双语阅读｜经济寒冬即将到来？硅谷科技巨头发出黯淡信号

◆ 双语阅读

Google this week reported a steep decline in profits. Social media companies such as Meta said that advertising sales — the heart of their businesses — have rapidly cooled off. And Microsoft, perhaps the tech industry’s most reliable performer, predicted a slowdown through at least the end of the year. Tech companies led the way for the U.S. economy over the past decade and buoyed the stock market during the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, amid stubborn inflation and rising interest rates, even the biggest giants of Silicon Valley are signaling that tough days may be ahead.

翻译▼

谷歌本周报告利润急剧下降。Meta等社交媒体公司表示，作为业务核心的广告销售已经迅速降温。微软兴许是科技行业表现最可靠的公司，但也预计增长放缓将至少持续到今年年底。在过去十年中，科技公司引领着美国经济，并在新冠疫情最糟糕的日子里提振了股市。现在，在顽固的通货膨胀和利率上升的情况下，即使是硅谷最大的巨头都在暗示，艰难的日子可能即将到来。

Amazon, which had 798,000 employees at the beginning of 2020, is reining in expansion of its warehousing operations, mothballing buildings, pulling out of leases and delaying plans to open facilities. The company employed 1.52 million people in the second quarter, almost 100,000 fewer than at the end of March.Most companies would love to have the problems of the tech industry’s leaders. Between them, Google and Microsoft made $31.5 billion in profits in their most recent quarter. On Thursday Apple is expected to say that it made more than $20 billion in profits in a quarter that will otherwise be considered a disappointment.

翻译 ▼

亚马逊在2020年初拥有79.8万名员工，目前正在控制其仓储业务的扩张、封存建筑物、退出租约并推迟开设新设施的计划。该公司第二季度雇佣了152万人，比3月底减少了近10万人。大多数公司都巴不得遇到科技行业领导者的这些问题。谷歌和微软最近一个季度的利润为315亿美元。预计苹果公司将在周四宣布该公司在一个季度内实现了超过200亿美元的利润，除此之外这个季度的表现是令人失望的。

But their sudden slowdown is exposing a weakness. The big tech companies haven’t really found a new, very profitable idea in years. Despite years of investment in new businesses, Google and Meta still rely mostly on ad sales. The iPhone, 15 years after it upended the industry, still drives Apple’s profits. That has left some of them vulnerable to the disruptive upstarts that they once were. YouTube, which is owned by Google, and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram social media platforms are being upended by the much younger TikTok. Meta said on Wednesday that its profit in the most recent quarter was down more than 50 percent from a year ago.

翻译 ▼

但他们的突然放缓暴露了一个弱点。多年来，大型科技公司并没有真正找到一个能产生高利润的新点子。尽管多年来一直投资新业务，谷歌和Meta仍然主要依赖广告销售。iPhone在颠覆整个行业15年后仍然是苹果利润增长的推动力。这使得其中一些公司容易受到突破性技术初创公司的影响，而它们本身就曾是这样的公司。谷歌旗下的YouTube以及Meta的Facebook和Instagram社交媒体平台正在被年轻得多的TikTok颠覆。Meta周三表示，其最近一个季度的利润比一年前下降了50%以上。

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The slowdown has been more severe among companies in young markets like crypto and the gig economy but also the more staid chip makers. The value of Bitcoin has plunged by two-thirds this year, dragging a host of start-ups down with it. Uber, the ride-hailing pioneer, has slashed spending as investors have lost their patience with unprofitable businesses.

翻译 ▼

比特币的价值今年已经暴跌了三分之二，拖累了许多初创企业。由于投资者对缺乏盈利的业务失去了耐心，打车服务先驱优步已经削减了开支。

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Semiconductor companies are cutting spending on factories and machinery as sales of PCs, smartphones and appliances slow. Texas Instruments told financial analysts on Tuesday that the contagion is spreading to sales for things like heating controls and factory robots.

翻译 ▼

由于个人电脑、智能手机和家用电器的销售放缓，半导体公司正在削减工厂和机械上的支出。德州仪器周二告诉金融分析师，这种具有传染性的趋势正在蔓延到温控和工厂机器人等产品的销售上。

本文节选自：The New York Times（纽约时报）发布时间：2022.10.27

作者：TRIPP MICKLE

原文标题：Tech’s Biggest Companies Are Sending Worrying Signals About the Economy

◆ 词汇积累

1.buoyed

英/ bɔɪd /美/ ˈbuːid; bɔɪd /[水运] 浮标

2.upend

英/ ʌpˈend / 美/ ʌpˈend /v.使颠倒，倒放；（水中的鸭或其他鸟捕食时头部与前腹部潜入水中，尾部翘起）倒栽葱；（使某人）跌倒，翻转；（足球赛中）故意绊倒，铲倒（对方队员）

3.crypto

英/ ˈkrɪptəʊ /美/ ˈkrɪptoʊ /n.秘密赞同者；秘密党员

◆ 词组搭配

1.cool off 变凉；平静下来

◆ 写作句总结

原句：The slowdown has been more severe among companies in young markets like crypto and the gig economy but also the more staid chip makers.结构：The XX has been more severe among XX but also XX.例句：The problem of lying flat has been more severe among young people starting out in the workplace, but also among workers have years of experience.