导读

今年的双十一，不止是阿里巴巴“双十一”活动的十周年，也是腾讯成立二十周年。作为互联网行业的两大巨头，两家企业的市值都曾超过5000亿美元。然而，迎来20岁生日的腾讯今年可不怎么好过，游戏业务遭受打击，市值蒸发近一半。今天的文章选自经济学人20181110期的Business版块，译文选自商论，文章详细分析了腾讯的业务、发展现状以及对策，祝大家阅读愉快！

Tencent at 20

WeFlat

微逊

A Chinese internet titan shakes things up after a singularly bruising year. 

经过了形势尤其严峻的一年后，这家中国互联网巨头展开大调整。

知识点1：标题解读

微信的英文是Wechat，今天文章的标题是WeFlat，flat作形容词讲时，除了有平坦的意思，还可以指轮胎没气的，瘪的，气不足的，由此引申出来形容生意或贸易不景气的，不兴旺的，比如： 

①Analysts are expecting flat sales in the coming months. 

分析人士预计未来数月销售不景气。

结合文章主题腾讯面临的形势严峻，商论将其翻译为“微逊”，既与微信谐音，又生动形象地解释了腾讯现在的状态。

知识点2：Shake up

A Chinese internet titan shakes things up after a singularly bruising year. 

经过了形势尤其严峻的一年后，这家中国互联网巨头展开大调整。

在上周的精读标题引文中也出现了shake up, 指调整，改组〔机构、体系等等〕，通常指比较大的调整和改组：

①A Chinese ban on rubbish imports is shaking up the global junk trade.

中国禁止进口垃圾正撼动全球垃圾贸易。

1.“WHO IS KILLING Tencent?” was the headline of an article on a Chinese business news site this autumn. Those sharing the link on WeChat, a social-media and payments service that is the crown jewel of the Chinese technology giant, see something else: “This title contains exaggerated and misleading information”. The swap is ostensibly the result of a move by Tencent in April to sanitise content, after a crackdown on popular online platforms by government regulators, but is also self-serving. Scoffing WeChat users circulated the article just to highlight the switch.

《谁在杀死腾讯？》—今年秋天，中国某家商业新闻网站发表的一篇文章用了这样的标题。当人们在腾讯的王牌产品微信（这家中国科技巨头的社交媒体和支付服务应用）上分享此文时，看到标题旁多了一条提示：“标题夸大误导”。乍一看，这种处理是腾讯自4月其为响应政府监管部门整顿流行网络平台的行动而启动“自净”的结果。但它也不无私心。微信用户纷纷转发，调侃这种变化。

第一段通过一篇文章引出了文章的主角-腾讯，引用一篇微信公众号的文章《谁在杀死腾讯？》分析了腾讯的现状，但是腾讯立即自辩，不同于以往的删帖，而是加了相关提示。

知识点3：Crown jewel, flagship

Those sharing the link on WeChat, a social-media and payments service that is the crown jewel of the Chinese technology giant, see something else: “This title contains exaggerated and misleading information”.

这句话的主句为those see something else, those后的动名词短语作后置定语修饰前面的those，而逗号后的a social-media……giant, 作为同位语详细地解释了微信这个APP。

Crown jewel字面意思指王冠上的宝石，引申义指最为宝贵的东西，也常用作the jewel in the crown，可以用来形容极具代表性的、优秀的、最主要的王牌产品，文中指微信是腾讯的王牌产品。

除此之外，在第5段还出现了flagship，也可以用来形容“王牌产品”：

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.

例如，其王牌游戏《王者荣耀》的平均日活跃用户数量在约一年时间里减少了五分之一，9月份为5400万人。

Flagship也是一样，可以用来形容具有代表性的、最重要的产品，也就是我们中文里常说的“旗舰产品”，比如：

①This machine is the flagship in our new range of computers.

这台机器是我们新计算机系列的主打产品。

②The company's flagship store is in New York.

这家公司的旗舰店在纽约。

知识点4：Ostensible, Sanitise, Self-serving

The swap is ostensibly the result of a move by Tencent in April to sanitise content, after a crackdown on popular online platforms by government regulators, but is also self-serving.

The swap本意指交换，这里指的是腾讯对于这篇文章的处理，替换了其标题。不同于以往的删除，而是在其标题旁加了标注，注明“标题夸大误导”，在转发分享至朋友圈或微信群时，不会像正常转发一样显示文章标题信息，而是会替换成“此标题包含夸大误导信息”，如下图：

Ostensible形容词，表面上的（实际上并不是），假装的，比如：

①Their ostensible goal was to clean up government corruption, but their real aim was to unseat the government.

他们假托要清除政府腐败，可真正目的却是要颠覆政府。

②The ostensible reason for his resignation was ill health. 

表面上他辞职的理由是身体欠佳。

在说到“假装”，除了上面的形容词ostensible及其副词ostensibly，我们还会想到动词pretend，feign，其中feign常用来指假装有某种感情，或假装睡觉、假装生病，feign sth：

③I became disinterested, started skipping class and feigning illness to avoid going to school.

我变得对学习不感兴趣，开始逃课，假装生病不去上学。

Sanitise content，我们常说的净化网络环境，便是sanitise，本意指给……消毒，作……卫生处理，引申义指净化、删除…中过激（或有害、不良、令人不快的）内容，但这个词常用作贬义：

①The sanitized version of events which was reported in the government-controlled media 

受政府控制的媒体上对事件经过过滤的报道

②The military wants to allow only a sanitized report/version of the incident to become public.

有关该事件，军方希望只公开经过粉饰的报告。

Self-serving形容词，追逐私利的，只为个人打算的，用作贬义，

Self-serving politicians 只为自己打算的政客

知识点5：Circulate

Scoffing WeChat users circulated the article just to highlight the switch.

Circulate除了有循环的意思，也可以表示传播、发送、散布，比如：

①Rumours were already beginning to circulate that the project might have to be abandoned. 

有关这个项目可能被迫放弃的流言已经开始在四处传播。

2. It would be no surprise if Tencent were feeling touchy as it approaches its 20th anniversary on November 11th. Its shares, traded in Hong Kong since 2004, have fallen by 28% in 2018. This time last year it was the first Asian company to be worth half-a-trillion dollars, hitting a record valuation in January of $573bn. It has since shed $218bn, roughly equivalent in value to losing Boeing or Intel. Other Chinese internet stocks have fared worse than Tencent, among them NetEase, a gaming rival, and JD.com, an e-commerce firm. But even so, the drop stands out.

腾讯若有些敏感易怒也不奇怪。这家于11日迎来成立20周年纪念日的公司与2004年在香港上市，今年以来股价已经下跌28%。去年11月，它成为首家市值突破五千亿美元的亚洲公司，到今年1月时达到5730亿美元的历史高位。自那以后，其市值已蒸发了2180亿美元，大致等同于没了一整个波音或英特尔。其他中国互联网公司的股票表现更差，包括腾讯在游戏业务上的竞争对手网易以及电子商务公司京东。但即便如此，腾讯这番大跌也很惹眼。

第二段介绍事实：讲述了腾讯在成立20周年之际，迎来了有史以来最大的市值下跌。

知识点5：Touchy

It would be no surprise if Tencent were feeling touchy as it approaches its 20th anniversary on November 11th.

注意此句话为虚拟语气，表示对现在情况的假设，主句为过去将来时（would be……），从句为一般过去时。

Touchy形容词，源于touch接触，相当于sensitive，表示过于敏感的、易动怒的，比如：

①She is very touchy about her past. 

她对她的过去十分敏感。

Touchy subject/question  敏感的话题/问题

知识点6：Shed

It has since shed $218bn, roughly equivalent in value to losing Boeing or Intel.

Shed动词，本意指脱落、掉落，文中指的是腾讯的市值掉了$218bn，再比如：

Shed tear/blood 流泪、流血

①The trees shed their leaves in autumn. 

树木在秋天落叶。

②A lorry had shed a load of gravel across the road.一辆卡车在路上掉下了一堆碎石。

此外其引申义指去除，摆脱，常出现在新闻用语中：

②The company is planning to shed about a quarter of its workforce.

这家公司正计划裁减约四分之一的人员。

③The magazine is desperately trying to shed its old-fashioned image.

这份杂志急于摆脱其过时的形象。

知识点7：Fare

Other Chinese internet stocks have fared worse than Tencent, among them NetEase, a gaming rival, and JD.com, an e-commerce firm.

Fare除了可以作为名词，指费用，还可以用作动词，来形容某种境遇（成功或失败），常见搭配fare well/badly/better/worse，比如：

①He wondered how Ed had fared in the interview. 

他想知道埃德面试情况如何。

②Low-paid workers will fare badly/well under this government.

在这届政府执政期间，低收入工人的境况会很糟／很好。

3. The company posted its first quarterly profit decline for nearly 13 years in the three-month period ending in June. A regulatory hold-up that was blocking it from charging for new video games was the chief culprit, it explained. Although it has sprawled into all sorts of areas, from online lending (WeBank) and insurance (WeSure) to offline medical clinics (Tencent Doctorwork), the company still derives over two-fifths of its revenue from gaming. Its latest big bet in mobile games, “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds”, has accrued a huge audience of some 50m Chinese gamers who play daily, but because of the monetisation freeze, Tencent cannot cash in.

腾讯此前发布的财报显示，在截至6月的三个月里出现了近13年来首次季度利润下滑。公司解释说，主要原因是监管部门延迟审批网络游戏，使得它无法就新游戏收费。虽然腾讯的业务范围已延伸至各种领域，包括网络贷款（微众银行）、保险（微保）和线下医疗诊所（企鹅医生）等，但仍有超过五分之二的收入来自游戏。它在手游上最新的大手笔投注是《绝地求生》，吸引了众多玩家—约5000万中国人每天必玩这款游戏，但因为收费受阻而无法变现。

第三段继续介绍事实：腾讯利润下滑，主要原因是其游戏业务受到了限制。

知识点8：Hold-up, chief culprit

A regulatory hold-up that was blocking it from charging for new video games was the chief culprit, it explained.

Hold-up,中间有连接符，意思是延误，耽搁，相当于delay，文中的regulatory hold-up指监管部门的延迟（审批游戏），再看几个例子：

Traffic hold-ups on the highway 公路上的交通堵塞

①Despite the odd hold-up, we finished on time. 

尽管偶尔有些阻滞，我们还是准时完成了。

注意hold up中间没有连字符，意思指保持良好的状态、经受的住考验： 

②Will his alibi hold up (= continue to seem true) in court?

他不在犯罪现场的证据在法庭上会站得住脚吗？

③Children's wear is one area that is holding up well in the recession. 

在经济衰退期间，童装是持续销售良好的一个领域。

Culprit名词，本意指犯人、罪犯，引申义指问题的起因、罪魁祸首：

①Children in this country are getting much too fat, and sugar and sweets are the main culprits.

该国儿童过于肥胖，糖和甜食是罪魁祸首。

知识点9：Sprawl, derive

Although it has sprawled into all sorts of areas, from online lending (WeBank) and insurance (WeSure) to offline medical clinics (Tencent Doctorwork), the company still derives over two-fifths of its revenue from gaming.

Sprawl这个词在8月28日推送的精读笔记《巨额投资：A wall of money》中有过详细地讲解，指延伸、扩展：

①As tech sprawls into the old economy, it is acquiring more heft.

随着科技公司向传统经济领域延伸，它们也变得更笨重。

Derive，动词，获得、得到，在6月5日推送的的精读笔记《订阅成瘾：The subscription addiction》中也出现过：

Spotify, a music streaming firm that listed on April 3rd, has 159m users but derives its $27bn valuation from 71m “premium subscribers” who pay to listen without adverts.

4月3日上市的音乐流媒体公司Spotify有1.59亿用户，不过成就其270亿美元市值的还是7100万选择了付费免广告的“高级订户”。

知识点10：Accrue

Its latest big bet in mobile games, “Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds”, has accrued a huge audience of some 50m Chinese gamers who play daily, but because of the monetisation freeze, Tencent cannot cash in.

Accrue指利益或好处逐渐增加或积累，文中指绝地求生这款游戏逐渐积累了一大批玩家，强调逐渐增加，比如：

Interest will accrue on the account at a rate of seven percent.

账户上的存款将会以7%的利率生息。

常见搭配accrue to sb，归于某人，在8月7日推送的精读笔记《数据付费：What if people were paid for》的中，也出现了这个词：

As things stand, most of it accrues to the big data distilleries.

照今天看来，这种财富的大头都流向那些大数据精炼厂了。

Cash in，与文中多次出现的monetise同义，都指的是变现、获利、赚钱，比如：

①Avoid cashing in a policy early as you could lose out heavily. 

不要提前兑现保单，因为那样你会损失惨重。

②Her family have been accused of cashing in on her death.

人们指责她的家人借她的死牟利。

③Residents said local gang leaders had cashed in on the violence to seize valuable land. 

居民们说地方帮会头目曾经从暴力掠取宝贵土地中牟利。

4. The government suspension, which began in March without explanation, had been expected to ease in the autumn. Analysts now assume that Tencent will need to tough it out until the second half of 2019. Even once game approvals start up again, the government has said that their number will be limited. To allay Party concerns about the mental and physical health of young gamers, Tencent is also having to curb gaming time and set up a system of user-identity checks.

今年3月，政府在未做解释的情况下暂停了网络游戏的审批，外界原本预计会在秋季解冻。现在，分析师认为腾讯将需要捱到2019年下半年。即使游戏审批重新启动，政府也已表示其数量将受限制。为了减轻游戏有损年轻玩家身心健康的担忧，腾讯还不得不对玩游戏的时间设限，并建立用户身份核查系统。

第四段解释了腾讯游戏业务受到限制的原因之一是政策限制。

知识点11：“渡过难关”英语怎么表达

Analysts now assume that Tencent will need to tough it out until the second half of 2019.

Tough it out渡过（难关），从（困境）中挺过来

①It's a difficult situation, but if we can just tough it out, things are bound to get better soon.

处境的确很艰难，但如果我们能挺过去，情况很快就会好转的。

关于渡过难关的说法，除了get through，在9月25日推送的精读笔记《风雨交加：Stormy weather》中还出现过weather the storm：

Those figures may be incomplete, but on the whole southern China weathered the storm better than was feared.

这些数字可能不完整，但总的来说，中国南部成功地渡过了此次难关，而不是惊吓中度过。

②They had to weather some difficult times in the early years of their marriage.

他们熬过了刚结婚时的困难时期。

知识点12：Allay

To allay Party concerns about the mental and physical health of young gamers, Tencent is also having to curb gaming time and set up a system of user-identity checks.

Allay动词，主要指减轻或缓解不好的情绪，比如担忧、恐惧、疑虑等等，文中指减轻担忧，常见搭配：allay (sb’s) fear/concern/suspicion

①The government is trying to allay public fears/concern about the spread of the disease.

政府正努力消除公众对疾病蔓延的恐惧／担心。

腾讯为了打消人们认为游戏有损青少年身心健康的担忧，推出了防沉迷措施（anti-addition measures），也就是文中说的curb gaming time限制游戏时间，以及实名制（Real name registration），防止未成年人沉迷网游。