一直悬而未决的第三方支付“身份”问题，终于有了一个明确的说法。中国人民银行6月21日发布《非金融机构支付服务管理办法》，规范非金融机构支付业务。据悉，自今年9月1日起，所有从事第三方支付的企业，必须在实施之日起一年内申请取得支付业务许可证，否则不得从事网络支付。请看《中国日报》报道：

       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

       所谓第三方支付，就是一些和产品所在国家以及国外各大银行签约、并具备一定实力和信誉保障的第三方独立机构提供的交易支持平台。在通过第三方支付平台的交易中，买方选购商品后，使用第三方平台提供的账户进行货款支付，由第三方通知卖家货款到达、进行发货；买方检验物品后，就可以通知付款给卖家，第三方再将款项转至卖家账户。WikiAnswers这样定义：

       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.

       其中牵扯到一个“第三方”（third party）的概念。两个相互联系的主体之外的某个客体，我们把它叫作第三方。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，而不是直接交给房东。

（来源：中国网学英语频道）