Three kingdoms, two empires
三國鼎立，兩帝稱雄
★題目翻譯：
three kingdoms應該是借鑒了中國的《三國演義》，而中文翻譯也同樣借鑒了“三國鼎立”這個成語，相當于增補了一個動詞；
后半部分的two empires則為了和前面對應，同樣增補了動詞“稱雄”♂
這個增補詞語的選擇與正文所講述的內容有關，主要講了中國三大互聯網公司的發展現狀，其中阿里巴巴和騰訊發展勢頭迅猛而百度則被甩開，所以這里取“稱雄”作為動詞。
THERE was a time, not that long ago, when China’s big internet companies weredismissedby investors in Silicon Valleyasmarginalfirmswith a tendencyto copy Western products.Not any more. Today they are monsters with increasinglyheftyinternational ambitions.
就在不久前，硅谷的投資者還根本不把中國的大型互聯網公司放在眼里，認為它們不過是些邊緣企業，往往都是照搬西方的產品。時過境遷，今天這些中國互聯網公司已經長成了猛獸，在國際市場上的野心不斷膨脹。
★單詞
dismiss: V-T If you dismiss something, you decide or say that it is not important enough for you to think about or consider. 不予理會，比如：
Mr. Wakehamdismissedthe reports as speculation.
韋克厄姆先生把這些報道當作臆測而不予理會。
其他常用含義：
解雇 V-T When an employer dismisses an employee, the employer tells the employee that they are no longer needed to do the job that they have been doing.
marginal: ADJ If you describe people as marginal, you mean that they are not involved in the main events or developments in society because they are poor or have no power. 無足輕重的，比如：
The tribunals were established for the well-integrated members of society and not formarginalindividuals.
這個特別法庭是為社會中的主流人群設立的，而不是為了無足輕重的小人物。
其他常用含義：
邊際的 ADJ Marginal activities, costs, or taxes are not the main part of a business or an economic system, but often make the difference between its success or failure, and are therefore important to control. 邊際的
hefty: ADJ Hefty means large in size, weight, or amount. 龐大的; 沉重的，比如：
She was quite a hefty woman.
她是個相當高大的女人。
其他常用含義:
有力的 ADJ A hefty movement is done with a lot of force.
★翻譯tips
as-這里把介詞翻譯成了“認為”，動詞化。
with a tendency：譯為頻度副詞“往往”，而不是直譯成“有…的趨勢”。
Not any more. 英文文章中常見的一句話，“時過境遷”是個值得積累的中文表達，意思是隨著時間推移，情況發生了變化。
international ambitions：增譯，只譯為“國際野心”沒有任何含義，在根據語境增譯了“市場”，意思就通順了。
Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce group, handles more transactions each year than do eBay and Amazon combined.?Jack Ma, its chairman, pledges to serve 2bn?consumers around the world within 20 years. Tencent, which specialises in online games and social media, is now the world’s tenth most valuablepublic firm, worth some $275bn. Pony Ma?(no relation), its chairman, wants China to“preside overthe global tech revolution of the future”. But as the two firms become global forces, the third member of China’s “BAT” trioof internet giants, Baidu, an online-search firm that came to dominate the mainland market after Google left the country to avoid censorship, is lagging behind.
中國最大的電商集團阿里巴巴每年處理的交易量超過eBay和亞馬遜的總和，董事局主席馬云承諾要在20年內為全球20億消費者提供服務。專注網絡游戲和社交媒體的騰訊公司現在是世界第十大最有價值的上市公司，市值約2750億美元。董事長馬化騰（和馬云不是親戚）希望中國能“領導未來的全球科技革命”。中國互聯網三巨頭“BAT”中的第三位是百度。谷歌為避免審查制度退出中國后，百度便稱霸中國大陸的在線搜索市場。另外兩大巨頭已成為國際大公司，百度卻落在人后。
★單詞
馬云、馬化騰有“二馬”之稱，在外刊中一般都只使用他們的英文名字，前者Jack Ma，后者Pony Ma
public firm：上市公司。go?public 上市
preside over: to be in a position of authority at a time when important things are happening 負責（重要局面），比如：
The government seemed to be presiding over large-scale unemployment.
政府似乎正面臨著大規模的失業狀況。
其他含義：
1）to be the head of a company or organization 掌管，管轄，領導
2）to be in charge of a meeting or activity 主持
BAT trio：
1）trio：a set or group of three people or things三人組，三件套。主要是強調“三”這個概念，和原文中的trio of internet giants合起來就是常說的“三巨頭”。Trio還有一個意思是“三重唱，三重奏”，與之相關的獨唱（奏）、二重唱（奏）、四重唱（奏）分別是solo，duet，quartet
2）BAT-中國國內三大互聯網公司，B-Baidu百度、A-Alibaba阿里巴巴、T-Tencent騰訊。
美國也有類似的三巨頭，稱為“GAF”,即：G-Google谷歌、A-Amazon亞馬遜/A-Apple蘋果、F-Facebook臉書。
bn=billion 十億；mn=million 百萬；tn=trillion 萬億/兆
★長難句解析
Alibaba(主語), China’s biggest e-commerce group（同位語）, handles（謂語）?more transactions（賓語）?each year（時間狀語）?/than do eBay and Amazon combined(狀語).
不好理解的點在于than后面的部分，do代替了前面的handle，combined作后置定語修飾eBay and Amazon表示二者加起來的。涉及比較的句子中，如果謂語動詞是實義動詞，那么than后面的比較對象的動詞一般用do/did/does替代，并提到名詞前面。
But as the two firms become global forces（狀從）, the third member of China’s “BAT” trio of internet giants（主語）, Baidu（同位語）, an online-search firm（同位語）/?that came to dominate the mainland market after Google left the country to avoid censorship（定語從句，after是定從嵌套的狀從）/, is?lagging behind（主句謂語）.
這一句主語部分較長，官方的譯文并沒有嚴格按照英文的順序進行翻譯，而是根據中文的表達邏輯進行了調整。
1）先翻譯the third member of China’s “BAT” trio of internet giants, Baidu將短語譯成了句子。先翻這一句是因為前面分別介紹了阿里巴巴和騰訊，從這一句開始都是講百度，所以先把句子的主要對象引出來，再去翻譯它的情況。
2）an online-search firm?that came to dominate the mainland market after Google left the country to avoid censorship?把定語從句和先行詞也單獨譯成了一句。這一句主要按照時間順序翻譯，先說谷歌退出中國，再說百度占領市場，并且先行詞和定從中的market進行了結合，避免重復介紹百度，同時說清楚了它所占領的是什么市場。
3）介紹了百度之前的情況之后，在翻譯現在和另外兩家公司的對比，But as the two firms become global forces以及is?lagging behind兩部分。
這一個長句的翻譯很好的體現了中英文表達上邏輯的不同，這一句主要是按照以時間為線索，先介紹主體，再介紹主體過去和現在的情況。
All three firms differ from their Western peers in important ways. First, Western companies usually prefer to focus on a few core areas, whereas Chinese internet firms typically try to do everything from cloud computing to digital payments.?When this works,as withTencent’s wildly successful app, WeChat, the results can be impressive.
這三家公司與西方同行在幾個重要方面有所不同。首先，西方公司通常會聚焦幾個核心領域，而中國互聯網公司一般涉獵廣泛，從云計算到數字支付無不嘗試。這樣的嘗試一旦成功，結果便會非常可觀，騰訊大獲成功的應用微信即是如此。
★單詞
as with：正如，如同…一樣
★翻譯tips
When this works, as with Tencent’s wildly successful app, WeChat, the results can be impressive.
this-Chinese internet firms typically try to do everything from cloud computing to digital payments
as…WeChat 插入語放到了后面翻譯，先翻譯從句和主句
Second, with the exception of politicalcensorship, the internet sector in China is lightly regulated. Facebook, Apple and Google, in contrast, face increasing scrutiny. Chinese internet firms can achieve market dominationof a sortthat would attract close attention in other markets.
第二，拋開要接受政治審查這一點，中國互聯網行業的監管較為寬松；而Facebook、蘋果和谷歌則面臨日益嚴格的審視。以中國互聯網企業能達到的市場支配地位，換在其他市場，會受到監管機構的密切關注。
★單詞
censorship: N-UNCOUNT Censorship is the censoring of books, plays, movies, or reports, especially by government officials, because they are considered immoral or secret in some way. (官方對書刊、劇本、電影或新聞報道的) 審查，比如：
The government today announced that press censorship was being lifted.
該政府今日宣告說正在撤銷新聞審查。
中國的電影審查制度就用 film censorship；電影分級制度可以說film/motion picture rating system；（電影電視中）廣告植入 product placement
of a sort：一種，一類，sort可看做等于market domination
其他含義：of sorts/of a sort 勉強稱得上的，勉強算的，比如：
I have a conversation of sorts with a very drunk man at the bus stop.
The third difference is that they can succeed on a rapid and massive scale because the state-dominated economy is so inefficient. Often there is not even aphysicalinfrastructure toleapfrog—so-calledthird-tiercities, for example, often lack big retail centres. Nationwide there is one shopping mall per 1.2m people.
第三個區別是，由于國家主導的經濟效率低下，中國互聯網企業可以快速取得大規模成功。企業發展過程中通常甚至都沒有擋路的實體機構，比如在所謂的三線城市，往往都缺少大型零售中心。中國每120萬人才有一個大型購物中心。
★單詞
physical：實體的。實體店-physical store
leapfrog: V-T/V-I If one group of people leapfrogs into a particular position or leapfrogs someone else, they use the achievements of another person or group in order to make advances of their own. (利用別人成就) 超越，比如：
It is already obvious that all four American systems have leapfrogged over the European versions.
顯然，美國的全部4套系統已經超越了歐洲的版本。
third-tier：三線城市；second-tier：二線城市。或者也可以說tier two/tier three city
★翻譯tips:
a physical infrastructure to leapfrog：
1)infrastructure 通常譯為“基礎設施”，既可以是可數名詞也可以是不可數名詞，原文前面加了a，所以譯文將其具體化成“實體機構”，主要是指國有的機構。
2）按照順序應該是“對企業來說甚至沒有可以讓其超越的實體機構”，譯文直接轉換了角度，將“企業去超越實體機構”轉換成“擋路的實體機構”，更符合中文表達習慣。
A huge home market has not stopped the trio from fighting bloodyturf warsamong each other. The outcome to this battle is rapidly becoming clear. Tencent and Alibaba are surging ahead; a series ofown goalshas left Baidu far behind. The common jibe about Baidu among local experts is that it is becoming the Yahoo of China, a once-dominant search giant that sank owing to a lack of innovation and a series of managementblunders.
國內市場如此巨大，卻仍未能阻止這三巨頭相互廝殺搶奪地盤。這場戰斗的結果正迅速明朗。騰訊和阿里巴巴遙遙領先，百度則因自己一連串的烏龍球而遠遠落后。國內專家最常用來挖苦百度的一個說法就是它正在變成中國的雅虎。雅虎一度是占據市場主導地位的搜索巨頭，卻因缺乏創新和一系列管理失誤而沉淪。
★單詞
turf wars: a fight or argument over the areas or things you think belong to you 地盤之爭
turf：N-UNCOUNT
1）Someone's turf is the area which is most familiar to them or where they feel most confident. 地盤; 活動范圍，比如：
Their turf was St.Louis: its streets, theaters, homes, and parks.
他們的地盤是圣路易斯：它的街道、劇院、住宅和公園。
2）草皮
own goal：
1）a goal that you accidentally score against your own team without intending to in a game of football, hockey etc. 烏龍球（足球、曲棍球等比賽中）
2）an action?or remark that has the opposite effect from what you intended （不利于自己的）錯事，蠢話，自打嘴巴 ，比如：
The minister’s admission turned out to be a spectacular own goal.
這位部長的招認結果成了引人注目的自打嘴巴。
leave behind：把…落在后面（常用被動），比如：
In class, a child with poor eyesight can soon be left behind.
在課堂上，視力不好的孩子很快就會落在別人的后面。
近義詞：lag behind 落后于（與be left behind同義），比如：
Britain is lagging behind the rest of Europe.
英國落后于歐洲其他國家。
blunder：
1）N-COUNT A blunder is a stupid or careless mistake. 愚蠢錯誤，比如：
I think he made a tactical blunder by announcing it so far ahead of time.
我認為他如此提早宣布消息是犯了戰術上的錯誤。——可以替換mistake
2）V-I If you blunder, you make a stupid or careless mistake. 犯愚蠢錯誤，比如：
No doubt I had blundered again.
不用說我又犯了個蠢錯。
3）V-I If you blunder into a dangerous or difficult situation, you get involved in it by mistake. 誤入 (危險境地或困境)，比如：
People wanted to know how they had blundered into war, and how to avoid it in the future.
人們想弄清他們怎么會錯誤地卷入戰爭，將來如何才能避免這樣的事。
4）V-I If you blunder somewhere, you move there in a clumsy and careless way. 跌跌撞撞地走，比如：
He had blundered into the table, upsetting the flowers.
他撞上了桌子，打翻了花。
★翻譯tips
The common jibe about Baidu among local experts is that it is becoming the Yahoo of China, a once-dominant search giant that sank owing to a lack of innovation and a series of management blunders.
1）The common jibe about Baidu among local experts：國內專家最常用來挖苦百度的一個說法——jibe-詞性轉換，譯為動詞；增譯“一個說法”
2）a once-dominant search giant that sank owing to a lack of innovation and a series of management blunders.?同位語，介紹Yahoo的情況，譯文中以“雅虎”為主語重啟一句。
Its revenue growth fell to 6.3% in 2016, down from 35% in 2015 and 54% in 2014. The firm gets some nine-tenths of its revenues from online ads, but this income is plunging as marketers redirect spending from search ads on Baidu to social-media networks like WeChat and mobile-commerce platforms run by Alibaba. Meanwhile, Baidu isburning cashtrying to keep its various big bets on artificial intelligence (AI), online video, virtual and augmented-reality technologies, and “online to offline” (O2O) services going. One of China’s most respected business consultants is pessimistic about its future: “There is very little chance they’ll be relevant in five years.”
百度的收入增長率在2016年下降至6.3%，遠低于2015年的35%和2014年的54%。公司收入約九成都來自在線廣告，但由于商家把花在百度搜索廣告的錢轉投至微信這樣的社交媒體網絡以及阿里巴巴運營的移動商務平臺，百度的收入大幅下滑。同時，百度還在燒錢維系它的幾個大賭注：人工智能（AI）、在線視頻、虛擬和增強現實技術，以及“線上到線下”（O2O）服務。中國最受尊敬的商業顧問之一對百度的未來持悲觀態度：“五年以后很可能就沒百度什么事了。”
★單詞
burn cash：花錢，燒錢。跟中文的“燒錢”意思相通。
★翻譯tips
There is very little chance they’ll be relevant in five years.
五年以后很可能就沒百度什么事了
正說反譯，原句中未出現not之類的否定詞，而在翻譯中則用到了“沒”這個中文中的否定詞。
