全球亿万富豪数量创新高

今天你练听力了吗？

🤔️小作业：

1. According to the UBS findings, which statement best explains why 2025 saw a large increase in billionaire wealth?

A. The majority of new billionaires came from the tech sector exclusively

B. A combination of inheritance, entrepreneurship, and strong asset performance expanded total wealth

C. UBS introduced a new measurement method that counted more individuals

D. Lower global taxation encouraged wealthy individuals to declare more assets

无注释原文：

The world has more billionaires than ever

From: The Wall Street Journal

The total number of billionaires across the globe reached new heights in 2025, due partly to the soaring valuations of tech companies and rising share prices, according to a new study by Swiss banking giant UBS.

Some 2,900 billionaires now control $15.8 trillion, up from about 2,700 billionaires with a cumulative wealth of nearly $14 trillion a year earlier.

The number and wealth of billionaires as a whole were boosted by the second-highest number of new billionaires minted in a year—287—since UBS began tracking that figure in 2015. Only 2021, with its flood of government stimulus and low interest rates that boosted the prices of assets, saw a higher number of new billionaires created.

“You've seen this acceleration of billionaire growth, and it's actually coming from all areas,” said John Mathews, UBS's head of private-wealth management in the U.S., referring to the creation of new billionaires from both entrepreneurship and inheritance.

Also boosting wealth: rising investment gains over the 12 months ended April 4, 2025, the period covered by the study.

The new, self-made billionaires created in 2025 were entrepreneurs in a range of fields. According to UBS, they include Ben Lamm, founder of Colossal Biosciences; Michael Dorrell, co-founder of infrastructure investment firm Stonepeak Partners; the Zhang brothers of Mixue Ice Cream and Tea in China; and crypto billionaire Justin Sun.

Ninety-one of the new billionaires inherited their wealth, including 15 members of two pharmaceutical families in Germany.

“We've been talking about the great wealth transfer now for over a decade now, and you're starting to see it come to fruition,” Mathews said. “I'd say we're in the second inning of a nine-inning baseball game.”

He said much of the wealth would first pass to surviving partners, typically wives, before passing on to the next generation.

A recent analysis by Altrata, a wealth-intelligence firm, similarly showed growth in the number of billionaires around the world to record levels. Altrata estimated 3,508 individuals held $13.4 trillion in total wealth and said about a third were in the U.S. China came in second with 321 billionaires holding about 10% of the world's wealth.

The UBS report includes information from a database maintained by UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers that looks at billionaire wealth globally.

UBS also interviewed 87 billionaire clients for its 11th annual Billionaire Ambitions report and found that the appeal of North America as the best place to invest in the short term had decreased to 63%, from 81% a year earlier. The appeal of investing in other regions—Western Europe, Greater China, and AsiaPacific excluding Greater China—picked up.

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为华尔街日报官方译文，仅供参考

含注释全文：

The world has more billionaires than ever

From: The Wall Street Journal

The total number of billionaires across the globe reached new heights in 2025, due partly to the soaringvaluations of tech companies and rising share prices, according to a new study by Swiss banking giant UBS.

根据瑞士银行业巨头瑞银（UBS）的一项新研究，由于科技公司估值飙升和股市上涨等原因，2025年全球亿万富豪总数创下新高。

soar /sɔːr/ 1）表示“急剧增加”，英文解释为“If the amount, value, level, or volume of something soars, it quickly increases by a great deal.”举个🌰：Shares soared on the New York stock exchange. 纽约证券交易所股票暴涨。

2）表示“高飞，翱翔”，英文解释为“If something such as a bird soars into the air, it goes quickly up into the air.”举个🌰：If you're lucky, a splendid golden eagle may soar into view. 幸运的话，一只金色雄鹰会跃入视线。

3）作动词，表示“升空；升腾”，英文解释为“to rise quickly and smoothly up into the air”举个🌰：The rocket soared (up) into the air. 火箭升空。

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇分析受疫情影响的旅游业的文章中提到：Soaring incomes in China explain part of the increase. 这一增长的部分原因是中国人收入猛增。

soaring /ˈsɔː.rɪŋ/ 表示“高耸的；飞涨的”，英文解释为“reaching a great height”举个🌰：The deep blue lakes, soaring peaks, and lush valleys are typical of Switzerland. 深蓝色的湖泊、高耸的山峰和郁郁葱葱的山谷是瑞士的特色。

Some 2,900 billionaires now control $15.8 trillion, up from about 2,700 billionaires with a cumulative wealth of nearly $14 trillion a year earlier.

目前全球约2,900名亿万富豪掌控着15.8万亿美元的财富，高于一年前约2,700名亿万富豪累计近14万亿美元的财富。

cumulative /ˈkjuː.mjə.lə.tɪv/ 表示“累积的；渐增的”，英文解释为“If a series of events have a cumulative effect, each event makes the effect greater.”举个🌰：It is simple pleasures, such as a walk on a sunny day, which have a cumulative effect on our mood. 诸如在晴朗的日子散步这样简朴的乐趣对我们的情绪有累积性益处。

📍词根/词缀：cumulative由动词cumulate和后缀-ive构成，动词cumulate表示累积、积聚，-ive是一个形容词后缀。词源：来自拉丁语cūmulātus，意为堆积、积累。常用搭配：cumulative effect（累积效应）、cumulative data（累积数据）。

The number and wealth of billionaires as a whole were boosted by the second-highest number of new billionaires minted in a year—287—since UBS began tracking that figure in 2015. Only 2021, with its flood of government stimulus and low interest rates that boosted the prices of assets, saw a higher number of new billionaires created.

亿万富豪数量和财富的增长也得益于新晋富豪的大幅增加，2025年新增亿万富豪达到287位，为自瑞银2015年开始追踪该数据以来的第二高，仅次于2021年的水平，那一年在政府大规模刺激和低利率的双重推动下，资产价格飙升，造就了更多新亿万富豪。

boost /buːst/ 可以作名词也可以作动词，表示“改善；提高；增强；推动”，英文解释为“to improve or increase something”举个🌰：The theatre managed to boost its audiences by cutting ticket prices. 剧院设法通过降低票价来增加观众数量。

📍“佩洛西有病还是先治病吧”文中提到be boosted，get boosted用来指打了加强针（疫苗），也有说booster shot/booster dose.

作动词，mint /mɪnt/ 表示“铸造（硬币）”，英文解释为“to produce a coin for the government”；也有“创造（尤指新词语）”的意思，英文解释为“to produce something new, especially to invent a new phrase or word”如：a freshly minted slogan/phrase 新想出的口号/新造的词语，newly minted college graduates 新毕业的大学生。

作名词，表示“薄荷”，英文解释为“a herb whose leaves have a strong, fresh smell and taste and are used for giving flavour to food”如：a sprig of mint 薄荷嫩枝。

很有意思的一个词，单数 stimulus /ˈstɪmjʊləs/，复数 stimuli /ˈstɪm.jʊ.laɪ/，没错有s的是单数。表示“刺激（物），激励（物）；促进因素”，英文解释为“something that causes growth or activity; something that causes part of the body to react”

“You've seen this acceleration of billionaire growth, and it's actually coming from all areas,” said John Mathews, UBS's head of private-wealth management in the U.S., referring to the creation of new billionaires from both entrepreneurship and inheritance.

瑞银美国私人财富管理主管约翰·马修斯（John Mathews）说：“亿万富豪数量已在加速增长，而且实际上来自各个领域。”他指的是通过创业和继承两种途径产生的新亿万富豪。

entrepreneurship /ˌɒn.trə.prəˈnɜː.ʃɪp/ 表示“创业；创业精神；企业家精神”，英文解释为“skill in starting new businesses, especially when this involves seeing new opportunities”

inheritance /ɪnˈher.ɪ.təns/ 1）表示“继承的遗产”，英文解释为“money or objects that someone gives you when they die”举个🌰：The large inheritance from his aunt meant that he could buy his own boat. 从姑母那里继承的大笔遗产意味着他可以给自己买艘船了。

2）表示“得自遗传的特征；遗传”，英文解释为“a physical or mental characteristic inherited from your parents, or the process by which this happens”如：genetic inheritance 基因遗传。

Also boosting wealth: rising investment gains over the 12 months ended April 4, 2025, the period covered by the study.

财富增长的另一个推动因素是，在截至2025年4月4日的12个月里（即该研究涵盖的时期），投资收益不断上涨。

The new, self-made billionaires created in 2025 were entrepreneurs in a range of fields. According to UBS, they include Ben Lamm, founder of Colossal Biosciences; Michael Dorrell, co-founder of infrastructure investment firm Stonepeak Partners; the Zhang brothers of Mixue Ice Cream and Tea in China; and crypto billionaire Justin Sun.

2025年新产生的白手起家亿万富豪是来自一系列领域的企业家。据瑞银称，他们包括Colossal Biosciences的创始人本·拉姆（Ben Lamm）、基础设施投资公司Stonepeak Partners的联合创始人迈克尔·多雷尔（Michael Dorrell）、中国公司蜜雪冰城（Mixue Ice Cream and Tea）的张氏兄弟，以及加密货币亿万富豪孙宇晨（Justin Sun）。

crypto /ˈkrɪp.təʊ/ 1）表示“加密货币（cryptocurrency 的缩写）”举个🌰：Which are the best performing cryptos? 表现最好的加密货币有哪些？

2）表示“加密（encryption 的缩写）”举个🌰：If you're using strong crypto, there's nothing anyone could do to decrypt that data. 如果你使用的是强加密，那么任何人都无法解密该数据。

Ninety-one of the new billionaires inherited their wealth, including 15 members of two pharmaceutical families in Germany.

新晋亿万富豪中有91人是继承财富，其中包括来自德国两个制药家族的15名成员。

pharmaceutical /ˌfɑːməˈsjuːtɪkəl/ 作形容词，表示“制药的；配药的；卖药的”，英文解释为“connected with making and selling drugs and medicines”，如：pharmaceutical products 药物，pharmaceutical companies 制药公司，the pharmaceutical industry 制药业。

也可以直接作名词，常用复数，pharmaceuticals表示“药品，药物，药剂”，英文解释为“a medicine”

“We've been talking about the great wealth transfer now for over a decade now, and you're starting to see it come to fruition,” Mathews said. “I'd say we're in the second inning of a nine-inning baseball game.”

马修斯说：“我们谈论‘大规模财富传承’已经超过十年，现在它开始成为现实。”“我想说，这就好比一场九局的棒球赛，我们才打到第二局。”

fruition /fruːˈɪʃ.ən/ 表示“实现；完成；取得成果”，英文解释为“an occasion when a plan or an idea begins to happen, exist, or be successful”举个🌰：None of his grand plans for a TV series ever came to fruition. 他拍摄一部电视连续剧的诸般伟大计划无一实现。

inning /ˈɪn.ɪŋ/ 表示“（棒球中的）局，回合”，英文解释为“one of the nine playing periods in a game of baseball”

He said much of the wealth would first pass to surviving partners, typically wives, before passing on to the next generation.

他说，大部分财富会首先传给在世的伴侣（通常是妻子），然后再传给下一代。

surviving /səˈvaɪ.vɪŋ/ 表示“幸存的，残存的”，英文解释为“continuing to live or exist”举个🌰：The rhinoceros is one of the world's oldest surviving species. 犀牛是世界上幸存的最古老的物种之一。Her estate was divided between her three surviving children (= those who continued to live after her death). 她死后，财产就分给了她的3个孩子。

A recent analysis by Altrata, a wealth-intelligence firm, similarly showed growth in the number of billionaires around the world to record levels. Altrata estimated 3,508 individuals held $13.4 trillion in total wealth and said about a third were in the U.S. China came in second with 321 billionaires holding about 10% of the world's wealth.

财富资讯公司Altrata最近的一项分析同样显示，全球亿万富豪数量增至创纪录水平。Altrata估计，有3,508位个人的总财富达到13.4万亿美元，并表示其中约三分之一在美国。中国位居第二，有321名亿万富豪，拥有全球约10%的财富。

The UBS report includes information from a database maintained by UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers that looks at billionaire wealth globally.

瑞银这份报告包含的信息来自一个由瑞银和普华永道（PricewaterhouseCoopers）共同维护的数据库，该数据库关注全球亿万富豪的财富状况。

database /ˈdeɪ.tə.beɪs/ 表示“（计算机）资料库，数据库”，英文解释为“a large amount of information stored in a computer system in such a way that it can be easily looked at or changed”举个🌰：We're linked to the online database at our head office. 我们与总部的网上数据库联网。

UBS also interviewed 87 billionaire clients for its 11th annual Billionaire Ambitions report and found that the appeal of North America as the best place to invest in the short term had decreased to 63%, from 81% a year earlier. The appeal of investing in other regions—Western Europe, Greater China, and AsiaPacific excluding Greater China—picked up.

瑞银还为其第11份年度《亿万富豪雄心报告》（Billionaire Ambitions report）采访了87位亿万富豪客户，发现短期内将北美视为最佳投资地区的受访者比例已从一年前的81%降至63%。其他地区——西欧、大中华区和除大中华区外的亚太地区——的投资吸引力则有所回升。

1）表示“增加；提高；改进”，英文解释为“to increase or improve”举个🌰：The truck picked up speed slowly. 卡车慢慢加速。

2）表示“（不费力地）学会；获得”，英文解释为“If you pick up something such as a skill or an idea, you acquire it without effort over a period of time.”举个🌰： Where did you pick up your English? 你是在哪儿学得英语？

📍pick up这个短语其实有很多含义，列举常见的几种：

· 捡起，拾起，如pick his cap up, 捡起帽子 ·（跌倒或被击倒后）慢慢站起身，如pick himself/herself up, 慢慢站起来

·（开车）接，取，如pick up some clean clothes, 取几件干净衣服

·（不费力地）学会；习得，如pick up french, 偶然学会了法语

· 染上（疾病），如pick up a nasty infection, 染上严重的传染病

· 接起（某观点、话题），如pick up his point, 接着谈一谈他的观点

·（贸易、经济）改善，如Industrial production is beginning to pick up, 工业生产正在开始好转。

- 词汇盘点 -

- 词汇助记 By AI -

LearnAndRecord

2015年2月8日

2025年12月6日

第3955天

每天持续行动学外语