EZCNN 易英网

Twitter Power 推特力量

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

繁體中文譯本

 

Learning from ourselves, in real time  实时从自身采集数据

 

The halls of Twitter barely chirp. Nearly 200 hushed workers stare intently at computer screen in a generic downtown office building.

推特的大厅里几乎没有嘁嘁喳喳的谈话声。将近两百名压低声音的工作人员在闹区一间很普通的办公室大楼里，聚精会神地盯着电脑屏幕。

 

“There’s really not much going on here,” co-founder Biz Stone says.

「这里真的没什么动静，」共同创办者毕兹．史东如此表示。

 

Don’t bother tweeting that. Stone is well aware that the juggernaut he, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey launched in 2006 has lit up social networking.

别费心推文这句话了。史东非常清楚，他本人、伊凡．威廉兹和杰克．多西于二００六年所创立的这个势如破竹、无人能挡的庞大事业，已经引燃了社交网络风潮。

 

That Twitter has succeeded isn’t a shock; a time-pressed global culture was bound to pounce on the free service’s 140-character format, and 114 million users have signed up to date. But what generates awe is the speed with which Twitter has taken a seat alongside Facebook and Google at the tech world’s grown-up table.

推特大获成功并不令人震惊；时间紧迫的全球文化必定会积极利用这项（字数限制）一百四十字格式的免费服务，而至今已有一亿一千四百万名使用者登记注册。但令人惊叹的是，推特在科技世界的成人桌（译注：例如在宴席时，有时会安排大人和小孩分坐不同桌）上那么快就占有一席之地，与Facebook及谷歌并驾齐驱。

 

“Twitter has become the world’s water cooler,” says Adam Ostrow, editor of the social media blog Mashable. “It’s a place where you can hear what millions are saying and feel, unbiased and in that moment.”

「推特已成为世界的冷饮机（译注：上班族习惯在冷饮机旁与同事闲聊），」社交媒体部落格玛夏伯编辑亚当．欧斯托表示，「在那儿，你可以公正客观地实时听到几百万人的所言所感。」

 

Celebrities were among the first to recognize Twitter’s connective power. Now devotees range from CEOs to average Joes, all chatting in a digital town square with the power to aid Haiti with an avalanche of donation pledges and make 16-year-old pop phenom Justin Bieber a global sensation.

各界名流最先意识到推特的连结力量，而如今推特的爱好者形形色色，从执行长到一般平民百姓，全都聚集在这个数字城镇广场上闲谈，排山倒海而来的认捐单集结众人的庞大力量来援助海地，也让十六岁的流行音乐小天王小贾斯汀成为轰动全球的热门人物。

 

Twitter’s charm  推特的魅力

 

Like most Twitter devotees, when Ben Warner was introduced to the website, he didn’t get it.

就像大多数推特爱好者一样，当班．华纳初次接触到该网站时，根本不懂这有什么稀奇的。

 

“I’d read, ‘I’m having a sandwich,’ and I didn’t think it made a lot of sense,” says Warner, 42, deputy director of a civic engagement think tank. “But I’ve come to realize it’s an amazing way to take the pulse on issues.”

「我读到『我正在吃三明治』，不觉得这有什么意义，」四十二岁的华纳表示，他是市民参与智库副主任，「但我逐渐发现，这是评估事情最新发展的绝佳方式。」

 

Twitter is “brewing a social revolution,” says Jeff Pulver, founder of #140conf, an annual conference on all things Twitter. “Individuals have a voice like never before, and it’s a voice that’s connected to the world.”

推特正在「酝酿一场社会改革，」#140conf创办人杰夫．鲍尔夫表示，#140conf是探讨所有推特相关事务的年度会议，「个人拥有了前所未见的发言权，而所抒发的声音和世界是相连的。」

 

 

单词发音

 

More Information

chirp [tʃɝp] v. 嘁嘁喳喳地说话

intently [ɪnˋtɛntlɪ] adv. 专心地，专注地

go on (尤用于进行时态)发生; 出现

bother [ˋbɑðɚ] v. 麻烦，费心[（+with/about）][+to-v][+v-ing]

juggernaut [ˋdʒʌgɚ͵nɔt] n. 世界主宰；强大的破坏力；可怕的力量 a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path

light up 点燃 ignite

time-pressed 时间紧张的 of feeling that you have to hurry and are late

pounce [paʊns] v. 一把抓住并利用[（+on/upon）] to leap upon (eg one's prey) in order to attack or grab it

devotee [͵dɛvəˋti] n. 仰慕者; 敬仰者; 爱好者

average Joe 平常人，普通人

avalanche [ˋæv!͵æntʃ] n. 突然来到的大量事物

pledge [plɛdʒ] n. 许诺拨（款）a promise of a donation to charity

phenom [fɪˋnɑm] n.【美】【俚】特出优异的人或物

think tank 智库; 智囊团 a group of experts brought together to develop ideas on a particular subject and to make suggestions for action

take the pulse on/of something 摸清…, 监测… to sample or survey something to learn about its progress or state

 

 

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

‘Tuned to the same channel’  「调整到同样频道」

 

After the September 11 terror attacks in 2001, Pulver says, New York City first responders spent millions to synchronize their communications systems. “But during Haiti’s disaster, everyone was tuned to the same channel, and it was called Twitter.”

鲍尔夫表示，二００一年九一一恐怖攻击事件之后，纽约市的首批响应者斥资数百万美元同步化通讯系统。「但在海地灾害期间，大家都调整到同一频道，该频道即为推特。」

 

That’s Twitter as a rallying point for social good, something co-founder Stone hopes will blossom. “Twitter is people emoting, and we would love to extend that to empathy.”

共同创办人史东希望能够发扬光大之处，就是要让推特成为推动公益的集结点。「推特是人们表达情感的管道而我们乐于把这点进而拓展为同理心。」

 

“We think our future is in helping companies be better companies,” says Stone. “Whether that’s Starbucks connect with its followers or Mission Pie here in San Francisco telling its fans what the pie of the day is, we can be part of that dialogue. Twitter can be useful to you, even if you yourself don’t have anything to say.”

「我们认为，推特的未来在于帮助各家企业精益求精，」史东表示。「不管是协助星巴克与其爱好者之间产生联系，或是帮助旧金山的『使命派』告诉派迷每日一派为何，我们都可以成为那种对话的一部分。就算自己没什么要说的，推特都可能对你有用。」

 

Trending topics  热门话题

 

But many do. Twitter is a real-time barometer of people’s reactions to events and products, and as such it is causing all manner of folks to pay close attention.

但很多人都有话要说。推特提供了人们对事情及产品的反应的实时指针，因此能引起形形色色人士的密切注意。

 

Whether it’s American Idol contestants “trending” among the most-tweeted topics after their performances or Procter & Gamble monitoring tweets after its “Thanks, Mom” ad campaign during the Winter Olympics, the power of Twitter to provide instant insight into the national psyche is unprecedented.

无论是《美国偶像》参赛者在表演之后成为推文话题中的「热门话题」，或是宝侨家品在冬季奥运期间进行「谢谢妈妈」的广告宣传活动之后监视推文，藉由推特立即洞察国民心理的力量是史无前例的。

 

“Focus groups used to be the gold standard for gathering information, but Twitter is turning things around to the point where naturally occurring conversations can tell us even more,” says Susannah Fox of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

「焦点团体过去是收集信息的最佳准则，但推特正在扭转情势，而且已经到了使自然发生的谈话能够让我们获知更多讯息的程度。」皮尤研究中心因特网与美国生活计划的苏珊娜．福克斯表示。

 

Fox says recent social media conferences she has attended reflect the attention being paid to twitter by government entities, consumer products companies and health care sector.

福克斯表示，她近期参加的社群媒体会议反映出政府组织、消费性产品公司及健康照护业界对于推特的关注。

 

“Pharmaceutical companies can hear the conversations patients are having about their products, which is also a challenge because you need to consider the legal implications of adverse effects,” she says. “But overall, the sense from these companies is, ‘We’d rather know than not know.’”

「制药公司可以听到病患对于他们产品的讨论，这也是一种挑战，因为你需要考虑到不良反应在法律层面上的意涵，」她说，「但整体而言，这些公司的态度是：『我们宁可知道，也不要被蒙在鼓里。』」

 

 

单词发音

 

More Information

responder [rɪˋspɑndɚ] n. 回答者, 响应者

synchronize [ˋsɪŋkrənaɪz] v. 使协调；使同步 to cause to happen at the same time

empathy [ˋɛmpəθɪ] n. 同情; 同感

barometer [bəˋrɑmətɚ] n.【喻】晴雨表，显示变化的事物 something that can show how a particular situation is developing, or how people’s opinions on a particular matter are changing

contestant [kənˋtɛstənt] n. 参加竞赛者，角逐者

psyche [ˋsaɪkɪ] n. 心理;【术语或正式】心灵; 灵魂; 精神

gold standard (衡量事物的) 最佳准则 a model of excellence; a paragon; something which is very good and is used for measuring how good other similar things are

turn something around 扭转…   to reverse the direction of something; to cause something to face the opposite direction

implication [͵ɪmplɪˋkeʃən] n. 含意；言外之意；暗示

 

 

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

The language of gossip  八卦的语言

 

Twitter’s rapid rise to the cultural forefront shouldn’t surprise any student of human nature, says Gary king, a Harvard statistician and co-founder of Crimson Hexagon, whose VoxTrot algorithm, used by CNN, sifts through tweets to gauge opinion on everything from politics to movies.

推特迅速窜升至文化前锋，对任何喜欢探究人性的人来说，应该都不至于感到惊讶，哈佛统计学家及深红六边形共同创办者盖瑞．金恩表示，其VoxTrot算法受到CNN（有线电视新闻网）采用，该算法能仔细检视推文，以判断人们对于从政治到电影等各种议题的看法。

 

“Some anthropologists will tell you that the fundamental use of language was to gossip, and while twitter is becoming different things to different people, it fundamentally has formalized what used to happen in our alleys and hallways into a global conversation,” king says.

「一些人类学家会告诉你，语言基本上是用来闲聊八卦的，而推特的功用虽然因人而异，但它基本上也是把以往发生在大街小巷和走廊上的闲聊化为全球谈话。」金恩这么表示。

 

Twitter also is recapturing the original meaning of public opinion, he says, “which was the opinions of people who had opinions, literally the people willing to get up on the soapbox.”

推特也重新掌握了公共舆论的原始意义，他表示：「舆论的本意即是有意见的人发表他们的看法，实际上也就是极力宣扬己见的人。」

 

Too much information?  信息过多？

 

The one drawback of such freedom is simple TMI: too much information, and an inability to accurately decipher its meaning.

这种自由的一个缺点就是纯粹的TMI：信息过多（译注：TMI是too much information的英文前缀缩写），以及无法准确解读其意涵。

 

“It’s easy to drown in data,” says social networking specialist Danah Boyd of Microsoft Research. “There will be a lot of third parties trying to make sense of Twitter and its tweets, but they have to remember it’s really a free-for-all. There’s a lot of joking and goofing and just plain mistakes, as in real life.”

「一般人很容易就会淹没在这些数据数据里，」微软研究院（直译）的社交网络专家丹娜．博伊德表示，「将会有许多第三方试着解读推特和推文，但他们得记得这真的是个全民乱讲的地方，有许多玩笑瞎闹及显而易见的错误，就和真实人生无异。」

 

“Twitter can make misunderstandings fly faster, which should train us to be skeptical about what we read.”

「推特能让误解流传得更快，这应该能训练我们对于所读到的信息抱持怀疑的态度。」

 

That’s a given, says Michelle Betcher, 37, an operations auditor for an airline. She calls Twitter a great tool for channeling information to myself that I can then evaluate.

这点是理所当然的，三十七岁的米歇尔．贝切尔如此表示，她是一家航空公司的业务稽核员，称推特为「把信息挪为己用、再加以评估的好工具。」

 

But, she says, “I’m not yet interested in sending my opinions out there. Personally, I’m still curious if Twitter will be a passing phase or a fixture of our world.”

但她说：「我还没有兴趣把自己的看法在那里公开。就我个人而言，我还是比较好奇推特究竟会是个过度阶段，还是这个世界的固定常态。」

 

−by Marco R. Della Cava

 

 

单词发音

 

More Information

statistician [͵stætəsˋtɪʃən] n. 统计学家；统计员

crimson [ˋkrɪmzn] adj. 深红色的，绯红的;  n. 深红色，绯红色

hexagon [ˋhɛksə͵gən] n. 六角形；六边形

algorithm [ˋælgə͵rɪðm] n. 算法；规则系统

gauge [gedʒ] v. 估计，判断

anthropologist [͵ænθrəˋpɑlədʒɪst] n. 人类学者 someone who scientifically studies humans and their customs, beliefs and relationships

formalize [ˋfɔrm!͵aɪz] v. 使〔计划﹑决定或想法〕正式化; 使定形; 使形式化

alley [ˋælɪ] n. 小巷; 胡同; 后街

hallway [ˋhɔl͵we] n.【美】玄关; 门厅; 走廊

(get up) on one's soapbox 极力宣扬己见; 发表激烈的意见 to express one’s opinions about a particular subject forcefully (= get on one's soapbox)

decipher [dɪˋsaɪfɚ] v. 破解（密码等）

drown [draʊn] v. 淹没，浸湿

make sense of 了解; 理解 to be intelligible

goof [guf] n. 错误

that’s a given 这点是理所当然的 uttered when someone says something that is obviously true

auditor [ˋɔdɪtɚ] n. 稽核员; 查账员; 审计员

channel [ˋtʃæn!] v. 输送，传送

 

 

 

 

单词发音

 

Vocabulary Focus

hushed [hʌʃt] adj. 安静的; 寂静的 quiet

unbiased [ʌnˋbaɪəst] adj. 无偏见的；不偏不倚的；公正的 able to judge fairly; not influenced by one’s own opinions

take the pulse 摸清…, 监测…  to evaluate the most recent developments

rallying point 号召力，聚集点 a point or place where groups can come together in order to provide support or make a shared effort

emote [ɪˋmot] v.【口】表现感情（尤其舞台等）to show or express emotion

adverse [ædˋvɝs] adj. 不利的，有害的 having a negative or harmful effect on something

forefront [ˋfor͵frʌnt] n. 最前方，最前线 the most noticeable or important position

free-for-all 可以自由参加的; 在场者都参加的 a situation that is not controlled, and where everyone does what they want

fixture [ˋfɪkstʃɚ] n. 固定装置 something considered to be permanently established in a place or position

 

 

How to Use Twitter

 

 

Best Job | P&G London 2012 Olympic Games Film

 

 

Never Walk Alone (P&G Commercial)