外媒选读｜脸书之劫（详注精读）
Epic Fail
注/王梓诚
The social-media giant faces a reputational crisis. Here is how it and the industry should https://www.doczj.com/doc/e73279938.html,ST year the idea took hold that[1] Mark Zuckerberg might run for president[2] in 2020 and seek to lead the world’s most powerful country[3]. Today, Facebook’s founder[4] is fighting to show[5] that he is capable of leading[6] the world’s eighth-biggest listed company[7] or that any of its 2.1bn[8] users should trust it.[1] take (a) hold 开始流行。that在此引导同位语从句，先行词为the idea。之所以从句与先行词分开，是因为从句较长，为避免主谓语间隔过大以致头重脚轻，遵从“尾重原则（end-weight principle）”，将从句后置。[2] “run for + 职位”结构，表示“竞选｛职位｝”，职位前不加冠词。此外，美式英语用run，英式英语多用stand。[3] 指代美国。作者不明说the United States，意在从结构上与下一句的leading the world’s eighth-biggest listed company相呼应。[4] 指代马克·扎克伯格。作者不明说Mark Zuckerberg或用he代指，一来避免重复，二来founder 也呼应president。[5] fight to do sth相当于try very hard to do sth，与上文seek to [do] 相呼应。[6] be capable of doing sth
不可说be capable to do sth。[7] 上市公司，近义表达还有public company、quoted company。[8] bn是billion的缩写，后文50m中m是million的缩写。[本段小结] 首段共两句话，分别以last year和today开头，意在今夕对比，借夕讽今：脸书创始人马克·扎克伯格连自己创办的公司都管理不好，无法赢得用户信任，又将如何在2020年美国总统大选中获得选民的信任呢？
News that[9] Cambridge Analytica (CA), a firm linked to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign[10], got data on 50m Facebook users in dubious, possibly illegal, ways has lit a firestorm. Mr Zuckerberg took five days to reply and, when he did[11], he conceded[12] that Facebook had let its users down in the past but seemed not to have grasped[13] that its business faces[14] a wider crisis of confidence. After months of talk about propaganda and fake news[15], politicians in Europe and, increasingly, America see Facebook as out of control and in denial[16]. Congress wants him to testify. Expect a
roasting.[17][9] that在此仍然引导同位语从句：Cambridge Analytica…got data…in…ways。主句主干为News has lit a firestorm。作者在此未遵从“尾重原则”，是为了突出lit a firestorm（引起轩然大波），这在英文中被称为“尾焦原则（end-focus principle）”，就是将需要强调的内容后置。
[10] 提到特朗普2016总统大选，呼应run for president in 2020。CA公司仅仅是用不正当手段获取脸书5000万用户的数据，便可影响2016总统竞选，何况马克·扎克伯格可轻松获取21亿（见上段）用户的全部数据，这对美国民主政治的影响当然不可小视。[11] 指replied，避免重复。[12] concede强调“不情愿地承认”，呼应took five days。[13] 注意区分grasp、understand、comprehend：understand强调理解之结果，comprehend侧重理解之过程，而grasp的完成式相当于understand。如：By this time, I understood / had grasped the basic principles of physics.（这时，我才懂得物理学的基本原则。）但此句不可写作“By this time, I grasped the basic [. . .] physics.”。[14] 表明更严重的信任危机发生在将来，与前文in the past相对。[15] 此前脸书曾多次被指投放政治广告（propaganda）和假新闻（fake news），干扰美国大选、英国退欧等重大政治事件。[16] out of control是“失控”，指扎克伯格管理不当；in denial是“拒绝认错”，呼应took five days 和conceded。[17] 祈使句，可译作“等着挨骂吧！”。注意，roasting作名词，常用单数。[本段小结] 围绕脸书“信任危机”展开，略述背景。
Since the news, spooked investors[18] have wiped 9% off Facebook’s shares. Consumers are belatedly waking up to the dangers of handing over data to tech giants that are run like
black boxes.[19] Already, according to the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank[20], a majority of Americans say they distrust social-media firms. Mr Zuckerberg and his industry[21] need to change, fast.[18] spooked是美式俚语，作定语修饰investors，可译作“受惊的投资者”。investors呼应listed company。[19] belatedly相当于too late。wake up / awake to表示“开始意识到”。black boxes是讽刺脸书没有向用户公开第三方使用个人数据的方式。此外，作者不说that are like black boxes，而用被动的that are run like，还是暗指扎克伯格管理不当。本句可译作：将个人数据交给黑箱般运营的科技巨头是有危险的，但消费者迟至今日方渐渐意识到。[20] 智库，专门就国家政治、经济、法律、军事、科技、社会等问题提供咨询的科研机构。[21] 可见用户隐私泄露的问题非脸书独有，整个行业都急需改革。industry由his限定，而不用定冠词，引出后文作者认为脸书在整个行业中应担负领头羊和风向标
的角色。[本段小结] 本段综述脸书面临问题的严重性，引出后文作者提出的对策。
The addiction game[22][22] 与addictive game区分：addictive game是“令人上瘾的游戏”；addiction game可以是“令人上瘾的游戏”，也可以是关于上瘾的游戏。
Facebook’s business relies on three elements: keeping users glued to[23] their screens, collecting data about their behaviour and convincing advertisers to pay billions of dollars to reach them[24] with targeted ads. The firm has an incentive to promote material that grabs attention and to sell ads to
anyone[25]. Its culture melds a ruthless pursuit of profit with a Panglossian and narcissistic belief[26] in its own virtue. Mr Zuckerberg controls the firm’s voting rights. Clearly, he gets too little criticism.[23] be glued to sth表示“专注于”，词典上说sth多为电视、电脑、手机及其屏幕，但未来应该还包含可穿戴设备。这是体现addiction的第一处，是脸书用户的addiction。[24] 指代users。[25] to promote与to sell并列，to anyone是二者共同的间接宾语，暗指脸书一味谋求利益，不顾用户体验，不合理使用用户数据，呼应distrust。这是体现addiction的第二处，是脸书运营者的addiction。[26] meld A with B 将A与B结合。ruthless 无情的，不顾及他人感受的。Panglossian 盲目乐观的，源自Pangloss，在伏尔泰讽刺小说《憨第德》中代表旧制度、旧权威，呼应下一句controls the firm’s voting rights。[本段小结] 本段首句叙述脸书的盈利模式；次句讲根据这种盈利模式，脸书趋于向每一位用户推送广告，追求利益最大化；末句再次将矛头指向扎克伯格。In the latest fiasco[27], it emerged that[28] in 2013 an
academic[29] in Britain built a questionnaire app for Facebook users, which 270,000 people answered. They in turn had 50m Facebook friends. Data on all these people then ended up with CA. (Full disclosure[30]: The Economist once used CA for a market-research project.) Facebook says that it could not happen again and that the academic and CA broke its rules; both deny doing anything wrong[31]. Regulators in Europe and America are investigating. Facebook knew of[32] the problem in 2015, but it did not alert individual users. Although nobody knows how much CA benefited Mr Trump’s campaign, the fuss has been amplified by the left’s disbelief that he could have won the election fairly[33].[27] 溃败，指代前文提到的Cambridge Analytica事件。[28] it是形式主语。that引导主语从句。emerge 强调过了一段时间后被披露出来，体现in 2013。[29] 在高校从事教学或科研的人，美式英语中可用faculty member代替。英式英语中，faculty则泛指一切在高校中从事教学、科研、行政工作的教职工和学生。[30] 可译作“特此声明”，意在与脸书对比：《经济学人》敢于承认，而脸书矢口否认（in denial）。[31] both指代两个that引导的宾语从句：it could not happen again以后不会再发生了，这不是明确认错；the academic and CA broke its rules是把主要责任归于第三方，its rules指代the rules of Facebook。这两种不直接认错的方式，
引出了后面两句批驳。[32] know of sth只是知道事情的一小部分，与know (about) sth不同。早在2015年，脸书就已对CA滥用其用户数据有所耳闻，但脸书并未单独提醒用户。这表明脸书的确have done something wrong。[33] the left 左派，指美国民主党人。could have won是虚拟语气，可改写为he could not won the election if the election was fair。美国民主党人无法相信特朗普有可能以正当方式赢得大选，所以脸书用户数据泄露一旦与之扯上关系，就会引起轩然大波，进一步引发用户信任危机。[本段小结] 先略述事情经过，指明事态之严重；再谈脸书多大程度上影响大选犹未可知，似有回转之意。为下段进一步阐述做铺垫。
But that[34] does not give Facebook a defence. The episode fits an established pattern[35] of sloppiness towards privacy, tolerance of inaccuracy and reluctance to admit mistakes. In early 2017 Mr Zuckerberg dismissed the idea that fake news had influenced the election as[36] “pretty crazy”. In September Facebook said Kremlin-linked firms had spent a mere $100,000 to buy 3,000 adverts[37] on its platform, failing at first to mention that 150m users had seen free posts by Russian operatives. It has also repeatedly misled advertisers about its user statistics.[38][34] that指代nobody knows how much CA benefited Mr Trump’s campaign。即便与特朗普当选毫无关
系，脸书在这一过程中犯下的错误也是洗不干净的。[35] episode 一连串的重要或戏剧性事件，这里指从2013年英国学者创建调查问卷到今天脸书被指用户数据泄露干扰美国
大选等一系列事件。fits an established pattern可译作“正是脸书一贯作风”。后面三句依次对应reluctance to admit mistakes、tolerance of inaccuracy和sloppiness towards privacy。
[36] dismiss A as B表示“认为A是B，所以不予考虑A”。
[37] advert是advertisement的缩写形式，多用见英式英语的非正式语境中。[38] mislead sb about sth，注意搭配。user data 与user statistics不同，前者可能只是原始数据，后者是经分析、加工的数据。repeatedly呼应established pattern。[本段小结] 本段以But起首，后面细数脸书几大罪状。最后直指问题关键：脸书既未照顾到用户体验，是为不仁，也未考虑广告商利益，是为不义。不仁不义，岂不危在旦夕？作者笔法，真可谓一波三折。
Facebook is not about to be banned or put out of business, but the chances of a regulatory backlash[39] are growing. Europe is inflicting punishment by a thousand cuts[40], from digital taxes to antitrust cases. And distrustful[41] users are switching off. The American cust omer base of Facebook’s core social network[42] has stagnated since June 2017. Its share of
America’s digital advertising market is forecast to dip[43] this year for the first time. The network effect[44] that made Facebook ever more attractive to new members as it grew could work in reverse if it starts to shrink[45]. Facebook is worth $493bn, but only has $14bn of physical assets[46]. Its value is intangible—and, potentially, ephemeral[47].[39] backlash尤指对社会或政治动向的强烈反对，此处属社会动向。chances
表示“概率”，作此义时，常用复数。
[40] 化用习语death by a thousand cuts（凌迟），与not about to be banned or put out of business相对。欧洲各国政府不会直接令脸书关门大吉，但出台各种新政也足够令其消受不起。[41] 来自名词distrust，呼应上文disbelief。belief强调相信真假、对错、存在与否，trust侧重“信赖”，即相信某人/事可靠与否。因此上文disbelief后接虚拟语气，不相信这件事竟然发生了，而本句用distrust，是因为脸书不断泄露个人数据，用户不再信赖了。[42] 即指Facebook平台。脸书旗下的社交网络还有Instagram和WhatsApp，此处不单说Facebook，从而将Facebook公司与Facebook平台相区分，以求严谨。[43] 不及物，特指“短暂地下滑”。[44] 术语，指用户数据增加反过来提升了产品或服务质量的现象。从前，脸书用户数量不断增加，对新用户的吸引力也不断增大，但将来用户数量减少，吸引力也会减弱，良性循环转为恶性循环。[45] 此处
两个it均指代Facebook。[46] 有形资产，也作tangible assets，表示诸如桌椅门窗等有真实存在形式的资产。无形资产为intangible assets，如知识产权等，缺乏固定的形态。asset表示“资产”时，多为复数。[47] ephemeral 短暂的。[本段小结] 头两句谈政府管制对脸书的打击；之后四句谈市场对脸书的影响；最后两句谈脸书无形资产比重过大带来的隐患。本段三项论点，意在表明脸书处境危险，引出后文作者的整改意见。
If Mr Zuckerberg wants to do right by the public and his
firm[48], he must rebuild trust. So far he has promised to
audit[49] some apps, restrict developers’access to data still further, and help people control which apps have access to their data.[48] do right by sb相当于treat sb fairly。the public表示“公众”，冠词不可少。作者特别提到and his firm，呼应上文Mr Zuckerberg controls the firm’s voting rights。
[49] 系统、细致地检查。[本段小结] 本段谈脸书已采取的措施。
That doesn’t go nearly far enough. Facebook needs a full, independent examination of its approach to[50] content, privacy and data, including its role in the 2016 election and the Brexit referendum. This should be made public. Each year Facebook should publish a report on its conduct that sets out everything
from the prevalence of fake news to privacy breaches.[50] full examination对比audit some apps。independent这里指利益不相关。approach指处理问题的方法，与介词to搭配。
[本段小结] 本段谈作者的建议。
Next, Facebook and other tech firms[51] need to open up to outsiders, safely and methodically[52]. They should create an industry ombudsman[53]—call it the Data Rights Board. Part of its job would be to set and enforce the rules by which accredited independent researchers look inside platforms without threatening users’ privacy.[54] Software is being developed[55] with this in mind. The likes[56] of Facebook raise big questions. How does micro-targeting skew[57] political campaigns? What biases infect facial-recognition algorithms? [58] Better they be answered with evidence instead of outrage.[59][51] tech是technology的缩写，多作定语。本文第一次提到other tech firms，这是说整个行业都亟待改革。[52] outsiders指本公司以外的人，这里指第三方开发者。safely and methodically是本句重点，因此前加逗号，在形式上予以突出。[53] /??mb?dzm?n/，注意字母u和-man的发音，本义是“行政监察专员”，指由议会任命，负责接收、调查公民对行政机关不良行政（maladministration）申诉的官员，此处指科技公司
不仅要定期自查（Each year Facebook should publish a report on its conduct），还要实时接受群众监督。作者建议成立Data Rights Board（DRB）数据权利委员会，其权利如下文所述。
[54] 经官方授权的。数据权利委员会制定一些规则，政府授权的独立研究者遵照规则深入研究Facebook等平台，以监测这些平台的算法是否会损害用户隐私。set and enforce the rules呼应methodically；without threatening users’policy呼应safely。[55] software指independent researchers设计的监察脸书等社交平台的软件。is being developed表明设计还未完成。[56] the like(s) of sth表示sth这一类，也就是Facebook and other tech firms。[57] 影响……的准确性。[58] infect本义“传染”，这里是比喻义，表示spread to。本句可译作：面部识别算法中又有了怎样的偏见？[59] 句首省略了It is，better后面省略了引导主语从句的that。It is good/better that所跟从句可采用虚拟语气，因此be前省略了should。这句是讲，面对群众指责，脸书与其愤怒（outrage），不如拿出证据，证明自己清白，而证据应该由独立的、政府授权的、具备科技知识的有关人员（accredited independent researchers）出具。[本段小结] 本段继续提出具体建议：建立DRB。
The board or something like it could also act as a referee[60] for complaints, and police[61] voluntary data-protection protocols. Facebook, for example, is planning to comply worldwide with
some of the measures contained in a new European law, called the General Data Protection Regulation[62]. Among other things[63], this will give users more power to opt out of[64] being tracked online and to stop their information being
shared[65] with third parties. Adherence to such rules needs to be closely monitored.[60] 仲裁者。
[61] 及物动词，表示“监督执行”。[62] General Data Protection Regulation（GBRP）这一欧盟条例于2016年通过，但要2018年5月才正式实施，所以说是is planning to comply，而不是is complying。另外，在欧盟法中要区分regulation和directive。
[63] 固定短语，表示“除了其他……”。[64] 相当于avoid。opt本义为“选择”，这里指让用户有权选择。[65] stop…(from) doing sth 阻止/防止……做某事。在主动结构中，from可省，如：The heavy rain stopped us (from) arriving there on time.（大雨使我们无法按时到达那里。）[本段小结] 本段谈DRB的其他职能。
Thumbs down[66][66] 固定搭配，表示否定、反对、拒绝等。Tech[67] has experience of[68] acting collectively to solve problems. Standards on hardware and software, and the naming of internet domains, are agreed on jointly. Facebook’s rivals may be wary[69] but, if the industry does not come up with a joint
solution, a government clampdown[70] will become inevitable.[67] 这里指整个科技圈，作此义时，偶也写作tec.。
[68] 表示“经历过”，其中experience不可数。前文提到，科技圈应制定行业标准，监控用户隐私是否受到侵犯，而制定行业标准在科技圈并非新鲜事，此前已有多次先例，下一句便是例证。[69] 警惕的。脸书是行业巨头，如果它牵头制定行业标准，势必令小公司生疑。[70] 名词，表示“制定更严格的规定”。如果行业不能自发制定统一的标准，那么政府管制也就在所难免了。[本段小结] 本段谈科技圈标准的制定。
Facebook seems to think it only needs to tweak[71] its approach. In fact it, and other firms that hoover up[72] consumer data, should assume[73] that their entire business model is at risk. As users become better informed, the alchemy[74] of taking their data without paying and manipulating them for profit may die. Firms may need to compensate people for their data or let them pay to use platforms ad-free[75]. Profits won’t come as
easily[76], but the alternative is stark. If Facebook ends up as a regulated utility[77] with its returns on capital capped[78], its earnings[79] may drop by 80%. How would you like that, Mr Zuckerberg?[71] 微调。目前脸书提出的一系列措施并无大刀阔斧的改革之势，可见其尚未意识到问题严重性。
[72] 大量收集。[73] 强调“无证据地假设”。如前文所述，脸书的广告收益始终在上升，并无明确证据表明会下降，只是上文提到的is forecast to dip this year for the first time，所以用assume。[74] 本义“炼金术”，即将普通金属转化为贵金属，在化学上属无中生有。本句使用alchemy，也是针对脸书的商业模式——免费采集用户数据，却靠用户数据赚取暴利。alchemy作比喻义很常见，且褒贬皆可，本文是贬义，再举一褒义的例证：She practiced her alchemy in the kitchen, turning a pile of vegetables into a delicious salad.[75] 无广告地。-free与名词构成的合成词，既可作形容词，也可作副词。
[76] 后面省略了as now。新的商业模式固然不会像现在赚钱这样容易，但如果不转型，势必得到政府监管，情况会更加恶劣。[77] 表示“用于重复机械工作的计算机程序”。[78] 独立主格结构。returns表示“投资收益”，作此义时，常用复数。capped是形容词，表示“受到限制的”。[79] 注意与profit 区别。earnings表示“收益”，是由总收入减去生产成本，而profit还需再减去税、员工薪酬等，是净利润。[本段小结] 作者再次分析脸书形势之危急并提出应该建立新的商业模式。最后一句回到扎克伯格，脸书究竟何去何从还是要这位controls the firm’s voting rights的独裁者来决定。