Schumpeter|Can Uber ever make money？

熊彼特|優(yōu)步還能再賺錢嗎？

熊彼特（美籍奧匈帝國經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，當(dāng)代資產(chǎn)階級經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)代表人物之一）

A ride back through history o?ers sobering lessons

歷史的回顧給予了發(fā)人深省的教訓(xùn)

詞匯

Sobering/使清醒的；使冷靜的；嚴(yán)重的

London cabbies enjoy a good moan. But few can match the satirical indignation of a former ferry operator, John Taylor, who used to carry passengers on the Thames. As well as being a “waterman”, Taylor was a poet, writing in the 1620s just when horse drawn Hackney carriages were making their debut on the streets of the capital. In “An Arrant Thief”, published in 1622, he described the carnage from “upstart Hell-cart-coaches” robbing his brethren of their fares. “Against the ground, we stand and knock our heels/ Whilst all our pro?t runs away on wheels.”

倫敦的出租車司機(jī)們喜歡抱怨。但是很少有人能比得上曾經(jīng)在泰晤士河上載客的前渡輪司機(jī)約翰·泰勒(John Taylor)的諷刺憤怒。泰勒不僅是一位“船夫”，還是一位詩人，他寫于1620年代，當(dāng)時(shí)倫敦街頭剛開始出現(xiàn)馬車。在1622年出版的《一個(gè)徹頭徹尾的小偷》(An Arrant Thief)一書中，他描述了“暴發(fā)戶的地獄馬車”搶劫他的兄弟們車票的大屠殺?！爱?dāng)我們所有的利潤都被車輪碾碎的時(shí)候，我們站在地上，用腳后跟撞著地面?！?/p>

詞匯

Cabby/計(jì)程車司機(jī)；出租馬車的車夫

moan./ 呻吟聲；悲嘆

satirical/諷刺性的；譏諷的；愛挖苦人的

indignation/憤慨；憤怒；義憤

Arrant/極惡的；聲名狼藉的；徹頭徹尾的

carnage/大屠殺；殘殺

brethren/ <舊>兄弟們，同胞

Four centuries later, pro?ts across the global taxi industry are again running away—but this time into thin air. Until recently, the fortunes of regulated cab companies drew the most attention. Uber and Lyft in America, Didi in China and other ride-hailing ?rms elsewhere have used sack loads of venture capital to drive down fares and ?ood the streets of big cities with cars, clobbering the earnings of licensed rivals. But now their own losses are in the spotlight.

四個(gè)世紀(jì)后，全球出租車行業(yè)的利潤再次流失——但這一次是無疾而終。直到最近，受到監(jiān)管的出租車公司的命運(yùn)才受到最多關(guān)注。美國的優(yōu)步(Uber)和Lyft，中國的滴滴(Didi)以及其他地方的叫車公司都利用大量風(fēng)險(xiǎn)資本壓低了車費(fèi)，并在大城市的街道上大量投放汽車，打擊了獲得牌照的競爭對手的盈利。但現(xiàn)在，他們自己的損失卻成了人們關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)。

詞匯

into thin air/無影無蹤【例|vanish into thin air/煙消云散；不知去向】

clobber/擊倒；痛打

capital/首都，省會(huì)；資金；

In a ?ling released in the run-up to its initial public offering, Uber says it has lost $7.9bn since 2009. Lyft, which listed last month, lost $2.9bn in seven years. Uber is seeking a valuation of up to $100bn but as yet it is unclear if it can make money. To understand why, it helps to look at the history of the taxi industry. When regulated, it is a cushy business. When not, it is cut-throat.

在首次公開發(fā)行(ipo)前夕發(fā)布的一份文件中，優(yōu)步表示，自2009年以來，該公司已虧損79億美元。上月上市的Lyft在7年內(nèi)虧損29億美元。優(yōu)步正在尋求高達(dá)1000億美元的估值，但目前尚不清楚它能否盈利。要了解原因，不妨看看出租車行業(yè)的歷史。如果受到監(jiān)管，這是一項(xiàng)輕松的業(yè)務(wù)。如果不是這樣，那就太殘酷了。

詞匯

Cushy/輕松的；容易的

Start with Uber’s most oft-touted attributes. Its name has become synonymous with ride-hailing thanks to rapid expansion that its advocates put down to “?rst-mover advantage” and network e?ects, or the belief that it will become more valuable as more people use it. The company claims to have more than 65% of the ride-hailing market in the United States and Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and Latin America. But it sees itself as more than just a taxi company, with car ownership and public transport in its sights. The proposed valuat implies a huge market which Uber would need to all but monopolise.

從優(yōu)步最常被吹捧的特性開始。由于其支持者將其歸因于“先發(fā)優(yōu)勢”和網(wǎng)絡(luò)效應(yīng)的快速擴(kuò)張，或者認(rèn)為隨著越來越多的人使用它，它將變得更有價(jià)值，優(yōu)步的名字已成為叫車服務(wù)的同義詞。該公司聲稱在美國、加拿大、歐洲、澳大利亞、新西蘭和拉丁美洲的叫車服務(wù)市場占有65%以上的份額。但它認(rèn)為自己不僅僅是一家出租車公司，它的目標(biāo)是擁有汽車和公共交通的所有權(quán)。而對于這個(gè)市場的估值是巨大的，優(yōu)步幾乎需要壟斷這個(gè)市場。

詞匯

oft-touted/常常被吹捧的

synonymous/同義的；同義詞的

monopolise/壟斷，獲得專賣權(quán)

Look through history, though, and taxi monopolies look anything but impregnable. That is because the ride-hailing business, which will remain Uber’s bread and butter for the foreseeable future, is local, not global. And, as long as competition is unregulated, entering local markets is relatively easy. Len Sherman of Columbia Business School draws a parallel between Uber’s business and that of unregulated taxis in New York in the 1930s, when Ford’s Model t emerged as a new, low-cost cab. During the Depression many jobless workers took to taxi-driving for a living, undercutting each other viciously. The streets were saturated with vehicles but the earnings of drivers and taxi companies evaporated. Customers bene?ted, but no one else did. Uber and Lyft are reprising that episode as they ?ght city by city for drivers and customers

然而縱觀歷史，出租車壟斷絕非堅(jiān)不可摧。這是因?yàn)?，在可預(yù)見的未來，叫車業(yè)務(wù)仍將是優(yōu)步的主要業(yè)務(wù)，是本地業(yè)務(wù)，而非全球業(yè)務(wù)。而且，只要競爭不受監(jiān)管，進(jìn)入當(dāng)?shù)厥袌鼍拖鄬θ菀?。哥倫比亞商學(xué)院(Columbia Business School)的萊恩?舍曼(Len Sherman)將優(yōu)步的業(yè)務(wù)與上世紀(jì)30年代紐約不受監(jiān)管的出租車業(yè)務(wù)進(jìn)行了對比。在經(jīng)濟(jì)大蕭條時(shí)期，許多失業(yè)工人以開出租汽車為生，相互之間惡性競爭。街道上擠滿了汽車，但司機(jī)和出租車公司的收入?yún)s蒸發(fā)殆盡?？蛻魪闹惺芤妫渌藳]有。優(yōu)步(Uber)和Lyft正在重演這一幕，它們正在一個(gè)城市接一個(gè)城市地爭奪司機(jī)和客戶

詞匯

Impregnable/無法攻取的；不受影響的；
saturated/滲透，飽和

Evaporate/蒸發(fā)；消失

Uber’s name recognition may help. Historically, taxi ?rms have bene?ted from strong brands. London’s black taxis, or New York’s yellow ones, for instance, attract users despite high fares and relative scarcity. They are hallmarks of their cities. In an ideal world for Uber, brand awareness would mean customers went straight to its app rather than that of a rival, convincing more drivers to work for it because they can access a bigger market. This would produce the vaunted network e?ect for drivers and riders.

Uber的知名度可能會(huì)有所幫助。從歷史上看，出租車公司一直受益于強(qiáng)大的品牌。例如，倫敦的黑色出租車，或紐約的黃色出租車，盡管價(jià)格昂貴且相對稀缺，卻能吸引用戶。他們是他們城市的標(biāo)志。在優(yōu)步的理想世界中，品牌知名度意味著客戶直接使用其應(yīng)用程序，而不是競爭對手的應(yīng)用程序，這將說服更多司機(jī)為優(yōu)步工作，因?yàn)樗麄兛梢赃M(jìn)入一個(gè)更大的市場。這將對司機(jī)和乘客產(chǎn)生自吹自擂的網(wǎng)絡(luò)效應(yīng)。

詞匯

Scarcity/不足；缺乏

Hallmark/特點(diǎn)；品質(zhì)證明

Vaunted/自夸的；大肆吹噓的