新闻周刊:马斯克的豪赌:特斯拉能为汽车制造带来革新吗?(2)

During a conference call with Wall Street investment analysts¹ in May, Musk², who declined to be interviewed for this story, had refused to answer basic questions about Tesla's faltering³ financial prospects⁴.

今年5月，马斯克在与华尔街投资分析师的电话会议中，拒绝就此事接受采访，也拒绝就摇摇欲坠的金融前景回答基本问题。

“Boring, bonehead questions are not cool,” he said. Investors⁵ responded by lopping 5.6 percent off his company's stock price the next day.

“无聊的傻瓜问题一点都不酷，”他说。第二天，投资者的回应是将公司股价砍掉5.6%。

A few months before, Musk treated his 22 million Twitter followers⁶ to harassing⁷ rants⁸ against reporters who published critical pieces about Tesla, accusing them of bias⁹, conflicts of interest and outright¹⁰ fabrications—also without evidence.

几个月前，马斯克在他的2200万粉丝的推特上，怒怼那些发文章评论特斯拉的记者们，说他们门户之见，因利益冲突就一派胡言。这次依然没有证据。

He threatened to start a news site that evaluates the accuracy of news articles, tentatively called Pravda—

他威胁要建立一个评估新闻报道的准确性的新闻网站，暂时叫《真理报》

the Russian word for “truth,” but better known as the propaganda newspaper of the Communist Party in the former Soviet¹¹ Union, and now of Russia.

（这个英语单词是俄语的“真理”），但这是前苏联共产党、现俄罗斯的宣传报。

Critics and allies alike began asking:

批评者和盟友都开始问：

What happened to Elon Musk, the hero of Silicon¹² Valley, the high-tech¹³ visionary who was going to save the planet with electric vehicles?

硅谷英雄伊隆·马斯克，这个打算用电动汽车拯救地球的高科技梦想家怎么了？

But if you're focusing on Musk's “bad manners,” as he called his meltdown, you're missing the point.

但是如果你过于关注马斯克的那些“坏习惯”（他自己如此称自己的失控），那么就会错过重点。

His plan to transform the car industry is picking up speed.

他改造汽车工业的计划正在加速。

Along the way, it could put tens of millions of people out of work (and that's not a bug¹⁴, it's a feature), dismantling¹⁵ what has been a foundation of the nation's social and economic life for a century.

在此过程中，可能会有数千万人失业（这不是一个漏洞，这是一种特性），会拆除一个世纪以来美国社会和经济生活的基础。

And it's happening in the service of plying¹⁶ the wealthy with cooler cars.

这会诞生于为富人提供更酷的汽车服务。

“Technological innovation has throughout history increased total wealth,” says Ryan Lackey¹⁷, a founder¹⁸ of cybersecurity company ResetSecurity and a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

“纵观历史，技术创新增加了总财富，” 网络安全公司ResetSecurity的创始人同时是经验丰富的硅谷企业家瑞恩·拉基说道。

“But it's often said the gains are going to a smaller and smaller subset of the population.”

“但众所周知，收益会流向越来越少的人群。”

So the worrisome future may be one not where Musk fails but where he succeeds.

因此，令人担忧的未来可能不是马斯克失败的地方，而是他成功的地方。

1 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

2 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

3 faltering   

犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的

参考例句：

• The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
• I canfeel my legs faltering. 我感到我的腿在颤抖。

4 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

5 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

6 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。

7 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

8 rants   

n.夸夸其谈( rant的名词复数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨v.夸夸其谈( rant的第三人称单数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• This actor rants his lines. 这演员背台词拿腔拿调。 来自辞典例句
• Parents might also profit from eliminating the rants. 改掉大声叫骂的习惯，家长们也会受益。 来自互联网

9 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

10 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

11 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

12 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。

13 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

14 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

15 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

16 plying   

v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意

参考例句：

• All manner of hawkers and street sellers were plying their trade. 形形色色的沿街小贩都在做着自己的买卖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was rather Mrs. Wang who led the conversation, plying Miss Liu with questions. 倒是汪太太谈锋甚健，向刘小姐问长问短。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

17 lackey   

n.侍从；跟班

参考例句：

• I'm not staying as a paid lackey to act as your yes-man.我不要再做拿钱任你使唤的应声虫。
• Who would have thought that Fredo would become a lackey of women?谁能料到弗烈特竟堕落成女人脚下的哈叭狗？

18 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。