It’s a shopping spree of epic proportions and all it took was three minutes for the numbers on this screen to reach 10 billion yuan.

　　这是一场史无前例的购物狂欢，只用了三分钟，屏幕上的成交额就达到了100亿元人民币。

　　That’s the equivalent of more than 1.5 billion dollars and it’s just the beginning forsales and Alibaba’s Singles Day, an annual online discount sales gala that’sbecome the world’s biggest spender-thon.

　　总计相当于15多亿美元。而这只是消费的开始。天猫“双十一”购物狂欢节是阿里巴巴集团一年一度的线上促销盛典，现已成为全世界最为盛大的买手节。

　　Once a celebration for China’s Lonely Hearts, Singles day has become a 24-hourextravaganza that outsells Black Friday and Cyber Monday US sales combined.

　　“双十一”曾被中国单身青年叫做“光棍节”，如今这场历时24小时的火爆网购，其成交记录已经超过美国“黑色星期五”和“网络星期一”两大促销日的销售额总和。

　　The event has shoppers around China scouting for bargains while delivery men and robots brace foran estimated 1.5 billion parcels expected over the next few days.

　　活动激动人心，吸引全中国的顾客搜罗特价商品，快递员和快递机器人预期要在未来几天派送 15亿件包裹。

　　Alibaba says the rise in China’s middle class consumers is driving the sales and theoverall total is likely to top last year’s, something analysts and investors will be watching closely in the coming hours.

　　阿里巴巴表示，中国逐渐扩大的中产阶级消费群体正在拉动销售，总销售额可能达到历年之最，分析人士和投资者也将会在接下来的时间继续密切关注。