华尔街的赚钱经 第78期:电子商务教父(3)

 　　Amazon.com: The Early Years

　　Amazon. Com：创业初期

　　Bezos had paid close attention to the rapid rise of the World Wide Web, noting in 1994 that it was growing at an annual rate of 2, 300 percent, and therein looked for a pure entrepreneurial outlet¹. He began his research by making a list of the top 20 mail-order companies, observing that there were no book mail-order companies because a comprhensive catalog would have needed to be thousands of pages long and thus expensive to mail. Bezos decided² that an Internet-based company would have the capability³ to offer a substantially wider selection of printed matter to consumers. Thus, he made a thorough study of the book business, beginning by attending the American Booksellers' Association's annual convention.

　　贝佐斯密切关注互联网的迅速崛起，他注意到 1994年网络年均增长高达2300%，他开始在这里寻找赚钱的途径。他的研究始于列出前20名邮购公司的名单，发现其中没有图书邮购公司，因为一个全面的目录可能长达几千页，因此邮寄费用昂贵。贝佐斯认为一个网络公司有能力向消费者提供具有更多选择性的印刷品。因此，他开始深入研究书籍业务，并参加了美国书商协会的年度会议。

　　When Bezos told Shaw, his former boss, that he was leaving to launch an online book business, Shaw advised him to take some time to reconsider his decision in a characteristically creative way.He told Time that he pictured himself at 80 years of age and was certain that he would not regret either missing out on a six-figure Christmas bonus nor having tried to build an online business and failing.

　　贝佐斯告诉前老板肖他要离开公司，推出在线图书业务，肖劝他认真重新考虑一段时间。贝佐斯最终决定的方法极具特色和创造性。在《时代》杂志的报道中，他说：当时他想象自己已经80岁，那时他既不会后悔没能拿到六位数的圣诞节奖金，也不会后悔试图建立一个在线公司却惨遭失败。

1 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。