Day11原创翻译-Microsoft and TikTok

Posted 2021-04-01 翻译小铺儿

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“  What does a middle-aged tech giant want with a teen sensation?

中年大叔微软想从小鲜肉TikTok身上得到什么呢？

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Para1-On July 29th the bosses of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook a five-hour videoconference with a congressional subcommittee on antitrust. Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft, America’s other technology titan, spent the day talking to investors, recruiting new hires and reviewing the latest quarterly numbers. His presence was not required-Microsoft no longer attracts the controversies that bring politicians running.

生词

endured：持续，忍受

antitrust：反垄断法

翻译

7月29日，字母表，亚马逊，苹果和脸书的大佬们针对反垄断问题与国会分委员会进行了一个长达5小时的视频会议。美国另一科技巨头公司微软的CEO Satya Nadella 花了一整天与投资商对话，招聘新雇员，并审查了最近季度的数据。微软的现身不是必要的，因为它再也不是那个能引起政客们争论奔走的焦点了。

Para2-Or does it? On August 2nd the firm said it was in talks to buy the American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand operations of TikTok, a wildly popular but problematic Chinese-owned video-sharing app. Presi- dent Donald Trump had mused about banning it over fears that it could hand data on Americans to China’s Communist authorities, despite protestations by its parent company, ByteDance, that it would never do such a thing. After some unusual steps to mollify Mr Trump—including a statement in which it thanked him effusively for his “personal involvement”—Microsoft has until September 15th to hash out a deal.

生词

wildly：极其，非常

mused：深思熟虑，沉思

protestation：郑重声明

effusively：热情洋溢地

翻译

真的是这样吗？微软在8月2日的谈话中表示，他们将收购TikTok在美国，加拿大，澳大利亚和新西兰的业务，TikTok是一个中国公司的视频分享软件，广受欢迎但问题多多。特朗普政府曾考虑禁止TikTok，因为担心TikTok可能会将美国人的数据发给中国当局，尽管TikTok的母公司字节跳动坚决表态永远不会发生这种事情。在采取了一些不寻常的措施去安抚特朗普以后，包括在一份声明中对他的“亲自参与”表示了由衷的感谢，微软必须要在9月15日前敲定这个协议。

Para3-Other suitors may cut in. ByteDance’s venture-capital backers, most of whom are American, will try to flush out rival bidders. They are disappointed that ByteDance failed to head off TikTok’s political travails. The Chinese group should have spun off the American unit this spring, keeping a big minority stake, says an investor close to the firm. But the ambition of its founder, Zhang Yiming, led ByteDance mistakenly to calculate that it could muscle through geopolitical tensions, the investor says.

生词

suitor：有意收购另一家公司的公司，求婚者

venture-capital：风险投资

backer：赞助者，支持人

flush out：排挤，清除

spin off：（从现有公司）剥离出，独立，分立

geopolitical：地缘政治

head off：拦住，防止

翻译

其他投资者也想要分一杯羹。字节跳动的风险投资赞助者大部分是美国人，他们会试图排挤掉竞争的投标对手。他们对字节跳动未能成功帮助TikTok避开政治泥潭的这件事非常失望。一个与公司关系密切的投资者说，这家中国团队本应在今年春天就剥离掉美国业务，且保留一少部分股权。但是它的创始人张一鸣的雄心壮志导致字节跳动错误的预判了它可以在地缘政治紧张下站稳脚跟。

Para4-TikTok’s price could rise if more bidders emerge, but it will still go for far less than ByteDance’s estimation of its value. ByteDance believes TikTok us would have been worth $200bn within a few years. Now it may have to sell the business for between $15bn and $40bn. That would be one of the year’s biggest deals. But once TikTok us, with its 100m or so users in America alone, turns profitable—which it is widely expected to soon—it may look like a bargain.

翻译

如果有更多的竞标者，TikTok的市值可能会上涨，但还是远远比字节跳动对它的估值要低很多。字节跳动认为，TikTok美国的市值在未来几年内将达到2000亿美元。现在，它可能不得不以150亿至400亿美元的价格出售这项业务。那或将成为本年度最大的一笔交易。TikTok仅在美国就拥有约1亿的用户，一旦TikTok美国获得盈利，且预计很快就会实现，这样看的话，这笔买卖真的是划得来。

Para5-TikTok would propel Microsoft into the social-media big league. That may be Mr Nadella’s strategic aim. Google, the main division of Alphabet, is challenging Microsoft in cloud computing and office soft- ware. Nabbing TikTok would be a counterstrike against Google’s YouTube, notes Mark Moerdler of Bernstein, a research firm. The app would also give Microsoft a trove of data on young people, putting it on a par with the likes of Snapchat and Facebook’s Instagram.

生词

league：联盟

nabbing [ˈnæbɪŋ]：捉住; 当场逮捕; 获得; 拿取

trove [troʊv]：宝藏，宝库

put it on a par with：相当于，和...一样，平起平坐，相提并论，不相上下

翻译

TikTok 将推动微软进入社交媒体的大联盟。这可能是Nadella的战略目标。Alphabet旗下的主要子公司谷歌，正在和微软的云计算和办公软件竞争。一个研究机构的Mark Moerdler说，收购TikTok将是对谷歌YouTube的强力反击。该应用还会使微软获得大量年轻人的数据，使其实力与Snapchat和Facebook的Instagram不相上下。

Para6-At the same time, TikTok is a departure from Microsoft’s core competence of business-productivity tools. The app is unproductivity software par excellence. Microsoft’s gaming business, including the Xbox console, brought in only 8% of its $143bn in revenues in the 12 months to June. The firm has a mixed record with consumer technology. In July it shut Mixer, a live-streaming service for gamers that had failed to gain traction. And with TikTok Mr Nadella may expect an invitation to Big Tech’s next roasting on Capitol Hill. Controversies around TikTok’s content moderation and data protection will keep cropping up.

生词

departure from：违背，背离，偏离

to gain traction：越来越受欢迎

mixed record：好坏参半的

content moderation：内容审核

翻译

与此同时，TikTok背离了微软的商业核心竞争力—商业生产力工具。这个app是非生产力软件的佼佼者。在截止到7月份的过去12个月以来，包括Xbox主机在内的微软游戏业务收入仅占1430亿美元收入的8%。该公司在消费科技的成绩平平。7月微软关闭了它的游戏直播服务平台Mixer，因为它并未得到更多的关注。随着TikTok的推出，Nadella可能会收到邀请，参加科技巨头公司下一次在国会山举行的烤肉会。关于TikTok内容审核和数据保护的争议将不断涌现出来。

Para7-The next 40 days will be busy. Microsoft may try to buy more of TikTok than just the four English-speaking markets. But ByteDance will want to keep as much of its global presence as possible, especially with Mr Zhang under fire in China for selling out to the Yankees. The world may end up with two TikToks, one American-run, one controlled by ByteDance.

生词

under fire：受到强烈指责

Yankees：纽约扬基队（美国职业棒球队）

end up with：以...结束

global presence：在国际市场上占有一席之地

翻译

接下来的40天内会很忙。微软可能会考虑购买更多TikTok的业务，不仅仅是这四个英语国际市场。但是字节跳动想要尽可能多的保持其在全球的影响力，尤其当张一鸣因与纽约扬基队签订了赞助协议而在中国受到了强烈的指责时。世界最终可能会出现两家TikToks，一家由美国运营，一家由字节跳动控制。

Para8-How an American TikTok would work is unclear. Microsoft would need to replace the app’s Chinese infrastructure, presumably by copying ByteDance’s code and auditing it. If it wants American teenagers to be able to view videos uploaded by Japanese or even British ones, it would have to license them from ByteDance, which may run afoul of Mr Trump. TikTok’s current appeal rests in part on its global assortment. Both versions of the app will be diminished by a split. Instagram’s Reels, a TikTok look-alike launched on August 5th, will try to woo disenchanted TikTokers. For the 45-year-old Microsoft, navigating the Sino-American tech tussle may be the easy part next to keeping teenagers’ attention.

生词

run afoul of：与…纠缠; 同…发生冲突

rest in：取决于，在于

assortment：产品结构

diminish：减少，降低，贬低

look-alike：酷似

disenchanted [ˌdɪsɪnˈtʃæntɪd]：不再着迷的; 不再抱幻想的

tussle [ˈtʌsl]：争斗，争执

woo [wuː]：争取…的支持; 寻求…的赞同; 追求(异性); 求爱

翻译

TikTok美国将如何运作尚没有定论。微软可能需要通过复制字节跳动的代码并对它进行审计来替换掉该应用程序的中国基础架构。如果它想要美国青少年能够观看由日本人或是英国人上传的视频，就必须获得ByteDance的授权，这可能会与特朗普的意愿发生冲突。TikTok目前的吸引力取决于它全球的产品结构。这两种版本的app都将因拆分而缩减。Instagram在8月5日推出了一个酷似TikTok的软件Reels，它将试图吸引那些失望的TikTok用户。对于45岁的中年大叔Microsoft来说，引领中美技术之争可能是最容易持续吸引青少年注意力的方式。

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