英语流利说20190117

Japanese billionaire takes over top spot on Twitter after he offers prize money for retweets

What gets Twitter users more excited than a year's supply of Wendy's chicken nuggets? Apparently cold, hard cash.

gugget, n.小块东西 | e.g pure high-grade gold nuggets | a nugget of food 

cold, hard, 实打实的 | cold, hard cash, 现钞

The most retweeted tweet of all time now belongs to Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire behind the e-commerce company Zozotown. His message to the Twitterverse promised 100 winners a chance to win a piece of 100 million Japanese yen, or about $920,800, if they retweeted him.

retweet, 转发推特

twitterverse, 推特宇宙（比喻的说法）

 Maezawa said his promotion on Twitter was a show of gratitude after Zozotown sold 10 billion yen worth of merchandise during its New Year's sale. His message has been retweeted more than 5.6 million times. He said that he would contact the winners through direct message.

merchandise, n.商品 | If the product is properly merchandised, it should sell very well.

Tweeter confirmed that Maezawa's post is now the most retweeted message on the platform and that the tweet is considered a "contest/sweepstakes" ad and is allowed on Twitter. 

sweepstakes, 参与抽奖

contest, 竞赛（抽奖） 

Maezawa has more than 6 million followers on Twitter. He is not only a high-profile entrepreneur:  He is also slated to be SpaceX's first tourist to pay for a trip around the moon. Last year, at an unveiling at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, Maezawa announced that he had bought every seat on SpaceX's inaugural flight to Earth's satellite, scheduled to embark in 2023 and take about a week. Maezawa said he would invite up to eight artists to join him on his journey to the moon, leading to the creation of artworks "to inspire the dreamer in all of us."

high-profile, a.经常出境的，高调的

slate, v.安排，计划 | e.g She is slated to appear at the summer music festival next year.

unveil,  v.为...揭幕

inaugural, a.首次的；就职的 | the president's inaugural address

embark, v.上船，上飞机；从事，着手 | She is about to embark on a new career.