阿里巴巴的全球扩张步伐

 　　Situated¹ in the Silicon² Valley - home of many of the world's largest tech firms and countless³ startups - the data center that opened on March 4th is Alibaba's first data center overseas.

　　The company says the data center aims to offer cloud computing⁴ services to US-based Chinese enterprises, and then gradually expand to international clients.

　　Yu Sicheng, Aliyun's vice⁵ president and head of its international business, explains how the data center works.

　　"We have a professional team called 'IDST' in the United States. It researches our capacity to process big data so as to help us apply cutting-edge technology to our big data platforms. The team has recruited both Chinese American and local American big-data talents in order to build the world's largest data exchange platform."

　　阿里巴巴的全球扩张步伐

　　Yu adds that expansion into the US is just the first step in their international strategy.

　　The company is planning more overseas data centers in places such as Japan, the Middle East and Europe, as it attempts to tap into a booming global cloud computing market that has reached nearly 150 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of 2014.

　　The new data venture is not the only example of Alibaba's effort to enhance its capacity in cloud computing.

　　The e-commerce giant has revealed facial recognition payment technology called "Smile to Pay", which allows users to make mobile payments with selfies.

　　Chairman Jack⁶ Ma showed the device during his keynote speech at the CeBit trade fair in March.

　　"Online payment to buy things is always a big headache. You forget your password. You worry about the security. Today we show you a new technology in the future how people buy things online. "

　　Backed by Aliyun cloud services, Alibaba's online retail⁷ platform Taobao managed to create 80,000 orders per second during last year's annual online shopping spree locally dubbed⁸ "Double 11."

　　Its third-party online payment division, Alipay, was able to handle 2.85 million payments every minute thanks to the cloud service.

　　During the travel rush for this year's Chinese Spring Festival, when nearly 3 billion trips were made, 12306.cn - the official train ticket sales website - had nearly 30 billion visits daily, with 75 percent of ticket inquiries⁹ being made through Aliyun cloud platforms.

　　For CRI, I'm Guo Yan.

1 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

4 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

8 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》