unicorn n.獨(dú)角獸,新興的科技巨頭

miraculous a.奇跡般的，不可思議的

world-beating a.舉世矚目的

cumulative a.累積的

discount v.打折，低估，認(rèn)為…不重要

supercharge v.增加…負(fù)荷，促使，促進(jìn)

justification n.辯護(hù)，理由，解釋

promiscuous a.雜亂的,濫交的

lease v.租用;出租

in full swing 全面開展，達(dá)到高潮

extrapolate v.推斷,外推

***to estimate sth or form an opinion about sth, using the facts that you have now and that are valid for one situation and supposing that they will be valid for the new one

hold one's nerve 保持冷靜

engineer v.設(shè)計(jì)，制造

Right now, mere ponies are being presented as unicorns: privately held tech firms worth over $1bn that are supposedly strong and world-beating — miraculous almost.

如今，區(qū)區(qū)小馬駒也被描繪成了（傳說中的）獨(dú)角獸：那些估值超過 10 億美元的私營科技公司，在人們眼中是實(shí)力雄厚，出類拔萃，近乎奇跡般的存在。

As we report this week, a dozen unicorns that have listed, or are likely to, posted combined losses of $14bn last year.

list v.上市

正如我們本周所報(bào)道的那樣，12 家已上市或可能要上市的獨(dú)角獸公司披露，僅去年的總虧損就達(dá)到 140 億美元。

Their cumulative losses are $47bn. Their services, from ride-hailing to office rental, are often deeply discounted in order to supercharge revenue growth.

這些獨(dú)角獸公司提供從叫車到辦公室租賃的服務(wù)，并常常通過給用戶大幅折扣來促進(jìn)營收增長(zhǎng)。

The justification for this is the Silicon Valley doctrine of “blitzscaling” in order to conquer “winner-takes-all” markets — or in plain English, conducting a high-speed land grab in the hope of finding gold.

為這種做法正名的是一種硅谷信條，這種信條講求為占領(lǐng)“贏者通吃”的市場(chǎng)而進(jìn)行“閃電式擴(kuò)張”，簡(jiǎn)單來說，就是不知道地里有沒有金子，但先搶占地盤再說。

The big worry is that the unicorns' losses reflect not temporary growing pains but markets which are contested and customers who are promiscuous.

這其中最讓人擔(dān)憂的是：獨(dú)角獸公司的虧損所反映出的并不是暫時(shí)的公司成長(zhǎng)期陣痛，而是服務(wù)市場(chǎng)的激烈競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和心猿意馬的用戶群體。

Compared with the earlier generation of firms, today a reaction is in full swing, including over digital taxes and data and content laws.

與早期互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司所面對(duì)的發(fā)展環(huán)境相比，今天來自監(jiān)管方的反噬達(dá)到了頂點(diǎn) —— 數(shù)字稅出臺(tái)，數(shù)據(jù)和內(nèi)容也頒布了相關(guān)法律。