商业周刊:网络防火墙背后的故事(7)

Whether Bytedance ultimately succeeds will depend in large part on its ability to attract older users with more spending power.

字节跳动最终能否成功，很大程度上取决于其是否能吸引具有更多消费能力的老用户。

TikTok has been encouraging cooking, travel, and sports videos designed for those crowds.

TikTok一直建议为这些人群设计有关烹饪、旅行和体育节目的视频。

At the same time, it's adding thousands of employees to its 40,000-person staff and pumping hundreds of millions of dollars more into ad campaigns.

与此同时，公司在原有四万名员工的基础上增加了数千名员工，并为广告活动增注数亿美元。

It's also working on a search engine, a way for livestreamers to sell products, and a Slack-like chat service for businesses.

它还致力于开发为直播客销售产品使用的搜索引擎，以及为企业客户提供的类似Slack的聊天服务。

According to people familiar with the company, executives have met with bankers to discuss going public.

据知情人士透露，公司高管们已经与银行家会面，讨论上市事宜。

(The company denies it has plans for a public offering.)

（公司否认有公开募股的计划。）

Bytedance was set to lose about $1 billion in 2018, according to another person familiar with its financials.

据另一位了解财务状况的人士透露，到目前为止，字节跳动在2018年亏损约10亿美元。

Even so, the company's global ambitions have been enough to get the attention of Facebook, which released a TikTok-like app, Lasso, in late 2018.

即便如此，该公司具有的全球雄心也足以引起脸书的注意，脸书在2018年底发布了一款和Tiktok很相似的应用Lasso。

While only 70,000 people have downloaded it so far, according to Sensor¹ Tower, Facebook has had success knocking off competitors' apps in the past.

据Sensor Tower数据显示，迄今为止，只有七万人下载了Lasso，但脸书已在过去成功地击败竞争对手的应用。

The company released several Snapchat clones before successfully copying its most popular feature, Stories, within Instagram.

在成功复制Instagram中最流行的功能“故事”之前，脸书发布了几个Snapchat的克隆版本。

That caused Snap's growth to slow, and Instagram's to take off.

这让Snap的增长放缓，而Instagram却大获成功。

Zuckerberg seemed to acknowledge the threat posed by Bytedance and other Chinese upstarts last year during a U.S. Senate hearing in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

去年英国数据分析公司Cambridge Analytica丑闻发生后，在出席美国参议院听证会时，扎克伯格似乎承认，字节跳动和其他中国应用新贵对公司构成了威胁。

Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, threw him a softball, offering that Zuckerberg's rise from college dropout² to technology mogul might have a patriotic³ element.

阿拉斯加州共和党人丹·苏利文（Dan Sullivan）向他抛来质问，说扎克伯格从大学辍学生到技术大亨的崛起可能存在爱国元素。

"Only in America," Sullivan said.

“因为只在美国，”苏利文说。

"Would you agree with that?"

“你同意吗？”

"Senator, mostly in America," Zuckerberg offered, noting that "there are some very strong Chinese internet companies."

扎克伯格表示：“参议员，大部分都在美国。那是因为中国有一些非常强大的互联网公司。”

"You're supposed to answer 'yes' to this question," said Sullivan.

沙利文说：“对这个问题，你应该回答‘是’。”

Back in Oklahoma, Jade⁴ isn’t sweating geopolitics or regulation, and she’s mostly off Facebook and Snapchat.

再回到俄克拉荷马州，杰德并没有为地缘政治或规章制度而感到担忧，她大多数时候不再上脸书和Snapchat。

On TikTok, she applies a fresh coat of candy apple lipstick⁵ and lip-syncs to Kelis’s Milkshake while dancing behind a J.C. Penney cash register.

在Tiktok上，她嘴上涂着一层新鲜的苹果糖口红，喝着Kelis奶昔，在彭尼百货（J.C.Penny）的收银机后面跳舞。

"There are nasty people here and there," she says of her experience using the app.

“到处都是讨厌的人，” 她谈到自己使用这个应用时的经历说。

"But for the most part, it’s just a fun, friendly place."

“但在大多数情况下，它只是一个有趣又友好的地方。”

1 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。

2 dropout   

n.退学的学生；退学；退出者

参考例句：

• There is a high dropout rate from some college courses.有些大学课程的退出率很高。
• In the long haul,she'll regret having been a school dropout.她终归会后悔不该中途辍学。

3 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

4 jade   

n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠

参考例句：

• The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
• He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。

5 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。