THERE was excitement but a little heartache too for millions of bargain hunters yesterday asChina's Singles Day evolved into what is probably the world's biggest online shopping event.
兴奋之余也有点心痛，数百万淘便宜货的活动昨天在中国的光棍节演变为可能是世界最大的在线购物活动。
The 50,000-plus merchants on Alibaba's consumer-oriented Tmall.com took in 13.2 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion), the company said, after discounts of at least 50 percent were promised on a
massive range of goods.
5万以上的商人在阿里巴巴面向消费者的天猫网赚了132亿元人民币(合21亿美元)，在承诺大量商品至少50%的折扣后该公司表示。
Sales on Alibaba's Taobao marketplace took the 24-hour total to 19.1 billion yuan.
阿里巴巴24小时在淘宝网上的销售额达到191亿元。
The Tmall total was more than three times the amount raised on the same day last year and more than double the amount Shanghai retailers took during last month's week-long National Day holiday.
淘宝商城的总额比去年同一天的三倍还多，以及比上海零售商上个月国庆长假销售额逾一倍。
It also surpassed the US$1.26 billion online retailers in the US earned on last year's Cyber Monday, a marketing term dreamed up in 2005 to
encourage online shopping for Christmas.
它还超过了美国在线零售商在去年网购星期一挣得的12.6亿美元的销售额，一个在2005年想出的营销战术来鼓励圣诞节的在线购物。
Singles Day was started by college students in the 1990s as an
alternative to Valentine's Day for people without partners, and the timing was based on the date November 11, or "11.11," representing four singles.
光棍节最初由生在20世纪90年代作为单身人士的情人节替换而兴起，日子基于11月11日或“11.11”，代表着四个光棍。
Unattached young Chinese would treat each other to dinner or give gifts to
woo that special someone and end their single
status.
未婚的中国年轻人将会请对方吃饭或赠送礼物来讨好那个特别的人来结束单身状态。
This year was the third year of a Singles Day "shopping festival" initiated by Tmall and followed by other online retailers, including 360buy.com and Amazon.
今
