Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba cashed a record 213.5bn yuan (￡24bn) in sales on Sunday during its 24-hour online retail¹ frenzy² Singles' Day, but the event's annual growth dropped to its slowest rate.

上周天，在双11零售狂欢之日，中国电商巨头阿里巴巴在24小时之内的销售额高达2135亿（这个240亿英镑），不过该盛事的年增长率掉入有史以来最低。

Shoppers in China and across the world snapped up hot items including iPhones, furniture and milk powder starting pre-dawn, with Alibaba recording³ roughly $10bn in sales in the first hour after midnight.

从中国到乃至全世界的网购人员在黎明到来之前，开始准备抢购苹果手机、家具和奶粉等热销产品，据统计，截止到0点以后的一个小时，销售额就超过了100亿美元。

Singles' Day, also called “Double 11”, is the world's biggest online sales event, outstripping⁴ the sales of US shopping holidays Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

光棍节也称“双11”，是世上最大的在线销售盛事之一，销售额比美国的黑五和网络星期一的总和还要多。

The Chinese event was originally a novelty student holiday to celebrate being single, countering Valentines Day, but has since grown into a month-long online shopping festival that peaks with a 24-hour sale on November 11.

最早双11是中国的学生用来庆祝单身的节日，以此对抗情人节，不过后来逐渐演变成持续一个月的网购节日，巅峰就是双11当天的凌晨0点。

This year, the company surpassed last year's full-day sales record of 168bn yuan in just under sixteen hours.

今年，阿里巴巴只用了不到16个小时，就打破去年1680亿人民币的全天销售额。

Despite the record haul, the annual sales growth rate fell from 39 per cent to 27 per cent, at the low end of analyst⁵ estimates, and the slowest rate in the event's 10-year history.

尽管记录惊人，但是根据销售预计，年销售增长比率从39%降至27%，是10年以来的最低。

Earlier this month it revised down its full-year sales outlook by 4-6 per cent, sending further chills through the company's stock price.

这个月的早些时候，该公司就预计全年销售会下降4-6个百分点，这无疑对公司的股价雪上加霜。

While small appliances and cosmetics⁶ were strong on Sunday, sales in big-ticket items including large appliances slowed alongside a downturn in the housing market, Alibaba vice⁷ chairman Joe Tsai told press.

“周日小家电和化妆品销售强劲，而大型家电在家居市场上的销量呈下降趋势”。阿里巴巴的副主席蔡崇信接受采访时说。

“If people aren't buying new homes, they aren't buying appliances,” he said.

“如果人们没有购置新房，他们是不会买家用电器的。”