??????? 一直懸而未決的第三方支付“身份”問題，終于有了一個明確的說法。中國人民銀行6月21日發布《非金融機構支付服務管理辦法》，規范非金融機構支付業務。據悉，自今年9月1日起，所有從事第三方支付的企業，必須在實施之日起一年內申請取得支付業務許可證，否則不得從事網絡支付。請看《中國日報》報道：

???????The People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Monday said that non-bank payment service providers would need a license to conduct third party payment transactions in the nation.

——Excerpt from 3rd party payments regulated

???????所謂第三方支付，就是一些和產品所在國家以及國外各大銀行簽約、并具備一定實力和信譽保障的第三方獨立機構提供的交易支持平臺。在通過第三方支付平臺的交易中，買方選購商品后，使用第三方平臺提供的賬戶進行貨款支付，由第三方通知賣家貨款到達、進行發貨；買方檢驗物品后，就可以通知付款給賣家，第三方再將款項轉至賣家賬戶。WikiAnswers這樣定義：

???????Third party payment is an effective way to solve troubles in payment. It can guarantee the goods quality and reliable exchange, and the exchange of a purchase. It will monitor the processes of trade to ensure the both buyer and seller are honest. The third party payment offers necessary support for ensuring a successful business in e-commerce. In international trade, third party payment is more important too. Recently some famous platforms existed are Paypal of ebay, Escrow in USA, Safe Trade and Magbaza.com in China, etc.

???????其中牽扯到一個“第三方”（third party）的概念。兩個相互聯系的主體之外的某個客體，我們把它叫作第三方。在交易中，即是指One other than the principals involved in a transaction。例如：

???????I pay rent to a third party, not directly to the landlord.

???????我向第三方支付房租，而不是直接交給房東。

（來源：中國網學英語頻道）