節(jié)日。在2009年阿里巴巴公司把這天變成了中國的“黑色星期五”，八年后這個中國電商在這天的收入是美國“黑色星期五”和“剁手星期一”收入總和的近兩倍。

Alibaba hit a record $18 billion in just 13 hours.
阿里巴巴創(chuàng)下13個小時180億美元的新高。

Alibaba reported that sales from Single' Day amounted to $25.3 billion, a 40 percent jump from last year's figures. (The number did not take into account some sales that began earlier in the week in honor of the event.) Additionally, the retailer hit a record $18 billion in just 13 hours on Saturday, eclipsing last year's record of $17.8 billion in 24 hours.
據(jù)報道，阿里巴巴雙11單天的營業(yè)額是253億美元，同比去年增長高達(dá)40%（這一數(shù)字還不包括雙11前一周為慶祝該活動而進(jìn)行的促銷活動）。此外13個小時180億美元讓去年24小時178億美元的戰(zhàn)績黯然失色。

Market research experts say the massive growth is attributed to retailers competing for a share of consumer spending in China's growing economy. In comparison, US sales between Thanksgiving until Cyber Monday accounted for $12.8 billion in 2016.
市場研究專家認(rèn)為，此次的大幅增長，說明了眾多零售商想要在形勢一片大好的消費(fèi)者市場上分一杯羹。與其形成鮮明對比的是，2016年美國市場從感恩節(jié)到“剁手星期一”的銷售總額才128億美元。

Just like US versions of the shopping holidays, Alibaba offered discounts on a variety of goods, from household items to electronic gadgets to clothing to beauty supplies.
和美國的消費(fèi)大節(jié)類似，阿里巴巴上的很多產(chǎn)品都有折扣，從家用消費(fèi)品到小家電，服裝到美妝。

Revenue also came in the form of “virtual shopping cart space,” where customers can pay for expanded cart capacity. The Sixth Tone reports that Chinese retailers traditionally put a limit on how many items you can put in your online shopping cart to help “ease operations,” encouraging buyers to put in one purchase order rather than multiple transactions that require more processing.
虛擬的購物車也能創(chuàng)收呢，顧客可以付費(fèi)讓購物車裝下更多地東西。根據(jù)Sixth Tone的報道，中國電商通常會給虛擬購物車設(shè)一個上線，最多可以放幾樣?xùn)|西，讓消費(fèi)者方便管理，鼓勵按照購買的順序來，而不是一下子同時進(jìn)行幾個讓交易的流程變長。

In honor of the event, Alibaba founder Jack Ma held a gala to celebrate its kickoff, with celebrities like Pharrell, Nicole Kidman, Jessie J, and Maria Sharapova in attendance. It was televised on both Alibaba’s video service and on three Chinese TV networks.
為了慶祝該盛事，阿里巴巴的創(chuàng)始人馬云，邀請了一眾明星開幕，像法瑞爾·威廉姆斯，妮可基德曼，婕西和瑪利亞·莎拉波娃都在邀請出席之列。開幕式在阿里巴巴的視頻服務(wù)和三家中國網(wǎng)絡(luò)電視上播出。

（翻譯：林潯鷗）