“
Donald Trump,著名的放飞自我搅浑水者。
但同时也是资产让你无法比拟的大鳄。
马爹,中国电商领头人。
这两个人一碰头,中美市场的风向又会怎样变化呢?
这篇文章将以二人会谈切入,带你看看他们的致富与转变之路,把握市场投资与个人发展的方向。
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What do Donald Trump and Jack Ma have in common?
Another week, and yet another Asian business leader finds himself in bear-like embrace of the US President-elect Donald Trump.
This time it is China's Jack Ma - the founder of Alibaba.
Another week= last week
find sb in bear-like embrace:两人见面。但是这里抛弃了meet with这种用法,而用“发现自己在川普的熊抱里”。想象一下:高大控制欲强的川普抱着瘦小的马爸爸,入木三分地表现了川普对马爹热烈的欢迎。
bear-like hug:熊抱。与此类似的公主抱Princess hug/embrace或者hug by hanging on sb's neck
president-elect:当选总统(已经当选而尚未就职的总统)。每年大选之后,胜利者当选总统,于次年1月20日手持圣经宣誓就职。在大选胜利到宣誓就职期间,其身份就是the president-elect。这篇文章的事件发生在就职演讲之前,所以川普大叔还是被叫做president-elect。
第一段交代了背景“马云与川普见面”,句式简单,但用词活泼有趣。
On the face of it they're an unlikely pairing
One's been raised in the lap of luxury, the other had humble beginnings. One has taken advantage of the free market capitalism of the West, the other grew up in the Chinese Communist system.
But there are a few things they have in common.
on the face of it=apparently;as it seems从表面上看;显然地。既然有表面上,后文必然会转折说“实际上”。这其实是一种欲扬先抑的手法。
one……the other……:一个……另一个……。对比句式。
pairing :配对,成对,很多时候我们可以延升为“融合”。比如:Xiajie is a perfect pairing of beauty and intelligence.霞姐集美貌智慧于一身。😉
本段欲扬先抑,先从出生和成长环境说他们俩的不同,但后面必然会说他们有相同点。
They both think huge
It is possibly Donald Trump's favourite word: Huge. And whatever you might think of him, the President-elect certainly has had grand plans. Taking over his father's real estate business and turning it an empire. Expanding it into an entertainment business. Running for, and winning, the highest office in the land. There's no lack of ambition. He's now thought to be worth almost $4bn (although consistently claims he's worth more than double that).
think huge:想的很大
taking over:接管
real estate business:房地产事业
empire:帝国,这里其实指business empire,商业帝国。
entertainment business:娱乐行业
the highest office in the land:最高权利,来源于in office(执政期间),所以office代表执行权。
第三段主要介绍了川普牛逼的经历:这哥们最喜欢的词就是:huge,大。无论你想到有关他的啥,他必须是都有非常宏伟的设想和计划。比如把他老爸的房地产事业变成一个帝国,比如进军娱乐行业。当然竞选总统这事儿让他的range突破了天际啊,直接剑指国家最高大权。他身价几乎40亿美金,不过他自己不断强调自己是80亿美金身价,所以川普大叔身价在40-80亿美金不等。
接下来必然会介绍马爹的传奇经历了。
When it comes to wealth, China's Jack Ma isn't far behind. He is China's third richest man and Forbes names him amongst the most powerful people on the planet. But he started his professional life teaching English to students in a university in a small Chinese town, reportedly making about US$12 a month. To get better at English, he would court foreign tourists, charming them into having conversations at local hotels. He started the e-commerce giant Alibaba in his flat, and hasn't looked back.
Mr Ma also has a grand vision which has driven the company from the start: to create ten million profitable businesses and 100 million jobs in the next 20 years.
far ahead:遥遥领先
court:这个词并不是法庭,这里作动词是献殷勤的意思,尤其注意后面的charming them into(施加魔力)……就是一个伴随的状态来描述court。
have a grand vision= think huge/have grand plans/ambitious 关联同义词,避免重复表达
这一段果然就是说马爸爸的经历了:口袋里的钱甩川普叔几条街;他是中国第三有钱银,被福布斯评为世界上最有影响力的人之一(淘宝剁手党深以为然!)。但他最开始不过是个拿12美金月薪(额,还凑不整一张毛爷爷啊)的穷酸英语老师。为了练英语,忽悠老外跟他侃大山。他在自家成立了阿里巴巴,并且越办越大再不回头。
马爸爸与川普叔一样有伟大的梦想啊,要在未来20年创造1千万家盈利店和1亿工作。看来王健林首富说的没错,要先定一个小目标嘛!
They aren't afraid to take risks
Both men are known risk-takers, or as some would say, gamblers.
And perhaps Mr Trump's biggest gamble was running for president. He was initially seen as the weakest contender during the campaign for the Republican nomination. But a decision to take a risk and be outrageous helped him, in part at least, to get his name on the ballot paper and ultimately to win the presidency.
risk-takers = gamblers,愿意承担风险的人=赌徒
contender:争夺者
Republican:共和党人,Republic Party共和党,Democratic Party民主党。
ballot:这个词看起来和ball有点关系啊?是的,这个词来源于意大利语,其意思是小的球,因为古时候表示赞成把小白球投入投票箱,因此就一直沿用至今,虽然现在都是用纸条或者网上投票,依然使用ballot表示投票。
这一段小标题概括第二个相同点:赌徒
川普叔本来不被看好,没想到凭借激进的赌徒风格竟然成功被提名,最终成功竞选总统。
那么接下来必然会说马爸爸是怎么冒险的。
Jack Ma is similarly unafraid to take risks. One of his early internet ventures, China Pages, ended badly when he ended up having to form a joint venture with China Telecom and lost control of the company. He also burned through a lot of cash in his early days, and at one point had to lay off all of his international staff. But Mr Ma, who was once rejected from a managerial role at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Hangzhou, says he wouldn't be where he is today without having to learn to deal with failure.
joint venture:合资公司
burn through:烧光,不止字面意思,还可表达“消耗光”。
lay off:裁员
He wouldn't be where he is today without having to learn to deal with failure.
(这个句子先存着,等到有朝一日你也很成功就可以拿出来装逼了。)
过去的失败造就了爷的今天!
这一段说马云也是个敢冒险的人,他曾惨失控股权,导致自己建立的“中国黄页”黄了。他曾经花光了所有钱不得不裁掉所有国际人才。但就是这样一个连肯德基都不给他offer的人,现在竟然如此辉煌。
They embrace their inner crazy
Mr Trump is known as one of America's most colourful and famous billionaires. He rose to fame as the boss in the hit television show "The Apprentice" and his trademark "You're Fired" became a catchphrase. But eccentric, and many would say outrageous, comments on the campaign trail have also led to him being called crazy by his critics, for all the wrong reasons. Remember when he said he would impose a total "shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States? Or how about the the pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico, and get the US's neighbour to pay for it? The list goes on.
embrace the inner self:拥抱自我
colourful:多彩的,这里作“传奇色彩”,好词
rise to fame:走红。今天中国特别流行网红,网红用英语是:internet celebrities。
hit tv show:很火的电视节目
trademark:特征,网红最忌平庸,丑也得丑的有特点。
catchphrase:流行语,网络流行语,internet catchphrase。
“shutdown”:关闭,终结,"shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States 就是有名的“禁穆令”了。
the list goes on:不胜枚举。非常洋气的表达了这样离谱的事儿还有很多很多,请不要使用and so on,特别low。
第三个共同点,他们敢于表露自己。川普叔老早就火了,因为在一个节目上的金句“你被开了”而走红。但是不同寻常的言论总让人骂他疯子。比如他的禁穆令,比如他要在墨西哥边境修长城还想让墨西哥付钱,他的离谱事儿真是永远说不完。
Mr Ma is often called "Crazy Jack" (though that craziness isn't seen as offensive.).
His trademark speeches captivate and inspire employees. He is a showman who regularly entertains Alibaba staff with performances that would make Justin Timberlake proud. He's a familiar smiling face on the televised galas launching Alibaba's Singles Day sales, and is also known to preside over mass marriages at the firm.
offensive:攻击性的
captivate:迷住(某人),迷惑
preside:主持
mass marriages:集体婚礼
与川普相比,马boss虽然也被人叫做疯子,但是却是褒义的。他常常给员工灌鸡汤,喜欢取悦员工。“双十一大促”就常用他做代言,他也是公司集体婚礼的司仪。
The Buddy economy
Almost every time a billionaire goes through the doors of Trump Towers, the President-elect comes out with a pledge to create jobs in the US. It is starting to be seen as a fast-pass route to getting business done - as I wrote about when Japan's Masayoshi Son met with Mr Trump late last year.
His meeting with Jack Ma was no different.
And while the practice of business leaders visiting publicly-elected officials might have many scratching their heads in Western nations, the relationship between business and politics is much closer in many parts of Asia - including China. So this is a way of doing business that Mr Ma will know and understand well.So this is a way of doing business that Mr Ma will know and understand well.
with a pledge = ask,这里再次体现了英文静态用法,即喜欢用名词。
Trump Towers:川普大厦
scratching their heads:抓耳挠腮,表示绞尽脑汁思考。
这一段终于说回了马爹与川普叔的见面:每次一有亿万富翁来川普大厦,川普叔就要求人家提供就业。上次跟孙正义也是这样(孙正义是日本软银集团的CEO,马爹的大腿,为数不多曾经愿意投资马爹的伟大空想的人)。这种商界领导会见政府官员的行为会使得很多西方国家搞不太懂,但是马云爸爸很熟悉这一套啊!啧啧!
China-US relations may well deteriorate after January 20, when Mr Trump has promised to call China out as a currency manipulator, Mr Ma is making sure that his personal relationship with the new president isn't affected - which can only be good for his business
文章最后思考了一波:为什么马爸爸选择这个时候见川普叔呢?可能是因为1.20之后中美关系就要恶化了。因为川普叔觉得中国在操控货币,估计会采取货币政策跟中国对着干。马爹提前见了川普,是为了自己生意着想,不被未来的政治关系影响。
不过霞姐认为,这个作者的想法有点肤浅。对于这种中美官商的公然见面,你又是怎么想的呢?
英文原文:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/10/technology/jack-ma-trump-us-jobs-claim/index.html
讲解:霞姐 / Tiassa / 魔力校花
编排 / 校对:魔力校花
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往期文章:
《Brexit——Doing it the hard way》
今天的打卡图来自于川普的就职演说,话糙理不糙