有关科技的英语文章

　　有关科技的英语文章1

　　谁是下一个WhatsApp和Candy Crush

　　WhatsApp and Candy Crush recently joined the big leagues of technology start-ups done good,prompting tech-shy investors to join the hunt for the digital giants of the future.

　　WhatsApp和Candy Crush最近加入了成功高科技初创企业的行列，这推动通常回避科技股的投资者开始寻找未来的数字巨擘。

　　Family offices, wealthy individuals and even some institutional investors have begun to siftthrough the swaths of up-and-coming technology ventures in the hope of spotting the next bigthing.

　　家族理财室、富有的个人甚至一些机构投资者开始筛选前景看好的科技企业，以期发现下一个巨擘。

　　Christian Nagel, co-founder of Earlybird, a Berlin-based venture capital company, admits thatEuropean investors have in recent years suffered a “horrible experience” when committingcapital to start-ups.

　　总部位于柏林的风投公司Earlybird联合创始人克里斯蒂安•纳格尔(Christian Nagel)承认，最近几年，欧洲投资者在将资金投入初创企业方面遭遇了“可怕的经历”。

　　“Venture capital as an asset class has not been in investors’ favour, and investment volumeshave constantly come down,” he says.

　　他表示：“作为一种资产类别，风险投资近年不受投资者青睐，投资规模持续下降。”

　　But he believes the high-risk, low-return dynamic that blighted early-stage investors isshifting.

　　但他认为，让早期投资者希望破灭的高风险和低回报的格局正在改变。

　　“We have had discussions with our investors about whether the venture capital model isbroken, and we find that family offices are among those who have realised that something haschanged,” he says. “There is less capital chasing more opportunities.”

　　“我们就风险投资模式是否已经不适用与我们的投资者进行了讨论，结果发现，家族理财室等投资者意识到情况已发生变化，”他表示，“机会更多了，但追踪这些机会的资金变少了。”

　　The recent flurry of young tech companies that have found success at an international level hasspurred investor interest in digital start-ups, despite the fact that many investors were burntnot too long ago during the dotcom bubble.

　　近期一连串在国际层面上获得成功的年轻科技公司，引发了投资者对数字初创企业的兴趣，尽管事实是，很多投资者在不那么久以前的网络股泡沫期间曾遭受亏损。

　　Just last month King Digital Entertainment, the developer behind the addictive online gameCandy Crush Saga, filed for an initial public offering in the US with the hope of raising morethan $500m.

　　就在上个月，深受网民喜欢的在线游戏Candy Crush Saga背后的开发公司King Digital Entertainment，申请在美国进行首次公开发行(IPO)，希望筹资逾5亿美元。

　　Sina Weibo, a Chinese messaging platform similar to Twitter, followed suit last week byannouncing plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange with a potential valuation of up to$8bn.

　　类似于Twitter的中国微博客平台新浪微博(Sina Weibo)最近也宣布，计划在纽交所(New York StockExchange)上市，估值可能高达80亿美元。

　　Social networking giant Facebook also recently surprised markets with its $19bn buyout ofinstant messaging application WhatsApp in what appeared to be one of Silicon Valley’s best-kept secrets.

　　社交网络巨头Facebook最近以190亿美元收购即时通讯应用WhatsApp，此举令市场意外，堪称硅谷保守最好的秘密之一。

　　While the odds of spotting the next Facebook are very long, investing in the next Airbnb, theaccommodation website, or Farfetch, the online fashion retailer, is more plausible, accordingto Stefano Guidotti, chief executive of U-Start, a matchmaker for start-ups that puts selectedsmall businesses in touch with angel investors.

　　为初创企业牵线搭桥、把精选的小企业介绍给天使投资者的U-Start公司的首席执行官斯泰法诺•吉多蒂(Stefano Guidotti)表示，尽管发现下一个Facebook的机会不大，但投资于下一个住宿网站Airbnb或者在线时尚零售商Farfetch还是比较可信的。

　　He says: “Digital start-ups are disrupting industries from travel to accommodation to logistics– this is where you can really look for home runs in the investment space.

　　他表示：“数字初创企业正在颠覆各种行业，从旅游和住宿到物流，你确实可以从中找到投资良机。”

　　“Models that are growing at an incredible pace have the chance to become a billion-dollaropportunity, and [they emerge] much more frequently than companies like Facebook orTwitter.”

　　“正以令人难以置信的速度增长的模式，有机会成为价值数十亿美元的机遇，(它们的涌现)次数远远多于Facebook或Twitter这样的公司。”

　　The one area that investors should steer clear of is the new breed of start-ups aiming to cashin on the buzz around alternative digital currencies such as Bitcoin, according to Matteo Rizzi,partner at SBT Venture Capital, the financial technology-focused firm.

　　聚焦金融技术的公司SBT Venture Capital合伙人马特奥•里兹(Matteo Rizzi)表示，投资者应回避的一个领域是希望借助比特币(Bitcoin)等另类数字货币所引发的热潮谋利的新型初创企业。

　　“This is potentially a very risky investment because the return could be very big, or you couldlose all of your money,” he says. “It has such explosive potential because regulation could hitthis sector very hard and kill it before it gets going.”

　　“这可能是一种风险非常高的投资，因为回报率可能会非常高，但你也可能血本无归，”他表示，“它具有如此爆炸性的潜力，因为监管机构可能在这个行业站稳脚跟之前沉重打击并掐灭它。”

　　Rising investor confidence in early-stage technology and digital businesses has been helpedby the development of vibrant start-up hubs beyond the US.

　　美国以外富有活力的初创企业中心的发展，增强了投资者对初创科技和数字企业的信心。

　　A cluster of businesses focusing on online marketing and data analytics has sprung up in Berlin,while London is home to a growing number of financial tech start-ups. Large entrepreneurialcommunities have similarly sprouted in Tel Aviv and pockets of eastern Europe and SouthAmerica.

　　一些聚焦于在线营销和数据分析的企业开始在柏林涌现，伦敦也出现了越来越多的金融科技初创企业。类似的大型创业社区在特拉维夫、东欧和南美部分地区纷纷涌现。

　　Mr Nagel says: “In the past most start-ups were in Silicon Valley or New York and you had tospend millions just to start developing. Now we see businesses popping up everywhere as youcan develop and test an app overnight with little money.”

　　纳格尔表示：“过去，多数初创企业位于硅谷或纽约，仅仅启动开发，你就得花费数百万美元。如今，我们看到企业从各个地方涌现出来，你几乎不用花什么钱就能在一夜之间开发并测试一款应用。”

　　As a result, Earlybird recently launched a fund focused on early-stage businesses in Turkey,central and eastern Europe. It raised $110m from entrepreneurs, family offices andinstitutional investors including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development andthe International Finance Corporation.

　　因此，Earlybird最近推出了一只基金，关注土耳其、中欧和东欧的初创企业。这只基金从企业家、家族理财室和机构投资者那里筹资1.10亿美元，这些机构投资者包括欧洲复兴开发银行(European Bank forReconstruction and Development)和国际金融公司(International Finance Corporation)。

　　Family offices founded by successful business people who made their fortunes decades agohave been among the first to realise that an exciting new generation of entrepreneurs hasemerged, according to Mr Nagel. “This new breed of entrepreneur does not copy existing USbusiness models, but creates something unique that can be expanded internationally,” he says.

　　纳格尔表示，由几十年前致富的成功商人成立的家族理财室，首先意识到新一代令人激动的创业家已经涌现。他表示：“这一代的创业家不会复制美国现有的商业模式，而是创造出了能够在全球扩张的独特产品。”

　　Mr Guidotti agrees, pointing out that many family offices are particularly keen to invest insectors they already have some experience of. Families with a background in the motorindustry, for example, prefer to invest in start-ups in related technology, such as car-sharingor tracking devices.

　　吉多蒂同意这点，他指出，很多家族理财室尤其热衷投资于自己有一定经验的行业。例如，具备汽车行业背景的家族更愿意投资于相关技术领域的初创企业，例如汽车分享或跟踪装置。

　　“They see the opportunity in something they can control and understand better than ahedge-fund product, which has not necessarily brought the results they expected,” Mr Guidottisays.

　　吉多蒂表示：“它们在自己比对冲基金产品更内行的领域发现机遇，对冲基金不一定带来它们期待的结果。”

　　Although investors are regaining confidence in the tech start-up scene, it is not fool proof.There is resounding consensus that roughly 15 to 20 per cent of even the most carefullyselected businesses will fail.

　　尽管投资者正在重拾对科技初创企业的信心，但这并非稳操胜券。各方的一个强烈共识是：即便是经过最精心的遴选，也仍会有15%至20%左右的企业破产。

　　To keep business failures – and investor discontent – to a minimum, venture capitalists andgroups such as U-Start seek recommendations from accelerators such as Berlin’sStartupbootcamp and academic incubators that provide facilities, office space and mentoringadvice to early-stage entrepreneurs.

　　为了把企业破产(以及投资者不满)降至最低，风险投资家和U-Start等机构从创业加速器(如柏林的Startupbootcamp)和为初创企业家提供设施、办公场所和指导建议的高校创业孵化器那里寻求建议。

　　Earlybird’s Mr Nadel adds that the main reason a business tends to fail is down to problemswith the team dynamic.

　　Earlybird的纳格尔补充称，企业破产的主要原因往往在于团队动力问题。

　　He says: “We have declined opportunities where the idea was great but the team was so-so.The team needs to be really willing to create something, not give up first time a cheque fromGoogle comes around. This is not about quick money – if you sell the company or bring itpublic, the team should stay.”

　　他表示：“我们曾拒绝那些创意不错但团队平平的机会。团队需要真正具备创造的意愿，而不是在谷歌(Google)第一次送上支票时就放弃。这不是为了快速发财，如果你要出售企业或将其上市，团队应当留下来。”

　　有关科技的英语文章2

　　高科技电子网球拍原理运作揭秘

　　In 1990, when Eric Babolat was a college student in France, he remembers watching SharonStone play tennis with a hologram instructor in the movie Total Recall and thinking, "That's thefuture of tennis." This was not idle reflection. Babolat represents the fifth generation in afamily business of tennis equipment makers, started when his great-great grandfather madethe first strings out of sheep gut, obtained from the slaughterhouses of Lyon. Their latestinnovation, a racquet called Babolat Play, has just come on the market. This time, it's not juststrung; it's wired.

　　埃里克o百保力记得，1990年他在法国上大学时，曾经看过一部名叫《宇宙威龙》(Total Recall )的电影。在这部电影中，莎朗o斯通和一个全息投影的“教练”一起打网球。当时埃里克不禁想到：“这就是网球的未来”。他可不是闲着没事才回想往事。埃里克o百保力是著名家族企业、法国网羽设备制造商百保力集团(Babolat)的第五代继承人，从他的曾曾祖父开始，百保力家族就已经在用羊肠线制做网球拍，制作原料来自法国里昂的屠宰场。百保力集团最近推出了一款名叫Babolat Play的网球拍。特别之处在于它是一副安装有电子设备的网球拍。

　　The company first came up with the idea of a connected racquet a decade ago, thinking itwould provide more reliable data about prototypes. "We have professional testers whoanalyze if a racquet is rigid, heavy, light," Babolat says. "We wanted to make sure that theywere speaking the same language, and our engineers wanted captors to show exactly what wasgoing on." They quickly realized this feature could prove interesting for players, too. "Nobodyreally knows what happens the moment the racquet hits the ball."

　　百保力公司早在十年以前就提出了电子网球拍的理念，它觉得这样做可以收集更加可靠的数据用来开发原型产品。埃里克o百保力说：“我们有专业的测试人员测试一支网球拍是否太硬、太重或太轻了。我们希望所有测试人员都按照相同的标准测试，而且我们的工程师也想要捕捉详细的数据来进行研究。”后来他们很快发现，这项功能也会吸引网球运动员们的兴趣。“没有人具体知道球拍击中球的那一刻究竟发生了什么。”

　　At the time, the technology wasn't up to the task, but three years ago it looked morepromising, and Babolat gave it another go. To develop the system, it hired Movea, a leader inmotion sensing technology headquartered in Grenoble. (In 2008, Movea acquired Gyration, whohad worked with Nintendo on an early prototype for the Wii.) Babolat established twoconditions. First, the technology would have to fit inside the racquet handle so that it wouldn'taffect a player's game. Second, it needed to be accessible and useful to all players, not justpros.

　　当时，这项技术还没有立即提上议事日程。到了三年前，这项技术似乎变得越来越吸引人，于是百保力集团又进行了一次尝试。这家公司重金聘请了总部位于法国格勒诺布尔市的运动感应技术公司Movea来研发这个系统。【2008年，Movea收购了曾与任天堂(Nintendo)合作研发Wii游戏机早期原型机的Gyration公司。】百保力集团专门提出了两个条件：第一，这个技术单元必须嵌入到网球拍的手柄内部，以免影响运动员比赛。第二，它的实用性必须针对所有运动员，而并不只是针对专业人士。

　　They started by modifying the company's bestselling model, the Pure Drive. The Play version isthe same weight, around 11 ounces, and looks nearly identical; the only obvious difference istwo orange stripes at the bottom of the handle, buttons that activate the racquet andsynchronize it via Bluetooth.

　　研发团队开始在百保力最畅销的网球拍产品Pure Drive的基础上进行开发。Babolat Play和Pure Drive的重量相同，都是11盎司，外观看起来也一般无二。唯一显著的区别是Babolat Play的手柄底部有两个橙色亮条，以及用来激活球拍和通过蓝牙进行同步的按钮。

　　You have to remember to switch the racquet on before playing -- and, prior to that, to chargeit. Afterwards, you download the data to your user account on a computer, tablet orsmartphone app. Here you can see a breakdown of your shots by number and classification(forehands, backhands, serves, smashes), the power of your strokes in percentage, based onthe speed of the racquet (100 percent corresponds roughly to a flat serve of 136 miles perhour), the type of spin you use and how often. An impact locator shows what percentage ofyour shots hit the sweet spot or the areas around it. CyrilleSoubeyrat, vice president ofengineering for Movea, says this was the most complicated feature to make, requiring thedevelopment of brand new technology.

　　打球之前，一定要记得打开球拍的开关——当然前提是别忘了充电。运动完毕后，你可以在电脑、平板或智能手机上通过一款应用登陆你的个人账户，下载你的数据。你在这里可以看到对运动数据的详细分类(正手、反手、发球、高压球)，它还可以根据球拍的运行速度测算出你的击球力度，然后用百分比的形式显示出来(100%的力度大致相当于平击发球的速度达到每小时136英里)。另外它还能分析你经常使用的旋转球的种类和频率。球拍上安装的冲击定位器可以显示有多少比率的击球是击中了球拍的最佳击球点或其附近位置。Movea公司工程副总裁西里尔o索贝莱特表示，冲击定位器是整个产品研发过程中最难的部件，需要专门开发全新的技术。

　　Soubeyrat did his best to explain in simple terms what happens inside the racquet during play.In the handle, sensors deliver signals to an electronic system, which executes algorithms.Some analysis takes place continuously, such as the racquet's position in relation to theground. Other measurements start each time the ball hits the strings, setting off a reactionlike when a car crash sets off an airbag.

　　索贝莱特尽可能用简单的语言向我们解释了这款球拍的工作原理：运动时，手柄中的传感器会向负责运行算法的电子控制系统发送信号。有些分析运算会不间断地进行，比如球拍相对于地面的位置。其它的运算只是在击球的一瞬间才启动，就像车辆发生撞击时，气囊就会自动弹出一样。

　　At the moment of impact, the racquet experiences several modes of flexion and torsion, and atdifferent frequencies. The electronic system analyzes all of these vibrations simultaneously,and within 200 milliseconds produces information about 20 different properties of the shot. Atthe same time, it recognizes and rejects all the "parasitic" gestures, such as bouncing the ballbetween serves or using the racquet to whack clay off one's sneakers.

　　击球的瞬间，球拍短时内会在不同频率上经历好几种形式的弯曲、扭曲。电子控制系统会实时分析所有这些震动，在不到200毫秒的时间内，就会得出关于这次击球的大概20种不同性质的数据。同时它还可以自动识别、排除一些“无关动作”，比如在发球间隙将球弹来弹去时造成的震动，以及用球拍敲掉沾在球鞋上的土时造成的震动。

　　Soubeyrat says the technology is remarkably accurate, even if there are things it cannotmeasure, like whether that ball you hit so powerfully went right over the court and into theparking lot. Eventually, he says, other tools could round out the offer, such as sensors in theshoes.

　　索贝莱特表示，这项技术的精确度非常惊人，尽管有些东西目前它可能还无法测量到，比如说某次击球力度太大，将球打出界外甚至打到了停车场里。但是索贝莱特认为，最终随着其它工具的发展(比如在网球鞋里安装传感器)，这个问题终究会得到解决。

　　One of the most addictive things about the new technology is the gaming aspect. Each playerstarts out as a "newbie" and can work his or her way up through levels like a video game. "There's nothing more frustrating in tennis than feeling you aren't progressing," Eric Babolatsays. "To put a bit of reward in the application seemed like an obvious thing to do." You canjoin the global Babolat Play community, check your ranking and compare your performanceto other players, even Rafael Nadal. If you like what you see you can share the data onFacebook.

　　这项新技术最令人上瘾的地方是它含有电子游戏的因素在里面。每个运动员一开始都是一个“菜鸟”，然后可以像打游戏一样逐渐“升级”。坎里克o百保力说：“网球这项运动最令人沮丧的莫过于觉得自己没有进步。因此，在这款应用中加入一点激励的元素也就成了顺理成章的事。”你可以加入全球Babolat Play社区，然后查看自己的排名，把自己的表现和其他球员(甚至是纳达尔)进行对比。如果你对自己的进步满意的话，也可以把你的数据分享到Facebook上。

　　Can the racquet improve a player's technique? "The advantage of gaming is that it motivatespeople to play more tennis," Babolat says. "It's exciting to see how you evolve." The companylent me a Play for a couple of weeks to try out. After noting (to my chagrin) that all of myserves were flat, I concentrated on adding some spin and immediately saw the difference, onthe court and on the app. As for the impact locator, I managed to hit the sweet spot a goodpart of the time, but also hit a sizable percentage below it, and realized that I wasn't bendingmy knees enough. Afterwards, going back to my old racquet was a bit of a letdown.

　　这样一款电子球拍是否真能提高网球爱好者的技术?对此，埃里克o百保力说：“游戏元素的好处是，它能鼓励人们花更多的时间练习网球。看着自己的技术一天天提高，这种感觉很令人兴奋。”这家公司借给我一支球拍让我试用一两个星期。在它的提醒下，我注意到我的所有发球都太平了，于是我着重加了一些旋转进去，结果马上就看到了效果，而且无论是实地效果还是在应用上显示的效果都很明显。至于撞击定位器的功能，虽然我有相当一部分击球都正中甜点，但仍然有很大一部分击球点的位置偏低，于是我意识到是这是我的膝盖弯得不够造成的。但是用回我的旧球拍之后，我又有点松劲了。

　　Babolat introduced the Play in mid-December in the United States, its number one market,selling it in 50 specialized stores. (It launches in Europe in May.) Though it was on the shelvesfor only ten days, it took fourth place for December's overall tennis racquet sales in the U.S.,in terms of dollar value -- at $400, it is roughly twice the price of a normal racquet. Eric Babolatnotes that in 2013, his company sold 1.8 million unconnected racquets worldwide, and he feelsthat the potential for connected racquets is huge: "I'm convinced that 10 years from now allracquets will be wired."

　　百保力集团在12月中旬将Play球拍引入其第一大市场美国，目前这款产品在美国的50个专营店中有售。(相比之下今年五月才在欧洲发布。)上架仅十天，它的销量就占到12月美国所有品牌网球拍销量的第四位。Play球拍的售价为400美元，基本上是一个普通球拍的两倍。埃里克o百保力指出，2013年，他的公司在全球共卖出180万支普通球拍，他觉得电子球拍具有巨大的潜力：“我相信，十年以后，所有的球拍将都安装电子设备。”

　　Meanwhile, two other companies have been working on a similar concept. Artengo, a Frenchbrand specializing in modestly priced racquet sport equipment, now sells a gadget thatattaches to the outside of a handle and gathers data (also developed by Movea). And inJanuary, Sony (SNE) showed off a prototype sensor at the Consumer Electronics Show in LasVegas. Weighing under 3 ounces and made to snap onto the butt of certain Yonex racquets, itcomes out in Japan this spring.

　　与此同时，还有另外两家公司也在研究类似的产品。比如法国迪卡侬旗下的Artengo品牌专门销售中端价位的球拍和其它运动产品，现在Artengo推出了一款可以附着在球拍手柄之外收集数据的设备(也是由Movea公司研发的)。另外，今年一月，索尼公司(Sony)在拉斯维加斯的消费电子展上展出了一款传感器的原型产品。它的重量不足3盎司，可以附着在尤尼克斯(Yonex，一家日本网羽用品公司)公司的球拍上。它今年春天已经在日本正式上市。

　　Babolat sees this competition as encouraging. "I'm surprised that Sony is among the first toenter this field, since sports is not really their thing. But it's reassuring to see that they arefocusing on tennis, and that they believe it has potential as online communityentertainment."

　　埃里克o百保力认为这种竞争令人振奋。他说：“索尼成为第一批在这个领域竞争的公司之一，这让我觉得很惊讶，因为体育并不是他们擅长的方面。但是看到他们也把重点放在网球上，并且他们也相信在线社区娱乐的潜力，还是让人吃了一颗定心丸。”

　　Last July, the International Tennis Federation wrote its 31st rule, permitting the use ofapproved "Player Analysis Technology" during competitions. Babolat is looking forward to theday the Play makes its debut in an official tournament. For the moment, however, only thePure Drive is wired, and the company's star ambassadors -- Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga --use a different model.

　　去年七月，国际网球协会(International Tennis Federation)制订了它的第31条规则，允许在网球比赛中使用经过批准的“运动员分析技术”。埃里克o百保力非常期待有一天能在正式的网球锦标赛上看到Play球拍的亮相。目前这家公司的产品中，电子球拍只有Pure Drive一款，而公司的产品代言人纳达尔和威尔弗雷德o特松加则使用的是另一款产品。

　　The pros had the chance to try the new racquet at a demonstration match at Roland Garros in2012. According to Babolat, Nadal and his coach, Antonio Nadal, were like children when theygot their hands on it -- Toni teasing his nephew that now he'd see how badly he was serving,Rafa responding that he would show his uncle just how powerfully he was hitting. "They arealways on the lookout for the detail that make a difference," the Frenchman says. "A player feelscertain things, and his trainer sees others. For the first time they had quantifiable data theycould discuss."

　　2012年的一场法网表演赛上，专业运动员们获得机会试用新的电子球拍。据埃里克o百保力表示，当纳达尔和他的教练安东尼奥o纳达尔(托尼)拿到这款新球拍时，他们表现得就像小孩子一样。托尼对他侄子开玩笑说，现在他可以知道他发球到底有多差了。拉菲尔o纳达尔则回答说，他要让他叔叔看看他的击球多么有力。埃里克o百保力说：“他们总是在寻找任何能提高成绩的细节。运动员可以感觉到一些东西，而教练能看到其它一些东西。Play球拍让他们第一次有了可以研究的量化数据。”

　　Before the demonstration began, a 14-year-old ball boy went up to Babolat and told himexcitedly that the racquet combined his two favorite activities, tennis and video games. "Itconfirmed that we were on the right track, especially with young people," Babolat says. "Thisis not just an old sport, people wearing white at Wimbledon. Tennis is cool."

　　表演赛开始之前，一名14岁的球童走过来，高兴地对埃里克o百保力说，这款球融合了他最喜欢的两个活动——网球和电脑游戏。埃里克说：“这再次让我确信，我们走在正确的道路上，尤其是对于年轻人来说。网球不仅仅是一项古老的运动——比如大家传统上都要穿着白色的球衣参加温布尔登公开赛。网球还很酷。”