经济学人:安卓系统在中国 手机王国的诱惑

 　　Business: Android in China The lure¹ of the mobile kingdom 商业：安卓系统在中国，手机王国的诱惑

　　Re-entering China will be hard for Google, but it may still try. 对于谷歌而言，重新进入中国市场将会困难重重，但它仍试图这么做。

　　“It's all speculation².” Google's reaction to reports that it is in talks with officials and handset-makers to launch an app store in China is no surprise. “这一切都是猜测”，谷歌对于新闻报道做出的回应不足为奇。新闻报道称谷歌正与政府官员、手机生产商会谈，以期推出一个应用程序商店。

　　Such a move would be a high-profile reversal: in 2010 the firm shut down most of its Chinese operations or shifted them to Hong Kong in reaction to government demands to censor³ online-search results. 如此举措将会是一次高调的反转行动：2010年，该公司终止了其在中国运营的绝大多数项目，抑或将运营项目转移至香港，以回应政府审查在线搜索结果的要求。

　　Even so, on September 8th the firm did take a tentative step back into the country: Motorola, its former handset unit (now owned by Lenovo, a Chinese firm) ,  即便如此，9月8日谷歌采取试探性措施重新进入中国市场：摩托罗拉——此前系谷歌的手机部门（现为中国的联想公司所拥有），

　　launched the first smartwatch supported by Google and powered by its operating system, Android, that understands Chinese voice commands. 发布了第一款智能手表，由谷歌提供技术支持并以安卓为操作系统。安卓系统十分了解中文语音指令。

　　It would be remarkable⁴ if a company like Google (whose parent firm's chairman,  这将会是一件不同寻常的事情

　　Eric Schmidt, is a director of the Economist⁵ Group) were not carefully considering the pros⁷ and cons⁶ of going back into China in a bigger way. （谷歌母公司的董事长埃里克·施密特亦是经济学人集团的一名董事）,倘若一家类似谷歌的企业未能谨慎考虑以大张旗鼓的方式进入中国市场的利弊问题。

　　Although its growth has slowed, the country is now the world's biggest mobile-device market, with more than 400m smartphones expected to be sold there this year. 尽管中国移动设备市场的增幅已趋缓慢，中国仍是现今全球最大的移动设备市场，预期本年度将售出逾4亿部智能手机。

　　Having no presence in China is a serious handicap in the battle with other tech giants, notably⁸ Apple. 在中国市场上的缺席构成了谷歌在与其他科技巨头（尤其是苹果）竞争中的不利因素。

　　Google's absence from China is threatening its control of Android. 谷歌在中国市场的缺席正威胁其对安卓系统的掌控。

　　Elsewhere, the operating system usually comes bundled with the firm's mobile services, such as the app store and digital maps. 在其他地方，该操作系统总是与谷歌的移动服务捆绑在一起而同时出现，例如应用程序商店以及数字地图。

　　Handset-makers which want Google's stamp of approval have to install these services on their devices and present them prominently. 手机生产商为获取谷歌的批准盖章，必须将这些移动服务装置在生产的设备上，并且以显眼的方式呈现出这些移动服务。

　　In China, since those Google services are unavailable, manufacturers use open-source versions of Android, which they can adapt as they see fit. 在中国，由于谷歌的服务不可使用，生产商运用了安卓系统的开源版本——生产商以他们所认为合适的方法改编原生的安卓系统。

　　As a result, the country's mobile market is much more fragmented, but also more competitive and innovative⁹. 因此，中国的移动市场变得更加分裂化，但与此同时亦充满着竞争并且具有创新力。

　　It boasts hundreds of app stores. 中国自称拥有数百个应用程序商店。

　　Handset-makers, in particular Xiaomi, differentiate¹⁰ their products by, among other things, integrating them with local mobile services. 手机生产商，尤其是小米，通过将产品以及本土移动服务整合在一起，使得他们的产品在同类产品中得以脱颖而出。

　　Messaging apps such as WeChat have evolved into rival platforms which host many services similar to Google's. 即时通讯软件，例如微信，已经演化成了一个竞争平台——该平台所提供的服务与谷歌的相类似。

　　Not only are all new Android phones sold in China powered by a version of the software which is not certified¹¹ by Google;  不仅在中国出售的所有新安卓手机由非谷歌认证的软件版本支持运行，

　　the Chinese model is also now spreading to other developing countries, in particular India. 中国模本正向其他发展中国家传播，尤其是印度。

　　Xiaomi, for instance, has big plans there. 例如小米，该公司针对印度市场有着庞大规划。

　　Teaming up with a big Chinese handset-maker, such as Huawei or ZTE, could help Google to stem the non-Google Android tide—not just in China, but everywhere else. 与中国大型手机生产商合作，如华为或中兴，将有助于谷歌遏制非谷歌原生安卓系统的浪潮——不仅是在中国，其他地方亦是如此。

　　Yet becoming a force in China's mobile market would be a struggle—for the same reason Microsoft has failed to make it big in smartphones, despite spending billions. 但成为中国移动市场中的一股势力将会是一场斗争——出于同样的原因，尽管微软耗费数十亿，扩展其在中国智能手机市场份额的举措仍以失败告终。

　　It is very hard to establish a mobile ecosystem¹² of developers and handset-makers in a market where other firms 打造一个开发者和手机生产商的移动行业生态系统是十分困难的，在这个市场中其他企业已牢固确立其市场地位

　　not just Xiaomi, but Baidu, Tencent (which operates WeChat) and others—are entrenched¹³. 不仅是小米，还有百度、腾讯（运营微信的公司）等其他企业。

　　There is still the small matter of reaching an accord with the Chinese government. 还面临着与中国政府达成协议的议题。

　　According to The Information, the website that first reported Google's putative¹⁴ app-store plans,  根据情报网——该网站最先报道了谷歌预定的应用程序商店计划，

　　the firm would block apps deemed objectionable and limit certain features, such as location information. 谷歌将限制其认为会遭中国政府反对的应用程序，并且限制特定功能的使用，例如地理位置信息。

　　Even then, the government might prefer to keep Google out of China—after all, its absence has been a boon¹⁵ for local champions. 即便如此，政府可能倾向于将谷歌拒之门外——毕竟，谷歌在中国市场的缺席对于本土的科技巨鳄会是莫大的福音。

　　“We are open to newer approaches. We'll have to wait and see,” Sundar Pichai, Google's new chief executive, said when asked about China recently. “我们对于新的进入中国市场的方法持开放态度，同时我们必须等待并持观望姿态”，近期当被问及谷歌如何应对中国市场时，谷歌新任首席执行官桑达尔·皮查伊如此说道。

　　The firm whose motto is “Don't be evil” may be unable to resist returning to a country that is no more virtuous¹⁶ than when it left. 即使谷歌的信条是“不作恶徒”，它也很难抵抗回到中国这件事，现在这个国家并不比之前谷歌撤出时友善。

1 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

2 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

3 censor   

n./vt.审查，审查员；删改

参考例句：

• The film has not been viewed by the censor.这部影片还未经审查人员审查。
• The play was banned by the censor.该剧本被查禁了。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

9 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

10 differentiate   

vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同

参考例句：

• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
• He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。

11 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

12 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

13 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

14 putative   

adj.假定的

参考例句：

• There have been many attempts to track down the putative Loch Ness monster.人们为追踪假定存在的尼斯湖水怪做了许多努力。
• He is the putative father of this child.他是这孩子的推定的父亲。

15 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

16 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。