Perde una password da 220 milioni di dollari

Man lost password to $220M

15 January, 2021

Free

Intermediate (B1)

(Elephants never forget!)

Stefan Thomas, un programmatore tedesco che vive a San Francisco, ha perso una password che vale 220 milioni di dollari. Esatto: 220 milioni di dollari in Bitcoin!

Stefan, infatti, possiede ben 7.002 Bitcoin, ma purtroppo ha smarrito la password del suo portafoglio digitale. Stefan ha fallito i primi otto tentativi per inserire la password corretta, e gli rimangono solamente due possibilità.

Due possibilità per ritrovare quei 7mila Bitcoin che aveva comprato molti anni fa, quando valevano pochissimo. Un ragazzo lungimirante, ma un po’ smemorato, insomma.

Beh, in bocca al lupo Stefan!

Keywords

perdere: to lose – 丢失

la password: password – 密码

valere: to be worth – 值得

possedere: to own – 拥有

smarrire: to lose, misplace – 遗失, 丢失

il portafoglio digitale: digital wallet – 数字钱包

fallire: to fail – 失败

il tentativo: attempt – 尝试

la possibilità: chance – 机会

lungimirante: far-sighted – 有远见的

smemorato/a: forgetful – 健忘的

“in bocca al lupo!”: “good luck!” – “祝好运!”

Grammar

Pronome indiretto GLI
Indirect object pronoun GLI

“…gli rimangono solamente due possibilità”
(…and he only has two chances left)

In this sentence, which translates to “he has only two chances left”, “gli” is a pronoun that means “to him” or “for him”.

It is an indirect object pronoun used to indicate to whom the two remaining chances belong: it refers to the subject of the sentence, Stefan Thomas, and indicates that the two remaining chances belong to him.
Here are some more examples:

Gli ho dato il libro. (I gave the book to him)
Gli hai telefonato? (Did you call him?)
Digli che non posso rispondere (Tell him that I cannot answer)

In all these examples, “gli” is used to indicate to whom the action is being done or for whom something is being done. It is a very common pronoun in Italian, particularly in the context of giving or providing something to someone else.

Note that “gli” can also be used as a plural indirect object pronoun meaning “to them/for them“:

Gli ho dato il libro. (I gave the book to them)
Gli hai telefonato? (Did you call them?)
Digli che non posso rispondere (Tell them that I cannot answer)

Translation

Stefan Thomas, a German programmer living in San Francisco, has lost a password worth 220 million dollars. Yes, that’s right: 220 million dollars in Bitcoin!

Stefan owns 7,002 bitcoins, but unfortunately, he has lost the password to his digital wallet. Stefan has failed the first eight attempts to enter the correct password, and he only has two chances left.

Two chances to recover those 7,000 bitcoins that he bought many years ago when they were worth very little. He was a visionary young man, but a little forgetful, in short.

Well, good luck Stefan!

Perde una password da 220 milioni di dollari