As Amazon turns 30, three factors will define its next decade

It will have to deal with trustbusters, catch up on AI and revive its core business

它將不得不應對反壟斷者，追趕人工智能并重振其核心業務

trustbuster： 美 [?tr?s(t)?b?st?r] 反托拉斯法的執行人；反托拉斯官員；（反壟斷的人）

原文：

About a week ago Amazon joined an exclusive club. Its market value ticked

over $2trn, putting it in the company of only four other firms: Alphabet,

Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia. In its 30 years Amazon, which began life as an

online bookseller in Seattle on July 5th 1994, has been astonishingly

successful. Its network of warehouses and vans delivers more packages each

year than FedEx or UPS, equivalent to $850bn-worth of goods worldwide. Its

pioneering cloud-computing business is used by millions of customers and

generates annual revenues of $100bn. Beyond its core operations, it is

investing in delivery drones, satellite networks and self-driving cars.

大約一周前，亞馬遜加入了一個獨家俱樂部。其市值超過2萬億美元，僅次于其他四家公司:Alphabet、蘋果、微軟和英偉達。亞馬遜于1994年7月5日在西雅圖以網上書店起家，在其30年的歷史中，取得了驚人的成功。它的倉庫和貨車網絡每年遞送的包裹比聯邦快遞或UPS還多，相當于全球價值8500億美元的商品。其開創性的云計算業務被數百萬客戶使用，年收入達1000億美元。除了核心業務，它還投資于送貨無人機、衛星網絡和自動駕駛汽車。

學習：

exclusive club：獨家俱樂部；獨家會所

begin life as an online bookseller: 以網上書店起家

astonishingly：令人驚訝地；驚人地；異常地

astonishingly successful：驚人的成功

warehouses：倉庫；貨棧；（warehouse的復數）

core operations：核心業務

原文：

This success is the result of the company’s tireless focus on customers and

its enthusiasm for experimenting. Activists may complain about how it kills

off brick-and-mortar stores. But punters are delighted with their sackfuls of

smiling cardboard boxes; Amazon routinely tops customer-satisfaction

surveys. In its quest to please shoppers, it diligently ploughs its profits back

into its business. Last year no firm spent more on research and development

or capital expenditure than Amazon. Plenty of companies say they are

customer-obsessed. But for Amazon, that claim actually rings true.

這一成功是該公司孜孜不倦地關注客戶和熱衷于試驗的結果。活動人士可能會抱怨它如何扼殺了實體店。但是顧客們對他們裝滿微笑的紙箱感到高興；亞馬遜經常在顧客滿意度調查中名列前茅。在追求取悅消費者的過程中，它努力將利潤重新投入到業務中。去年，沒有哪家公司比亞馬遜在研發或資本支出上花費更多。許多公司說他們顧客至上。但對亞馬遜來說，這種說法聽起來確實沒錯。

學習：

tireless：不知疲倦的；孜孜不倦的；持續不懈的；

brick-and-mortar：實體的

punter：顧客；賭徒

sackfuls：滿袋；（sackful的復數）

cardboard：紙板；硬紙

routinely：經常地

diligently：勤奮地；勤勉地

plough：美 [pla?] 犁；耕；開墾；猛撞；清除（積雪）；艱難前進；

plough in：投資；再投資

customer-obsessed：顧客至上

原文：

What lies in store for the company as it enters its fourth decade? In recent

years Apple and Microsoft have joined a more rarefied club still; both have a

market capitalisation above $3trn. Whether Amazon manages to catch up

with them will depend on how well it navigates three tricky areas: slowing

e-commerce; increasing competition in artificial intelligence (AI); and an

onslaught from antitrust regulators.

當公司進入第四個十年時，它將面臨什么？最近幾年，蘋果和微軟加入了一個更小的俱樂部；兩家公司的市值都超過了3萬億美元。亞馬遜能否趕上他們將取決于它在三個棘手領域的表現:放緩的電子商務；人工智能(AI)領域的競爭日益加劇；以及反壟斷監管機構的猛烈抨擊。

學習：

in store for：即將到來；（命運等）等待著

rarefied：美 [?r?r??fa?d] 使純化；使稀薄；（rarefy的過去式和過去分詞）

market capitalisation：市值 = market cap

tricky：需細心和技巧的；難對付的；

onslaught：美 [?ɑ?nsl??t] 攻擊；猛攻；

原文：

During the pandemic, the firm’s e-commerce operation went into overdrive,

with global revenues surging by 40% in 2020. In the past 12 months sales

grew by 5%, a third of their pre-covid pace. That is a problem because,

when you include shipping and other services sold to vendors, retail

accounts for two-thirds of Amazon’s sales. Worse still, analysts reckon it is

barely profitable and is propped up by the cloud-computing and ads

businesses. In response, Amazon has tried to move into groceries, a market

worth $2trn in America, but in which only a tenth of spending takes place

online. It is also making inroads into pharmaceuticals. Yet so far it has little

to show for its investments.

在疫情期間，該公司的電子商務業務進入超速運轉，2020年全球收入飆升40%。在過去的12個月里，銷售額增長了5%，是冠狀病毒肺炎之前的三分之一。這是一個問題，因為當你包括運輸和其他出售給供應商的服務時，零售占亞馬遜銷售額的三分之二。更糟糕的是，分析師認為它幾乎沒有盈利，是由云計算和廣告業務支撐的。作為回應，亞馬遜試圖進軍雜貨市場，這個市場在美國價值2萬億美元，但只有十分之一的支出發生在網上。它還進軍制藥領域。然而到目前為止，它的投資幾乎沒有任何回報。

學習：

overdrive：（汽車的）超速擋；超負荷工作；

vendors：美 [?vend?rz] 小販；賣主；[貿易]自動售貨機；供應商；（vendor的復數）

barely profitable：沒有盈利

propped：支柱；支持者；道具；支撐；（prop的過去式和過去分詞）

prop up：支撐

groceries： 美 [?gro?s?riz] 食品；雜貨；雜貨店；（grocery的復數）

inroads：侵犯；侵入；侵害；（inroad的復數）

make inroads into：進軍（某個領域）

pharmaceuticals：美 [?fɑm?’sjut?k?lz] 藥品；藥劑；藥物；制藥公司股票；（pharmaceutical的復數）

原文：

The next challenge is generative AI, in which Amazon ought to excel because

much of the demand associated with the technology is for cloud-based

services. But, thanks to its partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft has grabbed

the lead. As a result, Amazon’s dominance in cloud computing is waning. In

2022 its market share was 13 percentage points higher than that of

Microsoft. Today the difference is just six points.

下一個挑戰是生成式人工智能，亞馬遜應該在這方面表現出色，因為與該技術相關的大部分需求是基于云的服務。但是，由于與OpenAI的合作，微軟已經占據了領先地位。因此，亞馬遜在云計算領域的主導地位正在減弱。2022年，它的市場份額比微軟高13個百分點。如今，差距只有6個百分點。

學習：

ought to：（表示期望或可能發生的事）應當；應該；

partnership：合作關系；合伙企業；合作協議；

grab the lead：占據領先地位

waning：月虧；逐漸減弱或變小的；虧缺；衰落；減少；減弱；（wane的現在分詞）

原文：

There are signs that Amazon is tackling these problems. In March it invested

$3bn in Anthropic, an OpenAI rival. This week it hired part of the senior team

from Adept, another AI startup. Its capital spending will probably jump by a

fifth this year, as it splurges on AI gear to fill its data centres. In e-commerce,

meanwhile, the company is trying to extract more value by tying the retail

business more closely to its advertising units and video-streaming services.

有跡象表明，亞馬遜正在解決這些問題。今年3月，該公司向開放競爭對手Anthropic投資了30億美元。本周，它從另一家人工智能初創公司Adept聘請了部分高管團隊。今年，該公司的資本支出可能會增加五分之一，因為它在人工智能設備上投入巨資，以填充其數據中心。與此同時，在電子商務領域，該公司正試圖通過將零售業務與其廣告部門和視頻流媒體服務更緊密地結合起來，來獲取更多價值。

學習：

tackle problems：解決問題

senior team：高管團隊

splurge：美 [spl?rd?] 揮霍；大手大腳地花錢

AI gear：AI 設備

原文：

Yet this closer integration may sharpen a third threat: antitrust. Regulators

everywhere have become wary of big tech, and Amazon’s plethora of

different businesses makes it a natural target. Knitting them together more

closely may attract even more scrutiny. Take, for example, the complaints

brought against the firm by America’s Federal Trade Commission last year.

One was that sellers who wanted their products to be eligible for free

delivery to shoppers with Prime subscriptions were being forced to use

Amazon’s logistics networks. Regulators elsewhere have disrupted its plans

to expand. Those in the European Union blocked the company’s ambition to

buy iRobot, a maker of automated vacuum cleaners.

然而，這種更緊密的融合可能會加劇第三種威脅:反壟斷。各地的監管者都對大型科技公司保持警惕，亞馬遜過多的不同業務使其成為自然的目標。將它們更緊密地編織在一起可能會吸引更多的審查。以去年美國聯邦貿易委員會對該公司的投訴為例。其中之一是，希望自己的產品能夠免費交付給Prime訂閱用戶的賣家被迫使用亞馬遜的物流網絡。其他地方的監管者已經打亂了它的擴張計劃。歐盟的那些人阻止了該公司收購自動吸塵器制造商iRobot的雄心。

學習：

wary： 美 [?weri] （對待人或事物時）小心的；謹慎的；提防的；戒備的

plethora：美 [?pleθ?r?] 太多；過多；泛濫；過剩；

knitting：美 [?n?t??] 編織（紡織品）；針織；聯合；結合；（knit的現在分詞）

complaint：控告；抗議；申訴；

eligible：美 [?el?d??bl] 合格的；有資格的；符合條件的；

vacuum cleaner：吸塵器

原文：

All told, the company’s fourth decade will be harder going than its third. It

will have to factor antitrust scrutiny into its decisions, which could impede

growth. There may come a time when it will need to pull the plug on

groceries as ruthlessly as it did with the Fire phone. In AI, cut-throat

competition from startups will test the giant firm’s ability to keep pace.

總而言之，該公司的第四個十年將比第三個更加艱難。它將不得不在決策中考慮反壟斷審查，這可能會阻礙增長。可能會有這么一天，公司需要像當初果斷放棄Fire Phone那樣無情地停止其雜貨業務。在人工智能領域，來自初創公司的激烈競爭將考驗大公司的跟上步伐的能力。

學習：

all told：總共

impede growth：阻礙增長

cut-throat：你死我活的；不擇手段的；

cut-throat competition：激烈的競爭

解釋這句話：There may come a time when it will need to pull the plug on groceries as ruthlessly as it did with the Fire phone

這句話的意思是：“可能會有這么一天，公司需要像當初果斷放棄Fire Phone那樣無情地停止其雜貨業務。”

具體來說，這段話是關于公司在其第四個十年面臨的挑戰。它指出，反壟斷審查可能會影響公司的決策和增長。此外，在人工智能領域，來自初創公司的激烈競爭將考驗這家大公司的應對能力。句子中的"pull the plug"是一個比喻，意指果斷地停止或放棄某項業務或項目。拿Fire Phone（亞馬遜之前失敗的一款智能手機）作為例子，表示公司可能需要同樣果斷地放棄雜貨業務（例如，亞馬遜的生鮮業務）來應對未來的挑戰。

pull the plug：阻止事物發生；放棄某項項目

原文：

Yet Amazon’s focus on its customers and innovation should stand it in good

stead throughout. People often counted Amazon out over the years; in the

build-up to the dotcom bust commentators nicknamed it “Amazon.bomb”,

and many jeered when the firm launched its cloud-computing service. To

dismiss Amazon again today would be a mistake. ■

然而，亞馬遜對其客戶和創新的關注應該會一直對其有利。多年來，人們經常把亞馬遜排除在外；在互聯網泡沫破裂的過程中，評論家們給它起了個綽號叫“Amazon.bomb ”,當該公司推出云計算服務時，許多人嘲笑它。今天再次拋棄亞馬遜將是一個錯誤。■

學習：

stead：美 [sted] 位置；地位；處境；

stand it in good stead: 占據有利地位

bust：經濟衰退；不景氣時期；失敗；破產；

jeer：美 [d??r] 嘲笑

dismiss：對…不屑一提；不予考慮；

后記

2024年7月5日15點00分于上海。