2019-04-09

The cost of cross-border payments needs to drop
Sending money across borders costs too much
原文来源：The Economist 2019-4-13

Article

https://frankzhougq.github.io/article/TE-2019-04-09

Notes

FOR MOST of human history
纵观大部分人类历史

A shift from cash and travellers’ cheques towards digital payments has cut the cost of moving funds around.
A shift from A towards B，由A到B的转变

broken the stranglehold
打破压制与束缚

As a result, fees have fallen.
费用降低了

Yet one corner of this industry
a difficult situation 困境；窘境

to back/ drive/ force sb into a corner
把某人逼入困境

are still sky high
sky的用法

Remittances cost the earth for several reasons.
比喻花费巨大，花费了整个地球

a construction worker
建筑工人

Fees have since levelled off.

level 'off/ 'out
1 to stop rising or falling and remain horizontal （停止升降而）保持水平
The plane levelled off at 1 500 feet.
飞机在 1 500 英尺的高空保持水平飞行。
After the long hill, the road levelled out.
过了漫长的山路后，道路就变得平坦了。

2 to stay at a steady level of development or progress after a period of sharp rises or falls （经过急剧的涨落后）保持平稳发展
Sales have levelled off after a period of rapid growth.
销售经过一段时间的快速增长后呈稳定状态。

help unleash competition
释放竞争，就是不限制竞争

post offices that receive payments are often contractually committed to using a single transfer firm.
合同要求承诺只使用一家转账公司

Deals that lock out rivals should be banned.

to keep someone out of a place by locking the door

devise their money-laundering rules
设计反洗钱规则

a shift away from expensive cash-based systems and a bypassing of banks and transfer firms altogether.
一种转变，远离。。。；绕过银行和转账公司

This could yet happen.

could, might, may, etc. yet do sth： used to say that sth could, might, etc. happen in the future, even though it seems unlikely （表示将来可能发生，尽管现在似乎没有可能）早晚，总有一天
We may win yet.
我们迟早会赢的。
(formal) She could yet surprise us all.
总有一天，她会让我们都大吃一惊。

how to stitch all these local networks together.
缝合