Ariana Grande, the 25-year-old singer, is embroiled in a transpacific spat this week after a string of singles from Canadian Chinese newcomer Kris Wu suddenly topped the U.S. iTunes store rankings, briefly knocking Grande—and Lady Gaga—out of the Top 10 and sparking allegations of foul play.
25 岁的歌手爱莉安娜·格兰德本周卷入了一场横跨太平洋的口水战。在此之前，加拿大籍华人新星吴亦凡的一系列单曲突然登上了美国 iTunes 商店的排行榜榜首，一度将格兰德和 Lady Gaga 挤出了前十名，并引发了有关违规行为的指控。
After tracks from Wu's new "Antares" album swept the charts on Monday, Scooter Braun—agent to Grande—accused Wu on Twitter of using automated "bots" to artificially inflate sales in the United States, where he is relatively unknown. Braun later claimed that he didn't write the tweet and deleted it, but "Chinese bots" nonetheless became a trending topic, and Grande not-so-discreetly fanned the flames by hitting "like" on a tweet that accused Wu of cheating.
周一，吴亦凡的新专辑 Antares 横扫榜单后，格兰德的经纪人斯库特·布劳恩在推特上指责吴亦凡使用“网络水军”人为地在美国榜单上给销量注水，相比起在中国，他在美国并非那么的有名。布劳恩后来声称，自己没有写这条推文并将其删除，但“中国水军”仍然成为了一个热门话题，而更火上浇油的是，格兰德还“不小心”点赞了一条指责吴亦凡作弊的推文。
On the Chinese Internet, the episode has become one of the most hotly debated subjects, not just because legions of Wu's fans have sprung to his defense, but also because the fraud allegations appeared to touch a nerve in a country where faked box office receipts, faked e-commerce reviews and faked download numbers are recognized as tricks from an all-too-familiar playbook.
在中国互联网上，这起事件已成为最热门的话题之一，不仅是因为吴亦凡的大批粉丝争先恐后地为他辩护，还因为这些欺诈指控似乎触到了这个国家的痛处——在这里，伪造票房收入、伪造电商平台评价和伪造下载量是人们再熟悉不过的骗人伎俩。
Hong Kong hip-hop artist Edison Chen chimed in in English: "Money can't buy u love, money can't buy u fame, money can't buy u charts."
香港嘻哈艺人陈冠希用英语插话道：“金钱买不到你的爱情，金钱买不到你的名声，金钱买不到你的榜单。”
Grande returned to the top of the U.S. iTunes chart on Wednesday with a seemingly fitting single she had debuted live on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
周三，格兰德重返美国 iTunes 排行榜的榜首，她在《艾伦秀》上首次现场演唱了一首似乎恰到好处的单曲。
The title?
想知道歌名？
"Thank U, Next."
《谢谢你，下一位》。
————— 文章来源 / 华盛顿邮报
embroil /ɪmˈbrɔɪl/
v. 使卷入，使牵连
e.g.
They were embroiled in a war against their will.
transpacific /ˌtrænspəˈsɪfɪk/
adj. 横渡太平洋的，跨太平洋的
spat/spæt/
n. 争吵，口角 （spit n.）
e.g.
She had a spat with her brother about who did the washing up.
a string of
一连串，一系列
newcomer/ˈnuːkʌmər/
n. 新来者，新手
e.g.
a newcomer to the big city
spark/spɑːrk/
v. 点燃，触发，引起 （spark n.）
e.g.
to spark the flames of revolution
The incident sparked a controversy.
allegation/ˌæləˈɡeɪʃn/
n. 指控，控告
e.g.
to deny an allegation
to withdraw an allegation
to make serious allegations against sb.
foul play
（尤指体育比赛中的）不公平行为，犯规动作
Antares/ænˈtɑːriːz/
n. 天蝎座
sweep the charts
横扫榜单
bot/bɑːt/
n. （网上的）自动程序，机器人程序
inflate/ɪnˈfleɪt/
v. 使高涨，使膨胀 （inflation n.）
e.g.
to inflate prices
to inflate a balloon
discreetly /dɪˈskriːtli/
adv. 小心地，谨慎地
fan the flames
煽风点火，火上浇油
episode/ˈepɪsoʊd/
n. 事件，插曲
e.g.
This is a happy episode in my life.
legion/ˈliːdʒən/
n. 众多
spring to one's defense
立刻为某人辩护
fraud/frɔːd/
n. 欺骗行为，诈骗者
e.g.
electoral fraud
credit card fraud
He is a fraud.
touch/hit/strike a nerve
触到痛处，触及某个敏感话题
e.g.
She touched/hit/struck a nerve when she mentioned that job he didn't get.
box office
票房
trick/trɪk/
n. 诡计，花招
playbook/ˈpleɪbʊk/
n. 惯用伎俩、手段
chime in
插话，插嘴
debut/deɪˈbjuː/
v. 首次亮相，初次登台
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