外媒选读｜脸书之劫(详注精读)

外媒选读｜脸书之劫（详注精读）

Epic Fail

注/王梓诚

The social-media giant faces a reputational crisis. Here is how it and the industry should ST year the idea took hold that[1] Mark Zuckerberg might run for president[2] in 2020 and seek to lead the world’s most powerful country[3]. Today, Facebook’s founder[4] is fighting to show[5] that he is capable of leading[6] the world’s eighth-biggest listed company[7] or that any of its 2.1bn[8] users should trust it.[1] take (a) hold 开始流行。that在此引导同位语从句，先行词为the idea。之所以从句与先行词分开，是因为从句较长，为避免主谓语间隔过大以致头重脚轻，遵从“尾重原则（end-weight principle）”，将从句后置。[2] “run for + 职位”结构，表示“竞选｛职位｝”，职位前不加冠词。此外，美式英语用run，英式英语多用stand。[3] 指代美国。作者不明说the United States，意在从结构上与下一句的leading the world’s eighth-biggest listed company相呼应。[4] 指代马克·扎克伯格。作者不明说Mark Zuckerberg或用he代指，一来避免重复，二来founder 也呼应president。[5] fight to do sth相当于try very hard to do sth，与上文seek to [do] 相呼应。[6] be capable of doing sth

不可说be capable to do sth。[7] 上市公司，近义表达还有public company、quoted company。[8] bn是billion的缩写，后文50m中m是million的缩写。[本段小结] 首段共两句话，分别以last year和today开头，意在今夕对比，借夕讽今：脸书创始人马克·扎克伯格连自己创办的公司都管理不好，无法赢得用户信任，又将如何在2020年美国总统大选中获得选民的信任呢？

News that[9] Cambridge Analytica (CA), a firm linked to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign[10], got data on 50m Facebook users in dubious, possibly illegal, ways has lit a firestorm. Mr Zuckerberg took five days to reply and, when he did[11], he conceded[12] that Facebook had let its users down in the past but seemed not to have grasped[13] that its business faces[14] a wider crisis of confidence. After months of talk about propaganda and fake news[15], politicians in Europe and, increasingly, America see Facebook as out of control and in denial[16]. Congress wants him to testify. Expect a

roasting.[17][9] that在此仍然引导同位语从句：Cambridge Analytica…got data…in…ways。主句主干为News has lit a firestorm。作者在此未遵从“尾重原则”，是为了突出lit a firestorm（引起轩然大波），这在英文中被称为“尾焦原则（end-focus principle）”，就是将需要强调的内容后置。

[10] 提到特朗普2016总统大选，呼应run for president in 2020。CA公司仅仅是用不正当手段获取脸书5000万用户的数据，便可影响2016总统竞选，何况马克·扎克伯格可轻松获取21亿（见上段）用户的全部数据，这对美国民主政治的影响当然不可小视。[11] 指replied，避免重复。[12] concede强调“不情愿地承认”，呼应took five days。[13] 注意区分grasp、understand、comprehend：understand强调理解之结果，comprehend侧重理解之过程，而grasp的完成式相当于understand。如：By this time, I understood / had grasped the basic principles of physics.（这时，我才懂得物理学的基本原则。）但此句不可写作“By this time, I grasped the basic [. . .] physics.”。[14] 表明更严重的信任危机发生在将来，与前文in the past相对。[15] 此前脸书曾多次被指投放政治广告（propaganda）和假新闻（fake news），干扰美国大选、英国退欧等重大政治事件。[16] out of control是“失控”，指扎克伯格管理不当；in denial是“拒绝认错”，呼应took five days 和conceded。[17] 祈使句，可译作“等着挨骂吧！”。注意，roasting作名词，常用单数。[本段小结] 围绕脸书“信任危机”展开，略述背景。

Since the news, spooked investors[18] have wiped 9% off Facebook’s shares. Consumers are belatedly waking up to the dangers of handing over data to tech giants that are run like