经济学人：中国互联网寒潮真的来了吗？|外刊精读

本期文章选自《经济学人》2019年3月9日的中国专栏。 文章阐述了中国互联网行业面临的寒冬， 作者分析了寒冬来临的原因、影响和应对措施，例证丰富，论述流畅有力，结构完整清晰，值得我们模仿学习。 这篇文章也是2019年上半年精读社的选文，这里放上前三段，供大家参考学习。

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China’s tech freeze

Unicorns in winter

A formerly white-hot tech sector is finding it harder toattract venturecapitaland is shedding employees

“Only when the year grows cold do we see the qualities of the pine and the cypress,” wrote Robin Li, the boss of Baidu, in a new year’s letter to staff at China’s main online-search firm. It was yet another recognition of a chill sweeping through the country’s technology industry. The lavish financing that promising startups have come to expect has dried up. Job cuts have multiplied. Even China’s tech giants have not been spared and are slashing bonuses and travel expenses.

This wintry spell is a remarkable reversal for a batch of firms, such as Meituan-Dianping, an online-services super-app, that are among China’s most vivacious. Early last year they appeared to be in rude health and were drawing in vast dollops of investment. More money was raised for venture-capital funds in China in the first half of 2018 than in America, the first time that had ever happened: $56bn compared with $42bn, according to Preqin, a data provider. By the autumn no fewer than 86 new “unicorns”—private, billion-dollar startups—had emerged.

Then the “capital winter” set in. One trigger was a selloff in tech stocks globally that included China’s biggest stars, Alibaba and Tencent. Worries have multiplied about the pace of revenue growth in a slowing economy, as well as the time it is taking for highly valued private startups to approach profitability. Even giants are seeing sales growth slow. In the third quarter of 2018 jd.com, an e-commerce group, reported its slowest quarterly revenue increase since 2014 and its first decline in new users.

China’stech freeze 中国的科技寒潮

Unicorns in winter 寒冬中的独角兽

• 标题中的 unicorn 本 义是传说中的独角兽，而在商业中，独角兽指的是估值达到 10 亿美元以上的初创私营企业。 如果大家不了解该术语，不用担心，继续往下读，文章正文中作者有解释： By the autumn no fewer than 86 new “unicorns”— private, billion-dollar startups —had emerged. 破折号中间的同位语便是对 unicorn 的说明。

• white-hot 指“白热化的” (If something is white-hot, it is extremely hot) 。金属物质一般遇到摄氏一千五百度以上的高温时，它的火焰炽热而发出白色的光，所以把这现象叫做白热化，后来这一物理学名词被运用在日常生活中，喻指事情、局势发展到最激烈的阶段。比如 With the economic development of retail competition into the white-hot stage, the retail industry is facing unprecedented challenges. 随着经济的发展零售业进入白热化的竞争阶段，零售企业面临前所未有的挑战

• v enture capital 指“风险资本” (Money that is invested in a new company to help it develop, which may involve a lot of risk)。

• shed employees 指“裁员” shed 本义是“蜕（皮），落（叶）”喻指“去除，摆脱”。 裁员还可以说 cut / reduce / trim the workforce 。

📒语篇分析：首段引入话题：中国科技行业的寒冬来临。 ① 句引用李彦宏的评论，切入话题，when the year grows cold与标题中的winter相呼应。 ②句 点明现象：一股寒流席卷中国科技行业。 ③④⑤ 分别列举3个具体事实说明 ② 句观点： ③ 句指出融资枯竭，与副标题中的find it harder to attract venture capital相呼应， ④ 句指出裁员人数增加，与shed employees相呼应，⑤句指出科技巨头削减奖金和差旅费。

• yet another 和 yet more , yet again 一样，是一个惯用词组，表示“又，再”，yet 在这里强调次数或数量的增加，这是外刊中的高频短语， 比如《经济学人》一篇关于职场学习的文章提到： Instead of coming up with yet another e-commerce site, they were experimenting with technologies to liven up a physical space. 他们并没有再搞出来一个电子商务网站，而是尝试利用技术让物理空间更有生趣。

  我们在 如何看《致命女人》学地道英文？(3) 也遇到过：

  
  

• 小词 yet 的用法十分丰富，大家在阅读中要多留意，这里再补充两个高频表达：

• could/might/may yet do sth 表示“早晚，总有一天”，考研英语一2010年 Text4也出现过，原句是 Charlie McCreevy, a European commissioner, warned the IASB that it did ”not live in apolitical vacuum” but “in the real word” and the Europe could yet develop different rules. 欧洲委员会委员Charlie McCreevy 警告IASB 说：它不是“处在政治真空中”而是“在现实世界里”，并表示欧洲最终可能会发展出不同的会计规则。

• have yet to do sth 表示“还没有做某事”，比如《经济学人》一篇关于电影审查制度的文章提到： It is aired each week at 7.35pm, the most popular television-watching hour, when even very young children in China have yet to go to bed. 该剧在每天晚上7点35分的电视黄金时间播放，而那时，甚至中国的小孩子都还没有上床睡觉。

• sweep [swip] 本义是“打扫”，后喻指“迅速传播，风行” (If an idea, feeling, or activity sweeps a group of people or a place, it quickly becomes very popular or common.) sweep (through/across)+ 地点 为惯用词组，可理解为中文中的“席卷 … ”，是一个很形象的表达，比如 ◇ The real threat to authentic food on the streets of Chengdu is the re-development sweeping through the city.

• sweeping 作形容词，指“影响大的 ; 范围广的 ; 彻底的” (having an important effect on a large part of sth) ，比如上期精读社一篇关于中国治污运动的文章提到： Mr Yao’s company, which at its peak employed 80 people, is just one minor casualty in China’s sweeping campaign to reduce pollution. 姚老板的公司在鼎盛时期雇用了 80 个人，它只是中国大力治污行动中一个受到冲击的小企业。

• lavish [ˈlævɪʃ] 指” 慷慨的；大方的“ ( giving or doing sth generously ) ， 比如《纽约时报》一篇分析中国人为何追捧特朗普千金伊万卡的文章提到： But in China, Ms. Trump is widely adored. Her lavish lifestyle and business acumen resonate with many young professionals who are hungry for fame and fortune in a society that often equates material wealth with success . 但在中国，伊万卡却受到普遍的喜爱。在一个将物质财富等同于成功的社会里，她奢华的生活方式和出色的商业头脑，引发了许多渴望获得声名与财富的年轻职业人士的共鸣。

• lavish 也可作动词，短语 lavish sth on sb/sth 指“慷慨地给予” (to give a lot of sth, often too much, to sb / sth) ◇ She lavishes most of her attention on her youngest son. 她对她小儿子过于关爱。 lavish money on sth 则表示“向 … 投入大量的资金”，再复习一下我们学过的相关表达： splash out on sth, fork out for sth, shell out for sth, splurge...on sth, lay out ... on sth 。

• promising 在这里是形容词 ，指“ 有希望的；有前途的；有出息的 ” ( showing signs of being good or successful) 同义词还 有 hopeful, optimistic 。 promising startups 是外刊常用的词组，指那些有发展前景的创业公司。

• dry up If a supply of something dries up, it comes to an end and no more is available （供应等）耗尽，枯竭

• The lavish financing (thatpromising startupshave come to expect)has dried up. 这句话的括号框住的部分是 that 引导的定语从句修饰先行词 financing ， that 在定语从句中作宾语。这句话可拆分为两句： 1.Promising startups have come to expectthe lavish financing.2.The lavish financinghas dried up.

• job cuts 指“裁员” tax cuts 减税 price cuts 减价 可打包记忆。

• multiply 指“成倍增加，迅速增加”，同样表示“激增”的表达还有： surge, shoot up, soar, escalate, balloon, explode, rocket, skyrocket 。

• spare 指“幸免，免受（损坏或伤亡）” (to not damage or harm someone or something, even though other people or things are being damaged, killed, or destroyed) ， 常用作被动，这里是指连科技巨头都不能幸免于难，更显寒冬之凛冽。 [ 熟词僻义 ]

• slash 本义是“劈，砍”，后引申为“大幅削减”，与 cut 有异曲同工之妙。 slash 一般用在新闻和广告中。裁员也可以说 slash the workforce 。

① This wintry spell is a remarkable reversal for a batch of firms, such as Meituan-Dianping, an online-services super-app, that are among China’s most vivacious . ② Early last year they appeared to be in rude health and were drawing in vast dollops of investment. ③ More money was raised for venture-capital funds in China in the first half of 2018 than in America, the first time that had ever happened: $56bn compared with $42bn, according to Preqin, a data provider. ④ By the autumn no fewer than 86 new “unicorns”—private, billion-dollar startups—had emerged.

📒 语篇分析：第二段简要勾勒寒冬来临前的情况，为后文做铺垫。 ① 句评论此次寒冬是一次大逆转，reversal表明该逆转是由好变坏，this wintry spell指代上文提到的a chill，实现段间衔接。 ② 句说明2018年上半年的态势：十分健康，吸引大量投资。 ③④ 句用具体数字论证 ② 句观点。

• spell 指“一段时间，一阵” (a period of a particular kind of activity, weather, illness etc, usually a short period) 文中 wintry spell 指“寒冬期”。 [熟词僻义]

• remarkable 指“非凡的；不寻常的；显著的” (unusual or surprising and therefore deserving attention or praise) 。

• reversal 指“逆转，转胜为败” (a change from being successful to having problems or being defeated) ，其动词形式为 reverse 。

• a batch of sth / sb 指“一批；一组；一群” ( a group of people or things that arrive or are dealt with together) 。

• among+ 最高级 相当于 one of + 最高级，我们在 The generation game 这篇文章也讲过，一起复习一下： But a recent report by the World Bank showed that intergenerational social mobility (the chance that the next generation will end up in a different social class from the previous one) in the land of dreams is now among the lowest in all rich countries. 但世界银行最近的一份报告显示，在所有富裕国家中， “ 梦想之地 ” 的代际社会流动性（即下一代最终处于与上一代不同的社会阶层的可能性）位于最低之列。

• vivacious [vɪˈveɪʃəs] 指“活泼的，生机勃勃的”，近义词还有 lively, spirited 。

• in rude health 为惯用词组，指“体格健壮；身体强健” (If someone is in rude health, they are strong and healthy) 常用于形容发展态势良好。

• draw in 指“吸引”， dollop 指“块，团”， draw in vast dollops of investment 这个短语可以直接背下来，指“吸引大量投资”

• no fewer than 指“至少，不少于”， 用于强调数目很大 ◇ I tried to contact him no fewer than ten times. 我联系了他不下十次。

• venture-capital funds 指“风险投资基金”，后文简称为 VC funds.

① Then the “capital winter” set in . ② One trigger was a selloff in tech stocks globally that included China’s biggest stars, Alibaba and Tencent. ③ Worries have multiplied about the pace of revenue growth in a slowing economy, as well as the time it is taking for highly valued private startups to approach profitability . ④ Even giants are seeing sales growth slow. ⑤ In the third quarter of 2018 jd.com, an e-commerce group, reported its slowest quarterly revenue increase since 2014 and its first decline in new users.

📒语篇分析：第三到五段作者着手分析寒冬来临的原因。本段分析原因之一：全球科技股抛售潮。