英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

Facebook’s Challenge and Future

臉書的下一步

閱讀暖身
今年2月華爾街最轟動的事是Facebook終於遞交初次公開集資(IPO)申請，市場上開始熱議臉書的價值，然而更多人關切的是IPO之後，祖克伯手上將有充裕銀彈，他的下一步是什麼？Facebook有可能超越Google，成為網路的新龍頭嗎?

進入本文前，請想想以下單字：(A)粗俗 (B)反對 (C)突進

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, has talked for years about the notion of a “social graph” which connects people to their friends and all of the things they are interested in. By encouraging hundreds of millions of people to share their deeds and reveal their innermost thoughts, (A) profane or profound, online, his company has in effect mapped a portion of this graph on its computers. These billions of electronic nodes and links will soon make a fortune for Zuckerberg, still only 27, who owns 28.4% of Facebook and will continue to control most of the voting rights. It will also enrich other shareholders, many of them employees.

Facebook創辦人馬克祖克伯不斷提到社群圖譜的概念，所謂社群圖譜就是連結人與朋友以及他們感興趣的所有事物。藉由鼓勵成千上萬的人在線上分享他們的最愛、粗俗或深刻的內心想法，祖克伯的公司已經有效地在電腦上描繪出部分的圖譜，這些電子節點與連結將讓祖克伯變得富有，他目前持有Facebook股權約28.4%，並且將繼續控制近乎多數表決權。Facebook的公開上市也會讓其他股東更加富裕，而這些股東很多是自家員工。

The bigger risk to Facebook is that growing concern over online privacy translates into a wave of legislation around the world that makes it far harder for the company to exploit the mountains of data it is collecting. That would throw a spanner into the works⁽¹⁾ of its money-spinning advertising machine. So far there has been little sign of such a (B) backlash, though governments are paying closer attention to privacy. America is thinking of creating a general consumer-privacy law and the European Union is updating its rules.

Facebook最大的危機是，網路隱私爭議擴大成為全球抵制浪潮，使該公司難以使用大量蒐集的各類資訊，也無法迅速成為獲利的廣告機器。按目前觀察，鮮少從網路上見到激烈反抗Facebook的跡象，但是各國政府正密切注意隱私侵犯的議題。美國正在研議制定一套消費隱私統合法案，另外歐盟也在更新相關規定。

Facebook and Google are increasingly in each other's wheelhouse⁽²⁾. Google's social network- Google+ looked and functioned much like Facebook -- enabling users to post status updates, share links and upload photos. Right out of the gate⁽³⁾, Google+ gained a lot of attention and a quick (C) onrush of users.

Facebook和Google最近都漸漸踏進彼此擅長的領域。Google旗下社群網站Google+外觀及功能都與Facebook類似，使用者可以更新近況、分享連結或是上傳近照。Google+也馬上得到許多關注，同時也迅速流入一群使用者。

The social network’s IPO will also set the stage for an epic battle between the titans of the tech industry. Analysts believe that Facebook was running on top of another operating system all along. Instead of revolutionizing our reality, by filing an IPO Mark Zuckerberg is finally getting with the program.

Facebook進行IPO，也為自己打好基礎，準備展開與科技業巨擘的對抗。分析師認為，或許Facebook想獨自開發操作系統，而藉著遞交IPO申請，祖克伯終於可以著手進行系統相關事務，而不用在既有的現實掀起革命。

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口語字彙

1. throw a spanner into the works 阻止或妨礙一件事情的進行
本句動詞也可以使用put，屬英式用法。美式用法為：throw a monkey wrench into something.
如：His ridiculous behavior threw a spanner into the works.
他荒唐行徑已經妨礙了工作進行。

2. in each other's wheelhouse 擅長的領域
如：The project you are doing is in her wheelhouse.
你正在執行的專案是她擅長的領域。

3. Right out of the gate 馬上，初期
如：You can use the tools and find it works right out of the gate.
你可以使用這個工具，並且馬上就會發現它是有用的。

資料來源:世界公民 College