《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词3500》Unit49:杰夫·贝索斯生意经

　　Unit 49
Book of Jeff Bezos
When one thinks of the individuals who have played a great role in the development of the Internet, names like Tim Burners Lee (developer of the World Wide Web), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Michael Dell (Dell Computer), Steve Jobs (Apple Computer) and Vint Cerf (Father of the Internet) spring to mind. Add Jeff Bezos to that list.
Jeff Bezos is the founder¹ and CEO of Amazon.com, which is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and ranked as the world's largest e-tailer. He is not exactly your typical CEO. In fact, everything about him and his company Amazon.com challenges convention. How else can you explain how a man who had an extremely successful career in Wall Street would leave his job, move across the US to Seattle, and start an e-company that would soon amass² 10+ million customers in cyberspace³?
Learn from competitors. Bezos seems as comfortable stealing ideas as he does inventing them. eBay is the rage? Amazon begins holding auctions⁴. Google is getting the headlines and Web searching is the hot business? Bezos starts Amazon's own search engine, A9. And he is determined⁵ to make his company the Wal-Mart of the Internet. Bezos has admitted to his copycat skill. He said, "We watch our competitors, learn from them, see the things that they were doing for customers and copy those things as much as we can."
Hire very carefully -- you're creating an enduring culture. Bezos would rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person, Why? "Company Cultures aren't so much planned as they evolve from that early set of people. New employees either dislike the culture and leave or feel comfortable and stay," says Bezos.
Be stubborn and flexible. "If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon," Bezos says. "And if you're not flexible, you'll go against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve."
Focus on customers, not colleagues. "There are many ways to be externally focused that are very successful," Bezos says. "You can be customer-focused or competitor-focused." But he warns that "some people are internally focused, which may hurt the whole company."
Be simpleminded. Bezos loves making decisions based on hard data, but when that's not possible, he believes in the power of being "simpleminded," relying on common sense about what would be in the best interests of his customers.
Don't chase the quick buck⁶. "Sometimes we measure things and see that in the short term they actually hurt sales," says Bezos. "But we do it anyway, because we believe that the short-term results probably aren't indicative of the long-term."

1 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。

2 amass   

vt.积累，积聚

参考例句：

• How had he amassed his fortune?他是如何积累财富的呢？
• The capitalists amass great wealth by exploiting workers.资本家剥削工人而积累了巨额财富。

3 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

4 auctions   

n.拍卖，拍卖方式( auction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They picked up most of the furniture at auctions in country towns. 他们大部分的家具都是在乡村镇上的拍卖处买的。 来自辞典例句
• Our dealers didn't want these cars, so we had to dump them at auctions. 我们的承销商都不要这些车子，因此我们只好贱价拍卖。 来自辞典例句

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。