2023考研英語閱讀互聯網企業克隆來襲
Internet companies
互聯網企業
Attack of the clones
克隆來襲
ON AUGUST 1st Airbnb, an online marketplacethat helps people rent rooms, admitted that it hadmishandled a complaint from someone whose apartment was ransacked by one of its renters.
8月1日，Airbnb，一家在線房屋租賃公司，承認他們錯誤的處理了一起客戶投訴，這位客戶的公寓被其中一名租客洗劫一空。
Brian Chesky, the firm s boss, begged forgiveness and announced that from August 15thAirbnb would cover up to $50,000-worth of damage caused by its customers, subject tocertain conditions.
公司的老板Brian Chesky懇求客戶的原諒，并宣布從當月15日起，客戶所遭受的損失，只要符合一定的條件，Airbnb將會為他們買單，承擔高達5萬美元的費用。
Soon afterwards 9flats, a rival basedin Berlin, said it, too, would offer insurance.
隨即，一家總部在柏林的競爭對手9flats也宣布他們將為客戶提供保險。
An Airbnb executive gripe s that such behaviour is typical of 9flats, which he says copiesmuch of what Airbnb does.
Airbnb一位高層抱怨稱這是9flats的一貫手法，對方已經抄襲了Airbnb的很多做法。
Other American web superstars, such as Groupon, a discount firm, and Kickstarter, whichcrowdsources funding for arts and technology projects, have also been attacked by clones.
其它的美國互聯網明星企業，像Groupon和Kickstarter，也同樣受到了克隆企業的困擾。
As the cost of computing power plummet s and the prices of hot start-ups soarAirbnb wasrecently valued at an eye-watering $1.3 billionthe clone wars will get bloody.
由于計算機計算成本銳減和熱門創業企業受到的熱捧Airbnb最近就被估計市值高達13億美元，這場反克隆的戰爭將會愈加血腥。
One battleground will be China.
其中一個戰場就是中國。
There, opaque rules have kept many American firms at bay , leaving the field open forChinese ones to develop similar services.
在那，一些不透明的規則使許多美國企業發展受阻，為中國的本土企業發展相似服務提供了很大的空間。
Diandian, for example, resembles Tumblr, an American blogging platform. Zhihu, aquestion-and-answer service, looks a bit like Quora, an American firm.
例如，點點就是模仿的美國輕博客社區Tumblr。知乎，這家社會化問答網站就和美國的Quora如初一輒。
Another battleground will be Germany, where three brothers, Alexander, Oliver and MarcSamwer, have become the copycat kings of Europe.The brothers have a knack for spottinggood business models in Silicon Valley, and then quickly starting something similar in Europe.
另一個戰場會是德國，那有三兄弟Alexander，Oliver和Marc Samwer，他們是歐洲著名的抄襲之王。
They later sell these clones, sometimes to the firms on which they were modelled.
他們的本事就是能很快的發現來自硅谷的好的商業模式，然后迅速在歐洲發展相似的業務。再賣掉這些克隆企業，有時就賣給被他們抄襲的企業。
The Samwers scored their first success in 1999 with Alando, an online auction house whichthey sold to eBay.
Samwer兄弟在1999年覓得了第一桶金，他們在成功成立了一家相似的網上拍賣行Alando后，又回賣給了eBay。
They have notched up several other big deals since then.
那之后，他們還完成了若干項別的大交易。
In 2007, beside their investment vehicle, European Founders Fund, they set up RocketInternet, an incubator that uses its own pool of expertsnow around 90 peopleto helplaunch several start-ups a year.
2007年，除了他們的投資工具甌洲創始人基金，他們還成立了一家名為Rocket Internet的公司，這是一家創業孵化器，主要依靠自己的專家現在大概共有員工90名，每年幫助若干企業創業。
Kinnevik, a Swedish investor, has a stake and also invests in its portfolio .
來自瑞典的投資人Kinnevik就有在該公司的股權，并參與了其他的投資組合。
Airbnb is now firmly in the Samwers sights.
Airbnb現在就被Samwer兄弟瞄上了。
In June, the American firm bought Accoleo, a start-up in Hamburg, as a way into theEuropean market.
在6月，這家美國企業買下了在德國漢堡的一家創業企業Accoleo，借此進入歐洲市場。
It faces stiff competition not just from 9flats but also from Wimdu, a clone backed by theSamwer brothers and staffed with experienced hands.
它所面臨的嚴峻競爭不單來自9flats，也來自Samwer兄弟投資的另一家擁有經驗豐富的員工的克隆企業Wimdu。
Arne Bleckwenn, the boss of Wimdu, is on his third start-up for the Samwers. Gamegoods, hisfirst, was a rare flop.
對Wimdu的老板Ame Bleckwenn來說，這已經是他的第三次創業了。
The second, GratisPay, a virtual-currency platform for internet games, was sold last year toSponsorPay, a German rival.
他創業的第一家企業Gamegoods是一次十足的失敗。第二家是專為網絡游戲提供虛擬貨幣的平臺網站GratisPay，在去年賣給了德國的競爭對手SponsorPay。
Wimdu is no shoestring operation: in June it raised $90m from its core investors.
Wimdu可不是小本經營，僅在6月它就從核心投資者那兒獲得了9千萬的投資。
In July the Samwers raised more money for Zalando, an online shoe-shop that resemblesAmazon s Zappos.
在7月Samwer兄弟又為Zalando帶來了更多的投資，這是一家在網上賣鞋的網站，和Amazon的Zappos類似。
Both Wimdu and Zalando may ultimately be snapped up by other firms, though theSamwers could choose to hang on to them or to take some equity in the buyera strategyRocket Internet adopted when it sold CityDeal, an online-discount firm, to Groupon lastyear.
不管Wimdu還是Zalando，最終都可能會被別的公司收購，雖然Samwer兄弟可以選擇是自己經營還是從購買者那保持一定的股份在去年將CityDea賣給Groupon時，Rocket Internet就采取了后一種策略。
Rocket Internet has been helping to develop Groupon s international business, along with twoof the Samwer brothers.
Rocket Internet和Samwer兄弟中的其中兩位決定幫助提升Groupon的國際業務，
It stands to make more money from Groupon s planned stockmarket listing .
這樣他們就可以從Groupon的上市計劃中獲利更多。
Florian Heinemann, the boss of Rocket Internet, is unrepentant about cloning.
Florian Heinemann，Rocket Internet則對克隆企業的做法不以為意。
Internet ideas are rarely patented and rightly so, he says: patents create a temporarymonopoly which tends to stifle competition.
互聯網的創意大都沒有申請專利，并且他認為專利會造成一時的壟斷，扼殺競爭。
Mr Bleckwenn at Wimdu also defends copying good ideas:BMW didn t invent the car, heobserves.
Wimdu的Bleckwenn也認為模仿好點子的做法合理。寶馬公司也不是汽車的發明者，他說道。
German mechanical engineers are brilliant at improving existing inventions.
德國的機械工程師們很擅長對已有的發明進行改進。
From their perspective, the Samwer brothers are simply applying that same genius to theinternet.
對Samwer兄弟而言，他們也僅是將自己的這一天賦用于了互聯網而已。
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but some of the imitatees can t take acompliment .
模仿這一說法也許是最真誠的恭維方式，但對一些被模仿者卻不愿領情。
They hate having to buy back their own ideas at a hefty premium.
大量的費用買回原本就屬于他們的創意。
And they gripe about the clone troopers aggressive tactics.
并且他們抱怨這些后來者咄咄逼人的策略。
Airbnb claims that clones have sent people to rent its properties so they can give owners asales pitch .
Airbnb就埋怨說那些克隆網站會派人去租他們的公寓，這樣他們就能向房屋所有者推銷他們的服務了。
Such tricks make Silicon Valley types choke on their freshly squeezed mango juice. But theyare perfectly legal.
他們不想要再以額外盡管這些伎倆會令硅谷的榜樣們被他們的鮮榨芒果汁給嗆著。但他們這樣全是完全合法的。
Fred Destin, a venture capitalist at Atlas Venture who has worked in both Europe andAmerica, sees a double standard.
來自Atlas Venture的Fred Destin，作為一位在歐洲和美國都工作過的風險投資家，他發現了其中的雙重標準。
When something works in America, he says, eight companies immediately go after the sameopportunity and venture capitalists fund them.
當一些企業在美國興起時，他說道8家相同的企業會立馬獲得相同的機會，得到風投們的支持。
But nobody calls them clones.
但是卻沒有人說他們是抄襲。
The fact that Groupon has been willing to work with the Samwers on building its business isanother sign that some of the outrage is overdone.
事實上， Groupon愿意同Samwer兄弟合作發展業務的意愿就給了我們一個信號，來自克隆企業的沖擊太過分了。
Still, start-ups do need to think about the threat.
然而，創業企業們還是得考慮一下這些威脅。
Suing clones is hard, says David Goldstone, an intellectual-property specialist at GoodwinProcter, an American law firm.
要想控告這些克隆企業很難，來自美國律師事務所的知識產權專家David Goldstone認為。
Registering patents in many countries is both costly and time-consuming, and they mayprove hard to enforce.
在很多國家，注冊專利費錢又費時，很難進行。
A better bet is to out-innovate the opposition.
一種更好的博弈就是在創新上超越對手。
Firms that can harness powerful network effects,in which users encourage friends andfamily members to join them on a particular service, may be best placed to fight off theclones.
那些能夠打敗克隆者的，往往是能有效利用強大的網絡影響，讓用戶們鼓勵親朋好友來使用它的某種特定服務的企業。
Others will just have to draw their light sabres and hope that the Force is with them.
而其它的企業則只能手執佩劍，希望自己也能擁有這樣的力量。
詞語解釋
1.marketplace n.集會場所;市場
Sifang Street is a very busy marketplace.
四方街是一個熱鬧的集市。
2.announce v.宣布;宣告
I hope to announce the winner shortly.
我希望馬上宣布勝利者的名字。
3.behaviour n.行為;舉止
Such behaviour is beneath contempt.
這種行為令人不齒。
4.similar a.類似的
The two buildings are similar on the whole.
從整體來看，這兩幢樓是相似的。
5.service n.服務;發球
The volunteers for community service are doing a good job.
社區服務的義工做得很出色。
Internet companies
互聯網企業
Attack of the clones
克隆來襲
ON AUGUST 1st Airbnb, an online marketplacethat helps people rent rooms, admitted that it hadmishandled a complaint from someone whose apartment was ransacked by one of its renters.
8月1日，Airbnb，一家在線房屋租賃公司，承認他們錯誤的處理了一起客戶投訴，這位客戶的公寓被其中一名租客洗劫一空。
Brian Chesky, the firm s boss, begged forgiveness and announced that from August 15thAirbnb would cover up to $50,000-worth of damage caused by its customers, subject tocertain conditions.
公司的老板Brian Chesky懇求客戶的原諒，并宣布從當月15日起，客戶所遭受的損失，只要符合一定的條件，Airbnb將會為他們買單，承擔高達5萬美元的費用。
Soon afterwards 9flats, a rival basedin Berlin, said it, too, would offer insurance.
隨即，一家總部在柏林的競爭對手9flats也宣布他們將為客戶提供保險。
An Airbnb executive gripe s that such behaviour is typical of 9flats, which he says copiesmuch of what Airbnb does.
Airbnb一位高層抱怨稱這是9flats的一貫手法，對方已經抄襲了Airbnb的很多做法。
Other American web superstars, such as Groupon, a discount firm, and Kickstarter, whichcrowdsources funding for arts and technology projects, have also been attacked by clones.
其它的美國互聯網明星企業，像Groupon和Kickstarter，也同樣受到了克隆企業的困擾。
As the cost of computing power plummet s and the prices of hot start-ups soarAirbnb wasrecently valued at an eye-watering $1.3 billionthe clone wars will get bloody.
由于計算機計算成本銳減和熱門創業企業受到的熱捧Airbnb最近就被估計市值高達13億美元，這場反克隆的戰爭將會愈加血腥。
One battleground will be China.
其中一個戰場就是中國。
There, opaque rules have kept many American firms at bay , leaving the field open forChinese ones to develop similar services.
在那，一些不透明的規則使許多美國企業發展受阻，為中國的本土企業發展相似服務提供了很大的空間。
Diandian, for example, resembles Tumblr, an American blogging platform. Zhihu, aquestion-and-answer service, looks a bit like Quora, an American firm.
例如，點點就是模仿的美國輕博客社區Tumblr。知乎，這家社會化問答網站就和美國的Quora如初一輒。
Another battleground will be Germany, where three brothers, Alexander, Oliver and MarcSamwer, have become the copycat kings of Europe.The brothers have a knack for spottinggood business models in Silicon Valley, and then quickly starting something similar in Europe.
另一個戰場會是德國，那有三兄弟Alexander，Oliver和Marc Samwer，他們是歐洲著名的抄襲之王。
They later sell these clones, sometimes to the firms on which they were modelled.
他們的本事就是能很快的發現來自硅谷的好的商業模式，然后迅速在歐洲發展相似的業務。再賣掉這些克隆企業，有時就賣給被他們抄襲的企業。
The Samwers scored their first success in 1999 with Alando, an online auction house whichthey sold to eBay.
Samwer兄弟在1999年覓得了第一桶金，他們在成功成立了一家相似的網上拍賣行Alando后，又回賣給了eBay。
They have notched up several other big deals since then.
那之后，他們還完成了若干項別的大交易。
In 2007, beside their investment vehicle, European Founders Fund, they set up RocketInternet, an incubator that uses its own pool of expertsnow around 90 peopleto helplaunch several start-ups a year.
2007年，除了他們的投資工具甌洲創始人基金，他們還成立了一家名為Rocket Internet的公司，這是一家創業孵化器，主要依靠自己的專家現在大概共有員工90名，每年幫助若干企業創業。
Kinnevik, a Swedish investor, has a stake and also invests in its portfolio .
來自瑞典的投資人Kinnevik就有在該公司的股權，并參與了其他的投資組合。
Airbnb is now firmly in the Samwers sights.
Airbnb現在就被Samwer兄弟瞄上了。
In June, the American firm bought Accoleo, a start-up in Hamburg, as a way into theEuropean market.
在6月，這家美國企業買下了在德國漢堡的一家創業企業Accoleo，借此進入歐洲市場。
It faces stiff competition not just from 9flats but also from Wimdu, a clone backed by theSamwer brothers and staffed with experienced hands.
它所面臨的嚴峻競爭不單來自9flats，也來自Samwer兄弟投資的另一家擁有經驗豐富的員工的克隆企業Wimdu。
Arne Bleckwenn, the boss of Wimdu, is on his third start-up for the Samwers. Gamegoods, hisfirst, was a rare flop.
對Wimdu的老板Ame Bleckwenn來說，這已經是他的第三次創業了。
The second, GratisPay, a virtual-currency platform for internet games, was sold last year toSponsorPay, a German rival.
他創業的第一家企業Gamegoods是一次十足的失敗。第二家是專為網絡游戲提供虛擬貨幣的平臺網站GratisPay，在去年賣給了德國的競爭對手SponsorPay。
Wimdu is no shoestring operation: in June it raised $90m from its core investors.
Wimdu可不是小本經營，僅在6月它就從核心投資者那兒獲得了9千萬的投資。
In July the Samwers raised more money for Zalando, an online shoe-shop that resemblesAmazon s Zappos.
在7月Samwer兄弟又為Zalando帶來了更多的投資，這是一家在網上賣鞋的網站，和Amazon的Zappos類似。
Both Wimdu and Zalando may ultimately be snapped up by other firms, though theSamwers could choose to hang on to them or to take some equity in the buyera strategyRocket Internet adopted when it sold CityDeal, an online-discount firm, to Groupon lastyear.
不管Wimdu還是Zalando，最終都可能會被別的公司收購，雖然Samwer兄弟可以選擇是自己經營還是從購買者那保持一定的股份在去年將CityDea賣給Groupon時，Rocket Internet就采取了后一種策略。
Rocket Internet has been helping to develop Groupon s international business, along with twoof the Samwer brothers.
Rocket Internet和Samwer兄弟中的其中兩位決定幫助提升Groupon的國際業務，
It stands to make more money from Groupon s planned stockmarket listing .
這樣他們就可以從Groupon的上市計劃中獲利更多。
Florian Heinemann, the boss of Rocket Internet, is unrepentant about cloning.
Florian Heinemann，Rocket Internet則對克隆企業的做法不以為意。
Internet ideas are rarely patented and rightly so, he says: patents create a temporarymonopoly which tends to stifle competition.
互聯網的創意大都沒有申請專利，并且他認為專利會造成一時的壟斷，扼殺競爭。
Mr Bleckwenn at Wimdu also defends copying good ideas:BMW didn t invent the car, heobserves.
Wimdu的Bleckwenn也認為模仿好點子的做法合理。寶馬公司也不是汽車的發明者，他說道。
German mechanical engineers are brilliant at improving existing inventions.
德國的機械工程師們很擅長對已有的發明進行改進。
From their perspective, the Samwer brothers are simply applying that same genius to theinternet.
對Samwer兄弟而言，他們也僅是將自己的這一天賦用于了互聯網而已。
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but some of the imitatees can t take acompliment .
模仿這一說法也許是最真誠的恭維方式，但對一些被模仿者卻不愿領情。
They hate having to buy back their own ideas at a hefty premium.
大量的費用買回原本就屬于他們的創意。
And they gripe about the clone troopers aggressive tactics.
并且他們抱怨這些后來者咄咄逼人的策略。
Airbnb claims that clones have sent people to rent its properties so they can give owners asales pitch .
Airbnb就埋怨說那些克隆網站會派人去租他們的公寓，這樣他們就能向房屋所有者推銷他們的服務了。
Such tricks make Silicon Valley types choke on their freshly squeezed mango juice. But theyare perfectly legal.
他們不想要再以額外盡管這些伎倆會令硅谷的榜樣們被他們的鮮榨芒果汁給嗆著。但他們這樣全是完全合法的。
Fred Destin, a venture capitalist at Atlas Venture who has worked in both Europe andAmerica, sees a double standard.
來自Atlas Venture的Fred Destin，作為一位在歐洲和美國都工作過的風險投資家，他發現了其中的雙重標準。
When something works in America, he says, eight companies immediately go after the sameopportunity and venture capitalists fund them.
當一些企業在美國興起時，他說道8家相同的企業會立馬獲得相同的機會，得到風投們的支持。
But nobody calls them clones.
但是卻沒有人說他們是抄襲。
The fact that Groupon has been willing to work with the Samwers on building its business isanother sign that some of the outrage is overdone.
事實上， Groupon愿意同Samwer兄弟合作發展業務的意愿就給了我們一個信號，來自克隆企業的沖擊太過分了。
Still, start-ups do need to think about the threat.
然而，創業企業們還是得考慮一下這些威脅。
Suing clones is hard, says David Goldstone, an intellectual-property specialist at GoodwinProcter, an American law firm.
要想控告這些克隆企業很難，來自美國律師事務所的知識產權專家David Goldstone認為。
Registering patents in many countries is both costly and time-consuming, and they mayprove hard to enforce.
在很多國家，注冊專利費錢又費時，很難進行。
A better bet is to out-innovate the opposition.
一種更好的博弈就是在創新上超越對手。
Firms that can harness powerful network effects,in which users encourage friends andfamily members to join them on a particular service, may be best placed to fight off theclones.
那些能夠打敗克隆者的，往往是能有效利用強大的網絡影響，讓用戶們鼓勵親朋好友來使用它的某種特定服務的企業。
Others will just have to draw their light sabres and hope that the Force is with them.
而其它的企業則只能手執佩劍，希望自己也能擁有這樣的力量。
詞語解釋
1.marketplace n.集會場所;市場
Sifang Street is a very busy marketplace.
四方街是一個熱鬧的集市。
2.announce v.宣布;宣告
I hope to announce the winner shortly.
我希望馬上宣布勝利者的名字。
3.behaviour n.行為;舉止
Such behaviour is beneath contempt.
這種行為令人不齒。
4.similar a.類似的
The two buildings are similar on the whole.
從整體來看，這兩幢樓是相似的。
5.service n.服務;發球
The volunteers for community service are doing a good job.
社區服務的義工做得很出色。
