“萝卜快跑”作为无人驾驶领域的热点话题,激发了市场的广泛讨论,我们看一下 CNBC (美国消费者新闻与商业频道) 的报道:
01
原文
China’s yearslong effort to develop robotaxis is starting to gain traction with consumers — but it’s also rattling taxi drivers worried about losing their jobs as a result of increasing competition.
Just as GM’s Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo have rolled out driverless taxis in San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona, local Chinese governments from Beijing to Guangzhou have allowed domestic players to operate robotaxi rides for the public.
This week, the rising prominence of robotaxis in China began trending on social media.
As of Thursday morning, videos about fully autonomous driving taxi experiences were the 12th most popular topic on Douyin, Bytedance’s China version of TikTok.
Top social media posts on Wednesday were quick to extrapolate from Wuhan’s robotaxi tests, predicting an impending nationwide rollout and spawning hashtags like: “Are driverless ride-hailing cars stealing people’s rice bowls.”
Also making the rounds on social media was an appeal in late June by a taxi company in Wuhan seeking reduced taxes and more restrictions on Apollo Go robotaxis as well as the number of ride-hailing cars.
02
解析
China’s yearslong effort to develop robotaxis is starting to gain traction with consumers — but it’s also rattling taxi drivers worried about losing their jobs as a result of increasing competition.
多年来,中国致力于开发无人驾驶出租车,这一努力正开始获得消费者的认可——但这也引发了出租车司机对失业的担忧,他们担心这种新兴竞争会对他们产生影响。
gain traction指某事物开始受到关注和认可,变得越来越受欢迎或成功。“traction”原意是指轮胎在路面上获得足够的附着力,从而推动车辆前进,所以gain traction则比喻某个想法、计划或项目开始获得动力和发展势头,像轮子抓住地面一样,开始向前推进。
文中 China’s yearslong effort is starting to gain traction with consumers 意思是:中国多年的努力开始在消费者中获得认可。
再看一个《纸牌屋》里的例句:
该短语的同义替换有:
1)Gain momentum
The project is starting to gain momentum with investors.
这一项目正逐渐吸引投资者的关注。
2)Catch on
The new technology is starting to catch on with consumers.
这种新技术正开始在消费者中流行起来。
3)Pick up steam
The movement is picking up steam among young people.
这一运动正在年轻人中迅速增温。
4)Gather support
The initiative is gathering support from the community.
这一倡议正在获得社区的支持。
5)Take off
The startup is beginning to take off in the market.
这家初创公司正在市场上崭露头角。
it’s also rattling taxi drivers 中,rattle 作动词,指使某人感到不安或惊慌,文中这句话的意思是:这也另出租车司机感到不安。
同义替换有:
1)Unsettle
The news unsettled the employees.
这一消息使员工感到不安。
2)Disturb
The sudden announcement disturbed the residents.
突然的公布令居民不安。
3)Alarm
The warning alarmed the public.
警告引起了公众的警惕。
4)Worry
The potential changes worried the staff.
潜在的变化让员工担心。
5)Frighten
The unexpected events frightened the investors.
意外事件让投资者感到害怕。
“worried about losing their jobs as a result of increasing competition”是形容词形式的后置定语,修饰“taxi drivers”,表达了taxi drivers由于面临日益激烈的竞争,担心会失去工作的焦虑心情。还原成句子的形式是:
taxi drivers (who are) worried about losing their jobs as a result of increasing competition
形容竞争激烈,除了文中的 increasing,还可以用以下词修饰:
Intense competition
Cutthroat competition
Stiff competition
Ruthless competition
Fierce competition
Intensifying competition
Escalating competition
Highly competitive environment
Just as GM’s Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo have rolled out driverless taxis in San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona, local Chinese governments from Beijing to Guangzhou have allowed domestic players to operate robotaxi rides for the public.
正如通用汽车的Cruise和Alphabet的Waymo在旧金山和亚利桑那州的凤凰城推出了无人驾驶出租车一样,从北京到广州,地方政府已允许本土企业运营机器人出租车。
GM 指的是 General Motors(通用汽车公司),总部位于美国密歇根州底特律,是全球最大的汽车制造商之一,旗下品牌包括雪佛兰(Chevrolet)、凯迪拉克(Cadillac)、别克(Buick)等。
Alphabet 是一家美国跨国控股公司。2015年,谷歌公司进行了机构重组,成立了母公司 Alphabet。“Alphabet”意为“字母表”,涵盖了从A到Z的所有字母,每个字母都可以代表不同的子公司或项目。例如:
字母C代表抗衰老研究项目 Calico;
字母D代表人工智能子公司 DeepMind,2016年战胜韩国围棋国手李世石的 AlphaGo 就是由这家公司研发的;
字母G代表搜索、广告、云计算子公司 Google;
字母V代表医疗生物科技公司 Verily;
字母W代表自动驾驶子公司 Waymo,该名称源于“a new way forward in mobility”,反映了公司通过自动驾驶技术改变人们出行方式的愿景;
字母X代表创新子公司 X,该公司主要探索一些前沿项目,如谷歌眼镜、无人机送货、太空电梯、海水能源转化、无人驾驶等,“X”代表未来和未知;
字母Y代表视频子公司 YouTube。
该公司以 Alphabet 命名,是希望以广泛多样的业务布局填满字母表的26个字母,足以见其雄心壮志。
have rolled out driverless taxis 中,roll out 是一个动词短语,意思是“推出、发布”,通常用于表示一个新产品、服务或政策的正式发布或推出。同义替换有 launch, introduce, unveil, release 等。
在口语中,roll out经常表示“出发”或“动身”,电影《肖申克的救赎》中出现过这个说法:
美剧《越狱》中也出现过这个词:
from Beijing to Guangzhou 在句中作介词短语,修饰前面的 local Chinese governments,以说明允许无人驾驶出租车运营的地理范围,意思是,从北京到广州的不同地方都允许这种服务。
domestic players 指“国内玩家、国内企业”,players 在这里指的是市场中的参与者或竞争者,可以用 competitors、participants、operators、firms 等词替换。
This week, the rising prominence of robotaxis in China began trending on social media.
本周,中国无人驾驶出租车的崛起开始在社交媒体上引起关注。
trend 作为名词表示“趋势”或“潮流”,在互联网和社交媒体的语境中,“trend” 作为动词使用,特指某个话题在短时间内迅速获得大量关注和讨论,可以翻译成“在社交媒体上变得流行”或“成为热门话题”。
看一个《马男波杰克》里的台词例句:
除了 trend,我们也可以说:
1)Go viral:
This week, the rising prominence of robotaxis in China began to go viral on social media.
2)Become popular:
This week, the rising prominence of robotaxis in China began to become popular on social media.
3)Gain traction:
This week, the rising prominence of robotaxis in China began to gain traction on social media.
4)Catch on:
This week, the rising prominence of robotaxis in China began to catch on on social media.
5)Be widely discussed:
This week, the rising prominence of robotaxis in China began to be widely discussed on social media.
As of Thursday morning, videos about fully autonomous driving taxi experiences were the 12th most popular topic on Douyin, Bytedance’s China version of TikTok.
截至周四上午,关于完全自主驾驶出租车体验的视频在抖音(中国版的Tik Tok)上成为排名第12位的最热门话题。
As of 表示“截至”,相当于 by.
videos about fully autonomous driving taxi experiences were the 12th most popular topic on Douyin 这句话的主干是:videos were the 12th most popular topic on Douyin,这些视频在抖音上是排名第12的热门话题。
about fully autonomous driving taxi experiences 是介词短语作后置定语,补充 videos 的内容,意思是:关于完全自主驾驶出租车体验的视频。
Top social media posts on Wednesday were quick to extrapolate from Wuhan’s robotaxi tests, predicting an impending nationwide rollout and spawning hashtags like: “Are driverless ride-hailing cars stealing people’s rice bowls.”
周三,社交媒体上的热门帖子迅速从武汉的无人驾驶出租车测试中推导出结论,预测无人驾驶出租车服务即将全国推广,并催生了诸如“无人驾驶出租是否在抢人饭碗”等话题。
extrapolate from [ɪkˈstræpəleɪt] 意思是从某些已知的数据中推断出未来的情况,即“推断、推知、外推”,看个例句:
We have extrapolated these results from research done in other countries.
我们从其他国家所做的研究中推断出这些结果。
extrapolate 的前缀是“extra-”,表示“外面的,超过的”,如:
extraordinary 非凡的(超出平凡)
extraterrestrial 地球外的(在地球之外)
extracurricular 课外的(在课程之外)
词根是“-pol”,表示“推,驱动”,如:
expel 把...开除,驱逐出境
pulse 脉搏、跳动。
impending 的意思是“即将发生的”或“逼近的”,通常带有某种紧迫感或不安,其中“im-”表示加强意义,“pend”意思是“悬挂”。因此,impend 的意思是:悬在上面→悬在头上→事到临头→即将来临。
再比如,表示某个问题没有解决,就可以用 pending 表示,pend 的“悬挂”,ing是形容词后缀,表示“…的”,所以 pending 是“悬而未决的”,如:
Many trade disputes are pending, awaiting the outcome of the talks.
许多贸易争端悬而未决,等待会谈结果。
impending 的同义替换有:
1)Imminent
A new trade agreement is imminent.
即将签署一项新的贸易协定。
2)Approaching
Winter is approaching.
冬天就要来临。
3)Forthcoming
the forthcoming elections
即将举行的选举
4)Looming
There was a crisis looming.
危机迫在眉睫。
spawn 原意指鱼类或两栖动物产卵,纪录片《蓝色星球》中多次出现了这个词:
由此spawn引申为“产生、引发”某种现象或事物(to make a series of things happen or start to exist),同义替换有 generate、produce、create、trigger 等。例如:
New technology has spawned new business opportunities.
新技术创造了大量新的商机。
这个词也可以表示催生出某个新行业,如:
hashtag 一词是由两个部分组成的:hash 和 tag,hash 在这里指井号 (#),tag 的意思是标签或标记。hashtag 就是社交媒体平台上用井号 (#) 标记的关键词或短语,用户在社交媒体上发布内容时,可以添加相关的 hashtag,使其更容易被感兴趣的用户发现。用户也可以通过 hashtag 参与特定话题的讨论,查看其他用户的相关内容。
文中 spawn hashtags 的字面意思是“产生了标签”,也就是说,武汉无人驾驶出租车测试引发了社交媒体上关于这个话题的讨论,
stealing people’s rice bowls 字面意思是“偷走人们的饭碗”,引申义是指“抢走人们的生计”或“使人失业”。类似的说法还有:
Taking away jobs: 抢走工作
Threatening livelihoods: 威胁生计
Displacing workers: 取代工人
Making people redundant: 使人失业
Cutting jobs: 裁减工作岗位
Also making the rounds on social media was an appeal in late June by a taxi company in Wuhan seeking reduced taxes and more restrictions on Apollo Go robotaxis as well as the number of ride-hailing cars.
社交媒体上还在流传一则武汉一家出租车公司在六月底发出的呼吁,要求减税并加强对“萝卜快跑”无人驾驶出租车以及网约车数量的限制。
make the rounds 是一个惯用语,源自医疗和政治领域,指医生在医院中巡房(rounds),检查病人的状况;或政治人物访问不同的地方,进行巡访、演讲或会谈,旨在传播信息、争取支持或进行宣传。后来,这个短语的含义逐渐扩大,泛指某些信息或消息在某个群体中被广泛传播和讨论。
类似说法还有:
1)Go viral
The news about the celebrity divorce went viral on social media.
这条关于名人离婚的新闻在社交媒体上迅速蹿红。
2)Circulate widely
The rumor quickly circulated widely among students.
这个谣言很快在学生群体中广为流传。
3)Spread around
The announcement spread around the office in no time.
这个公告在办公室里瞬间传播开来。
4)Be widely shared
The video was widely shared on social media platforms.
这段视频在社交媒体平台上广为流传。
5)Gain traction
The petition gained traction after being posted online.
这个请愿在网上发起后获得了广泛关注。
6)Be passed around
The story was passed around in the community.
这个故事在社区里广为传播。
百度的“萝卜快跑”,你怎么看?
最后发一条通知:
23期精读·写作课正在招生中,全新话题和文章,阅读、写作、回译、summary全面覆盖,戳此了解详情。
推荐阅读
课程推荐