對于很多準(zhǔn)備考托福的同學(xué)來說，不知道準(zhǔn)備得怎么樣呢？今天就和出國留學(xué)網(wǎng)的小編一起來了解一下托福閱讀素材：亞馬遜帝國。
企業(yè)雄心
亞馬遜帝國
世界上最卓越的公司最終也許會被自己的成功威脅
Corporate ambitions
Amazon’s empire
The world’s most remarkable firm may eventually be threatened by its own success
AMAZON is an extraordinary company. The former bookseller accounts for more than half of every new dollar spent online in America. It is the world’s leading provider of cloud computing. This year Amazon will probably spend twice as much on television as HBO， a cable channel. Its own-brand physical products include batteries， almonds， suits and speakers linked to（分詞定語）a virtual voice-activated assistant that can control， among other things， your lamps and sprinkler. 亞馬遜是一家不同尋常的公司。美國在線消費每增加一美元，就有一多半給了（視角轉(zhuǎn)換）這家曾經(jīng)的圖書銷售公司。它是世界領(lǐng)先的云計算供應(yīng)商。今年亞馬遜在電視上的花費可能會是有線電視頻道HBO的兩倍。公司自有品牌的實體產(chǎn)品包括電池、杏仁、西裝以及音箱。這種音箱與虛擬語音助手相連接，可以控制你的臺燈、灑水器等裝置。
Yet Amazon’s shareholders are working on the premise前提t(yī)hat it is just getting started. Since the beginning of 2015 its share price has jumped by 173%， seven times quicker than in the two previous years （and 12 times faster than the S&P 500 index）. With a market capitalisation of some $400bn， it is the fifth-most-valuable firm in the world. Never before has a company been worth so much for so long while making so little money： 92% of its value is due to profits expected after 2020. 不過亞馬遜的股東們對其估值的假設(shè)是這家公司才剛剛起步。自2015年初至今，它的股票價格已經(jīng)上漲了（別老increase）173%，比之前兩年快了7倍（比標(biāo)準(zhǔn)普爾500指數(shù)快了12倍）。它的市值約4000億美元，位列全球第五。以前從來沒有哪家公司能維持這么高的市值這么久卻只賺很少的錢：它的市值有92%來自于2020年以后的預(yù)期盈利。
That is because investors anticipate both an extraordinary rise in revenue， from sales of $136bn last year to half a trillion over the next decade， and a jump in profits. The hopes invested in it imply that it will probably become more profitable than any other firm in America. Ground for scepticism does not come much more fertile than this： Amazon will have to grow faster than almost any big company in modern history to justify its valuation. Can it possibly do so？ 這是因為投資人既盼望其收入猛增，銷售額能從去年的1360億美元漲至十年后的5000億美元，也期待著利潤飆升。寄托在它身上的希望暗示著亞馬遜可能會變得比美國任何一家公司都更賺錢。對這些期盼的懷疑最有力的依據(jù)是：為了證明它的市值合理，亞馬遜的增長將必須快過現(xiàn)代歷史上幾乎所有的大公司。它能做到嗎？
It is easy to tick off some of the pitfalls. Rivals will not stand still. Microsoft has cloud-computing ambitions； Walmart already has revenues nudging $500bn and is beefing up online. If anything happened to Jeff Bezos， Amazon’s founder and boss， the gap would be exceptionally hard to fill. But the striking thing about the company is how much of a chance it has of achieving such unprecedented goals. 要列出（別老give/take）幾個隱患來非常容易。對手不會坐以待斃。微軟在云計算上野心勃勃；沃爾瑪?shù)臓I收已經(jīng)逼近5000億美元，并且正在加強在線業(yè)務(wù)。如果亞馬遜的創(chuàng)始人和老板杰夫·貝索斯（Jeff Bezos）遇到什么不測，要填補這一空缺將格外困難。然而這家公司引人注目的一點就是它有多大可能達(dá)成這些前所未有的目標(biāo)。
A new sort of basket-case
This is largely due to the firm’s unusual approach to two dimensions of corporate life. The first of these is time. In an era when executives routinely whinge about pressure to produce short-term results， Amazon is resolutely focused on the distant horizon. Mr Bezos emphasises continual investment to propel its two principal businesses， e-commerce and Amazon Web Services （AWS）， its cloud-computing arm.
新型的“包羅萬象”
這主要是因為該公司對企業(yè)生命的兩大方面有著非同尋常的態(tài)度。其一是時間。在這個時代，高管們一貫都會抱怨要創(chuàng)造短期業(yè)績的壓力太大，而亞馬遜卻毅然著眼于長遠(yuǎn)的未來。貝索斯重視持續(xù)投資以推動其兩大主要業(yè)務(wù)——電子商務(wù)和它的云計算部門Amazon Web Services（AWS）。
Basket的意思就是＂籃子＂。比如說，要是一個人在一次事故中失去了四肢，他就變得毫無能力來料理自己的生活，只能讓人家把他放在一只籃子里抬來抬去。這種毫無能力和希望的情景就是basket case的意思。Basket case經(jīng)常被用來形容那些很窮的國家，它們的人民饑寒交迫，毫無希望。有的時候，basket case也是指那些老是虧錢，即將倒閉的企業(yè)。我們來舉個例子吧：I＇m really worried - our company is losing so much money these days that if things don＇t get better in the next two months we＇ll be a basket case and have to go out of business. 這個人說：我真是非常擔(dān)心，我們公司這些日子虧損了那么多錢，要是在今后兩個月里情況沒有好轉(zhuǎn)的話，我們就徹底沒有希望，只好倒閉了。——喵大歪樓
In e-commerce， the more shoppers Amazon lures， the more retailers and manufacturers want to sell their goods on Amazon. That gives Amazon more cash for new services—such as two-hour shipping and streaming video and music—which entice more shoppers. Similarly， the more customers use AWS， the more Amazon can invest in new services， which attract more customers. A third virtuous circle is starting to whirl around Alexa， the firm’s voice-activated assistant： as developers build services for Alexa， it becomes more useful to consumers， giving developers reason to create yet more services. 在電子商務(wù)方面，亞馬遜吸引的顧客越多，就會有越多的零售商和制造商想在亞馬遜上銷售它們的產(chǎn)品。這給了亞馬遜更多的現(xiàn)金去提供新服務(wù)，例如兩小時送達(dá)以及流媒體視頻和音樂，而這又吸引了更多顧客。與此類似，越多客戶使用AWS，亞馬遜就能在新服務(wù)上投入越多，進(jìn)而吸引更多客戶。第三個良性循環(huán)則是圍繞該公司的語音助手Alexa展開：有了開發(fā)者為Alexa設(shè)計服務(wù)，它對消費者來說就越來越有用，開發(fā)者繼而就有理由去創(chuàng)造更多的服務(wù)。
So long as shareholders retain their faith in this model， Amazon’s heady valuation resembles a self-fulfilling prophecy. The company will be able to keep spending， and its spending will keep making it more powerful. Their faith is sustained by Amazon’s record. It has had its failures—its attempt to make a smartphone was a debacle. But the business is starting to crank out cash. Last year cashflow （before investment） was $16bn， more than quadruple the level five years ago.只要股東們對這一模式保持信心，亞馬遜令人興奮的估值就會像一個自我應(yīng)驗的預(yù)言。公司將可以一直花錢，而它的支出也會不斷讓它變得更強大。支撐股東信心的是亞馬遜的業(yè)績。它曾經(jīng)失敗過，制造智能手機的嘗試便是個災(zāi)難。但是公司正開始大量產(chǎn)生現(xiàn)金。去年的現(xiàn)金流（投資前）為160億美元，比五年前的四倍還多。
So long as shareholders retain their faith in this model， Amazon’s heady valuation resembles a self-fulfilling prophecy. The company will be able to keep spending， and its spending will keep making it more powerful. Their faith is sustained by Amazon’s record. It has had its failures—its attempt to make a smartphone was a debacle. But the business is starting to crank out cash. Last year cashflow （before investment） was $16bn， more than quadruple the level five years ago.如果說亞馬遜對投資時間期限的態(tài)度非同尋常，那么它對公司經(jīng)營的廣度也是如此。如其年報所述，公司目前以及未來可能的競爭對手包括物流公司、搜索引擎、社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)、食品制造商和“各種各樣的實體、數(shù)字和交互式媒體”的制作商。如此之廣的跨度更像是一個企業(yè)集團而不是一個零售商，這愈加讓亞馬遜的股價看起來虛高：股市通常會對股價打一個“企業(yè)集團折扣”來反映它們的低效。
Many of these services support Amazon’s own expansion and that of other companies. The obvious example is AWS， which powers Amazon’s operations as well as those of other firms. But Amazon also rents warehouse space to other sellers. It is building a $1.5bn air-freight hub in Kentucky. It is testing technology in stores to let consumers skip the cash register altogether， and experimenting with drone deliveries to the home. Such tools could presumably serve other customers， too. Some think that Amazon could become a new kind of utility： one that provides the infrastructure of commerce， from computing power to payments to logistics.這些服務(wù)中的很多都有助于亞馬遜自身和其他公司的擴張。一個明顯的例子是AWS，它既為亞馬遜也為其他公司的運營提供動力。不過亞馬遜還向其他賣家出租倉庫。它正在肯塔基州建造一個價值15億美元的空運中心。它正在門店測試新技術(shù)，讓消費者完全跳過到收銀臺結(jié)賬的環(huán)節(jié)，它還在嘗試用無人機送貨到家。這些工具也很可能會服務(wù)于其他客戶。有些人認(rèn)為亞馬遜也許會成為一種新型的公用事業(yè)，提供從云計算能力、支付到物流的商務(wù)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。
A giant cannot hide
And here lies the real problem with the expectations surrounding Amazon. If it gets anywhere close to fulfilling them， it will attract the attention of regulators. For now， Amazon is unlikely to trigger antitrust action. It is not yet the biggest retailer in America， its most mature market. America’s antitrust enforcers look mainly at a firm’s effect on consumers and pricing. Seen through this lens， Amazon appears pristine. Consumers applaud it； it is the most well-regarded company in America， according to a Harris poll. （AWS is a boon to startups， too.）
巨人無處躲藏
對于圍繞著亞馬遜的期望而言，真正的問題如下。一旦真的接近這些目標(biāo)，它就會招來監(jiān)管部門的注意。目前來看它還不大可能會觸發(fā)反壟斷行動。在其最成熟的市場美國，亞馬遜還不是最大的零售商。美國的反壟斷執(zhí)法機構(gòu)考量的主要是一家公司對消費者的影響力及其定價。從這一角度來看，亞馬遜還很質(zhì)樸。消費者為它拍手叫好；Harris的一項調(diào)查顯示，它是美國聲譽最好的公司（AWS對于創(chuàng)業(yè)公司來說也是一大福音）。
But as it grows， so will concerns about its power. Even on standard antitrust grounds， that may pose a problem： if it makes as much money as investors hope， a rough calculation suggests its earnings could be worth the equivalent of 25% of the combined profits of listed Western retail and media firms. But regulators are also changing the way they think about technology. In Europe， Google stands accused of using its clout as a search engine to extend its power to adjacent businesses. The comparative immunity from legal liability of digital platforms—for the posting of inflammatory content on Facebook， say， or the vetting of drivers on Uber—is being chipped away.但隨著亞馬遜的發(fā)展，對它影響力的擔(dān)憂也在增長。即便是從通常的反壟斷角度來看，這也會是一個問題：如果它像投資人所希望的那樣賺得盆滿缽滿，粗略算下來，它的盈利將相當(dāng)于西方所有上市零售公司和媒體公司總盈利的25%。但監(jiān)管機構(gòu)同時還在改變它們對科技的看法。在歐洲，谷歌遭到指控，有人認(rèn)為它利用自己作為搜索引擎的影響力來擴展其他業(yè)務(wù)。數(shù)字平臺原本相對而言享有更多的法律責(zé)任豁免——比如在Facebook上發(fā)布煽動性內(nèi)容或是審核優(yōu)步司機這類事件上，但這種特權(quán)如今也在逐漸削弱。
Amazon’s business model will also encourage regulators to think differently. Investors value Amazon’s growth over profits； that makes predatory pricing more tempting. In future， firms could increasingly depend on tools provided by their biggest rival. If Amazon does become a utility for commerce， the calls will grow for it to be regulated as one. Shareholders are right to believe in Amazon’s potential. But success will bring it into conflict with an even stronger beast： government.亞馬遜的商業(yè)模式也會促使監(jiān)管機構(gòu)轉(zhuǎn)換思路。投資者看重亞馬遜的增長更甚于盈利，這讓掠奪性定價愈發(fā)具有誘惑力。在未來，企業(yè)可能會越來越依賴其最大競爭對手所提供的工具。如果亞馬遜真的成為一個商務(wù)公用事業(yè)，將其作為這樣一種事物來進(jìn)行監(jiān)管的呼聲就會加強。股東相信亞馬遜的潛力，這一點沒錯。但成功會把它推向與另一頭更強大的猛獸對抗：政府。