考研英语经典阅读材料19篇.docx

1、考研英语经典阅读材料19篇考研英语经典阅读材料19篇Another digital gold rush又一轮的数字淘金热Internet companies are booming again. Does that mean it is time to buy or to sell? 互联网公司再次勃兴。这是否意味着买入或者卖出正逢时？May 12th 2011 | BEIJING AND SAN FRANCISCO | from the print edition PIER 38 is a vast, hangar-like structure, perched on San Francis

2、cos waterfront. Once a place where Chinese immigrants landed with picks and shovels, ready to build railways during Californias Gold Rush, the pier is now home to a host of entrepreneurs with smartphones and computers engaged in a race for internet riches. From their open-plan offices, the young peo

3、ple running start-ups with fashionably odd names such as NoiseToys, Adility and Trazzler can gaze at the fancy yachts moored nearby when they arent furiously tapping out lines of code.38号坞棚（PIER 38）是坐落在旧金山滨海的一幢巨大棚库状结构的建筑。在加利福尼亚淘金潮时期，这里曾是准备修建铁路的中国移入民带着铁锹铁铲的登陆地，而这些坞棚如今则是一群带着智能电话和电脑埋头于互联网财富竞赛的实业家们的老巢，这

4、些年轻人运营着有着像NoiseToys， Adility 和Trazzler这样名字新潮而古怪的新兴企业，在他们激情四溢的打出一行行的代码之外的时间里，可以凝望到（眺望）停泊在附近的豪华游艇。“The speed of innovation is unlike anything weve seen before,” says Ryan Spoon, who runs Dogpatch Labs, an arm of a venture-capital firm that rents space to young companies at Pier 38. Like many other ent

5、repreneurs, the tenants would love to follow firms such as Facebook and Zynga, a maker of hugely popular online games including Farmville, that have been thrust into the internet limelight in the space of a few short years.“创新的速度与我们先前的所见迥然不同”，在38号坞棚（Pier 38）运行着一家风险资本公司分支，向年轻公司出租空间的Dogpatch Labs 的Rya

6、n Spoon说。和其他许多企业一样，这些天才乐意于追从像脸书（Facebook）和Zynga这样的公司。 Zynga公司是一个包括Farmvile游戏在内的极为风行的在线游戏制造商，它在短短的数年之间里，已经冲进了互联网的聚光灯之下。Some of the most prominent start-ups are preparing for stockmarket listings or are being bought by big firms with deep pockets. On May 9th LinkedIn, a social network for professional

7、s that took in revenue of $243m last year, set the terms of its imminent initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which value it at up to $3.3 billion. The next day Microsoft said it was buying Skype, an internet calling and video service, for $8.5 billion (see article).

8、某些最为卓越的新兴企业都在准备上市，或是被大型公司以丰厚的价格收购。在5月9日，面向专业人员的，去年收入达$2.43亿美元的社交网络LinkedIn，为其即将在纽约股票交易所（NYSE，纽交所）首次公开募股（initial public offering (IPO)）作出了规划，其估值将高达$33亿美元。而就在次日，微软（Microsoft）说将以$85亿美元收购电话和视频服务互联网公司Skype。Other firms such as Groupon, which provides online coupons to its subscribers, are likely to go pub

9、lic soon. The return of big internet IPOs, rarities since a bubble in telecoms and internet stocks burst in 2000, and the resurgence of large mergers and acquisitions among technology firms is dividing opinion in the industry. Some veterans see a new bubble forming in the valuations of start-ups and

10、 a handful of more mature firms such as Twitter, which is still hunting for a satisfactory business model five years after the first tweet. More sanguine voices retort that many young companies have exciting prospects and that there are plenty of corporate buyers, such as Microsoft, with the money a

11、nd confidence to snap up older internet firms still in private hands.其他的，像Groupon这样为其定购者提供在线优惠券的公司，很可能不久也会上市。这次大型互联网公司IPO的回归，在电讯行业和互联网行业股票泡沫在2000年破灭后尤显稀少；而在科技公司中再次出现的大量合并和收购是工业领域是分界线般的判定。有些老手就看到，在对新兴企业和少数像推特（Twitter）公司这样更为成熟的企业的估值上，新的泡沫的形成。在第一条tweet出现5年之后，推特（Twitter）公司仍在为（取得）满意的商业模式进行追索。更多的持乐观态度的的声音

12、反驳说，许多年轻公司具有让人兴奋的预期，并且有相当多的像微软这样带着资金和自信的大型买家席卷那些仍在私人手中的较为年老的互联网公司。Technology, finance and China科技，金融和中国Yet both sides agree that the internet world is being transformed by a number of powerful forces, three of which stand out. First, technological progress has made it much simpler and cheaper to try

13、 out myriad bright ideas for online businesses. Second, a new breed of rich investors has been keen to back those ideas. And, third, this boom is much more global than the last one; Chinese internet firms are causing as much excitement as American ones.但是双方都认同，互联网世界为一系列的强力所改变，而站得最为靠前面的是3种力量：首先，科技的进展

14、使得互联网世界为在线商业试出繁多的聪明的点子更为简单，也更为廉价。其次，新孕育出一股富有投资者热心于支持这些点子。再者，这一轮的勃兴比上一次更为全球化；中国的互联网公司就像美国的一样让人胸襟激荡。Start with technology. Moores law, which holds that the number of transistors that can be put on a single computer chip doubles roughly every 18 months, has continued to work its magic, leading to the p

15、roliferation of ever more capable and affordable consumer devices. Some of todays tablet computers and smartphones are more powerful than personal computers were a decade ago. IDC, a research firm, estimates that around 450m smartphones will be shipped worldwide this year, up from 303m in 2010. 先从科技

16、开始吧。如其所言，大约每18个月，集成到一台单机电路板上的传感器的数量能够翻一倍摩尔定理继续发挥非凡的效能，引发性能更优、更能消费得起的消费设备的激增。今天，有些平板电脑和智能电话比起十年前的某些个人台式电脑都更为强大。研究机构IDC估计，今年装船运往世界各地的智能电话，将从2010年的3.03亿台上升到约4.5亿台。Moores law also underpins the growth of “cloud” services, such as Apples iTunes music store, which can be reached from almost any device, al

17、most anywhere. Such services are hosted in data centres, the factories of the cloud, which are crammed with hundreds of thousands of servers, whose price has plunged as their processing power has soared. Everything is connected ever faster, with ever fewer wires.摩尔定理同样可以支援“云”服务的增长，像苹果公司（Apple）的iTune

18、s的音乐库，几乎可以为任何地方的任何设备所接入。这些服务都积存于数据中心集聚了成千上万种的服务的“云”工厂，随着处理能力的飙升，价格直跌向下。所有一切都被更快连接起来，都只用更少的电线。These technological trends have given rise to new “platforms”computing bases on which other companies can build services. Examples include operating systems for smartphones and social networks such as Facebo

19、ok and LinkedIn. Some of them are used by hundreds of millions of people. And the platforms are generating oceans of data from smartphones, sensors and other devices.这些技术上的潮流已经产生出新的“平台”建立在别的公司上的计算数据库可以构建出各种服务。实例包括面向智能手机和像脸书（Facebook）和LinkIn这样的社交网络公司的操作系统。这些操作系统中的某些为数亿计的人群所使用。而这些平台从智能手机、传感器和其他设备中孕育出数

20、据的海洋。These platforms are vast spaces of digital opportunity. Perhaps the most striking example of the innovation they have sparked is the outpouring of downloadable software applications, or “apps”, for smartphones and computers. Apples App Store, a mere three years old, offers more than 300,000 of

21、them. Users of Facebook are installing them at a rate of 20m a day. Services such as Skype have also benefited from the spread of smart devices and lightning-fast connectivity.这些平台都是空间巨大的数据机遇。也许，因他们而得以闪耀的，在创新方面最为惊人的例子，就是倾泻而来的可下载软件应用，或者就是面向智能手机和个人电脑的“apps”。苹果的应用仓库，仅仅3岁大，提供的应用超过30万种。脸书（Facebook）的用户，以每

22、天2000万人的平均速度安装这些应用。像Skype这样的服务同样从灵巧设备的播散和光速般迅捷的接入性能上得利。Some excited people have likened this technological upheaval to the Cambrian explosion 500m years ago, when evolution on Earth speeded up in part because the cell had been perfected and standardised. They may be exaggerating. Even so, creating a

23、 web firm has become much easier. By tapping into cheap cloud-computing capacity and by using platforms to reach millions of potential customers, a company can be up and running for thousands of dollars rather than the millions needed in the 1990s. 有些因此着迷的人将这种技术上的爆发与5亿年前的寒武纪（生命）大爆发比连到一起。那时候，地球上的进化速度

24、出现加速，有部分原因就是由于细胞已经有了完美的表现和标准的形态。他们可能被夸大了。即便如此，创建一家网络公司变得更加容易。通过导入便宜的“云计算”能力和使用平台来获取数百万的潜在用户，一家公司能够得以树立，并用数千美元而不是20世纪90年代所需要的数百万美元来进行运营。Guardian angels天使守护神Thanks to the booms second driving force, finance, these companies have no shortage of eager backers. Although too small to interest many venture

25、-capital firms, they are being fought over by wealthy individual investors, or “angels” in the venture industrys jargon. Many of these financiers made their fortunes during the 1990s bubble and are eager to put their know-how and cash behind todays tiny companies.金融，这一轮勃发的次要的驱动力是值得感谢的，这些公司与急切的赌徒们比起来

26、毫不逊色。虽然（新兴企业）小到无法引起太多风险资本公司的兴趣，但他们靠着富有的私人投资家，或者就是受到风险工业的行话说的“天使”的争夺。这些金融家们中的许多人，在20世纪90年代的泡沫中赚取了他们的财富，急切的要将他们那知根知底的本事和现金放到到今天还很微小的公司背后。Some “super angels”, such as Aydin Senkut, a former Google employee who runs Felicis Ventures, and Mike Maples, a software entrepreneur who oversees a firm called Fl

27、oodgate, are occasionally making bets comparable to those of conventional venture funds, which gather and invest money from a wide range of institutional investors. Individual investments of up to $1m are not uncommon. Sometimes angels are clubbing together to provide young firms with even larger su

28、ms.有些“超级天使”，他们偶尔作出与从一些列宽阔的机构投资者进行归集和投资的传统风险基金相匹敌赌注。比如，作为前谷歌雇员，运营Felicis Ventures和Mike Maples这2家公司的软件实业家Aydin Senkut，他就看中一家名为Floodgate的公司。个人投资者上个$100万美元也不是个稀罕事。有时候天使们抱作一团，从而为年轻公司提供更大总额的投资。Their cumulative impact is staggering. According to the Centre for Venture Research at the University of New Hamp

29、shire, angel investors in America pumped about $20 billion into young firms last year, up from $17.6 billion in 2009. That is not far off the $22 billion that Americas National Venture Capital Association says its members invested in 2010. Much of the angels money has gone to consumer-internet firms

30、 and makers of software apps.这些天使们总合后的冲击力令人吃惊。据新汉末谢尔大学（University of New Hampshire）的风险研究中心（Centre for Venture Research），去年，天使投资者向年轻公司的注资，从2009年的$176亿上升到了约$200亿美元。比起美国风险资本联合会（Americas National Venture Capital Association）所称的，其成员在2010年投资的$220亿美元，这与之相去不远。天使投资中更多的资金流入了消费者互联网公司和应用软件制作商。The financing of m

31、ore mature tech start-ups has also changed. Elite venture-capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have raised billions of dollars in new funds in the past year or so. Some of this money has been pumped into “late-stage” investments (eg, in Twitter and Skype), a

32、llowing companies to remain private and independent for longer than used to be the norm.对更为成熟的科技新兴企业的进行的金融行为已经改变。在去年前后的时刻，像Andreessen Horowitz和Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers这样的Elite风险资本公司，从新基金上募集到数十亿美元。这些资金有一部分被注入到“最终阶段”投资（例如，推特（Twitter）和Skype），比起以前被视作是普遍的，允许公司在更长的时间里保持更多的私有化和独立性。Venture firms are not the only ones with internet companies in their sights. Some would argue that it was DST, a Russian holding company now renamed Mail.ru, and a related investment fund, DST Global, that set off the boom. In 2009, when most investors in America were sitting on their hands, both poured hu