滴滴出行的总裁柳青成为烧钱大战的赢家

 　　Last September, Jean Liu, president of Didi Kuaidi (now Didi Chuxing), had the unenviable task of explaining why it was losing huge amounts of money in a subsidy¹ war with Uber, with no end in sight.

　　去年9月，滴滴快的(现更名为滴滴出行)总裁柳青(Jean Liu)的棘手任务是，解释该公司为何在与优步(Uber)的补贴大战中亏损巨额资金，而且这种状况看不到结束的迹象。

　　Rather than duck, she took the question head on: “We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for burning cash,” she said.

　　她没有选择回避，而是直截了当地回答： “不烧钱我们走不到今天这一步。”

　　She was right, and continued to be so. The oft-quoted line became an anthem² for Didi, as it went head-to-head with Uber in losing billions of dollars subsidising riders and drivers in a bid for market share.

　　她的话在当时是对的，现在依然是对的。随着滴滴与优步短兵相接，为争夺市场份额不惜亏损数十亿美元补贴乘客和司机，这句经常被引用的话变成了滴滴的凯歌。

　　Finally, Ms Liu, credited as the brains behind Didi’s ability to raise money and burn it at a jaw-dropping pace, was vindicated³ this week, as Didi vanquished⁴ Uber in a war of nerves (and cash).

　　上周，随着滴滴在这场胆略（及资金）的较量中彻底击败优步，柳青终于证明了自己的正确。人们认为，滴滴能够筹集资金并以令人瞠目结舌的速度烧钱，就是她在运筹帷幄。

　　Uber is retreating from China, albeit⁵ with a 20 per cent stake in Didi, after losing $1bn last year, though Didi probably lost even more. Uber “has done better than any Silicon⁶ Valley company in China”, she said charitably, in a joint⁷ letter to Didi staff with Cheng Wei, the company’s chairman.

　　去年亏损10亿美元之后，优步正在撤出中国——尽管其获得了滴滴20%的股份（滴滴去年可能亏损更多）。在与滴滴首席执行官程维联名发给滴滴员工的一封公开信中，柳青盛赞优步是“历史上硅谷公司在中国做到过最好的”。

　　The Harvard and Peking University-educated scion⁸ of a Chinese tech dynasty, Ms Liu sits at the nexus⁹ of the Chinese and US technology aristocracies — her father is Liu Chuanzhi, who founded Lenovo, the computer maker¹⁰ that bought IBM’s PC business in 2005 and subsequently became the largest PC maker in the world.

　　毕业于哈佛大学(Harvard University)和北京大学(Peking University)的柳青是“科二代”，身处中美科技巨头的中枢——她的父亲柳传志创立的联想(Lenovo)于2005年收购了IBM的个人电脑业务，随后成为世界最大的个人电脑制造商。

　　Ms Liu told the Chinese press that she followed the life plan laid out by her father — study abroad and work abroad to gain experience, but then come back to China.

　　柳青曾对中国媒体表示，她一直遵循父亲为她制定的人生规划——出国留学，在海外工作以积累经验，然后回到中国。

　　After a masters at Harvard in computer science, Ms Liu cut her teeth at Goldman Sachs, starting in 2002 as a junior analyst¹¹ and working her way up to managing director. She quit banking¹² to join Didi in 2014, and promptly¹³ made her mark by masterminding the merger¹⁴ between Didi and Kuaidi, which was then its chief rival.

　　获得哈佛大学计算机科学硕士学位后，柳青加入高盛(Goldman Sachs)，2002年从初级分析师做起，一步步晋升为董事总经理。2014年，柳青离开银行业加盟滴滴，并迅速做出了成绩——策划滴滴与当时主要竞争对手快的合并。

　　As president at Didi, sharing power with Mr Cheng, Ms Liu became the international face of the company and its chief dealmaker and fundraiser through the Uber “cash burn” wars.

　　柳青在滴滴担任总裁，与程维共同执掌公司。在这个位置上，她成为滴滴在国际上的代言人，并在滴滴与优步的“烧钱”大战全过程中统领交易和筹款事务。

　　The best advice from her father, she says, was “don’t listen to what investors¹⁵ say, but what they do” — and while Didi’s financiers continued to press the company to stop the costly¹⁶ price war with Uber, they still poured money into the company.

　　她说，父亲给她的最佳忠告是，“不要听投资者说什么，而要看他们做什么”——虽然滴滴的投资者一直在敦促该公司停止与优步进行代价高昂的价格大战，但他们仍将大量资金投入滴滴。

　　In May, Ms Liu won a $1bn investment from Apple — a rare mark of approval from the iPhone maker. She went on to raise a further $6bn for Didi in June, a record for a Chinese start-up.

　　今年5月，柳青获得了来自苹果(Apple)的10亿美元投资——这是一罕见之举标志着这家iPhone制造商对滴滴的认可。6月，她又为滴滴筹得60亿美元，创下中国创业型企业筹资记录。

　　As one of the most prominent woman leaders in Chinese tech, Ms Liu also made waves last year when she announced internally that she was being treated for breast cancer at the age of 37. A Didi spokesperson said Ms Liu is now “fine”.

　　作为中国科技业最知名的女性领导者之一，柳青也曾在去年引起轰动——时年37岁的她在公司内部宣布自己正在接受乳腺癌治疗。滴滴发言人表示，柳青现在“很好”。

　　“She has been in all-in mode for quite some time,” she said.

　　“很长时间以来，她一直处于全身心投入的状态，”她说。

　　This week, however, she was barely seen and gave no press interviews other than the joint letter and a bland¹⁷ press statement, leading to questions about why the friendly, English-speaking face of Didi was publicly absent during the company’s biggest foreign acquisition.

　　然而，上周，除了那封联名公开信以及一份四平八稳的新闻声明，她几乎没有现身，也没有接受过任何媒体采访。这不禁让人疑惑，为什么滴滴这张亲切、讲英语的面孔未在滴滴进行它最大的一笔海外收购期间公开露面。

　　“Management is now focusing on internal communications and integration,” said a spokesperson for the company.

　　滴滴发言人表示：“管理层现在正聚焦于公司内部的沟通与整合。”

 

1 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

2 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

3 vindicated   

v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• I have every confidence that this decision will be fully vindicated. 我完全相信这一决定的正确性将得到充分证明。
• Subsequent events vindicated the policy. 后来的事实证明那政策是对的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 vanquished   

v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制

参考例句：

• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I vanquished her coldness with my assiduity. 我对她关心照顾从而消除了她的冷淡。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

6 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

8 scion   

n.嫩芽，子孙

参考例句：

• A place is cut in the root stock to accept the scion.砧木上切开一个小口,来接受接穗。
• Nabokov was the scion of an aristocratic family.纳博科夫是一个贵族家庭的阔少。

9 nexus   

n.联系；关系

参考例句：

• Shared ambition is the vital nexus between them.共同的志向是把他们联结在一起的重要纽带。
• Either way,the nexus between the consumer and consumer prices is important.无论那个方面，消费者与消费价格之间的关系是至关重要的。

10 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

13 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

14 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

15 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

16 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

17 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。