外刊高翻第17课
《优步的崛起与迷失》
How Uber Got Lost
Mr. Kalanick deserves credit for creating a world-changing company, one that scaled vertiginously from a modest black car service in San Francisco to a global brand in hundreds of cities. Those who invested first saw staggering returns. One frequent customer, Oren Michels, cut Mr. Kalanick a check for $5,000 early on. By the end of 2017, the stake had multiplied in value some 3,300 times, worth more than $15 million.
卡兰尼克创造了一家改变世界的公司，这值得称赞。这家公司令人目眩神迷，从旧金山一家不起眼的高级轿车服务公司发展成为在数百个城市拥有业务的全球品牌。最先投资的人获得了惊人的回报。在早期，一位名叫奥伦·米歇尔(Oren Michels)的常客给卡兰尼克开了一张5000美元的支票。到2017年底，这些股份的价值已经增长了3300倍，价值超过1500万美元。
As a private start-up, Uber represented pure possibility — at its peak, a $69 billion wrecking ball threatening entities as vast as the taxi industry, mass transit networks and automotive giants, all at the same time. It was a start-up that not only booked Beyoncé to play a staff party — it paid her with $6 million in restricted stock that quickly surged in value.
作为一家私营初创企业，优步呈现了绝对的潜能——在鼎盛时期，它像是一个价值690亿美元的落锤，同时威胁着出租车行业、公共交通网络和汽车巨头等庞大的实体。这家初创公司不仅邀请碧昂丝(Beyoncé)来员工派对演出，还以600万美元限制性股票的形式支付报酬给她，股票价值也很快暴涨。
Sb. deserves credit for sth. 因为什么值得称赞
Credit 赞扬 表扬 赞赏 Claim credit for sth.
world-changing 改变世界的
scale V. scale up/down/back扩大缩减规模
scale new heights攀登 再创辉煌 更上一层楼
modest，unassuming 不出风头的 understated 不惹眼的
实现 出现 发生 产生 经历 see，witness e.g. We saw sth.
cut Mr. Kalanick a check for $5,000 开多少金额的支票
e.g. Please cut a check for Mr Babit.
the stake 股份 have a 10% stake/interest in the business
start-up 初创的
Uber represented pure possibility， 动词处理隐词法
represented代表要转换为更地道的中文译法 呈现，展现
possibility 可能 潜能 机会 机遇
wrecking ball （悬挂于吊车供拆除建筑物用的）破碎球，落锤
不了解的事物可以查看电子词典的配图
as vast as
fruits as diverse as 1 2 3 4 喜欢很多水果，比如 1苹果 2桃子3杏
play a staff party 举办员工聚会，年会
$6 million in restricted stock 介词用in
The public Uber displays little of this braggadocio, and competitors and critics are moving in. Labor activists are pushing back against the lack of worker protections for drivers, and legislation could push up the driver minimum wage in cities like New York. The hype around Uber’s autonomous cars has died down, and until they arrive — if they ever do — the company will have a hard time reducing the costs it incurs paying drivers.
上市后的优步很少表现出这种浮夸，而竞争对手和批评人士也在步步进逼。劳工维权人士正在反对司机缺乏工人保护，立法可能会提高纽约等城市司机的最低工资。对优步无人驾驶汽车的热炒已经冷却，在这种车成为现实之前——假设真的能实现——公司需要费很大力气降低付钱给司机带来的成本。
In August, Uber posted its largest-ever quarterly loss, about $5.2 billion, as its revenue growth hit a record low. In cities around the world, Uber faces well-financed competitors offering a substantially similar product. And its food delivery business — a bright spot that executives point to for growth prospects — is in danger of becoming another cash-suck. Uber and most of its basically indistinguishable competitors (it names 10 of them in a recent filing) are subsidizing customers’ meals in a bid for market share, with profitability a secondary concern.
今年8月，优步营收增长创下历史新低，季度亏损约52亿美元，是该公司创立以来最大的季度亏损。在世界各地的城市，优步面临着资金充足的竞争对手，它们提供的产品基本类似。而其送餐业务——公司高管以此为增长前景的一个亮点——可能会成为又一个烧钱的无底洞。优步及其大多数基本上没什么区别的竞争对手（在最近的一份文件中，优步列出了10家竞争对手）都在贴钱给订餐的顾客，以争夺市场份额，盈利能力是次要的。
公司上市go public 环保化 go green 数字化 go digital
publicly traded company上市公司 替换 publicly owned
国防白皮书谈到的 海洋维权 maritime rights protection 海洋权益保护
push back against 反对 lack of worker protections for drivers
push up 推高价格（房价 猪肉价） push for sth. 努力推动争取实现某事
hype n.&v.大肆宣传，热炒
marketing/media hype 夸张的促销╱媒体广告
autonomous cars, driverless 无人驾驶
Post，record，book，register （财务）过账，记录，实现多少利润
Underfinanced和well-financed 差钱的和不差钱的
a bright spot that executives point to for growth prospects
指望送餐带来增长前景亮点
point to sth for sth. 指望某事带来什么
cash-suck 烧钱无底洞 cash cow 摇钱树
subsidize vt. 资助 subsidizing customers’ meals（价格战中发优惠券）
卖空(Sell Short) short stock 跌价时抛出的股票 short这里及物
Investors are internalizing these challenges. Interest in shorting Uber stock has only grown since the I.P.O., according to share borrowing data from IHS Markit, with pessimists betting some $2 billion that the price of shares will continue to fall.
这些挑战投资者都看在眼里。自优步上市以来，做空其股票的兴趣只增不减，根据IHS Markit的股票借贷数据，悲观人士押了20亿美元赌它的股票继续下跌。
In combing through documents, interviewing opponents and talking to more than 200 current and former employees while researching my book, what came up again and again was this sense of a public-private divide — that Mr. Kalanick had built a start-up that thrived on venture investment, blitzkrieg expansion tactics, but that the playbook made little sense for a publicly traded entity.
在为本书做研究期间，我梳理文档，采访竞争对手，与200多名现任和前任员工交谈，这种上市与私人公司的区别一次又一次地浮现出来——卡兰尼克建立了一个初创公司，靠着风险投资、闪电战扩张策略发展起来，但是这套攻略对上市的实体毫无意义。
In combing through documents 梳理
researching my book/paper 研究著作、论文 research这里及物
public-private partnership （PPP） 公私伙伴关系 公私合营
urban rural divide 城市农村差异 The North/South divide 南北差异
wealth divide 财富分配 贫富差距
digital divide 数字鸿沟
〔指因使用因特网和电子邮件的条件不同而造成的机遇不平等〕
thrived on venture investment 依靠什么(风投)发展/起家，
thrived ON TOURISM靠旅游业发展经济
playbook 手册， 做法，方法 approach
