经济学人文章双语

THIS WAS supposed to be the quarter that Kraft Heinz showed America's huge, struggling food companies a new model for success. A merger in 2015 had joined two of the world's most iconic food makers. Backed by 3G Capital, a private-equity firm, the new group slashed costs at a pace that made rivals shudder and investors swoon. After a failed bid in 2017 for Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch giant, Kraft Heinz set out to prove it could not just cut fat but boost sales on its own. Bernardo Hees, the company's boss, pointed cheerfully to new products, including Heinz Mayochup and something called Just Crack an Egg. The company was on the path to "sustainable, profitable growth", he declared in November. Unfortunately, it wasn't.  On February 21st Kraft Heinz announced a staggering $15bn impairment, a dividend cut of more than 3o% and an inquiry into its procurement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Earnings calls are often sleepy affairs. This one was a nightmare. Some of 3G's long-time critics are now clucking with satisfaction. Others fear 3G is tarnishing American treasures such as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and Warren Buffett, who partnered with 3G to combine Heinz and Kraft and last year lost nearly $3bn on the deal. Yet dramatic as Kraft Heinz's decline may seem, 3G's impact and the food industry's problems extend far beyond it.  While its founders are Brazilian, 3G's buyout business is based in Manhattan.(Its most famous founder, Jorge Paulo Lemann, lives in Switzerland.) Unlike many big private-equity firms, 3G's main investors are not pension funds but family offices and individuals, including its partners. It does not have a wide portfolio, but backs just two companies: Kraft Heinz and Restaurant Brands International (RBI). Blackstone, a private-equity firm based a few blocks away, has nearly 2,5oo 's New York office has fewer than two dozen. Yet 3G's leaders have rocked the consumer industry like few investors in history.  All buyout firms are thirsty for deals, but 3G is uniquely parched. Before starting 3G, the firm's founders went on a beer-buying spree that culminated in 2o16 with Anheuser-Busch InBev's purchase of SAB Miller for more than $100bn. AB InBev, in which 3G's partners have a large stake, now brews more than one in four of the world's beers. Kraft Heinz counts Kraft cheese, Heinz Ketchup, Jell-0, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Oscar Mayer among its holdings. RBI includes Burger King, Popeyes, a fried-chicken restaurant, and Tim Hortons, a popular Canadian chain. The way 3G runs companies is as notable as its appetite for buying them. In a practice called zero-based budgeting, managers must justify their expenses anew each year. The idea is to expand margins continuously. Overseeing this are managers chosen for their talent and work ethic, rather than mere experience. Daniel Schwartz, a 3G partner, became the chief executive of Burger King at 32. Mr Hees, a 3G partner who spent more than a decade working for a Latin American railroad, became Kraft Heinz's boss at 45. David Knopf, its chief financial officer, assumed his position in 2017 at 29.  To 3G's detractors, this all seems a bit mad. The company's strategy can be caricatured as follows: buy a big business, cut costs, repeat. This is not entirely fair. RBI has invested in marketing Burger King, winning prizes for its ads. AB InBev is working to boost its sales, for instance by pushing  higher-priced beers and deploying best practices across its vast geography.  But buying big companies and slashing costs remain 3G's speciality. The risks of that strategy have become clear. RBI struggled to integrate franchisees at Tim Hortons. AB InBev last year said it would slash its dividend by half.  Nowhere has 3G's approach played out more tumultuously than at Kraft Heinz. America's food industry seemed the perfect target, with flabby companies and powerful brands. Rare is the American who has not slurped Kool-Aid or downed an Oscar Mayer hot dog smothered in Heinz reckoned the brands were strong enough to withstand large cuts. As it turns out, they were not.  This was not the same for AB InBev, which despite abysmal results in America, has little beer competition from in-store brands, is rarely sold online and faces ample growth abroad. Kraft Heinz's business, by comparison, is concentrated in America, where the food industry is being turned on its head. Its brands may be familiar, but that does not make them popular. Small firms are offering healthier options, taking advantage of cheap digital marketing and nimble contract manufacturers. The smallest 20,000 packaged goods players account for about half the industry's growth, according to Nielsen, a research firm.  Meanwhile, the rise of e-commerce and European discount grocers has put pressure on food retailers, which are in turn squeezing food companies. Stores led by Walmart are using extensive data to launch their own, increasingly sophisticated, low-cost private label goods, all the while pushing companies to lower their prices.  Things started well for Kraft Heinz. Its operating profit margin surged from 15% in 2014 to 24% in 2017. The first big setback came that year when Paul Polman, then Unilever's boss, rebuffed the company's $143bn courtship.(Unilever, wisely, has devoted growing attention not to food but to beauty and household products.) Without his megadeal, Mr Hees turned to the basic work of lifting sales by pouring more money into advertising, product innovation and Kraft Heinz's sales force, but that ate into profits.  Equally striking is the company's new $15bn impairment, a recognition that the value of giant brands has shrivelled. Mr Buffett says that he misjudged the worth of Kraft's stable of products. "The management team entered into this merger with the assumption they could cut the spending needed to maintain brands, let alone help them grow," says Robert Moskow of Credit Suisse, a bank. "The world changed on them-retailers changed and consumers changed." Flawed though 3G's approach may seem, few food companies offer a successful alternative. Companies have tried to evolve by buying smaller firms, often at lofty prices and with mixed results. For instance Campbell Soup bought Bolthouse Farms, a maker of fruity drinks, in 2o12, but is now trying to sell it. Last year it bought Snyder's-Lance, a pretzel and popcorn company, to boost its snacks business. Its debt level has risen accordingly. Indeed, shopping sprees at Campbell, ConAgra and General Mills have made those companies more levered than Kraft Heinz, according to Sanford C Bernstein, a research firm.  Kraft Heinz now wants to shrink to grow: it plans divestments over the next 18 months to improve its balance sheet so it can make other, big deals. But the SEC's subpoena suggests that some internal processes might be unravelling as managers struggle to meet bold goals. The notion that big deals will save American food firms looks increasingly dubious. In 2014, before Heinz bought Kraft, the combined gross operating profits of the companies were about $. Now, due in part to some problems beyond its control, Kraft Heinz expects its 2019 profits to be about the same.卡夫亨氏《Kraft Heinz）本应在这个季度向美国规模巨大但陷入困境的食品公司展示一种通往成功的新模式。2015年，两家全球最具标志性的食品制造商合二为一。在私募股权公司G资本的支持下，新集团以令竞争对手战栗、令投资者狂喜的速度削减成本。2017年收购英荷巨头联合利华失败后，卡夫亨氏开始想办法证明自己不但会减肥，还能凭自身提高销焦额。公司老板贝尔纳多·希斯（Bernardo Hees）兴高采烈地搬出新产品作例证，包括亨氏的蛋黄番茄酱（Mayochup）和一种叫“打个蛋”（just Crack an Egg）的食品。去年11月他查布公司正走在遇往可持续、有盈利的增长“的道路上。遗憾的是，并没有。 上月21日，卡夫亨氏披露了150亿美元的巨额减记、削减超过30%的股息，以及美国证券交易委员会（SEC）调查其采购部门的事宜。财报电话会议通常让人昏昏欲题，这一次却是一场露梦。一些长期批评3G资本的人现在难掩得意之情。另一些人则担心，3G资本正在玷污像卡夫亨氏通心粉和巴菲特这样的美国瑰宝。之前正是巴非特与3G资本联手促成了亨氏和卡夫的合井，去年他因这笔交易亏损近30亿美元。不过，尽管卡夫亨氏的业绩下滑看起来很惊人，3G资本的影响和食品行业的问题却远不止于此。 3G资本的几位创始人都是巴西人，但收购业务的总部设在曼哈顿。（公司最知名的创始人豪尔赫·保罗·雷曼[Jorge Paulo Lemann]住在瑞士。）与许多大型私募股权公司不同，3G资本的主要投资者不是养老基金，而是家族办公空和个人，包括它的合伙人。它的投资组合并不广泛，只支持两家公司：卡夫亨氏和国际餐饮品牌公司（Restaurant Brands International，RBJ）。私募股权公司需石（Blackstone）的总卸离3G资本只有几个街区，有近2500名员工，而3G资本纽约办事处的员工还不到24人。不过，3G贸本的领导者却震憾了整个消费行业，极少有投资者曾做到这一点。 所有的投资收购公司都渴望达成交易，但3G资本在这方面的热望独一无二。在成立3G资本之前，该公司的创始人掀起了一场啤酒业收购狂湖，在2016年百威英博（Anheuser-Busch InBev）以逾1000亿美元收购SAB米勒（SAB Miller）时达到顶峰。如今，由G资本的合伙人大量持股的百威英博酿造了超过全球四分之一的啤酒。卡夫亨氏的产品包括卡夫奶酪、亨氏番茄、Jell-O果冻、菲力奶油奶酪和Oscar Mayer肉制品。RBI旗下有汉堡王、炸鸡店Popeyes和颇受欢迎的加拿大连锁店Tim Hortons。 3G资本运营所持有公司的方式和收购它们的劲头一样引人注目。它采用一种“零基预算法”的做法，经理们每年都要重新证明他们的支出是合理的。此举是为了持续扩大利润率。而监督这一操作的管理层是因他们的才能和职业道德而不仅仅是经验被选定的。3G资本的合伙人之一丹尼尔·施瓦茨（Daniel Schwartz）出任汉堡王的首席执行官时才32岁。另一位合伙人希斯在一家拉美铁路公司工作了十多年，45岁时成为卡夫亨氏的老板。首席财务官戴维·克诺夫（David Knopf）2017年上任时才29岁。 对于3G资本的抨击者来说，这一切似乎有点疯狂。夸张一点说，该公司的战略就是：收购一家大企业，削减成本，然后再重复。但这么说并不完全公平。RBI在汉堡王的营销上投资，赢得了广告大奖。百威英博正努力提振销售，比如推销价格更高的啤酒，并在公司广阔的版图上应用最佳实践。 但收购大公司和削减成本仍是3G资本的专长。这种策略的风险已经变得很明显。整合Tim Hortons的加盟商让RBI不堪重负。百威英博去年表示将把股息削减一半。 3G资本的这套做法用在卡夫亨氏上时表现得最为混乱。美国的食品产业看起来是个完美的目标，因为该行业里企业臃肿但品牌强大。很少有美国人没喝过速溶饮料Kool-Aid，或是没吃过涂满亨氏番茄酱的Oscar Mayer热狗。3G资本认为这些品牌足够强大，能承受大幅成本削减。事实证明它们并不能。 百威英博的情况就不一样了。尽管在美国的业绩糟糕透顶，但百威英博几乎没有遇到过来自商店自有品牌啤酒的竞争，很少在网上销售，而且海外增长强劲。相比之下，卡夫亨氏的业务集中在美国，而美国的食品行业正在发生翻天覆地的变化。它的各个品牌可能为人熟知，但这并不能让它们大卖。小公司正利用便宜的数字营销和灵活的承包生产商带来的优势，提供给消费者更健康的选择。根据研究公司尼尔森的数据，规模最小的两万家包装食品公司占了整个行业增长的一半左右。 与此同时，电子商务和欧洲折扣杂货商的崛起给食品零售商带来了压力，它们继而又向食品公司施压。以沃尔玛为首的商店正在利用大量数据推出越来越精致且价格低廉的自有品牌商品，并始终在促使食品公司降价。 卡夫亨氏的开局不错。营业利润率从2014年的15%飙升至2017年的24%。2017年，卡夫亨氏遭遇了第一次重大挫折，时任联合利华老板的保罗.波尔曼（Paul Polman）拒绝了该公司1430亿美元的求购。（联合利华明智地将注意力越来越多地放在美容和家用品而非食品上。）巨额收购计划落空，希斯转而专注于提高销售额这项基础工作，将更多资金投在广告、产品创新和卡夫亨氏的销售队伍上，但这侵蚀了利润。 同样惹人注目的是该公司150亿美元的新一轮减记，这等于承认公司各大品牌价值缩水。巴菲特表示他错误地判断了卡夫众多产品的价值。“管理团队设想的是，合并之后他们可以削减品牌维护所必需的开支，更不用说帮助品牌成长了，”瑞信银行的罗伯特·莫斯可（Robert Moskow）说道，“世界在他们那里发生了变化——零售商变了，消费者也变了。” 3G资本的方法似乎存在缺陷，但极少有食品公司能拿出一个成功的替代方案。各大公司尝试通过收购规模较小的公司来自我进化，这些收购交易的价格往往很高，而收效不一。例如，金宝汤（Campbell Soup）于2012年收购了果汁饮料生产商Bolthouse Farms，但现在又想把它卖掉。去年它收购了一家椒盐脆饼和爆米花公司Snyder's-Lance，以扩大零食业务。它的债务水平也相应上升。研究公司盛博称，实际上，金宝汤、康尼格拉（ConAgra）和通用磨坊（General Mills）的疯狂收购使得这些公司的杠杆率比卡夫亨氏还高。 卡夫亨氏现在希望通过收缩规模来实现增长：它计划在未来18个月剥离资产以改善资产负债表，以便能实现其他大规模交易。但美国证交会的传票显示，由于管理层难以达到大胆的目标，一些内部流程可能正在瓦解。大型交易能拯救美国食品公司的想法看起来越来越不可靠了。2014年在亨氏收购卡夫之前，两家公司的总营业利润约为65亿美元。现在，一定程度上由于公司自身无法控制的一些问题，卡夫亨氏预计2019年的利润将与合并前大致相同。

Three kingdoms, two empires 三国鼎立，两帝称雄 ★题目翻译： three kingdoms应该是借鉴了中国的《三国演义》，而中文翻译也同样借鉴了“三国鼎立”这个成语，相当于增补了一个动词； 后半部分的two empires则为了和前面对应，同样增补了动词“称雄”♂ 这个增补词语的选择与正文所讲述的内容有关，主要讲了中国三大互联网公司的发展现状，其中阿里巴巴和腾讯发展势头迅猛而百度则被甩开，所以这里取“称雄”作为动词。THERE was a time, not that long ago, when China’s big internet companies were dismissed by investors in Silicon Valley as marginal firms with a tendency to copy Western products. Not any more . Today they are monsters with increasingly hefty international ambitions . 就在不久前，硅谷的投资者还根本不把中国的大型互联网公司放在眼里，认为它们不过是些边缘企业，往往都是照搬西方的产品。时过境迁，今天这些中国互联网公司已经长成了猛兽，在国际市场上的野心不断膨胀。 ★单词 dismiss : V-T If you dismiss something, you decide or say that it is not important enough for you to think about or consider. 不予理会，比如： Mr. Wakeham dismissed the reports as speculation. 韦克厄姆先生把这些报道当作臆测而不予理会。 其他常用含义： 解雇 V-T When an employer dismisses an employee, the employer tells the employee that they are no longer needed to do the job that they have been doing. marginal : ADJ If you describe people as marginal, you mean that they are not involved in the main events or developments in society because they are poor or have no power. 无足轻重的，比如： The tribunals were established for the well-integrated members of society and not for marginal individuals. 这个特别法庭是为社会中的主流人群设立的，而不是为了无足轻重的小人物。 其他常用含义： 边际的 ADJ Marginal activities, costs, or taxes are not the main part of a business or an economic system, but often make the difference between its success or failure, and are therefore important to control. 边际的 hefty : ADJ Hefty means large in size, weight, or amount. 庞大的; 沉重的，比如： She was quite a hefty woman. 她是个相当高大的女人。 其他常用含义: 有力的 ADJ A hefty movement is done with a lot of force. ★翻译tips as-这里把介词翻译成了“认为”，动词化。 with a tendency：译为频度副词“往往”，而不是直译成“有…的趋势”。 Not any more. 英文文章中常见的一句话，“时过境迁”是个值得积累的中文表达，意思是随着时间推移，情况发生了变化。 international ambitions：增译，只译为“国际野心”没有任何含义，在根据语境增译了“市场”，意思就通顺了。Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce group, handles more transactions each year than do eBay and Amazon combined. Jack Ma, its chairman, pledges to serve 2bn consumers around the world within 20 years. Tencent, which specialises in online games and social media, is now the world’s tenth most valuable public firm , worth some $275bn. Pony Ma (no relation), its chairman, wants China to “preside over the global tech revolution of the future”. But as the two firms become global forces, the third member of China’s “ BAT” trio of internet giants, Baidu, an online-search firm that came to dominate the mainland market after Google left the country to avoid censorship, is lagging behind. 中国最大的电商集团阿里巴巴每年处理的交易量超过eBay和亚马逊的总和，董事局主席马云承诺要在20年内为全球20亿消费者提供服务。专注网络游戏和社交媒体的腾讯公司现在是世界第十大最有价值的上市公司，市值约2750亿美元。董事长马化腾（和马云不是亲戚）希望中国能“领导未来的全球科技革命”。中国互联网三巨头“BAT”中的第三位是百度。谷歌为避免审查制度退出中国后，百度便称霸中国大陆的在线搜索市场。另外两大巨头已成为国际大公司，百度却落在人后。 ★单词 马云、马化腾有“二马”之称，在外刊中一般都只使用他们的英文名字，前者Jack Ma，后者Pony Ma public firm ：上市公司。go public 上市 preside over : to be in a position of authority at a time when important things are happening 负责（重要局面），比如： The government seemed to be presiding over large-scale unemployment. 政府似乎正面临着大规模的失业状况。 其他含义： 1）to be the head of a company or organization 掌管，管辖，领导 2）to be in charge of a meeting or activity 主持 BAT trio ： 1）trio：a set or group of three people or things三人组，三件套。主要是强调“三”这个概念，和原文中的trio of internet giants合起来就是常说的“三巨头”。Trio还有一个意思是“三重唱，三重奏”，与之相关的独唱（奏）、二重唱（奏）、四重唱（奏）分别是solo，duet，quartet 2）BAT-中国国内三大互联网公司，B-Baidu百度、A-Alibaba阿里巴巴、T-Tencent腾讯。 美国也有类似的三巨头，称为“GAF”,即：G-Google谷歌、A-Amazon亚马逊/A-Apple苹果、F-Facebook脸书。 bn=billion 十亿；mn=million 百万；tn=trillion 万亿/兆 ★长难句解析 Alibaba(主语), China’s biggest e-commerce group（同位语）, handles（谓语） more transactions（宾语） each year（时间状语） /than do eBay and Amazon combined(状语). 不好理解的点在于than后面的部分，do代替了前面的handle，combined作后置定语修饰eBay and Amazon表示二者加起来的。涉及比较的句子中，如果谓语动词是实义动词，那么than后面的比较对象的动词一般用do/did/does替代，并提到名词前面。 But as the two firms become global forces（状从）, the third member of China’s “BAT” trio of internet giants（主语）, Baidu（同位语）, an online-search firm（同位语）/ that came to dominate the mainland market after Google left the country to avoid censorship（定语从句，after是定从嵌套的状从）/, is lagging behind（主句谓语）. 这一句主语部分较长，官方的译文并没有严格按照英文的顺序进行翻译，而是根据中文的表达逻辑进行了调整。 1）先翻译the third member of China’s “BAT” trio of internet giants, Baidu将短语译成了句子。先翻这一句是因为前面分别介绍了阿里巴巴和腾讯，从这一句开始都是讲百度，所以先把句子的主要对象引出来，再去翻译它的情况。 2）an online-search firm that came to dominate the mainland market after Google left the country to avoid censorship 把定语从句和先行词也单独译成了一句。这一句主要按照时间顺序翻译，先说谷歌退出中国，再说百度占领市场，并且先行词和定从中的market进行了结合，避免重复介绍百度，同时说清楚了它所占领的是什么市场。 3）介绍了百度之前的情况之后，在翻译现在和另外两家公司的对比，But as the two firms become global forces以及is lagging behind两部分。 这一个长句的翻译很好的体现了中英文表达上逻辑的不同，这一句主要是按照以时间为线索，先介绍主体，再介绍主体过去和现在的情况。All three firms differ from their Western peers in important ways. First, Western companies usually prefer to focus on a few core areas, whereas Chinese internet firms typically try to do everything from cloud computing to digital payments. When this works, as with Tencent’s wildly successful app, WeChat, the results can be impressive. 这三家公司与西方同行在几个重要方面有所不同。首先，西方公司通常会聚焦几个核心领域，而中国互联网公司一般涉猎广泛，从云计算到数字支付无不尝试。这样的尝试一旦成功，结果便会非常可观，腾讯大获成功的应用微信即是如此。 ★单词 as with ：正如，如同…一样 ★翻译tips When this works, as with Tencent’s wildly successful app, WeChat, the results can be impressive. this-Chinese internet firms typically try to do everything from cloud computing to digital payments as…WeChat 插入语放到了后面翻译，先翻译从句和主句 Second, with the exception of political censorship , the internet sector in China is lightly regulated. Facebook, Apple and Google, in contrast, face increasing scrutiny. Chinese internet firms can achieve market domination of a sort that would attract close attention in other markets. 第二，抛开要接受政治审查这一点，中国互联网行业的监管较为宽松；而Facebook、苹果和谷歌则面临日益严格的审视。以中国互联网企业能达到的市场支配地位，换在其他市场，会受到监管机构的密切关注。 ★单词 censorship : N-UNCOUNT Censorship is the censoring of books, plays, movies, or reports, especially by government officials, because they are considered immoral or secret in some way. (官方对书刊、剧本、电影或新闻报道的) 审查，比如： The government today announced that press censorship was being lifted. 该政府今日宣告说正在撤销新闻审查。 中国的电影审查制度就用 film censorship；电影分级制度可以说film/motion picture rating system；（电影电视中）广告植入 product placement of a sort ：一种，一类，sort可看做等于market domination 其他含义：of sorts/of a sort 勉强称得上的，勉强算的，比如： I have a conversation of sorts with a very drunk man at the bus third difference is that they can succeed on a rapid and massive scale because the state-dominated economy is so inefficient. Often there is not even a physical infrastructure to leapfrog —so-called third-tier cities, for example, often lack big retail centres. Nationwide there is one shopping mall per people. 第三个区别是，由于国家主导的经济效率低下，中国互联网企业可以快速取得大规模成功。企业发展过程中通常甚至都没有挡路的实体机构，比如在所谓的三线城市，往往都缺少大型零售中心。中国每120万人才有一个大型购物中心。 ★单词 physical ：实体的。实体店-physical store leapfrog : V-T/V-I If one group of people leapfrogs into a particular position or leapfrogs someone else, they use the achievements of another person or group in order to make advances of their own. (利用别人成就) 超越，比如： It is already obvious that all four American systems have leapfrogged over the European versions. 显然，美国的全部4套系统已经超越了欧洲的版本。 third-tier ：三线城市；second-tier：二线城市。或者也可以说tier two/tier three city ★翻译tips: a physical infrastructure to leapfrog： 1)infrastructure 通常译为“基础设施”，既可以是可数名词也可以是不可数名词，原文前面加了a，所以译文将其具体化成“实体机构”，主要是指国有的机构。 2）按照顺序应该是“对企业来说甚至没有可以让其超越的实体机构”，译文直接转换了角度，将“企业去超越实体机构”转换成“挡路的实体机构”，更符合中文表达习惯。A huge home market has not stopped the trio from fighting bloody turf wars among each other. The outcome to this battle is rapidly becoming clear. Tencent and Alibaba are surging ahead; a series of own goals has left Baidu far behind. The common jibe about Baidu among local experts is that it is becoming the Yahoo of China, a once-dominant search giant that sank owing to a lack of innovation and a series of management blunders . 国内市场如此巨大，却仍未能阻止这三巨头相互厮杀抢夺地盘。这场战斗的结果正迅速明朗。腾讯和阿里巴巴遥遥领先，百度则因自己一连串的乌龙球而远远落后。国内专家最常用来挖苦百度的一个说法就是它正在变成中国的雅虎。雅虎一度是占据市场主导地位的搜索巨头，却因缺乏创新和一系列管理失误而沉沦。 ★单词 turf wars : a fight or argument over the areas or things you think belong to you 地盘之争 turf：N-UNCOUNT 1）Someone's turf is the area which is most familiar to them or where they feel most confident. 地盘; 活动范围，比如： Their turf was : its streets, theaters, homes, and parks. 他们的地盘是圣路易斯：它的街道、剧院、住宅和公园。 2）草皮 own goal ： 1）a goal that you accidentally score against your own team without intending to in a game of football, hockey etc. 乌龙球（足球、曲棍球等比赛中） 2）an action or remark that has the opposite effect from what you intended （不利于自己的）错事，蠢话，自打嘴巴 ，比如： The minister’s admission turned out to be a spectacular own goal. 这位部长的招认结果成了引人注目的自打嘴巴。 leave behind ：把…落在后面（常用被动），比如： In class, a child with poor eyesight can soon be left behind. 在课堂上，视力不好的孩子很快就会落在别人的后面。 近义词：lag behind 落后于（与be left behind同义），比如： Britain is lagging behind the rest of Europe. 英国落后于欧洲其他国家。 blunder ： 1）N-COUNT A blunder is a stupid or careless mistake. 愚蠢错误，比如： I think he made a tactical blunder by announcing it so far ahead of time. 我认为他如此提早宣布消息是犯了战术上的错误。——可以替换mistake 2）V-I If you blunder, you make a stupid or careless mistake. 犯愚蠢错误，比如： No doubt I had blundered again. 不用说我又犯了个蠢错。 3）V-I If you blunder into a dangerous or difficult situation, you get involved in it by mistake. 误入 (危险境地或困境)，比如： People wanted to know how they had blundered into war, and how to avoid it in the future. 人们想弄清他们怎么会错误地卷入战争，将来如何才能避免这样的事。 4）V-I If you blunder somewhere, you move there in a clumsy and careless way. 跌跌撞撞地走，比如： He had blundered into the table, upsetting the flowers. 他撞上了桌子，打翻了花。 ★翻译tips The common jibe about Baidu among local experts is that it is becoming the Yahoo of China, a once-dominant search giant that sank owing to a lack of innovation and a series of management blunders. 1）The common jibe about Baidu among local experts：国内专家最常用来挖苦百度的一个说法——jibe-词性转换，译为动词；增译“一个说法” 2）a once-dominant search giant that sank owing to a lack of innovation and a series of management blunders. 同位语，介绍Yahoo的情况，译文中以“雅虎”为主语重启一句。Its revenue growth fell to in 2016, down from 35% in 2015 and 54% in 2014. The firm gets some nine-tenths of its revenues from online ads, but this income is plunging as marketers redirect spending from search ads on Baidu to social-media networks like WeChat and mobile-commerce platforms run by Alibaba. Meanwhile, Baidu is burning cash trying to keep its various big bets on artificial intelligence (AI), online video, virtual and augmented-reality technologies, and “online to offline” (O2O) services going. One of China’s most respected business consultants is pessimistic about its future: “There is very little chance they’ll be relevant in five years.” 百度的收入增长率在2016年下降至，远低于2015年的35%和2014年的54%。公司收入约九成都来自在线广告，但由于商家把花在百度搜索广告的钱转投至微信这样的社交媒体网络以及阿里巴巴运营的移动商务平台，百度的收入大幅下滑。同时，百度还在烧钱维系它的几个大赌注：人工智能（AI）、在线视频、虚拟和增强现实技术，以及“线上到线下”（O2O）服务。中国最受尊敬的商业顾问之一对百度的未来持悲观态度：“五年以后很可能就没百度什么事了。” ★单词 burn cash ：花钱，烧钱。跟中文的“烧钱”意思相通。 ★翻译tips There is very little chance they’ll be relevant in five years. 五年以后很可能就没百度什么事了 正说反译，原句中未出现not之类的否定词，而在翻译中则用到了“没”这个中文中的否定词。

PEACOCKS strut; bowerbirds build lovenests; spiders gift-wrap flies in silk. Such courtship rituals play an important role in what Charles Darwin called sexual selection: when the female of a species bears most of the costs of reproduction, males use extravagant displays and gifts to demonstrate their “reproductive fitness” and females choose between them. For human males, shards of a crystalline form of carbon often feature. A diamond engagement ring signals a man’s taste, wealth and commitment, all to persuade a woman that he is a good bet. 孔雀昂首阔步；园丁鸟建起爱巢；蜘蛛吐丝把苍蝇包起来作为礼物。这样的求爱仪式在达尔维所说的“性选择”中扮演着重要的角色：当一个物种的词性为繁殖承担了大部分代价时，雄性会极尽炫耀之能事，并伴之以礼物，来展现自己的“生殖适合度”，而雌性则会从它们当中挑选。对男性而言，碳晶体碎颗粒往往是求爱过程的重头戏。一枚订婚钻戒彰显一个男人的品味、财富和承诺，所有这些都是为了让女人相信他是个好的选择。 Strut  趾高气扬地走：He struts around town like he owns the place.他在城里趾高气扬地走着，好像他拥有着这地方似的。 它可以是及物动词，表示支撑，撑开，比如：The holes were close-boarded and strutted.那些洞被木板紧密围封并加有支撑。 它可以做名词，表示建筑物的支柱，比如：...the struts of a suspension bridge.…一座悬索桥的支柱。 gift-wrap ：用花纸(或缎带等装饰品)包装(用作礼物的商品)；把…包装得美观花哨。 Ritual 宗教仪式; 典礼。这个词还有形容词性，仪式性的，传统的，比如：..fasting and ritual dancing.…斋戒和仪式性舞蹈。 sexual selection  性选择，不能翻译成“性别选择”，性选择和性别选择是两个概念。性别选择是sex selection，一般是指人工选择胎儿的性别。 Display 动物求偶的炫耀行为，比如：The teal were indulging in delightful courtship displays野鸭忘情地做着愉快的求爱动作。 Shard : （玻璃、陶瓷或金属的）碎片；Crystalline: 晶体的，水晶般的，比如：Diamond is the crystalline form of the element carbon.钻石是碳元素的晶体结构。 Feature 这里是不及物动词，意思是，（在……中）起重要作用，比如：The latest movies from British directors feature in the current film season.由英国导演执导的最新影片是这个电影季的重头戏。 bet ：（非正式）有可能成功的人选（或备选行动），比如：Tom looked a good bet for victory.看上去汤姆是一个很有成功希望的人选 Your best bet is to call the official liquidators.找官方的资产清算人应是你的首选。 This particular courtship gift was dreamed up by an ad agency for De Beers, the cartel that sold almost all of the world’s diamonds throughout the 20th century. In the 1930s it started to promote a link between diamonds and marriage. Diamonds’ unmatched hardness would symbolise love’s endurance and their “fire”, or brilliance, its passion. Two months’ salary, the firm suggested, was what the ring should cost—a good investment since, as the admen said, “A diamond is forever.” 钻石作为求爱礼物是一家广告公司为戴比尔斯(De Beers) 编织的想象。整个20世纪全世界几乎所有的钻石都由这一垄断组织售出。20世纪30年代，它开始宣传钻石和婚姻之间的联系。钻石无与伦比的硬度象征着爱的恒久，而钻石的“火彩”即光彩则象征着爱的热烈。该公司建议，男士们应该花两个月的薪水来买一枚戒指，而且就像广告词所说的那样，“钻石恒久远，一颗永流传”，买钻戒还会是个不错的投资。 Dream up : 虚构出; 凭空设想出。I dreamed up a plan to solve both problems at once.我想出了一个可以立刻解决这两个问题的计划。 Cartel 卡特尔; 同业联盟。...a drug cartel.…药业联盟。  “卡特尔”这个词现在也被赋予了垄断企业集团的意义：垄断利益集团、垄断联盟、企业联合、同业联盟（Cartel）也称卡特尔，是垄断组织的一种表现形式，是由一系列生产类似产品的企业组成的联盟，通过某些协议或规定来控制该产品的产量和价格。 Diamonds’ unmatched hardness would symbolise love’s endurance and their “fire”, or brilliance, its passion.这是一个 谓语省略结构 。如果后句谓语部分与前句谓语部分完全一样，后句谓语部分就可以全部省略。例如： John is eating an apple and Petter（is eating） an orange．约翰在吃苹果，彼得在吃桔子。 Some turned to the left and others（turned） to the right．一些向左转，而另一些向右转。 Mary looked sad； but Tom（looked） happy．玛丽看上去悲哀，但汤姆却高兴。 Reading means a full man； conference（means）a ready man；and writing （means） an exact man．阅读使人知识丰富，辩论使人头脑敏捷，书写使人精确。 这句也是省略了谓语，如果补充完整就是 their “fire”, or brilliance, would symbolize its passion. Or brilliance是个插入语，fire和brilliance还有hardness都是钻石方面的专业术语，火彩、亮度、硬度。要按照这个名词去翻译。其他和钻石品质相关的术语还有：净度 Clarity, 克拉重量 Carat 切工 Cut。 Now, that promise is dimming. Though a growing Chinese middle class will probably prop up demand for a while, millennials in Western countries seem keener on memorable experiences than on bling. Diamonds’ image has been blemished by some being mined in warzones and sold to pay for the fighting. Meanwhile, laboratory-grown “synthetic” diamonds, long fit only for industrial use, are becoming good enough to compete with gems from out of the ground. 现在，这一允诺暗淡下来。尽管日渐壮大的中国中产阶级可能会在一段时间里支撑起需求，但比起锦衣美钻，西方国家的千禧一代似乎更热衷难忘的经历。有些钻石是在战乱地区开采的，卖掉它们是为战争买单，钻石的形象因此沾上污点。与此同时，在实验室里制成、一直以来仅适用于工业用途的“合成”钻石，正变得足以与地下出产的宝石相媲美。 Promise 此处是双关。一个是承诺，上文阐述的钻石与婚姻爱情之间的联系，钻石恒久远的这种承诺。Promise还有前途前景的意思，对应上文说的a good investment，所谓好投资就是升值前景好，而且后面也在说钻石受到了各方的冲击，说明这个投资前景可能不乐观了。 Though a growing Chinese middle class will probably prop up demand for a while, millennials in Western countries seem keener on memorable experiences than on bling. 意群先划分一下： Though（引导让步状语从句） /a growing Chinese middle class （从句主语）/will probably prop up （从句谓语）/demand （宾语）/for a while（时间状语）, millennials in Western countries /（主句主语）seem keener on （主句谓语）/memorable experiences than on bling. Bling 奢华高档的首饰或服装：Big-name jewellers are battling it out to get celebrities to wear their bling.大牌珠宝商们为了让名人们戴他们的高档首饰正在一争高下。 ...gangsta rap's love of bling-bling.…匪帮说唱乐手对奢华高档服饰的热爱。 这里就是指钻石了。 Blemish : 破坏……的完美外观，玷污，可引申为损害：My main problem was a blemished skin. 我的主要问题是皮肤有瑕疵。 Mine 采掘：The pit is being shut down because it no longer has enough coal that can be mined economically.那个煤矿要关闭了，因为储量不足，难以经济开采。 But the long-term threat to diamonds’ lustre is more surprising: that their price could plummet. In recent years regulators (and market forces) have undermined De Beers’s cartel by limiting the share of other producers’ stones that it can buy. Now responsible for just a third of global sales, the company can no longer manage supply by stockpiling gems when demand turns down. It is spending less on advertising, since it no longer gets the lion’s share of the benefits. But the very value of diamonds lies in being scarce and coveted—that is, costly. 不过光彩夺目的钻石所面临的长期威胁要更令人惊讶：它们的价格可能会暴跌。最近几年监管机构（和市场力量）对戴比尔斯从其他生产商处购买钻石的份额做出限制，削弱了它的垄断力量。现在这家公司的销售量仅占全球的三分之一，已无法通过在需求下降时囤积宝石来管理供应。它的广告支出也在减少，因为它已不再占有最大份额的收益。但是钻石的价值恰恰在于它的稀有和人们对它的渴求，换言之，就是它的昂贵。 By limiting的逻辑主语应该是主句主语，也就是监管机构，是监管机构通过限制的方式，而不是这家公司去限制。 Stones 这里就是钻石。大概总结一下这篇文章到这里总共用了多少个词替换钻石相关的名词，gem, diamond, bling, stone, shards of a crystalline form of carbon. 平时自己看外刊的时候，也可以注意积累一下这种同类词的替换表达。 这里需要科普一个商业逻辑，也是当年这家公司的操盘手段。上世纪30年代，戴比尔斯发展成国际性钻石矿业公司，以其卓越的组织里和庞大的财力，联合各国独立矿山，形成一个采购与销售有控制力的大机构，在钻石的供求量上予以调节，在经济萧条时紧缩钻石的供应量，以维持钻石的价格不致下跌。在经济景气时放宽钻石的供应量，以满足市场需求，并抑制钻石价格的过分上涨，使钻石价格维持着稳定增长的势头，使钻石成为值得人们信任的投资。 这句话的大意是，从前，这家公司卖出了上世纪全世界的钻石，但如今份额只有三分之一了，说明它就算再怎么囤积，也只能控制顶多全球三分之一的供应量，无法再像以前一样呼风唤雨了。这就是market forces的作用。加上前一句说的监管机构的反垄断手段，限制它从其他制造商那里囤货，所以它的经营雪上加霜了。 Stockpile  大量储备：People are stockpiling food for the coming winter.人们正在为即将到来的冬天大量储备食物。 Responsible for  这里颇有点“承担”的意思：Gooch was responsible for 198 of his side’s 542 runs.古奇得了本队542（跑动）得分中的198分。 Lion’s share  最大份额，可以联想中文里的“狮子大开口”：Military and nuclear research have received the lion's share of public funding.军事研究和核研究得到了公共资助里最大的份额。 Converted 令人垂涎的：Allan Little from Radio 4 took the coveted title of reporter of the year.第4电台的艾伦·利特尔获得了令人垂涎的年度记者的头衔。 ...one of sport's most coveted trophies.…体育界最令人向往的奖杯之一。 In the jargon, they are “Veblen goods”, named after a 19th-century economist: prestige-enhancing trinkets for which a higher price encourages buyers. With most products, lower prices increase demand; with diamonds, they could kill it. Greater equality for women might seem to render male-courtship displays redundant. But mating preferences evolved over millennia and will not change quickly. If diamonds were to cease being a way to signal a man’s marriageability, what might take their place? 用行话说，它们属于“凡勃伦商品 (Veblen goods，以19世纪的一位经济学家的名字命名)”，指的是那种提高名望的小玩意儿，价格越高越能激发人们的购买欲。对于大多数商品来说，价格降低会提升需求；但对钻石来说，低价却可能扼杀需求。女性地位的提升看似令男性求偶的炫耀行为变得多余。但人类的择偶偏好历经数千年的演化，并不会迅速发生改变。如果钻石不再是一个男人适合结婚的信号，那什么会成为它的替代品？ jargon  行话：The manual is full of the jargon and slang of self-improvement courses.该手册中满是自我完善课程的行话和俚语。 Veblen good , 韦伯伦商品(Veblen Good)，又称炫耀财，是经济学上用以描述一种商品，其特色是商品需求与商品价格成正向关系，而非正常需求法则的反向关系。这种商品能满足人类的虚荣心，是财富与地位的炫耀，故称为炫耀性消费(Conspicuous consumption)。此名词源于其概念提出者托斯丹·范伯伦(Thorstein Veblen)。价格高昂的宝石、名车、名牌精品等奢侈品皆为韦伯伦商品的例子。 Name after  可以是因……而得名，以谁的名字命名，名字取自谁。 Prestige-enhancing 从字面理解是提升名望，意思就是说，你拥有的这个东西能够提升你的名望地位，让你很有面子，这就是“炫耀财”。 Trinke   价廉物美的首饰; 廉价小装饰物 With most products, lower prices increase demand; with diamonds, they could kill it.  With 在这里的意思是“在……方面”。 Render  使成为; 使变得：It contained so many errors as to render it worthless.太多的错误使之变得毫无价值。 If diamonds were to cease being a way to signal a man’s marriageability, what might take their place? Were to  这是一个虚拟，如果省略if，were要提前倒装。 A different gift, perhaps. In China skewed sex ratios mean that a prospective bridegroom must own an apartment and shower his future in-laws with cash. But a glittering stone goes to the woman, not her family. And it is more than a gift: it is a status symbol, demonstrating that even as a man approaches（着手处理） the expenses of married life, he can still splash out on a bauble. Or a man could rely on more generic forms of display, such as a fancy degree, good job or sharp suit. But these can impress one woman as easily as another, or several simultaneously. He must show commitment—a need not unique to courtship. Salvadoran gangsters get extravagant tattoos; Japanese yakuza cut off a fingertip. These visible signs of allegiance make it hard to defect, and impose heavy costs. But as marriage proposals they would fall short. Few women would feel proud to carry around their fiancé’s severed pinkie. 或许是另一种形式的礼物。中国性别比例失衡，导致男性要当新郎必须得有房，此外还需向未来的岳父母奉上大笔现金。不过一颗闪闪发光的石头是送给女人的，并不是她的娘家。而且它不仅仅是一份礼物，还是一种身份的象征，表明即便一个男人要开始养家糊口了，他仍然会为一件小玩意一掷千金。或者，男人也可以依赖更通用的炫耀形式，比如高学历、好工作或是一身考究的西装。但这些可以打动一个女人，也可以打动另一个，或是同时打动好几个。他必须有所行动，以显示自己的忠诚。这一点不仅仅在求偶时才需要，比如萨尔瓦多的黑帮成员就会刺上繁复的纹身，日本的黑社会成员则要切掉一节手指。这些一望而知的效忠记号让人很难变节，为之付出的代价也很高昂，但作为求婚信物它们都还不够。极少会有女人觉得带着未婚夫切下来的小指头是件值得骄傲的事。 Skewed 曲解; 歪曲：The arithmetic of nuclear running costs has been skewed by the fall in the cost of other fuels.对核运行费用的计算因其他燃料费用的下降而出现了偏差。 Shower with  大量给予