TED演讲:推特需要如何改变(16)

And you go, "You know, that is a powerful point, and our ship, frankly¹, hasn't been built properly for steering² as well as it might."

然后你回答：“你们知道吗，那是一个巨大的挑战，说实话，我们的船可能不像它看上去的那样可以轻松转向。”

And we say, "Please do something." And you go to the bridge, and we're waiting,

然后人们说：“请想想办法。”然后你登上舰桥，我们就在等待。

and we look, and then you're showing this extraordinary calm, but we're all standing³ outside, saying, "Jack⁴, turn the fucking wheel!" You know?

我们向外看，发现你神态自若，但我们都站在外面，喊着：“杰克，求你快点转向！”你能懂吗？

I mean -- It's democracy at stake. It's our culture at stake. It's our world at stake. And Twitter is amazing

我是说民主制度危在旦夕。我们的文化、我们的世界危在旦夕。推特非常了不起，

and shapes so much. It's not as big as some of the other platforms, but the people of influence

变化非常巨大。它也许没有另一些平台那么大，但有影响力的人

use it to set the agenda, and it's just hard to imagine a more important role

用它来设定世界议程，很难想象世界上比它更重要的角色。

in the world than to ... I mean, you're doing a brilliant job of listening, Jack,

我的意思是，杰克，你现在听取他人意见，

and hearing people, but to actually dial up the urgency and move on this stuff -- will you do that?

你做得很好，但讲到真正专心推动解决的办法——你会这么做吗？

Yes, and we have been moving substantially. I mean, there's been a few dynamics⁵ in Twitter's history.

能，我们取得了一些实质性的进展。我的意思是，在推特的历史上有着一些巨大变化。

One, when I came back to the company, we were in a pretty dire⁶ state in terms of our future,

当我重回到公司时，我们对未来情形一筹莫展，

and not just from how people were using the platform, but from a corporate⁷ narrative⁸ as well.

不仅仅是因为人们使用这个平台的方法，还因为公司结构的问题。

So we had to fix a bunch of the foundation, turn the company around, go through two crazy layoffs⁹,

所以我们得改变一些公司基础，转变公司的方向，经历两次疯狂的裁员，

because we just got too big for what we were doing, and we focused all of our energy on this concept of serving the public conversation.

因为对于当时的业务而言雇员太多，然后我们将工作重心放在为公众交流服务上。

1 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

2 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 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。

5 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

6 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

7 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

8 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

9 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌