商业周刊:网络防火墙背后的故事 (1)

From Behind the Great Firewall

网络防火墙背后的故事

The next big thing in social media, TikTok, is fun, irreverent, and Made in China.

抖音国际版TikTok是社交媒体届的下一个重头戏，它有趣、荒诞、始创于中国。

It's also got some unusual ideas about censorship and free speech.

对于审查制度和言论自由，它也拥有一些非同寻常的想法。

MOST nights, from around 7 till midnight, Sydney Jade¹ is on TikTok, the smartphone app of the moment.

大多数晚上7点到午夜的时间里，雪梨·杰德都泡在Tiktok上，这是时下最火的智能手机应用。

The platinum² blond teenager films herself singing show tunes³, doing jumping jacks⁴, and joking around with store clerks at a Walmart not far from her home in Oklahoma.

这位住在俄克拉荷马州的金发少女录制自己的视频，她唱着歌，跑跑跳跳，还和离家不远的沃尔玛商店中的店员们开着玩笑。

Her short music videos and livestreams are popular—Jade has 284,000 followers⁵, some of whom periodically send her virtual gifts, like 99-inch Rainbow Puke stickers.

杰德的音乐短视频和LiveStreams都很受欢迎，她拥有28.4万粉丝，其中一些人定期给她送虚拟礼物，比如99英寸的彩虹催吐剂贴纸。

Jade's parents resisted TikTok at first.

杰德的父母起初抵制她录制视频。

They hadn't heard of the app and, Jade says, "didn't like the idea of strangers watching me sing alone in front of the pink curtains in my bedroom."

他们没有听说过这个应用，杰德说，“他们不喜欢陌生人看着我在卧室粉色窗帘前独自唱歌的想法。”

But she convinced them that TikTok was "friendlier for kids than other apps like Facebook."

但她让父母相信，Tiktok“和脸书等其他应用相比，更适合孩子使用”。

They let her join last year, just as, it seems, every other teenager signed on as well.

去年，他们让她和其他青少年一样也注册了应用。

In January, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the Android and iPhone stores, according to research firm Sensor⁶ Tower Inc.

今年1月，根据研究公司Sensor Tower的数据，Tiktok是安卓和iPhone应用商店中下载次数最多的程序。

The story sounds a lot like the rise of other social media powers such as Instagram and Snapchat, both of which pitched themselves as alternatives to Facebook's big blue app.

这个故事听起来很像Instagram和Snapchat等其他社交媒体巨头的崛起，它们都将自己定位为脸书蓝色应用的替代品。

But TikTok wasn't created by Stanford students Mark Zuckerberg could buy off or spend into the ground.

但是，Tiktok并非由斯坦福大学的学生马克·扎克伯格所研发，可以花钱买断。

It's a subsidiary of a Beijing startup, Bytedance Ltd., that's built a collection of valuable apps in China powered by vast troves of data and sophisticated artificial intelligence.

它是由北京一家初创企业字节跳动科技有限公司的子公司开发，该公司在中国开发出一系列非常实用的应用，这些应用由大量数据和复杂的人工智能提供支持。

Last year, Bytedance's investors⁷ valued the company at $75 billion, the most of any startup in the world.

去年，字节跳动科技有限公司的投资者所评估的公司估值为750亿美元，超过全球所有初创企业的估值。

1 jade   

n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠

参考例句：

• The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
• He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。

2 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

3 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 jacks   

n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃

参考例句：

• Hydraulic jacks under the machine produce the movement. 是机器下面的液压千斤顶造成的移动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front end is equipped with hydraulic jacks used for grade adjustment. 前瑞安装有液压千斤顶用来调整坡度。 来自辞典例句

5 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

6 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。

7 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