经济学人167:Facebook中一个可亲的面孔

 　　The acceptable face of Facebook

　　Facebook中一个可亲的面孔

　　Social skills for a social network

　　一个社交网站所需的社交能力

　　Jul 21st 2011 | SAN FRANCISCO | from The Economist¹ print edition

　　Few corporate² types can charm hardened hacks³ so effectively. Sheryl Sandberg, the number two at Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, has been glad-handing reporters with spectacular results. The New Yorker says she may “upend Silicon⁴ Valley’s male-dominated culture”. New York magazine puts her in line for Secretary of the Treasury⁵. Bloomberg Businessweek speculates that she might one day be the president of the United States.

　　很少有商界人士能像Sheryl Sandberg似地懂得讨老油条似的媒体的欢心。身为最大社交网络——Facebook的二当家的谢勒尔 桑德格最近一直忙着亲切会见记者们。这些记者都对她赞不绝口：纽约客称她可能会改变木硅谷男性主导的风气，纽约周刊将她与财务部长相提并论，彭博商业周刊推测她可能有一天会成为美国总统。

　　Her sudden lionisation is well-timed. Facebook is expected to go public soon, perhaps this year. It may be the biggest internet flotation ever, with a market capitalisation of more than $100 billion. Investors⁶ might be less bullish if the 27-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, the founder⁷, were in sole charge. Many consider him somewhat socially awkward.

　　她的突然成名来的恰是时候。因为Facebook很可能会在本年很快上市。Facebook拥有超过一千亿的市值，届时可能成为迄今为止最大的上市互联网公司。而如果27岁地Facebook的创始人马克 扎克伯格独挑大梁的话，投资者可能不这么看涨。因为很多人认为他有些欠缺社交能力。

　　Ms Sandberg, a 42-year-old former Google executive, joined Facebook in 2008; without her, insiders say, it would not have grown from a cash-bleeding start-up to a titan with estimated sales of $2 billion last year. She complements⁸ Mr Zuckerberg well. He is technologically⁹ brilliant and knows it. She is a good listener with a keen financial brain (she was once an aide to Larry Summers, the then treasury secretary). She provides adult supervision¹⁰ and a professional face to a firm growing so powerful and so quickly that it is bound to clash with governments. Were Mr Zuckerberg to be grilled¹¹ by senators who have not yet grasped the concept of e-mail, he might let his irritation¹² show. Ms Sandberg would not have that problem.

　　现年43岁的前google经理人，Ms Sandberg，是在2008年加入脸书的。很多业内人士说，如果没有她，Facebook不可能会从一个亏损的新企业成长为一个去年预计销售额达20亿美元的巨人。她和扎克伯格可谓是珠联璧合。他，技术精湛，而且其也心知肚明；而她，作为一个优秀的倾听者，还兼备着敏锐的财务头脑（她曾是时任财务部长拉里萨默特的助理）。她为一个成长地如此有力且迅速的公司提供了成熟的监管和专业化的方向。试想一下，如果让一群还没明白什么事电子邮件的参议员来拷问扎克伯格,扎克伯格可能会让他们看看什么是扎克伯格的愤怒。但是桑德伯格小姐就不存在这样的问题。

　　Since Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman left HP and eBay, female bosses of big Silicon Valley firms have been rare. Ms Sandberg is doing her part to change this by encouraging women to be more assertive¹³ and by building an “old girls’ network”. Thanks to her efforts Facebook has more female executives than the average technology firm. (Strangely, though, she does not sit on its board.)

　　自从卡莉?费奥莉娜和梅格?惠特曼离开惠普和易趣之后，硅谷的大型公司的女性老板变得稀少了。而桑德伯格在尽量改变这种状况。她建立了一个老女孩社区来鼓励妇女们变得更坚定而自信。多亏了她的努力，脸书比一般科技公司拥有更多的女性经理人。但是，很奇怪，她并不是董事会成员。

　　Speculation¹⁴ about her future is inevitable¹⁵. But for now she is unlikely to move. Facebook has far to go before it fulfils its founder’s mission to become the “social utility” of the online world and Google has launched a rival service. It may take a Google veteran to fight back.

　　对她的未来进行预测是难免的。但是目前她不太可能跳槽。要实现它的创立者的梦想，即成为网络世界的社交公共设施。尤其是在google推出一个类似的服务之后，Facebook还有很长的路要走。要想反击成功，一个熟悉google的老手必不可少。

1 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。

2 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。

3 hacks   

黑客

参考例句：

• But there are hacks who take advantage of people like Teddy. 但有些无赖会占类似泰迪的人的便宜。 来自电影对白
• I want those two hacks back here, right now. 我要那两个雇工回到这儿，现在就回。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

8 complements   

补充( complement的名词复数 )； 补足语； 补充物； 补集（数）

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design. 他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• The isoseismal maps are valuable complements to the instrumental records. 等震线图是仪器记录有价值的补充资料。

9 technologically   

ad.技术上地

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a technologically advanced city. 上海是中国的一个技术先进的城市。
• Many senior managers are technologically illiterate. 许多高级经理都对技术知之甚少。

10 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

11 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

12 irritation   

n.激怒，恼怒，生气

参考例句：

• He could not hide his irritation that he had not been invited.他无法掩饰因未被邀请而生的气恼。
• Barbicane said nothing,but his silence covered serious irritation.巴比康什么也不说，但是他的沉默里潜伏着阴郁的怒火。

13 assertive   

adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的

参考例句：

• She always speaks an assertive tone.她总是以果断的语气说话。
• China appears to have become more assertive in the waters off its coastline over recent years.在近些年，中国显示出对远方海洋的自信。

14 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。

15 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。