The Economist Mar. 19th 2022 《经济学人》2022年3月19日刊
栏目: Business
标题: The Silicon state of mind
mp3下载
![Words in TE 第1张图片]( "Words in TE 第1张图片")
第一段：
Silicon valley feels like a college reunion these days. As covid-19 restrictions are lifted across America, tech-bros who have not met in person in ages are high-fiving each other all over the place. Firms from Alphabet to Zynga are urging workers back to the office. Venture capitalists are flocking back from second homes by Lake Tahoe or ranches in Wyoming. Foreigners, who during the pandemic became a rarer sight in San Francisco than unicorns, can agAIn be spotted south of Market Street, a popular pasture for startups valued at $1bn or more.
lift，动词，表示“解除，撤销”。
high-five，动词，表示“举手击掌”。
ranch，名词，表示“牧场”。 最近，硅谷感觉就像大学同学聚会。随着美国各地解除对新冠的限制，多年未见的技友们在各地击掌相庆。
从Alphabet到Zynga的公司都在敦促员工回到办公室。风险投资家们正从Tahoe湖边的第二家园或怀俄明
州的牧场蜂拥回来。在疫情期间，在旧金山比独角兽还少见的外国人们现在又可以在市场街以南看到他们的
身影，这里是估值10亿美元以上的初创公司的风水宝地。第二段：
The people look the same. Yet the place feels different. Your guest columnist, who is heading to Berlin after spending a total of 12 years, including all of the pandemic, in San Francisco over the past three decades, suspects that many returnees will feel like strangers in a strange land. Not because everyone seems suddenly obsessed with the decentralised “web3” or because the valley has peaked. Silicon Valley has changed, and not just as a result of the pandemic.
peak，动词，表示“达到高峰”。 人们看起来都一样。但这个地方给人的感觉却不同。你们的特邀专栏作家，在过去三十年里，在旧金山总
共呆了12年，包括所有的流行病，然后前往柏林，他怀疑许多回国者会感到像在一个陌生的地方的陌生人。
这并不是因为每个人似乎突然迷恋上了去中心化的 "web3"，也不是因为这个山谷已经达到了顶峰。硅谷
已经发生了变化，而不仅仅是疫情的结果。第三段：
When this stand-in Schumpeter moved there in the mid-1990s, even some top venture capitalists drove lumbering clunkers. Now a zippy Tesla is de rigueur (with a Ferrari often sitting in the garage). Similarly, the hub’s business metabolism, which few places could match to begin with, has sped up. In the pandemic job-hopping became even more rampant and rapid. Many firms offer six-figure cash bonuses and pay rises of 25% to retain talent. Promising startups can raise money in days rather than weeks. Last year more than 17,000 venture-capital deals were cut in America, 40% more than in 2020, according to PitchBook, a data provider.
stand-in，名词，表示“替身”。
lumbering，形容词，表示“缓慢吃力的”。
clunker，名词，表示“废旧的老爷车”。
rampant，形容词，表示“猖獗的”。 当这位Schumpeter的替身在1990年代中期搬到那里时，甚至一些顶级风险资本家都开着笨重的老爷车。
现在，一辆灵活的特斯拉已成为惯例（车库里还经常停着辆法拉利）。同样，这个中心的商业更新换代也
加快了，开始时很少有地方能与之相比。在这场疫情中，跳槽变得更加猖獗和迅速。许多公司提供六位数
的现金红利和25%的加薪来留住人才。有前途的初创企业可以在几天而不是几周内筹集到资金。根据数据
提供商PitchBook的数据，去年美国有超过17000笔风险投资交易，比2020年多出40%。
第四段：
All that money pouring into a limited number of deals helped raise late-stage startups’ median valuation to $115m in 2021, nearly double the level in 2020. Outside investors, including hedge funds such as Tiger Global and Coatue Management that used to invest mainly in public markets, have piled in. These newcomers bring a new philosophy, in which a firm’s performance and its fit in the overall portfolio trump conventional VC considerations such as knowing the founder or understanding the industry.
所有那些涌入数量有限交易中的资金有助于在2021年将后期创业公司的估值中值提高到1.15亿美元，
几乎是2020年水平的两倍。包括老虎环球和Coatue管理公司等过去主要投资于公共市场的对冲基金的
外部投资者，都纷纷涌入。这些新人带来了一种新的理念，即公司的业绩和它在整个投资组合中的适合
程度胜过传统的风险投资考虑，如了解创始人或了解行业。第五段：
Valuations may already have suffered as a result of rising interest rates. But the cash will not disappear. Nontraditional investors, from private-equity firms to family offices, keep coming. And money isn’t the only accelerant. Tech itself has chivvied things along, too. Zoom makes it easier for people to interview for a new job and for entrepreneurs to pitch to potential investors. In the words of Mike Volpi of Index Ventures, a VC firm, “This has created a much more efficient market.”
accelerant，名词，表示“助燃器”。
chivvy，动词，表示“催促”。
pitch，动词，表示“选定”。 由于利率上升，估值可能已经受到影响。但现金不会消失。非传统的投资者，从私人股本公司到家族
办公室，不断涌入。而资金并不是唯一的助推器。技术本身也推动了事情的发展。Zoom使人们更容易
为一份新工作进行面试，也使企业家更容易向潜在的投资者推介。用风险投资公司Index Ventures
的Mike Volpi的话来说，"这创造了一个更有效的市场"。第六段：
It has also created a much more global one. In the late 1990s Silicon Valley’s startup uniform of washed-out T-shirt, shorts and hairy legs was (thankfully) confined to the Bay Area. Today’s less off-putting Silicon Valley look—untucked shirt, khaki trousers, white trainers—is the fashion choice of founders everywhere. Less sartorially, whereas as a few years ago a base in the valley was still a must for ambitious entrepreneurs, engineers and investors, now they no longer have to be physically present to get access to capital, talent and know-how. Established tech firms, too, are expanding their geographical footprint. Many are building offices in such places as Austin and New York. A few, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle, have relocated their headquarters to Texas. The Brookings Institution, a think-tank, recently estimated that 31% of tech jobs are now offered in “superstar metro areas” such as Silicon Valley, down from 36% before the pandemic.
off-putting，形容词，表示“令人讨厌的”。
untucked，形容词，表示“没塞进裤腰里的”。
sartorially，副词，表示“缝纫地，剪裁地”。 Zoom也创造了一个更加世界级的市场。在20世纪90年代末，硅谷的创业公司制服--洗得发白的T恤、短裤
和毛腿，（幸好）仅限于湾区。今天，不那么令人反感的硅谷装---未塞进裤腰的衬衫、卡其色长裤、白色
运动鞋---是各地创始人的时尚选择。在时尚方面，几年前，对于雄心勃勃的企业家、工程师和投资者来说，
在硅谷有一个基地仍然是必须的，而现在他们不再需要亲自到场就能获得资本、人才和技术。成熟的科技公
司也在扩大它们的地理覆盖范围。许多公司正在奥斯汀和纽约等地建立办事处。包括惠普公司和甲骨文公司
在内的一些公司已将其总部迁至德克萨斯州。智囊团布鲁金斯学会最近估计，现在有31%的科技工作是在硅
谷等 "超级明星城市地区 "提供的，比疫情前的36%有所下降。第七段：
VCs, for their part, have learned they do not need to drive to a startup or smell the founder to make a lucrative deal. Sequoia, a VC stalwart, no longer requires live in-person pitches from entrepreneurs and is perfectly happy with pre-recorded video presentations. More of Sequoia’s fellow VCs on Sand Hill Road, the historic centre of VC-dom in Palo Alto, are eyeing Europe. Venture investments across the Atlantic have shot up from less than $40bn in 2019 to more than $93bn last year—pulling nearly equal with Silicon Valley, according to CBInsights, another data provider. Sequoia—king of the Sand Hill, having wrested the crown from Kleiner Perkins, the dotcom-era lord—recently opened offices in London. Other VC firms are planning European outposts. Plenty already have Asian ones.
stalwart，名词，表示“坚定分子”。
outpost，名词，表示“基地”。 风险投资公司方面已经了解到，他们不需要开车到创业公司，也不需要闻到创始人的味道，就能达成一笔
有利可图的交易。红杉是风险投资的中坚力量，它不再要求创业者进行现场推介，而是对预先录制的视频
介绍感到非常满意。在Palo Alto历史悠久的风险投资中心--沙山路上，红杉的更多同行正在关注欧洲。
根据另一家数据供应商CBInsights的数据，大西洋两岸的风险投资已经从2019年的不到400亿美元飙升
至去年的930亿美元以上，几乎与硅谷持平。红杉--沙山之王，从网络时代的领主Kleiner Perkins手
中夺回了王位--最近在伦敦开设了办事处。其他风险投资公司正计划在欧洲设立基地。很多公司已经有了
亚洲的办事处。第八、九段：
The Bay Area has lost its “geographical monopoly” in tech, sums up Phil Libin, a serial entrepreneur who runs mmhmm, a video-conferencing firm (whose investors include Sequoia). Mr Libin himself now lives in Bentonville, Arkansas, better known as the home of Walmart than as a tech hub.
Some of this dispersion may slow or even reverse. As covid-19 fades into endemicity, even Zoom-hardened venture capitalists would rather interrogate a startup founder over a bottle of a Napa cabernet than over a video call. They may also become more discerning about where to put their capital now that it is becoming costlier. This could favour nearby startups on which it is easier to keep an eye.
dispersion，名词，表示“分散”。
endemicity，名词，表示“地方性流行病”。
interrogate，动词，表示“审讯”。 湾区已经失去了它在科技领域的 "地理垄断"，Phil Libin总结道，他是一位连续创业者，经营着一家
视频会议公司mmhmm（其投资者包括红杉公司）。Libin先生本人现在住在阿肯色州的Bentonville，
这里作为沃尔玛的故乡比作为一个科技中心更有名。
这种分散可能会减缓甚至逆转。随着新冠逐渐成为地方病，甚至连Zoom公司的风险资本家也宁愿通过一瓶
Napa cabernet来审问一个创业公司的创始人，而不是通过视频电话。他们可能也会对在哪里投放资金
变得更有眼光，因为现在的成本越来越高。这可能有利于附近的初创企业，因为它们更容易受到关注。第十段：
Will all this make Silicon Valley more parochial, and less relevant? Don’t bet on it. It is true that the next trillion-dollar company may not come from Silicon Valley, the place, as most of the current crop have done. But the odds are that it will emerge from Silicon Valley, the mindset. Its high-octane venture capitalism and, increasingly, its capitalists and capital have infused technology scenes from Stockholm to Shanghai and São Paulo. That may be bad news for landlords in San Francisco, second-rate entrepreneurs in Mountain View and other rent-seekers who took advantage of the Bay Area’s initial geographical monopoly. For everyone else, be it tech workers south of Market who can at last afford a flat nearby or innovators in Mumbai able to tap Silicon Valley money and expertise, it is a boon.
parochial，形容词，表示“地方观念的”。名词是parochiality。
high-octane，表示“富有活力的”。
boon，名词，表示“恩泽”。 所有这些会不会使硅谷变得更加狭隘，而不那么相关？不要赌它。诚然，下一个价值万亿美元的公司可能
不会来自硅谷这个地方，就像目前大多数公司所做的那样。但是，它有可能出现在硅谷，即思维方式。硅谷
高亢的风险资本主义，以及越来越多的资本家和资本已经注入了从斯德哥尔摩到上海和圣保罗的科技领域。
这对旧金山的房东、山景城的二流企业家和其他利用湾区最初的地理垄断优势的寻租者来说可能是个坏消息。
对于其他所有人来说，无论是市场南部的科技工作者，他们终于可以买得起附近的公寓，还是孟买的创新者
能够利用硅谷的资金和专业知识，这都是一个福音。 下一个“硅谷”，为何不是华强北？■
上一篇：大家知道尚硅谷培训机构怎么样？
下一篇：2022.3.25 最新熔断午报 |
窥视卡
雷达卡
提升卡
置顶卡
沉默卡
喧嚣卡
变色卡
千斤顶
照妖镜