6.21外刊打卡4

Posted 2020-11-19 wanghui626

knuckle down

英 [?n?kl daun]

美 [?n?k?l da?n]

v.	认输; （向某人） 屈服; 开始认真工作;

[例句]The only thing to do was knuckle down and get on with some serious hard work

唯一能做的就是开始努力工作，好好干出点儿成绩来。

https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2018/05/10/to-master-a-language-start-learning-it-early

https://danci.911cha.com/take+the+plunge.html

E-commerce

电子商务

Briefs encounter

简短的邂逅

“Direct-to-consumer” startups are upending the consumer-goods industry

 “直接面对消费者”的创业公司正在颠覆消费品行业 

Print edition | Business Nov 16th 2017

 

IN MANY ways, Tommy John, a startup based in Manhattan, resembles a tech company straight out of Silicon Valley. On its website the venture-backed firm touts its innovative materials and patented designs. When recruiting talent, it describes itself as “disruptive” and “revolutionary”. But Tommy John does not deal in computer hardware, software or any other kind of technology. It makes men’s underwear.

从很多方面看，曼哈顿的创业公司Tommy John都像是一家来自硅谷的科技公司。这家由风投支持的公司在其网站上推销着自己的创新材料和专利设计。招聘人才时，它自称是一家“颠覆性”和“革命性”的公司。但Tommy John经营的并不是电脑硬件、软件或其他技术，而是男士内衣。

m  tout

verb
1. Tto praise something or someone in order to persuade people that they are important or worth a lot赞扬; 吹捧:

• •his much touted musical他那出备受推崇的音乐剧

be touted as sth

• •Nell is being touted as the next big thing in Hollywood.内尔被捧为好莱坞的明日之星。

1. 2. I,Tespecially BrEto try to persuade people to buy goods or services you are offering兜售，推销（商品或服务）:
   tout for business / custom BrE ( =look for customers ) 拉生意/招徕顾客:

• •Minicab drivers are not allowed to tout for business.接受电话预订的出租车司机不允许私自拉生意。

1. 3. I,TAmEto give someone information about a horse in a race（向…）提供赛马情报

m  disruptive

adjective
1. causing problems and preventing something from continuing in its usual way引起混乱的，扰乱性的，捣乱的:
[+ to ]

• •Night work can be very disruptive to home life.夜间工作会给家庭生活带来很大的麻烦。
• •Mike‘s parents thought I was a disruptive influence (=a person who causes disruption) .迈克的父母认为我在捣乱。
• •ways to handle pildisruptive pus 对付捣乱学生的办法

 

Following the example of successful e-commerce brands such as Warby Parker, a glasses firm, and Casper, a mattress-maker, a growing number of startups are reimagining everyday household items—from pants and socks to toothbrushes and cookware. These “direct-to-consumer” (DTC) companies bypass conventional retailers and bring their products straight to customers via their online stores. They began several years ago to catch the attention of venture-capital (VC) firms, which have poured in more than $3bn since 2012. But the success of some DTC firms has attracted a lot of wannabes, making this a crowded market and leaving some wondering whether the boom has reached its limits.

越来越多的创业公司效仿有眼镜公司Warby Parker和床垫制造商Casper等成功电商品牌，它们正重新定义日常生活用品，例如裤子、袜子、牙刷、厨具等等。这些“直接面对消费者”（direct-to-consumer，DTC）的公司绕过传统零售商，通过网店直接把产品卖给消费者。它们在几年前起步，力图吸引风投公司的注意。自2012年起，注入这类公司的风投已超过30亿美元。但一些DTC公司的成功吸引了很多效仿者，令该市场变得非常拥挤，也让一些人怀疑这种繁荣是否已达到了极限。

m  reimagine

reinterpret (an event, work of art, etc. ) imaginatively

重新想像; 重新设想（事件、艺术品等）。

m  bypass

verb T
1. to go around a town or other busy place rather than through it避开; 绕…而行:

• •Interstate 8 bypasses the town to the north.八号州际公路绕开小镇，通向北面。

1. 2. to avoid obeying a rule, system, or someone in an official position绕过〔规定、制度或某个官员〕:

• •Francis bypassed his manager and wrote straight to the director.弗朗西斯绕过他的经理，直接写信给董事。

 

m  wannabe

noun Cinformal
1. someone who tries to look or behave like someone famous or like a particular type of successful person, because they want to be like them – usually used to show disapproval仿效名人（富人）的人〔一般含贬义〕;
⇒would-be:

• •A load of Michael Schumacher wannabes are trying to show what they can do on the track.许多人效仿迈克尔·舒马赫，也想在赛车场上表现一下自己。
• •wannabe pop stars想当流行歌星的人

 

The DTC business model first emerged in product areas dominated by slow-moving incumbents with hefty profit margins, such as spectacles and razor blades. In 2010 Gillette, the world’s largest razor-blade-maker, enjoyed 70% of the American market and gross margins as high as 60%. Since then, Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s, two subscription services that sell blades at a fraction of the price of big brands, have amassed more than 5m customers. Gillette’s market share has fallen to 54%.

DTC商业模式最初出现在由行动迟缓、利润极高的老牌企业主导的产品领域，比如眼镜和剃须刀片。2010年，全球最大的剃须刀片制造商吉列占据美国市场70%的份额，毛利润高达60%。在这之后，两大订购服务商Dollar Shave Club和Harry’s以相当于大品牌售价很小一部分的价格销售刀片，已经积累了五百多万用户。吉列的市场份额已降至54%。

 

 

m  incumbent

adjective formal
1. it is incumbent upon / on sb to do sth if it is incumbent upon you to do something, it is your duty or responsibility to do it做某事是某人的职务（责任）:

• •It is incumbent upon parents to control what their children watch on TV.控制孩子所看电视的内容是父母的责任。

1. 2. the incumbent president / priest / government etc the president etc at the present time现任总统/现任牧师/本届政府等

noun Cformal
1. someone who has been elected to an official position, especially in politics, and who is doing that job at the present time在职者，现任者〔尤指政治职位〕:

• •In the June elections, Morris easily defeated the incumbent, Tom Smith.在 6 月的大选中，莫里斯轻松击败了现任者 — 汤姆·史密斯。

 

m  amass

verb T
1. if you amass money, knowledge, information etc, you gradually collect a large amount of it积聚，积累，大量收集:

• •For 25 years, Darwin amassed evidence to support his theories.在 25 年里，达尔文收集了大量的证据来支持自己的理论。
• •He amassed a fortune after the war.战后，他积累了大量财富。

 

Hubble Contacts, founded in 2016, wants to do the same to the $8bn contact-lens industry, which is dominated by giants such as Johnson & Johnson and Bausch + Lomb. Lenses are well-suited to the DTC model, being a commoditised product that customers purchase on a regular basis, says Jesse Horwitz, one of Hubble’s founders. The startup is on track to generate $20m in sales in 2017 and has attracted money from several VC firms.

成立于2016年的哈勃隐形眼镜公司（Hubble Contacts）想在价值80亿美元的隐形眼镜行业做出同样的成绩，该行业由强生和博士伦等巨头主导。哈勃的创始人之一杰西·霍维茨（Jesse Horwitz）说，隐形眼镜是一种客户会定期购买的日用品，因而很适合DTC模式。这家创业公司2017年的营业额可能将达到2000万美元，并且已获得多家风投公司的投资。

m  commoditize

使商品化：As time has become broken into variable length blocks,it has become commoditized.由于时间已被拆解成不同长度的区段，因而也被商品化了。

 

Startups that cannot undercut incumbents on price must differentiate themselves in other ways. Casper won over many shoppers by getting rid of the worst bits of the bed-buying process, including choosing among dozens of similar products and haggling with pushy salesmen. Allbirds, a two-year-old San Francisco-based firm that makes all-wool trainers, has tweaked the design of its shoes 27 times based on feedback from customers.

那些无法以低价与传统企业竞争的创业公司必须用其他方式实现差异化。Casper消除了买床的过程中最糟糕的部分，比如在数十种类似的产品中挑选、与咄咄逼人的推销员讨价还价，以此赢得了许多购物者的青睐。旧金山一家成立了两年的公司Allbirds生产纯羊毛运动鞋，公司根据客户的反馈，对鞋的设计做了27次调整。

m  undercut

verb (past tense and past participle undercut) , present participle undercutting T
1. to sell goods or a service at a lower price than another company削价与…抢生意;SYNundersell

• •Online bookstores can undercut retailers by up to 30%.网上书店最多能以低于零售店 30% 的价格销售。

1. 2. to make something weaker or less effective削弱; 使降低效率;SYNundermine

• •Is a lack of self-confidence undercutting your performance at work?是不是缺乏自信影响了你的工作成绩？

 

m  differentiate

verb
1. I,Tto recognize or express the difference between things or people辨别，区别;SYNdistinguish
[+ between ]

• •It‘s important to differentiate between fact and opinion.把事实和观点加以区别很重要。

differentiate sth from sth

• •It‘s sometimes hard to differentiate one sample from another.有时候很难把样品一个个区分开来。

1. 2. Tto be the quality, feature etc that makes one thing or person clearly different from another构成…间的差别，使…不同于;SYNdistinguish

• •What differentiates these two periods of history?是什么使这两段历史时期有所不同？

differentiate sth from sth

• •Its unusual nesting habits differentiate this bird from others.这种鸟独特的筑巢习惯使它不同于其他的鸟。

1. 3. Ito behave differently towards someone or something, especially in an unfair way区别对待〔尤指不公平对待〕;SYNdiscriminate
   [+ between ]

• •a policy which differentiates between men and women对于男女区别对待的政策

 

m  haggle

verb I
1. to argue when you are trying to agree about the price of something讲价，讨价还价:
[+ over ]

• •tourists haggling over the price of souvenirs为纪念品讨价还价的游客

[+ with ]

• •Ted was haggling with the street vendors.特德正在和街边小贩讨价还价。

 

m  tweak

verb T
1. to suddenly pull or twist something，拧，扭:

• •She leant forward and tweaked both ends of his moustache.她俯身向前，揪住他的两撇胡子。

1. 2. to make small changes to a machine, vehicle, or system in order to improve the way it works对〔机器、汽车或系统〕作小小的改进:

• •Maybe you should tweak a few sentences before you send in the report.报告交上去之前，有几个句子你也许应该修改一下。

 

Investors say branding and marketing are crucial if DTC startups are to make it. Sophie Bakalar of Collaborative Fund, a VC firm, says that brand is the first thing her team looks for in a consumer startup. Suitcases made by Away, a firm founded by two Warby Parker alumnae, have been featured in Vogue and endorsed by celebrities such as Karlie Kloss, a supermodel. But most customers learn about the brand on social media, where globe-trotting millennials share images of their bags, artfully displayed on hotel-room beds or rolling in front of iconic landmarks. Away’s social-media team collects and redistributes these posts on its Instagram account, which boasts 140,000 followers. This year the firm expects to generate $50m in sales.

投资者表示，DTC创业公司要获得成功，打造品牌和营销至关重要。风投公司Collaborative Fund的苏菲·巴喀勒（Sophie Bakalar）说，她的团队对消费品创业公司期望的第一样东西就是品牌。从Warby Parker离职的两位员工创立了行李箱公司Away，他们的产品登上了《Vogue》，超模卡莉·克劳斯（Karlie Kloss）等名人也为其做了宣传。但大多数客户是通过社交媒体了解这个品牌的。环游世界的千禧一代将自己箱包的照片发布在社交媒体上，在照片中，他们或是将行李箱精心地摆放在酒店房间的床上，或是拖着箱子经过各地标志性的景观。Away的社交媒体团队收集这些帖子，并用公司的Instagram账号（目前有14万粉丝）重新发布。这家公司今年的销售额预计将达到5000万美元。

 

For all the buzz surrounding such online brands, they face high hurdles. Investors worry about a glut of startups, which makes it difficult to stand out. “The challenge is rising above the noise,” says Kirsten Green of Forerunner Ventures, an early investor in companies like Bonobos, a clothing retailer. Some DTC firms insist on focusing on a single item in the bedroom, kitchen or bathroom, when they would do better to offer a stable of products.

虽然这些在线品牌备受追捧，但它们也面临很大的困难。投资者担心创业公司过多，很难脱颖而出。Forerunner Ventures的克斯汀·格林（Kirsten Green）说：“挑战在于如何突出重围。”这家公司是服装零售商Bonobos等公司的早期投资者。一些DTC公司坚持专注于卧室、厨房或浴室中的某件用品上，然而如果它们选择提供更多种类的产品，也许会发展得更好。

m  hurdle

noun
1. Ca problem or difficulty that you must deal with before you can achieve something障碍，困难;SYNobstacle

• •Finding enough money for the project was the first hurdle.首先需要克服的困难是为该项目筹措足够的资金。
• overcome / clear / get over etc a hurdle ( = deal successfully with a problem )成功克服困难

Moreover, the giants of consumer goods and retailing, initially slow to respond to competition from these upstarts, have wised up. They are reacting in two ways. The first is to make it easier to buy their goods, both by expanding their own DTC distribution, as Procter & Gamble (which owns Gillette) does, and by working more closely with Amazon.

而且，消费品和零售业巨头一开始还对来自新兴企业的竞争反应迟缓，但现在已认清了现状。它们的应对方式有两种。一种是让消费者更容易买到自己的产品，具体方法就是像宝洁（旗下拥有吉列公司）那样拓展自己的DTC分销渠道，以及与亚马逊更紧密地合作。

 

m  wise up

wise up informal
to realize the truth about a bad situation知道，了解〔糟糕的真相〕:

• •Wise up, Vic – he‘s cheating you!清醒点，维克 — 他是在骗你！

[+ to ]

• •Consumers need to wise up to the effect that advertising has on them.消费者应当正确认识广告对自己产生的影响。

 

 

That may not be good news for the startups, but the big firms’ second tactic is what the founders of every new DTC firm, and their VC backers, dream of: spending big to acquire young rivals. Unilever, for instance, paid $1bn for Dollar Shave Club in 2016; Walmart spent $310m to acquire Bonobos in June; and this week P&G said it was buying Native, a DTC deodorant brand, for an undisclosed sum.

这对创业公司来说可能不是好消息，但大公司的第二种策略却是所有DTC新公司及其风险投资人都梦寐以求的：花大价钱买下年轻对手。比如，2016年联合利华以10亿美元收购了Dollar Shave Club；沃尔玛今年6月斥资3.1亿美元收购了Bonobos；11月宝洁称正在收购DTC香体露品牌Native，具体金额未披露。

 

This spending spree explains why optimism still abounds, even as more startups jostle to carve out a niche. The consumer-goods business remains gripped by a “DTC revolution”, says Emily Heyward of Red Antler, a branding agency. A comforting thought for buyers of briefs.

这一收购热潮解释了为什么你推我搡、争相闯出一片天地的创业公司越来越多，乐观情绪却依然盛行。品牌设计公司Red Antler的艾米丽·海沃德（Emily Heyward）说，消费品行业仍然深受“DTC革命”的影响。对内裤买家来说，这颇令人宽慰。

m  spree

noun C
1. a short period of time when you do a lot of one activity, especially spending money or drinking alcohol作乐，狂欢〔尤指花钱或喝酒〕:
on a spree

• •They went on a drinking spree .他们去痛痛快快地喝了一通。
• •a shopping spree 疯狂购物

 

m  niche

noun
1. Cif you find your niche, you find a job or activity that is very suitable for you合适（称心）的工作（活动）:

• •Amanda soon found her niche at the club.阿曼达很快就在俱乐部里找到了一份理想的工作。
• •He‘s managed to create a niche for himself in local politics.他终于在当地政界为自己谋到一份称心的差事。

1. 2. sing.an opportunity to sell a product or service to a particular group of people who have similar needs, interests etc〔产品或服务的〕商机; 市场定位:
   [+ in ]

• •He spotted a niche in the market .他发现了市场中的一个商机。