外刊翻译：如何学习经济学人文章（3）

经济学人2月6日封面文章《驯服巨人（上）》，主要讨论谷歌、亚马逊科技大公司在市场中的统治地位及管控办法。

这篇译文的准确性不用多说，句式灵活，不拘泥于原文，该拆句就拆，该舍弃舍弃；词汇也相当精炼，选择得恰到好处。

我觉得比上一篇《越来越热》要翻得好很多。

从整体来看是一篇不错的译文，值得学习。

Competition in the digital age

竞争与科技

How to tame the tech titans

驯服巨人

The dominanceof Google, Facebook and Amazon is bad for consumers and competition

谷歌、Facebook和亚马逊的统治力越来越强。该如何控制它们？

翻译的本质在于用另一种语言忠实地传达一种语言表述的意思，不必苛求字字对应。

但这3句英中差异有些大，不知道是不是刻意为之，存疑。

NOT long ago, being the boss of a big Western tech firm was a dream job. As the billionsrolled in,so did theplaudits: Google, Facebook, Amazon and others were making the world a better place. Today these companiesare accused of being BAADD—big, anti-competitive, addictive and destructive to democracy. Regulators fine them, politicians grillthem andone-time backers warn of their power to cause harm.

不久前，在大型西方科技公司做老板还是一份让人梦寐以求的工作。在亿万财富滚滚而来之时，还能收获交口称赞：谷歌、Facebook、亚马逊等公司正让世界变得更加美好。而今天，这些公司备受指责——规模太大、反竞争、令人上瘾、破坏民主。监管机构对它们开出罚单，政客对它们严厉质询，曾经的支持者也发出警告，指出它们势力过大，可能造成危害。

这一段总体翻得挺好，“滚滚而来”，“交口称赞”四字短语十分精炼，最后一个短句的中文译文也十分流畅。

anti-competitive 为与其他四字短语保持一致可翻译成“妨碍/阻碍竞争”。

Plaudit

名词

an[applauding]or round of applause 鼓掌

any expression of approval or[praise]认可，赞许

Today these companies are accused of being BAADD—big, anti-competitive, addictive and destructive to democracy.

英文BAADD既是后面几个形容词的首字母，还隐喻BAD，非常巧妙。

但是在中文里，我们没办法翻出来，因此需要大胆舍弃。

Grill

动词

If you grill someone about something, you[ask]them a[lot]of questions for a long[period]of time.

Much of thistechlashis misguided. The presumption that big businesses must necessarily be wicked is plainwrong. Apple is to be admired as the world’s most valuable listed company for the simple reason that it makes things peoplewant to buy, even while facing fierce competition. Many online services would be worse if their providers were smaller. Evidence for the link between smartphones and unhappiness is weak. Fake news is not only an online phenomenon.

大部分对科技企业的抵制都有失偏颇。大企业一定就邪恶这种推断完全错误。世界上市值最高的上市公司苹果广受尊重，原因很简单：即便面临激烈的竞争，苹果仍能生产出消费者愿意**买单****（为之慷慨解囊）**的产品。如果在线服务供应商的规模比实际上要小，很多服务的质量就要打折扣。没有强有力的证据证明智能手机与幸福感低之间有关联，假新闻也并非网络独有。

Techlash = tech +Lash属于合成词

4. 动词

If someone lashes you or lashes into you, they[speak]very angrily to you,[criticizing]you or[saying]you have done something[wrong]. 此处，“抵制”改为批评可能更准确些。

But big tech platforms, particularly Facebook, Google and Amazon, do indeed raise a worry about fair competition. That is partly because they often benefit fromlegal exemptions. Unlike publishers, Facebook and Google are rarely held responsible for what users do on them; and for years most American buyers on Amazon did not pay sales tax. Nor do the titans simply compete in a market. Increasingly, they are the market itself, providing the infrastructure (or “platforms”) for much of the digital economy. Many of their services appear to be free, but users “pay” for them by giving away their data. Powerful though they already are, their huge stockmarket valuations suggest that investors are counting on them to double or even triple in size in the next decade.

然而大型科技平台确实引发了对公平竞争的担忧，特别是Facebook、谷歌和亚马逊。原因之一是它们经常因免于承担法律责任****（法律豁免）而受益。与出版商不同，Facebook和谷歌很少为用户在其平台上的行为负责。多年来，亚马逊上的大部分美国买家都没有支付消费税。这几个超级巨头也不只是在市场上竞争，它们正日益变成市场本身，为大部分数字经济提供基础设施（即“平台”）。它们的许多服务看似免费，但用户在交出自己的数据时实际就在“付费”了。尽管它们已经实力强大，但其巨大的市值表明，投资者期待未来十年它们的规模能再增加一倍甚至两倍。

much of the digital economy

大部分数字经济有些歧义，听起来好像有1个以上的数字经济。

而英文表明，只有一个数字经济，因此改成“数字经济的大部分领域”更合适。

There is thus a justified fear that the tech titans will use their power toprotectand extend their dominance, to the detriment of consumers (see article). The tricky task for policymakers is to restrain them without unduly stiflinginnovation.

因此有理由担心，科技巨头会利用自身实力来保护****（维护）和扩大它们的主导地位，进而损害消费者的利益。政策制定者面临的棘手任务是既要约束它们，又要避免过度约束而扼杀创新。

Unduly过度

副词[ADVERB with verb] [ADVERB adjective]

If you[say]that something does not[happen]or is not done unduly, you mean that it does not happen or is not done to an[excessive]or[unnecessary][extent].

Stifle扼杀（好的东西）

1.动词

If someone stifles something you consider to be a good thing, they prevent it from[continuing].

The less severe contest

越来越没有悬念的竞赛

The platforms have become sodominantbecause they benefit from “network effects”. Sizebegetssize: the more sellers Amazon, say, can attract, the more buyers will shop there, which attracts more sellers,and so on. By some estimates, Amazon captures over 40% of online shopping in America. With more than 2bn monthly users, Facebook holds sway over the media industry. Firms cannot do without Google, which in some countries processes more than 90% of web searches. Facebook and Google control two-thirds of America’s online ad revenues.

这些平台之所以能够称霸，原因在于“网络效应”。比方说，亚马逊上的卖家越多，就会吸引更多买家来购物，而这又能吸引更多的卖家。如此这般，雪球越滚越大。据估计，亚马逊抢占了美国网购总额的40%以上。Facebook的月活跃用户超过20亿，掌控着媒体行业。企业离不开谷歌，在一些国家，90%以上的网络搜索用的都是谷歌。Facebook和谷歌这两家公司控制了美国在线广告收入的三分之二。

Beget

1.动词

To beget something[means]to cause it to[happen]or be created.

[formal]

Hold sway

to reign or[prevail]

America’s trustbusters have given tech giantsthe benefit of the doubt. They look for consumer harm, which is hard to establish when prices are falling and services are “free”. The firms themselves stress that a giant-killing startup is just a click away and that they could be toppledby a new technology, such as the blockchain. Before Google and Facebook, Alta Vista and MySpace were the **bee’s knees.**Who remembers them?

美国的反垄断机构对科技巨头使用了无罪推定。它们要先找到消费者受害的证据，但在价格下降、服务“免费”的情况下很难做到。这些巨头自己也强调，说不定点一下鼠标的工夫，击垮巨头的创业公司就出现了，而且它们还可能会被类似区块链的新技术所颠覆。谷歌和Facebook出现之前，Alta Vista和MySpace都是行业翘楚，如今谁还记得它们？

Topple

1. 动词

If someone or something topples[somewhere]or if you topple them, they become[unsteady]or[unstable]and fall over. 推翻

the bee’s knees

名词俗语 蜂蜜的膝盖，隐喻卓越者，或是最适合的人/事

(functioning as singular) informal

an[excellent] ideally[suitable]person or thing

However, thebarriers to entryare rising. Facebook not only owns the world’s largest pool of personal data, but also its biggest “social graph”—the list of its members and how they are connected. Amazon has more pricing information than any other firm. Voice assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, will give them even more control over how people experience the internet. China’s tech firms have the heft to compete, but are not about to getunfettered access to Western consumers.

然而，行业门槛在不断抬高。Facebook不仅拥有世界上最丰富的个人数据**（库），还有最大的“社交图谱”——用户名单以及用户之间的联系。亚马逊掌握的定价信息比其他任何公司都多。亚马逊的Alexa和谷歌的Assistant这些语音助手将能让它们更好地控制人们的互联网体验。中国的科技企业有竞争的实力，但还不能自由地**服务西方的消费者。

Unfettered 形容词[ADJECTIVE noun, verb-link ADJECTIVE, ADJECTIVE after verb]

If you[describe]something as unfettered, you mean that it is not controlled or[limited]by anyone or anything. 不受限制

If thistrend runs its course, consumers will suffer as the tech industry becomes less vibrant. Less money will go into startups, most good ideas will bebought up by the titans and, one way or another, the profits will becaptured by the giants.

如果任由这个趋势发展，科技行业会变得缺乏活力，消费者利益也会因而受损。投向创业公司的资金会减少，大多数好的创意都将被巨头买断，而且，利润总归都会被巨头收入囊中。

The early signsare already visible. The European Commission has accused Google of using control of Android, its mobile operating system, to give its own apps a leg up. Facebook keeps buying firms which could one day lure users away: first Instagram, then WhatsApp and most recently tbh, an app that lets teenagers send each other compliments anonymously. Although Amazon is still increasing competitionin aggregate, as industries from groceries to television can attest, it can also spot rivals and squeeze them from the market.

这种情况已初见端倪。欧盟委员会指控谷歌利用其移动操作系统安卓预装自家的应用。Facebook一直在收购那些有朝一日可能会分流其用户的公司：先是Instagram，然后是WhatsApp，最近是tbh——一个让青少年匿名赞美对方的应用。尽管亚马逊总体而言仍在促进竞争，从食品杂货到电视等行业都可以证明，但它也有可能识别出竞争对手并将其挤出市场。

Leg up

3.名词

[assistance]; advantage优势

上周内容请戳：“[特朗普国情咨文”]、“[如何学习经济学人文章（1）]、“[如何学习经济学人文章（2）”。]

英文单词/词组释义均来自柯林斯词典。柯林斯英英词典的释义说明基本采用了十分浅显、简单的英语，非常值得参考。

中英原文来自https://weibo.com/economistgroup?from=feed&loc=nickname