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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Business
商业
科技危机（1）——砰！
Tech bubbles are bursting, some more loudly than others
科技泡沫正在破裂，有些泡沫破裂的声音更大一些
A favourite pastime in Silicon2 Valley, second only to inventing the next new thing, is bubble-spotting.
在硅谷，大家最喜爱的一种消遣方式就是发现泡沫，仅次于发明下一个新事物。
Even industry insiders tend to get these things spectacularly wrong.
即使是业内人士也常常会在这些事情上大错特错。
“You’ll see some dead unicorns4 this year,” Bill Gurley, a noted5 venture capitalist, predicted in 2015, the year that incubation of these startups worth more than $1bn really got going.
著名风险投资家比尔·格利曾在2015年预测：“今年有一些独角兽企业会倒闭。”而这些价值超过10亿美元的初创企业的孵化就在那一年真正开始。
The game has just become much easier: the sound of bubbles popping can be heard all over the place.
这场游戏已变得简单得多：到处都能听到泡沫破裂的声音。
Tech shares, initial public offerings (IPOs), blank-cheque companies (known as SPACs), startup valuations and even cryptocurrencies: all the assets that climbed to dizzying heights over the past few years are now coming down to earth.
科技股、首次公开募股、空白支票公司(又称特殊目的并购公司)、初创公司估值，甚至加密货币：所有在过去几年攀升至令人目眩的高度的资产，现在都在回归现实。
It is harder to say how loudly they will burst - and which might still reflate.
很难说它们会以多大的声音破裂——以及哪些仍有可能再度膨胀。
The decline of tech shares is the most spectacular.
科技股的下跌最为壮观。
The NDXT, the index of the 100 largest tech firms on the Nasdaq exchange, is down by a third since its peak in early November.
由纳斯达克交易所100家最大科技公司组成的NDXT指数，自11月初达到峰值以来，已下跌了三分之一。
Firms in this index have lost a combined $2.8trn in market value.
该指数中的公司市值总共损失了2.8万亿美元。
High-flying startups that went public in recent years have been hit hard, too.
近年来成功上市的高歌猛进的初创公司也受到了重创。
The shares of Robinhood are 80% below the level at which the retail-trading app went public in July 2021.
零售交易应用Robinhood的股价比该公司于2021年7月上市时的水平低80%。
Those of Peloton, which makes internet-connected exercise bikes, have lost over 90% of their value from their peak.
Peloton是一家生产联网健身自行车的公司，其市值相比巅峰期已下跌超过90%。
As a group, the largest newly listed firms are worth 38% less than at the start of the year.
总体来说，大型新上市公司的市值相比今年年初缩水了38%。
Small wonder that IPOs have dried up.
难怪IPO市场已经枯竭。
From January to April 2021 some 150 companies went public in America, most of them techie.
2021年1月到4月期间，大约有150家公司在美国上市，其中大多数是科技公司。
This year only 30 have done so.
今年只有30家公司上市。
The boom in SPACs, which go public and then find a startup with which to merge6, has imploded7.
特殊目的并购公司的繁荣破灭，这类公司会先上市，然后找一家初创公司进行合并。
Of the more than 1,000 such firms that have floated in America since 2018, only a third have merged8 with a target.
自2018年以来，在美国上市的1000多家此类公司中，只有三分之一与目标公司进行了合并。
Many of those that have done deals have lost their shine.
许多曾经达成交易的公司也已失去了往日的光彩。
According to an index that tracks the 25 largest de-SPACed vehicles, they have lost 56% of their value since the beginning of the year.
根据一项追踪了25家最大的已完成合并的公司的指数，这些公司的市值自今年年初以来已经下跌了56%。
As tech shares crash, they are pulling valuations of private firms down with them.
随着科技股崩盘，私营企业的估值也随之下降。
CB Insights, a research firm, reckons that tech startups raised $628bn globally in 2021 in more than 34,000 deals.
研究公司CB Insights估计，2021年，全球科技初创企业通过逾3.4万笔交易筹集了6280亿美元。
Between January and March this year the number of transactions fell by 5% compared with the previous quarter.
今年1月到3月之间，交易数量相比前一季度下降了5%。
The amount of capital invested dropped by 19%, the biggest quarterly decline since 2012.
资本投资额下降了19%，为2012年以来的最大季度降幅。
The unicorn3 boom’s superstar investors10 have been walloped.
独角兽热潮中的超级明星投资者被击溃。
On May 12th SoftBank, a Japanese tech investor9 with a penchant11 for risky12 bets, most of which are private, reported that its flagship funds lost an eye-watering $33bn in the past 12 months.
5月12日，日本科技投资者软银（该公司热衷于高风险投资，其中大部分是私人投资）报告称，其旗舰基金在过去12个月里损失了330亿美元，惨不忍睹。
Although they were meant to reach the Moon no matter what, cryptocurrencies are also coming a cropper.
尽管加密货币无论怎样都注定是要登上月球的，但它们也在走下坡路。
Even some hardened “hodlers” have been getting cold feet.
即时是一些坚定的“持币者”也开始胆怯退缩。
On May 12th bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, was trading below $26,000, less than half its peak in early November.
5月12日，规模最大的加密货币比特币的交易价格低于26000美元，不及11月初峰值的一半。
Other digital monies have shed even more value.
其他数字货币的价值缩水更厉害。
The next four biggest coins have lost more than 70% since their peak.
紧随其后的四种最大的加密货币相比最高点下跌超过70%。
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), even more speculative13 titles to digital assets such as art that can be traded, have been hammered, too.
非同质化代币(NFTs)，甚至更多的风险性数字资产，比如可以进行交易的艺术品，也受到了打击。
Sales of NFTs in ether, another big cryptocurrency, have dropped by more than half in recent weeks on OpenSea, a big nft marketplace.
最近几周，在大型NFT市场OpenSea上，另一种大型加密货币以太的NFT销售额下降了一半以上。
收听单词发音 |
1
crunch
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| n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声 | |
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2
silicon
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| n.硅(旧名矽) | |
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3
unicorn
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| n.(传说中的)独角兽 | |
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4
unicorns
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| n.（传说中身体似马的）独角兽( unicorn的名词复数 )；一角鲸；独角兽标记 | |
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5
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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merge
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| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
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imploded
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| v.（使）向心聚爆( implode的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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9
investor
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| n.投资者，投资人 | |
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investors
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| n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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11
penchant
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| n.爱好，嗜好；（强烈的）倾向 | |
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12
risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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13
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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