双语新闻：阿里巴巴即将上市马云仍扮演核心角色

2014-05-06 13:42:44来源：可可英语

　　马云一直是推动阿里巴巴从电子商务领域向外扩张的核心人物。马云持股的公司对中国的金融和媒体公司进行了投资，其中至少有一桩交易使用了来自阿里巴巴的贷款。

　　Such deals may raise questions about whether Mr. Ma would ever prioritize his own investments over the interest of Alibaba shareholders, said Paul McKenzie, an analyst at Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA. Mr. Ma didn't comment on his investments.

　　里昂证券(CLSA)分析师麦肯齐(Paul McKenzie)说，这类交易可能令人质疑马云是否会把自己的投资凌驾于阿里巴巴股东的利益之上。马云对其投资不予置评。

　　Even though he is no longer CEO, Mr. Ma remains the face of Alibaba. As the e-commerce company expands further into financial services, Mr. Ma has traded barbs with some of China's big banks.

　　即使不再担任首席执行长一职，马云仍是阿里巴巴的形象代言人。随着这家电子商务公司进一步涉足金融服务业，马云和中国国内一些大银行打起了嘴仗。

　　In an interview with the state-run People's Daily last year, Mr. Ma said China's banks aren't lending to the country's small businesses: 'I see there are 80% of the clients that are not covered.'

　　去年接受官方媒体《人民日报》采访时马云曾说，中国的银行不向国内的小企业贷款。他说：我看到的是80%没有被服务的企业。

　　At a conference last month, China Minsheng Bank Corp. Chairman Dong Wenbiao defended the current banking system and questioned Alibaba's financial ambitions. 'I said to Jack Ma, 'Give up your reform efforts. You don't have the ability,' ' Mr. Dong said.

　　在上个月举行的一次会议上，民生银行(China Minsheng Bank Corp.)董事长董文标维护了目前的银行体系并对阿里巴巴的金融野心提出质疑。董文标说：我跟马云说，你不要都革命了，你也没那本事。

　　Mr. Ma was born in Hangzhou, a city of 2.4 million people near Shanghai. His parents were performers of a traditional Chinese musical theater called pingtan. He came of age during China's economic flowering in the 1980s, learning English while an unpaid tour guide to foreign visitors.

　　马云出生在杭州，这是一座邻近上海、有着240万人口的城市。马云的父母是评弹(一种中国传统的说唱艺术)演员。他长大成人时正赶上20世纪80年代中国的经济繁荣期，他在为外国游客担任免费导游期间学会了英文。

　　After twice failing China's national university entrance exam, Mr. Ma was accepted to Hangzhou Teacher's Institute and graduated in 1988. As the economy improved in the early 1990s, Mr. Ma began looking beyond teaching for work in business. He has said he was rejected for a number of jobs, including as a manager at a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

　　高考两次落榜之后，马云最终被杭州师范学院录取，并于1988年毕业。随着20世纪90年代初经济状况改善，马云在教学工作之外开始探索商机。他说自己曾被多份工作拒绝，包括肯德基门店的经理。

　　During a 1995 trip to Seattle as a translator for a trade delegation, Mr. Ma went online for the first time. When he saw how scant information was about China, he set out to create his own company. That year, Mr. Ma started China Pages, an online directory of Chinese companies; Alibaba followed in 1999.

　　1995年作为一个贸易代表团的翻译，马云去了西雅图，那是他第一次上网。他看到网络上关于中国的信息十分稀少，就创办了自己的公司。那年，马云创办了“中国黄页”，这是一家汇总中国企业名录的网站。后来阿里巴巴于1999年成立。

　　Colleagues say Mr. Ma -- who is married with a son and daughter -- loves performing. At Alibaba's annual 'Alifest' conferences for customers and media, Mr. Ma has in past years shared the stage with former President Bill Clinton, Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

　　同事们称，马云喜欢表演。他已经结婚，育有一子一女。在客户及媒体参加的阿里巴巴年度网商大会上，过去几年马云曾与美国前总统克林顿(Bill Clinton)、洛杉矶湖人队球星科比(Kobe Bryant)和演员施瓦辛格(Arnold Schwarzenegger)同台。

　　Mr. Ma has 'that ability, even in a room of 600 people, to make people think [he is] talking to one person, to you,' said Duncan Clark, a longtime acquaintance and tech consultant based in Beijing.

　　驻北京的科技顾问克拉克(Duncan Clark)认识马云很长时间了，他说，马云有这种能力，即使在一个有600人的房间里，他也能让在场的人认为他是在单独跟你一个人谈话。

　　Mr. Ma's eccentric performances and his ability to motivate a crowd have helped build a cultlike following among Alibaba employees. At the company's Hangzhou headquarters, Mr. Ma has blessed hundreds of newlywed Alibaba employees in wedding attire during an annual ritual.

　　马云的搞怪表演和他激励大众的能力帮助他在阿里巴巴员工中赢得近乎狂热的崇拜。在公司杭州总部，马云在年会上向数百对身着礼服的新婚员工送上祝福。同事们说，马云的果断和他承担重大风险的意愿帮助公司经受住挑战。

　　Mr. Ma's decisiveness and his willingness to take big risks helped the company overcome challenges, colleagues said.

　　2002年，eBay Inc.与国内一家购物网站合作，进入中国，马云创办了淘宝网(Taobao)，正面迎接挑战。

　　When eBay Inc. entered China in 2002 by teaming up with a local shopping site, Mr. Ma developed Taobao to compete head-on with the U.S. company.

　　阿里巴巴执行副主席蔡崇信(Joe Tsai)表示，马云说，进攻是最好的防御。

　　'Jack said that the best defense is offense,' said Joe Tsai, Alibaba's executive vice chairman.

　　马云还决定淘宝应该免去商家的产品目录费和交易费，尽管他的第一个网站Alibaba.com勉强收支平衡。免费模式使淘宝迅速吸引了商家，很快便超过eBay中国网站。淘宝后来找到了通过广告创收的方法。

　　Mr. Ma also decided that Taobao should let merchants sell without paying listing or transaction fees, even though his first website -- Alibaba.com -- was barely breaking even. The no-fee model allowed Taobao to attract sellers quickly, and the business soon overtook eBay's Chinese market. Taobao later figured out ways to generate revenue through advertising.

　　2009年，全球金融危机打击了利用Alibaba.com来寻找海外买家的中国小商家，包括Alibaba.com当时的首席执行长卫哲(David Wei)在内的公司高管提议将收费减半。

　　In 2009, when the global financial crisis hit small Chinese merchants who were using Alibaba.com to find overseas buyers, company executives -- including David Wei, Alibaba.com's then CEO -- proposed cutting fees by as much as half.

　　卫哲回忆说，马云当时说如果商家没有了，阿里巴巴将不复存在。卫哲还说，马云一刻都没有多想。

　　'Jack said if merchants disappear there will be no Alibaba,' Mr. Wei recalled. 'Jack didn't even think for a second.'

　　降低收费帮助阿里巴巴度过了金融危机，用户数量大幅增加，2010年利润较2009年增长45%。

　　Cutting fees helped Alibaba.com weather the financial crisis and led to a jump in users, pushing up its net profit by 45% in 2010 over 2009.

　　尽管马云创建阿里巴巴时几乎没有任何商业或技术背景，但他却知道如何选贤任能。

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