经济学人：腾讯20年

Capricious regulators may not be wholly to blame for the slowdown in online games, says Steve Chow of Agricultural Bank of China International (abci), a Chinese investment bank. Users may simply be spending less time on Tencent’s online entertainment, as other players eat into its market share . For its flagship game, “Honour of Kings”, for example, the average number of daily active users has dropped by a fifth in the past year or so, to 54m in September.

• 文章的标题Weflat很有意思， 用We flat 替换了 We chat ， 玩了一个谐音梗。flat的基本含义是“平的，平坦的”，在商业领域表示”生意萧条， 不景气” ，在这里将Wechat改为Weflat，暗指腾讯 股价持续下跌，发展形势严峻。

• capricious [kəˈprɪʃəs] 指“变幻莫测的，反复无常的，善变的” (Something that is capricious often changes unexpectedly) ，在这里形容反复无常、捉摸不定的管理者。与changeable, unpredictable相比， capricious 更加文绉绉一点，既可以形容人，也可以形容物，比如 ◇a capricious climate 变化无常的气候

• [经济学人] Thanks to the wonders of science and economic growth, life expectancy in rich countries is now more than 80. Death is generally less capricious and sudden. 科技和经济发展创造了奇迹，在富裕国家，人们的预期寿命现在已超过80岁。 总体来看，死亡已不再那么无常而突然。

• regulator 指某行业的监管者，监管机构 (A regulator is a person or organization appointed by a government to regulate an area of activity such as banking or industry) watchdog 也可以指监管者，监察机构 (A watchdog is a person or committee whose job is to make sure that companies do not act illegally or irresponsibly)

  💡大家一定要学会阅读英文解释。借助英文解释，我们就可以区分两个近义词有何不同，把握词汇的精准含义、用法和使用语境，更好地将被动词汇转为主动词汇。这也是我为什么每次都尽可能地给大家整理英文解释的原因。

• A may not be wholly to blame for B B不能完全归咎于A，B的发生不能全怪A

• “B的发生部分归咎于A”则是 A be partly to blame for B ，比如 ◇Climate change may be partly to blame for the massive die-off of pine trees in the western U.S. 美国西部松树大规模死亡，部分原因可能要归咎于气候变化。 [写作推荐]

• a slowdown in sth 指“放慢；放缓”，这是最近关于中国的新闻报道经常使用的一个词：

• [经济学人]The slowdown in the g rowth of China’s economy and household incomes is usually seen as bad for rich-country purveyors of luxuries such as perfumes, golf clubs, art and the like.中国经济增长的放缓和家庭收入增长的停滞对于富裕国家的奢侈品厂商来说通常都不是一件好事，其中就包括香水制造商、高尔夫俱乐部、艺术等等类似的产业。

• Agricultural Bank of China International 农银国际

• player 在商业和政治领域，指的是“参与者，竞争者” (a company or person involved in a particular area of business or politics) ◇The company has emerged as a major player in the London property market. 那家公司已崭露头角，成为伦敦物业市场的主要竞争者。

• eat into one’s market share 蚕食市场份额

• eat into sth 主要有两层含义：

• 1.消耗，花掉，耗费 (to use up a part of sth, especially sb's money or time) 往往跟金钱或时间，比如 ◇Responsibilities at home and work eat into his time. 家庭和工作的双重负担耗费了他的时间。 ◇Wages were rising faster than productivity and this was eating into profits. 工资的涨幅高过了生产率增长的速度，从而消耗了利润所得。

• 2.侵蚀；腐蚀；逐渐损毁 (to destroy or damage the surface of sth) ◇Rust had eaten into the metal. 这金属已经锈坏。

• flagship 指“旗舰产品，王牌，旗舰店”，比如 ◇a flagship product 主打产品 ◇a flagship store 旗舰店

• daily active users 日活跃用户

• or so 相当于approximately，表示“大约” ◇It'll cost €100 or so. 这大约要花 100 欧元。
  

For skittish investors, all this has concentrated minds on whether the giant can maintain its momentum as it enters its third decade. Most agree that gaming will remain an important part of the company, but not its chief driver of revenue growth.

• all this 指代上一段提到的捉摸不定的监管机构以及竞争对手的蚕食，通过代词this衔接了上下两段。大家注意学习和运用这种段落衔接方法。 [写作推荐]

• skittish 常用于形容股民、投资者，意思是“担惊受怕的，紧张不安的” (If you describe a person or animal as skittish, you mean they are easily made frightened or excited) ， skittish investors 是一个惯用的搭配，意为“担惊受怕的投资者，紧张兮兮的投资者”

• rattled 也常用于形容股民，《金融时报》一篇关于腾讯的报道用的就是 rattled investers 这个词组： For now, rattledinvestors still have a lot to worry about. 目前，紧张不安的投资者仍有很多可担心的事情。

• concentrate one’s mind on sth 也可以说 concentrate efforts / attention / energy on sth ，指“全神贯注地做某事”，比如 ◇I decided to concentrate all my efforts on finding somewhere to live. 我决定全力以赴找个住的地方。

• maintain (one’s) momentum 保持发展势头，也可以说 keep up maintain , sustain momentum ，相反，“丧失劲头”我们说 lose momentum

• chief driver of revenue growth 主要收入来源

• driver 来源于动词drive“刺激，促进，激励”，在这里指“推动因素”，比如 ◇Housing is a key driver of the economy. 住房是个促使经济增长的主要因素。

• 形容词 driven 指“发愤图强的，奋发努力的” (determined to succeed, and working very hard to do so) ，我们在自我介绍的时候就可以说 I am a driven person. 替换掉 I am a hard-working person. [写作推荐]

• -driven 指“受…影响的，…驱动的” (influenced or caused by a particular thing) ，可构成形容词，比如 ◇a market-driven economy 市场导向的经济 ◇a petrol-driven lawn mower 用汽油作动力的割草机 [写作推荐]

Two concerns are particularly acute . Because its games have done so well, Tencent has been lackadaisical in monetising other parts of its business. It has rightly been nervous about expanding advertising within WeChat, though the service sees unrivalled Chinese mobile traffic of over 1bn monthly active users. Last year Tencent took about one-tenth of total third-party spending on digital ads in China. But Baidu, China’s leading search engine, took 19% and Alibaba, a giant in e-commerce, drew in almost a third.

• acute [əˈkjuːt] 指“严重的”，常用于形容各种问题，相当于very serious或very severe，比如 ◇the world's acute environmental problems 全球十分严重的环境问题

• lackadaisical [ˌlækəˈdeɪzɪkəl] adj. not showing enough interest in something or not putting enough effort into it 无精打采的; 懒散的 ◇David has a rather lackadaisical approach to his work. 戴维的工作态度有点懒散。

• monetize 可理解为我们常说的“把…变现”

• unrivalled [ʌnˈraɪvəld] 指“无与伦比的；无可匹敌的；无双的” (If you describe something as unrivalled, you are emphasizing that it is better than anything else of the same kind.) ，可联系我们在讲IG那篇文章中学到的peerless, incomparable, matchless, unparalleled一起记忆。 [写作推荐]

• mobile traffic 移动访问流量

• monthly active users 月活跃用户

• draw sb in/ draw in sb to get someone involved in something 使某人卷入（参与）〔某事〕，吸引某人 ◇The film drew in large crowds. 这部影片吸引了大批观众。

A second worry is that crimped profits will make it harder for the firm to keep investing heavily in areas outside its core business . Tencent has been backing promising startups in a race with Alibaba to find new users and sources of growth, battling indirectly in areas as varied as food delivery and online education. In some, such as cloud computing, the pair compete directly. Although Tencent’s investors are supportive of this approach, Jerry Liu of ubs, a bank, says the wider tech sell-off stems from a recognition that China’s maturing internet sector is becoming “ a zero-sum game ”: dominant platforms are having to invest more to stay ahead and so their margins are shrinking.

• worry 与上一段开头的concern互为同义替换，均指“担心的事，关切的事”，注意a second worry 和the second worry不同，the second worry是指“第二个担忧”，而a second worry是指“另一个担忧”，second有“另外的”的意思。

• crimped 指“减少的，下降的”，来自于动词 crimp ，含义是“限制，减少”，相当于restrict或reduce。 crimp 也可以作名词， put a crimp on/in sth 指“妨碍，对….有负面影响” (to have a bad or negative effect on sth) 比如 ◇His illness put a crimp in our plans. 他的生病妨碍了我们的计划。

• [经济学人] On the retail side, some temporary factors are at work, such as a crackdown on corruption by China’s president, which has crimped sales of luxury items to high-spending Chinese. 在零售方面，一些暂时性因素正在发挥作用，例如...发起反腐运动，抑制了高消费的中国人购买奢侈品。

• make it harder/easier for sb to do sth 使某人做某事更困难/容易 [写作推荐]

• [经济学人 .There be giants] Facebook wants to make it easier for customers to buy goods featured in its ads. Facebook 希望能让用户更方便地购买其广告中出现的商品。

• [ 经济学人 .Lifelong learning] By offering degrees online, universities are making it easier for professionals to burnish their skills. 大学也开始提供在线学位，帮助专业人士更方便地提升技能。

• invest heavily in sth 指“大量投资…”比如 ◇The government has invested heavily in public transport. 政府已对公共交通投入了大量资金。

• core business 核心业务

• back v. to support someone or something, especially by giving them money or using your influence 资助；支持 [熟词僻义]

• promising [ˈprɒmɪsɪŋ] adj. showing signs of being good or successful 有希望的;有前途的;有出息的 =hopeful, optimistic

• [ 经济学人 ] Poorer states used to be able to attract talented people by offering them a combination of promising job opportunities and cheaper housing. 贫穷的州以前还能 够通过提供有前途的就业机会加之更便宜的住房来吸引优秀人才。

• varied [ˈveərɪd] adj. of many different types 各种各样的；形形色色的；不相同的 ◇varied opinions 各种不同的意见

• be supportive of sth 支持…，帮助…，鼓励… ◇They were always supportive of each other. 他们一直互相帮助。

• sell-off 指股票或证券的抛售，股价下跌。动词短语 sell sth off 意思是”变卖，廉价出售” (If you sell something off, you sell it because you need the money) ◇We had to sell things off to pay the brewery bill. 我们不得不变卖东西以偿付啤酒厂的账单。

• stem from sth stem 本指植物的根茎，stem from sth 由其引申而来，指“起源于，来自”，可以 用于表示原因，A stems from B 中 A 是结果，B 是原因

• a zero-sum game 零和游戏，零和博弈 ，指的是参与博弈的各方，在严格竞争下，一方的收益必然意味着另一方的损失，博弈各方的收益和损失相加总和永远为“零”，双方不存在合作的可能。

• stay ahead 也可以写作 keep ahead ，指“保持领先”

• margins 与 profit margins 一样，均指“利润” (the difference between what it costs a business to buy or produce something and what they sell it for) ，一般以复数形式出现，比如 ◇What are your average operating margins? 你的平均营业利润率是多少？

• and so 是一个固定词组，指“因此，所以”，相当于and therefore，比如 Yunnan province has an ideal climate, and so it is not surprising that it has become a tourist paradise. 云南气候宜人，因此它成了游客的天堂不足为怪。