本文來自外刊文章Profiting From Friendship

Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, only half-jokingly, call it the URL strategy. The three letters usually stand for Uniform Resource Locator—the unique address of any file that is accessible via the internet. But in the world of internet start-ups, URL has another meaning:?Ubiquity?first, Revenue Later.

硅谷的企業(yè)家半開玩笑地稱其為“URL策略”。這三個(gè)字母通常代表統(tǒng)一資源定位符，即能通過互聯(lián)網(wǎng)訪問的文件的唯一地址。但是對(duì)于互聯(lián)網(wǎng)初創(chuàng)公司來說，URL還有另一個(gè)含義:先讓社交網(wǎng)站無處不在，然后再考慮盈利。

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

近幾年來漢英考試當(dāng)中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)科普類內(nèi)容，這種內(nèi)容對(duì)于考生最大的影響是題材不熟悉，很容易一個(gè)字沒看懂，整篇文章的理解就會(huì)發(fā)生偏差，很多考生由于答到第二篇時(shí)間緊張，來不及把全文整體看完，就匆匆下筆，最后導(dǎo)致失分，因此我們?nèi)匀粦?yīng)該注意，在下筆翻譯之前至少應(yīng)該完成第一段的完整閱讀，給全文定一個(gè)良好的調(diào)子。

URL strategy, start-ups:這兩個(gè)概念是首段的文眼，必須準(zhǔn)確把握他的意思，才能夠了解整篇文章是有關(guān)于互聯(lián)網(wǎng)創(chuàng)業(yè)的內(nèi)容，這樣翻譯起來無論是在術(shù)語上還是在口吻上就都有了把握。

URL has another meaning:?Ubiquity?first, Revenue Later.這個(gè)地方在翻譯的時(shí)候也要注意，首先要知道url代表了一個(gè)新的意思，但同時(shí)又要非常清楚的了解，當(dāng)中無法進(jìn)行每一個(gè)單詞的對(duì)應(yīng)，因此只要翻出大一就可以了.這里比較難譯的是那個(gè)，Ubiquity? later.像這類的詞匯在英語當(dāng)中可以非常簡略，但是在漢語當(dāng)中就必須要把它所有的內(nèi)容都補(bǔ)齊，

This pretty much describes the strategy of most big online social networks, which over the past few years have concentrated on piling on users rather than worrying about profits. That has allowed them to build huge followings, but it has also raised a big question-mark over their ability to make money from the audiences they have put together.

這在很大程度上描述了大多數(shù)大型線上社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)的戰(zhàn)略，在過去的幾年里，這些社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)集中精力積累用戶，而不是擔(dān)憂如何盈利。這使得他們建立龐大的用戶群，也讓人質(zhì)疑他們是否有能力從用戶群中賺錢。

點(diǎn)評(píng):

這個(gè)段落理解的難度并不大，難在表達(dá)上，首先，原文對(duì)于用戶這個(gè)概念的表達(dá)非常豐富，使用了users，following和the audiences這些都是英語求雅替換的比較常見的表現(xiàn)，我們在翻譯的時(shí)候完全不必考慮是否每一個(gè)都需要換詞。

raised a big question-mark：這個(gè)用法在英語當(dāng)中是一個(gè)形象的說法，在漢語中我們只需要翻出他的意思，也就是質(zhì)疑，而至于其中的那個(gè)big，完全可以考慮翻成一個(gè)程度副詞，“非?！本涂梢粤恕２灰獮榱怂^忠實(shí)于原文，機(jī)械的將它翻成“畫一個(gè)大問號(hào)”，這種譯法不符合原文的文體。

And the issue is whether the social-networking industry can come up with a wildly successful form of advertising in the same way that Google has been able to make billions of dollars from the targeted ads that run alongside the search results it serves up.

現(xiàn)在的問題是，社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)行業(yè)能否想出一種非常成功的廣告形式，就像谷歌那樣，通過在提供的搜索結(jié)果中有針對(duì)性地投放廣告賺到數(shù)十億美元一樣。

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

而這個(gè)句子的難點(diǎn)在于整個(gè)句子比較長，一共五行，我們在翻譯的時(shí)候需要，有意識(shí)的加一些標(biāo)點(diǎn)，把句子斷開。這個(gè)句子的核心部分是一個(gè)比較級(jí)，比較急的后邊又帶了一個(gè)定語從句，因此我們在處理的時(shí)候，把第一個(gè)逗號(hào)段在廣告形式，第二個(gè)逗號(hào)段在谷歌那樣，將定語從句中“run alongside”簡單整合為投放一詞，并且把targeted因此由形容詞變成副詞，這樣這個(gè)句子的節(jié)奏感就比較好了。

Without such a?formula, runs the argument, social networks such as Facebook will never amount to much. Doubters claim that the networks face two big handicaps. The first is that people logged into social-networking sites are there to hang out with their friends, so they will pay no attention to ads. The second is that because the sites let users generate their own content, they will find it hard to attract advertisers because brands will not want to take the risk of appearing alongside examples of?profanity, obscenity or nudity—or all three at once.

有人認(rèn)為，如果沒有這樣的模式，那么Facebook等社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)將永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)有多大的價(jià)值。持懷疑態(tài)度的人聲稱，這些網(wǎng)絡(luò)面臨著兩個(gè)巨大的障礙。第一，人們登錄社交網(wǎng)站是為了同朋友交流,所以他們不會(huì)關(guān)注廣告。第二,因?yàn)榫W(wǎng)站允許用戶自行創(chuàng)造內(nèi)容,因此很難吸引廣告商，因?yàn)槠放粕虃儾辉敢獬袚?dān)廣告出現(xiàn)在污言穢語、色情內(nèi)容和裸體等內(nèi)容旁邊的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

runs the argument，就是有人論證說的意思。

amount to much直譯為賺到多少錢，轉(zhuǎn)譯為沒有多大價(jià)值，to hang out這個(gè)詞的本意是一起出去玩兒，由于是在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上，不能面對(duì)面，因此就翻譯成交流。

or all three at once：這個(gè)上下文比較清楚，所以可以省略。

The broader outlook for networking sites is more encouraging. One reason is that advertisers are being drawn to the leading sites by their sheer scale. Facebook's audience is bigger than any TV network that has ever existed on the face of the earth. Another thing that has attracted companies is the networks' ability to target ads with laser-like precision, thanks to the data they hold on their users' ages, gender, interests and so forth. Although there are still lingering concerns about brands appearing next to?racy?content, firms seem more willing to run this risk now that the networks' advertising proposition has become more compelling.

社交網(wǎng)站更長遠(yuǎn)的前景更令人鼓舞。其中一個(gè)原因是，廣告商正被領(lǐng)頭網(wǎng)站的巨大規(guī)模吸引。Facebook的受眾比世界上任何電視網(wǎng)絡(luò)都要多。另一件吸引公司的事情是，網(wǎng)站掌握用戶的年齡、性別、興趣等數(shù)據(jù)，能夠精準(zhǔn)地投放廣告。盡管人們?nèi)匀粨?dān)心品牌會(huì)出現(xiàn)在不雅的內(nèi)容旁邊，但公司現(xiàn)在似乎更愿意冒這個(gè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，因?yàn)榫W(wǎng)絡(luò)的廣告主題已經(jīng)變得越來越露骨了。

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

laser-like precision此處的比喻不用翻譯，直接翻譯為極其精準(zhǔn)的就可以了。

compelling.根據(jù)上下文翻譯得更深入一些。

In addition to advertising-driven business model, networks are already making healthy profits from sales of games and virtual goods. The beauty of this business for social networks is that the cost of producing and storing virtual inventory is minimal. Moreover, because these are closed markets, networks can fix prices at levels that generate fat margins. To some, the notion that big money can be made from selling?make-believe?items may seem?bizarre. But the practice?replicates?the physical presents that people give to one another to cement relationships in the real world.

除了廣告驅(qū)動(dòng)的商業(yè)模式之外，網(wǎng)絡(luò)已經(jīng)從游戲和虛擬商品的銷售中獲得了可觀的利潤。對(duì)于社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)來說，這一模式的魅力在于生產(chǎn)和存儲(chǔ)虛擬商品的成本幾乎為零的。此外，由于是封閉市場，網(wǎng)站可以將價(jià)格定在能產(chǎn)生豐厚利潤的水平上。對(duì)一些人來說，通過出售虛擬物品賺大錢的想法可能顯得有些怪異，但是，這種作法僅僅是照搬了人們?yōu)榱遂柟淘诂F(xiàn)實(shí)世界的關(guān)系贈(zèng)予有形禮物的行為。

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

The beauty of：這個(gè)可以具體的翻譯為魅力在于，或者好處在于minimal這個(gè)詞直譯是最小的，但在這里我們應(yīng)該把它翻譯成近乎為零。

But the practice?replicates?the physical presents that people give to one another to cement relationships in the real world.

這個(gè)句子翻譯的時(shí)候要注意搭配，因?yàn)橹髡Z是做法，到賓語的時(shí)候也應(yīng)該是行為。