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《经济学人》精读49:How Elon Musk does it

《经济学人》精读49:How Elon Musk does it

作者: VictorLiNZ | 来源:发表于2018-02-16 04:44 被阅读31次

接上文:

《经济学人》精读46:How Elon Musk does it (part 1)

《经济学人》精读47:How Elon Musk does it (part 2)

《经济学人》精读48:How Elon Musk does it (part 3)

One worry is that such intense focus, divided between two companies, cannot last—especially as Mr Musk endlessly plays around with yet more ideas, such as ultra-high-speed intercity travel (a scheme called “hyperloop” which he conceived of in 2013 and is now revisiting), novel tunnelling equipment to solve congestion on the streets (see article) and mind-computer interfaces to keep humans—or at least cyborgs—a step ahead of the AI menace (a startup called Neuralink). With Tesla seeming to need all the attention it could possibly get, these tangents appear self-indulgent. At the same time, for many of the faithful the endless flow of ideas further burnishes his image.

revisit: to go to a place again especially after a long period of time

menace: a dangerous or possibly harmful person or thing 

tangent: geometry --- a line that touches a sphere or circle at only on point

self-indulgent: allowing yourself to have or do whatever you want in a way that is excessive or wasteful

很多人担心Musk注意力被这两家公司平分,迟早都办法那么地关注细节,再加上他经常有各种不同的想法,在特斯拉这么需要迫切关注发展的时候,那些突如其来的想法就是一种奢侈浪费的行为了...


So Much For Subtlety

Another worry is that Mr Musk’s technological insight might let him down. For example, he believes that cameras and ever smarter software will be good enough to make Teslas fully autonomous.This puts a huge demand on the company’s AI team, and goes firmly against the technological grain. Other, currently more advanced, autonomous carmakers insist that lidar sensor systems are also vital. If they are right, Tesla will for the first time find itself on the technological back foot, and might even come to look unsafe (which would surely gall Mr Musk deeply).

And then there are the overly ambitious targets. Mr Musk routinely gets his teams to do things no one else can do, but they rarely pull it off by the date he originally set. Do not expect fleets of BFRs to head for Mars at any date he may suggest. Such dates are goadsas much as targets. They drive the enthusiasts—and him—even harder. This has often proved forgivable. “Even if he misses his deadline, we are betting that he will still get there first,” as one equities analyst puts it. The Falcon Heavy is a case in point. When Mr Musk unveiled the design in 2011, he said it would be on the pad in 2013. The task turned out to be a lot more difficult than that, and continual improvements to the Falcon 9 made it rather less necessary. But SpaceX was making money. Tesla is not.

另外一个忧虑就是Musk的技术方面的眼光也会让他玩完,就像他觉得无人驾驶汽车用相机就能完成感应工作,其他公司则觉得雷达是必要的

goad: to urge or force (someone) to do something


It may be that Mr Musk’s appeal will keep the company’s finances together. It may also be that, even in failure, he achieves his goals. Now there is one gigafactory, others may see its merits and build more. Now there is a market for high-quality electric cars, others will expand it. Indeed, if a truly big Silicon Valley fish wanted to do so, and Tesla stumbled badly, buying it might be a good way in.

Asked about a new space race after the Falcon Heavy launch, Mr Musk was enthusiastic: “Races are exciting.” They also let pacesetters guide the field. If you start a race in the direction you think people should be going, it may not, in the end, matter if you win.

And if Mr Musk does not personally deal the death blow to the internal-combustion engine, he will always have a gorgeous car in space to console him.

pacesetter: a person who runs ahead of the other runners in a race in order to set a pace

console: to try to make someone feel less sadness or disappointment

总结: Elon Musk真是一个值得敬佩的老板,敢为天下先,要把他的传记买来看!


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Results

Lexile®Measure: 1200L - 1300L

Mean Sentence Length: 16.38

Mean Log Word Frequency: 3.32

Word Count: 475

这篇文章的最后部分蓝思值是在1200-1300L, 适合英语专业大三的水平学习,是经济学人里一般难度!

使用kindle断断续续地读《经济学人》三年,发现从一开始磕磕碰碰到现在比较顺畅地读完,进步很大,推荐购买!点击这里可以去亚马逊官网购买~

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