【系統(tǒng)提升】學(xué)地道英文讀商業(yè)秘籍

Facebook 是一家位于美國加州圣馬刁郡門洛帕克市的在線社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)網(wǎng)站。其名稱的靈感來自美國高中提供給學(xué)生包含照片和聯(lián)系數(shù)據(jù)的通訊錄昵稱 "face book"。Facebook 于2004年2月4日由馬克·扎克伯格和他的哈佛大學(xué)室友們所創(chuàng)立。Facebook 的會員最初只限哈佛學(xué)生加入，后來也逐漸擴展到其他在波士頓區(qū)域的同學(xué)使用，其中包括部分常春藤名校、麻省理工、紐約大學(xué)、斯坦福大學(xué)等。接著，F(xiàn)acebook 逐漸放寬注冊權(quán)限，并在最后開放給任何13歲及以上的用戶進行使用。

本集首播于2016-04-29

Message from Facebook: This Could Be War

Messaging apps are arguably the most successful smartphone apps, collectively boasting more than 3 billion accounts; WhatsApp, the leader, alone has 700m. But there is more to them than messages. At an event that starts today in San Francisco, Facebook is expected to say that it will turn its app—called Messenger—which has 500m users, into a "platform". That means others will be able to develop software for it (for gaming, hotel bookings, tickets and so on). Facebook is following WeChat, the leading messaging service in China, and KakaoTalk, a South Korean app, which are already platforms of sorts. But it is also moving into territory occupied by Apple and Google and their respective smartphone operating systems, iOS and Android. Tech veterans may recall the "browser wars" of the late 1990s—the last time a successful program, Netscape's Navigator, tried to usurp a dominant operating system, Microsoft's Windows. The messaging wars may be just beginning.

arguably: adv. 可論證地 (用于緩解絕對性語氣)

collectively: adv. 共同地；全體地 (等同于 altogether)

boast: vt. 自豪地擁有

account: n. 賬戶 (此處理解為用戶”)

at an event: 介詞搭配 at / in an event

platform: n. 平臺

of sorts: 這一類的

usurp: vt. 篡位 (與后文中 dominant (主導(dǎo)地位) 形成對應(yīng))

copycat: n. 山寨

甲骨文公司 (Oracle) 是全球最大的信息管理軟件及服務(wù)供應(yīng)商。公司成立于1977年，總部位于美國加州紅木城的紅木岸 (Redwood shore)；

1977年，勞倫斯·埃里森 (Lawrence J. Ellison: 甲骨文 CEO) 同另外兩名合伙人在美國加州圣塔克拉拉合資成立了一所名為軟件發(fā)展的實驗室 (SDL: Software Development Laboratories)。1978年，實驗室以匯編語言開發(fā)出第一版甲骨文系統(tǒng) (Oracle)。1979年，實驗室更名為關(guān)連式軟件公司 (RSI: Relational Software, Inc.)。1982年，公司更名為甲骨文系統(tǒng)公司 (Oracle Systems Corporation) 并正式推出甲骨文系統(tǒng)。從最初的年入賬不及百萬美金，到2017年的1900億美元市值。甲骨文是繼微軟后，全球收入第二多的軟件公司。

本集首播于2016-05-03

Ask the Oracle: What next for Salesforce?

The flood of rumours about a takeover of Salesforce, a cloud-computing pioneer worth $47 billion, has slowed to a trickle since Microsoft indicated this month that it had no plans for a purchase. But the matter is certain to come up today when Marc Benioff, Salesforce's larger-than-life boss, talks to investors and analysts about first-quarter results. This looks like a good moment for Mr Benioff to sell: Salesforce's growth seems to have peaked and it hasn't made a quarterly profit since mid-2011. The likeliest suitor remains Oracle, the world's second-biggest software-seller, despite repeated denials. Salesforce is cut from Oracle cloth: not only is Mr Benioff a former Oracle executive, but his firm is also built on Oracle technology. What's more, as well as having the financial heft for such a deal, Oracle needs to strengthen its cloud business—and has a succession problem. Salesforce could be the answer to both.

Oracle: 甲骨文公司 (世界第二大軟件商。此處雙關(guān)有神諭”的意思）

rumour:  n. 傳言；流言蜚語

trickle: n. 細流；小水流

larger-than-life: adj. 有魅力的；成功的；有領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能的

peak: vi. 到達頂峰

denial: n. 拒絕；否定

suitor: n. 追求者

cut from the same cloth: 同類機理紋路的事物；同路貨

heft: vt. 掂......的重量

succession: n. 繼承者