TED演讲:为什么竞争者要把店开在彼此旁边(1)

 　　Why are gas stations always built right next to other gas stations? 为什么加油站总是建在其他加油站旁边？

　　Why is that I drive for a mile without finding a coffee shop and then stumble¹ across three on the same corner? 为什么我们有时候会开了一英里却找不到一家咖啡店？然后突然发现有3家咖啡店在同一个拐角？

　　Why do grocery stores, auto² repair shops and restaurants always seem to exist in groups 为什么杂货店，汽车修理店和餐厅似乎总是聚在一起，

　　instead of being spread evenly throughout a community? 而不是均匀地分布在整个区域？

　　While there are several factors that might go into deciding where to place your business, 虽然有多种因素可能会决定在哪里开店，

　　clusters³ of similar companies can be explained by a very simple story called Hotelling's Model of Spatial⁴ Competition. 但可以用一个简单的故事来解释为什么同类商店都聚在一起，这被称为霍特林模型空间竞争。

　　Imagine that you sell ice cream at the beach. 想象一下你在海滩上卖冰淇淋。

　　Your beach is one mile long and you have no competition. 海滩长达一英里并且没有任何竞争者。

　　Where would you place your cart in order to sell the most product? In the middle. 你会把你的冰淇淋车放在哪里以卖出最多的产品？在海滩中间。

　　The one-half-mile walk may be too far for some people at each end of the beach,  对于在海滩两端的某些人来说，他们最多只用走半英里，

　　but your cart serves as many people as possible. 但你的冰淇淋车却可以卖出最多的冰淇淋。

　　One day you show up at work just as your cousin Teddy is arriving at the beach with his own ice cream cart. 有一天你又来海滩卖冰淇淋，发现你的表兄弟泰迪带着他的冰淇淋车也在卖冰淇淋。

　　In fact, he's selling exactly the same type of ice cream as you are. 并且，他卖的冰淇淋和你的一模一样。

　　You agree that you will split⁵ the beach in half in order to ensure that customers don't have to walk too far  为了让客户走的路程更短一些，你同意和他平分海滩。

　　you set up your cart a quarter mile south of the beach center, right in the middle of your territory. 你把你的车放在距离海滩最南端1/4的地方，就在你地盘的中央。

　　Teddy sets up a quarter mile north of the center, in the middle of Teddy territory. 泰迪把它的冰淇淋车放在距离海滩北端1/4的地方，这是泰迪地盘的中央。

　　With this agreement, everyone south of you buys ice cream from you. 有了这个协议，在海滩南边这些人都会来你这里买冰淇淋。

　　Everyone north of Teddy buys from him, and the 50% of beachgoers in between walk to the closest cart. 在北边的那些人会从泰迪那里买冰淇淋。顾客都会去最近的冰淇淋车那里买。

　　No one walks more than a quarter of a mile, and both vendors⁶ sell to half of the beachgoers. 没有人会走1/4英里以上的路程，你们各自供应所有顾客所需冰淇淋的一半。

　　Game theorists consider this a socially optimal⁷ solution. 博弈论认为这是一个社会最优的解决方案。

　　It minimizes⁸ the maximum number of steps any visitor must take in order to reach an ice cream cart. 它把顾客为了走到冰淇淋车所需的最长路程给缩小了。

　　The next day, when you arrive at work, Teddy has set up his cart in the middle of the beach. 第二天你刚开始卖冰淇淋的时候发现泰迪把他的冰淇淋车放在了海滩的中间。

　　You return to your location a quarter mile south of center and get the 25% of customers to the south of you. 你回到了海滩南端的中间并且只得到了25%的顾客。

　　Teddy still gets all of the customers north in Teddy territory, but now you split the 25% of people in between the two carts. 泰迪仍然获得了他原先在海滩北端的顾客，但现在有25%的顾客处于两部冰淇淋车的中间。

1 stumble   

n.绊倒，失策；vi.绊倒，失策，踌躇，无意中发现；vt.绊倒，困惑

参考例句：

• Be grateful to those who have made you stumble,for they have strengthened your ability.感激绊倒你的人，因为他强化了你的能力。
• You never knew when you might stumble across some new talent.谁也说不准什么时候会碰上一位新的天才。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 clusters   

n.（果实、花等的）串( cluster的名词复数 )；簇；（人、物等的）群；组v.（使）集中( cluster的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• These small particles agglomerate together to form larger clusters. 这些颗粒聚结形成较大的团。
• Sometimes several clusters of white clouds drift across the blue sky. 蔚蓝色的天空中，时而飘过几朵白云。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。

5 split   

n.劈开，裂片，裂口；adj.分散的；v.分离，分开，劈开

参考例句：

• Who told you that Mary and I had split up?谁告诉你玛丽和我已经离婚了？
• The teacher split the class up into six groups.老师把班级分成6个小组。

6 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 optimal   

adj.最适宜的；最理想的；最令人满意的

参考例句：

• What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么？
• Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。

8 minimizes   

把…减至最低数量[程度]( minimize的第三人称单数 )； 对（某事物）作最低估计，极力贬低（某事物）的价值[重要性]

参考例句：

• Planning minimizes costs because of the emphasis on efficient operation and consistency. 规划可使成本降至最低，因为它强调有效的经营和相互协调一致。
• A load lock system minimizes this problem. 使用装卸密封系统能把这个问题减小到最小限度。