经济学人317:新创企业-料理他们的花园

 　　A MAN walks into a conference room at the W hotel in downtown Austin. The setting, sleek¹ and hushed, says business. The trainers—red, puffy, and paired with a sports coat—add a wink²: new business.

　　一名男士步入了奥斯汀市中心W酒店的会议室。那里的环境井然有序且安静，一派职场气象。但是男士脚穿的红色蓬松运动鞋和身上的运动外套却在这派气象上加上了一种特殊意味：新型商务。

　　“There are crazy awesome³ start-ups happening in every nook and cranny in this country,” says Scott Case, the man in question. He is the boss of the non-profit Start-up America Partnership⁴, which means to help fledgling entrepreneurs by smoothing their access to private-sector⁵ money and mentoring⁶. The idea is that as these young companies grow, they will create jobs—new jobs, good jobs—and related economic activity that enriches the entire community. Some of the start-ups may even be “gazelles”, companies that grow by leaps and bounds.

　　“在这个国度的每个角落里，每个缝隙间，都蕴藏着疯狂惊人的新建公司创业事迹。”斯科特凯斯说道。他是非盈利性新创企业美国合伙人公司的老板，这意味着他帮助刚刚起步的企业家们融通私营企业资金，并进行相关指导。（其中的）理念在于，当这些年轻的公司逐步成长，它们将提供许多工作（新工作岗位，好工作岗位）以及丰富整个社会的相关经济活动。新创公司中有一些甚至成了“羚羊”，这些公司的成长是跨越式的。

　　Last year the Kauffman Foundation, a think-tank focused on entrepreneurship (and which provided initial funding for Mr Case’s partnership), released a report explaining that new firms typically create about 3m jobs in America each year. Between 1980 and 2005 they contributed some 40m net new jobs—as many as the country’s entire private sector managed over that time.

　　去年，一家专注于创业的智囊机构—考夫曼基金会（最初是它提供给凯斯先生合伙人公司的初始资金）—发布了一份报告宣称，新公司一般地为美国每年创造提供了300万的岗位工作。1980年至2005年间，这些新创公司提供了将近4000万新的岗位，与当时的美国全部私有部门管理的职位数一样多。

　　So people are keen to help. Barack Obama announced a start-up initiative at the beginning of last year, and last month he renewed the call. Congress is considering a bipartisan Start-up Act that could provide some tax credits, regulatory exemptions⁷, and so on. Regional economic development groups have taken up the idea of economic “gardening”. The philosophy there is that regions should focus on core strengths and home-grown businesses, rather than squabbling with their neighbours in an effort to win a new car plant.

　　如此而来，人们都热衷于援助新创企业。巴拉克?奥巴马去年年初公布了一项新创公司动员计划，并于上个月修改了该项提议。美国国会正考虑一项两党新创公司法案，该法案可以提供一些税务减免和日常减免等等。区域经济发展团已经采纳了该理念，即经济型“园林管理”。这个层面上体现出的哲理是，地方上应当聚焦（自己的）核心竞争力以及土生土长原汁原味的生意，而不是和他们的邻里们为了争一个新汽车工厂而喋喋不休。

　　This is mostly sensible. Many of the proposals mooted⁸ for start-ups—expanding the number of visas for highly skilled immigrants, for example—are generally sound. And some start-ups do turn out to be gazelles. Next month, for example, will mark five years since Twitter came to national attention at SXSW, Austin’s annual internet festival.

　　这大致是明智的。很多的建议书提出了对新创公司的讨论，例如扩大高技能移民们的签证数量，一般来说都很不错。确实一些新创公司转变成为了“羚羊”。例如，下个月将标志着Twitter公司在奥斯汀年度网络盛会——西南偏南节上成为国民聚焦企业的五周年纪念日。

　　Still, there is cause for caution. For one thing, there is some ambiguity⁹ over what sort of companies the policymakers are trying to promote. Mr Obama talks about “start-ups and small businesses”. Private-sector people, however, seem to have less interest in the latter. They would rather live in Silicon¹⁰ Valley than on Main Street. But high-tech¹¹ concepts are not the only viable¹² business ideas. The Austin metro¹³ area, for example, is home to just two Fortune 500 companies, Dell and Whole Foods; both, oddly, were founded in the early 1980s by dropouts from the local university.

　　然而，还是需要小心谨慎。一方面来说，政策制定者们尝试促进的那类公司仍有点含糊不清。奥巴马先生高谈“新创企业和小生意”。然而，私营企业业主他们更关注硅谷的高科产业，而对小型普通商业不太感兴趣。但是，高科技理念不是唯一的可行商业理念。比如，奥斯汀地铁站区域是财富五百强中两大骄子Dell（戴尔）和Whole Foods（全食公司）的家乡，奇怪的是，二者都是当地大学退学学生在1980年早期办起来的。

　　Another issue is that the effects of start-ups on employment may be modest. Perhaps as a result of the recession, the number of new companies that actually employ people is declining. The cohort of companies born in 2009, according to Kauffman, created only 2.3 million jobs.

　　另一个问题在于新创公司的影响力对于雇佣员工来说不是很大。也许由于经济不景气的原因，新公司实际上雇佣的人数正在下降。据考夫曼基金会的报道，2009年诞生的一群公司仅仅提供了230万工作岗位。

　　Last month the White House invited Mike Krieger, the co-founder of Instagram, to attend the state-of-the-union message to show off America’s fastest-growing social mobile start-up. “What began as a small, two-person start-up working out of a pier¹⁴ in San Francisco has grown to a dozen employees,” Mr Krieger wrote. Even the bigger companies may not be labour-intensive. There is a danger that start-up jobs will be the next variant¹⁵ of “green jobs”: worthwhile, but slightly overhyped.

　　上个月，白宫邀请了Instagram公司的联合创始人Mike Krieger参加国情咨文，炫耀着美国增长速度最快的手机行业新创公司。 Krieger 先生写道：“刚开始，一个在旧金山码头运营的两人合伙小公司，逐渐变成了十几个员工的公司。”虽然比这更大的公司都可能不是劳动密集型企业的。潜在的危机在于，新创公司提供的工作岗位将成为下一个变质的“绿色工作”：很值，但稍稍有点浮夸了。

1 sleek   

adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢

参考例句：

• Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
• The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。

2 wink   

n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁

参考例句：

• He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
• The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。

3 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

4 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网

7 exemptions   

n.（义务等的）免除( exemption的名词复数 )；免（税）；（收入中的）免税额

参考例句：

• The exemptions for interpretive rules, policy statements, and procedural rules have just been discussed. 有关解释性规则、政策说明和程序规则的免责我们刚刚讨论过。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• A: The regulation outlines specific exemptions for some WPM. 答：该规定概述了某些木质包装材料的特定的例外情形。 来自互联网

8 mooted   

adj.未决定的，有争议的，有疑问的v.提出…供讨论( moot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The is sue was mooted on the Senate floor. 该问题在参院被提出讨论。 来自辞典例句
• The question mooted in the board meeting is still a moot point. 那个在董事会上（提出讨论）的问题仍（未决的）。 来自互联网

9 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

10 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。

11 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

12 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

13 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

14 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

15 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。