光棍节=购物狂欢?向网上购物大声示爱

THERE was excitement but a little heartache too for millions of bargain hunters yesterday as China'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 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.

光棍节最初由大学生在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 and Amazon.

今年是淘宝商城发起的第三个光棍节“购物狂欢”，其他在线零售商尾随，包括和亚马逊。

"This is very, very big for us," Steve Wang, vice president of and head of website operations, told the Associated Press. The company said on its website that yesterday might be the "biggest e-shopping orgy ever."

“这是对我们非常，非常重大”史蒂夫•王，天猫副总裁和网站运营总监告诉美联社。该公司说其网站昨天可能是“有史以来最大的网购狂欢。”

However, many people failed to secure a bargain yesterday because of technical glitches and exaggerated price cuts.

然而，昨天由于技术故障以及夸张的降价许多人并未交易成功。

"I waited for the moment to come but what I found were nothing but constant error alerts," said Cathy Lu, a Shanghai office worker who had been carefully putting a dozen or so items on her wish list over the past a few days. "I was either stuck in the shopping cart or the payment page. I gave up and went to bed with huge disappointment."

“我等待那一刻到来，但是我发现只有持续的错误警报，”陆凯茜说，一个上海办公室职员，仔细地把过去几天一打左右要买的列在愿望列表上。“我不是滞留在购物车页面就是支付页面。我放弃了，带着极大的失望上床睡觉。”

Others said there were few genuine discounts as retailers had merely raised price tags so they could boast of huge price cuts.

其他人说很少有真正的折扣，因为零售商只是提高价格标签这样他们就可以夸耀着巨大的降价。

"Some goods can be sold out in a few minutes, before you get to the payment page," said another online shopper in Shanghai. "But really things are not much cheaper if you get them. They are just making the ads look good."

“一些商品可以在你到达支付页面的几分钟之内卖完，”另一个在上海的在线购物者说。“但是如果你得到他们会发现真正的东西并不便宜很多。他们只是让广告看起来不错。”

Shanghai designer Lei Shujie had put off buying clothes, a pillow, and a cabinet to give a friend when she heard of discounts of up to 70 percent.

上海设计师Lei Shujie推迟了给一个朋友购买衣服、枕头和橱柜当她听说折扣高达70%后。

But she wound up buying just the pillow for 118 yuan because other discounts weren't as big as she hoped, AP said.

但她最终只购买了118元的枕头，因为其他的折扣并不像她所希望的那样大，美联社说。

Tmall yesterday apologized for the "inconvenience" the technical glitches caused.

昨天淘宝商城为技术故障造成的“不便”而道歉。

"The website did lag during the peak, but things improved," said Danial Zhang, Tmall's president.

“该网站高峰期确实滞后，但情况改善，”淘宝商城总裁Danial张说。

Sellers of everything from jewelry to TVs to cars saw a marketing opportunity and launched Singles Day sales.

从珠宝首饰到电视到汽车的销售商都看到了一个营销机会，推出了光棍节促销。

At its headquarters in the eastern Hangzhou City, Alibaba set up 200 lounge chairs for its 800-strong staff to rest during the day. The company rented 180 rooms at nearby hotels for longer breaks.

总部在东部城市杭州的阿里巴巴为其800多名员工安排了200张躺椅在那天休息。为保证长时间的休息该公司在附近酒店租了180间客房。

China's delivery companies had 800,000 employees working yesterday, including 65,000 temporary workers hired for the singles' holiday.

中国快递公司昨天有80万名员工在工作，包括光棍节雇用的6.5万名临时工。

YTO Express Co Ltd in Shanghai, planned to have 30,000 vehicles on the road yesterday, and had expanded its daily handling capacity by 50 percent to 6 million packages for the day.

上海圆通快递有限公司昨天安排了3万辆汽车在路上，并已扩大了50%的日常处理量至600万包一天。