Facebook's Name Change to Meta Reflects Common Corporate Tactic
Facebook更名Meta,反映了常见的公司策略
Meta:词根,意为“超越”“元”。下文对Metaverse有详细解释。
Tactic:策略,手段,招数
在这里要注意一下,虽然都是“策略”,但tactic与strategy是有区别的。
strategy指long-term goals to achieve a particular purpose,而tactic指the particular method you use to achieve the strategies,也就是说,前者是总体规划,后者是具体手段
再来几个例句,加深一下理解:
Is breakfast a necessary start to the day or a marketing tactic by cereal companies? 早餐是一天的必要开始,还是谷物公司的营销策略?
It's all part of an overall strategy to gain promotion. 这都不过是一个向上爬的完整计划的一部分。
Readers of this overheated but often on-the-mark polemic will conclude that the safest tactic is organic food and a fly swatter. 这场过热但经常中肯的论战的读者们会下结论,最安全的策略是有机食品和一个苍蝇拍。
Any economic strategy based on a weak dollar is destined to fail. 任何基于疲软的美元之上的经济策略都注定会失败。
Facebook Inc. said Thursday it would change its name to Meta, in an effort to rebrand and reflect its expansion into the metaverse, a concept rooted in science-fiction novels that refers to an extensive online world.
周四,Facebook公司宣布更名为Meta,重新定义公司品牌,意图向元宇宙领域进发。元宇宙这个概念来源于科幻小说,指的是一个广阔的网络世界。
Reflect常见含义有三种:
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映出(影像)
His face was reflected in the mirror. 他的脸映照在镜子里。
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反射(声、光、热等)
When the sun's rays hit the earth, a lot of the heat is reflected back into space. 太阳光线照射到地球时,大量的热被反射回太空。
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显示,表明,表达
Psychological researchers generally recognize that facial expressions reflect emotional states.心理学研究人员通常认为面部表情反映了情绪状态。
本句中,reflect则表达“显示”“表明”,替换词可以有show/display/reveal
Market research has shown us that people want quality, not just low prices. 市场研究告诉我们,人们需要的是高质量,而不仅仅是低价格。
These statistics display a definite trend. 这些统计数据表现出一种明显的趋势。
The report reveals that the company made a loss of £20 million last year. 报告显示,公司去年亏损2000万英镑。
Metaverse:
先来一起看一下wiki对metaverse的定义:
The metaverse (a portmanteau of "meta-" and "universe") is the hypothesized next iteration of the internet, supporting decentralized, persistent online 3-D virtual environments.
“Metaverse”一词由前缀“meta”(意为“超越”和“元”)和词根“verse”(源自宇宙“universe”)组成,直译为“元宇宙”。是通过虚拟增强物理现实,呈现融合性和物理持久性的特点,基于未来互联网,具有链接感知和共享特性的3D虚拟空间。
简单来说,就像电影《头号玩家》里的场景,很多互联网公司在设想,未来的某一天,人们可以随时随地切换身份,自由穿梭于物理世界与数字世界,在虚拟时空节点形成的“元宇宙”中学习、工作、交友、购物、旅游等。元宇宙,一个建立在区块链上的虚拟世界,是一个去中心化的平台,让玩家可以享受所有权和自主权。通过沉浸式体验,虚拟更接近现实。
Be rooted in: 来源于,深植于,起因于。Root的字面意思是“扎根”,所以A is rooted in B即表示A深植于/起源于B
This tradition is also firmly rooted in the past. 这个传统也牢固地植根于过去。
同近义替换词有:traceable/originate from/stem from/derive from/come of
The probable cause of his death is traceable to an incident in 1724. 他可能的死因是源于1724年的一次事故。
The tradition of eating cakes in September is originated from the ancient times. 九月吃糕的习俗自古有之。
This difference may stem from improved nutrition or other environmental factors. 这种差异可能来自于营养的改善或其他环境因素。
The complex style of the medieval wooden church carvings and the skills used to make them almost certainly to derive from the ancient Viking tradition. 几乎可以肯定,中世纪木制教堂雕刻的复杂风格和制作它们的技巧来自古代维京人的传统。
Some good might come of all this gloomy business. 某种好的结果也许会从这种惨淡的经营中产生。
A name change can be a signal to the market, competitors and advertisers of the broader shift in a company's focus and portfolio, even when its namesake product keeps the same title.
公司更名是向市场、竞争者及广告商发出信号,预示着公司重心和业务系列上的重大转变,尽管公司的同名产品并不会更名。
Portfolio本句中指“系列产品”。和公司相关时,portfolio一般有两种含义
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a set of shares owned by a particular person or organization (个人或机构的)投资组合,有价证券组合
The entire portfolio is worth $160,312. Of this amount, my investment is worth only $7,748.整个投资组合价值为$160312。在这当中,我的投资额仅为$7748。
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the range of products or services offered by a particular company or organization (公司或机构提供的)系列产品,系列服务
The company has continued to invest heavily in a strong portfolio of wines. 该公司继续大力投资一个强大的酒产品系列。
经常跟portfolio替换着用,也可以表示产品系列的词还有比如lineup:
a set of items, events etc. arranged to follow one another 节目安排;项目安排
Namesake同名人/物,在本文中则指“同名产品”
He is putting together a four-man team, including his son and namesake Tony O'Reilly Jr. 他在组建一个四人团队,包括和自己同名的儿子小托尼·奥赖利。
The up-to-three-inch-long (about seven-centimeter-long) leech has large teeth, like its dinosaur namesake Tyrannosaurus rex.这种体型长达三英寸(约合7厘米)的水蛭长有巨大的牙齿,科学家因此借用霸王龙的称呼为其命名。
"This transition from an initial product or service offering to a broader identity is fairly typical for large companies as they scale—and sometimes that does necessitate a name change," said Phil Davis, president at naming agency Tungsten Branding.
品牌命名机构Tungsten Branding总裁菲尔·戴维斯表示:“从初始产品或服务供应商转而成为一个更宽泛的品牌,这种转变常见于处于扩张中的大企业——有时的确需要更名。”
Scale含义很多,用作动词时常表达“change size”,也就是scale up/down. 但在这里,指“(企业的)扩张”,等同于expand。此含义另有一个名词形式scalability:
Nati Shalom wrote a blog about his impressions from the last QCon in San Francisco that touches on why start-ups don't deal with scalability from day one. 纳蒂·沙洛姆写了一篇博客文章,介绍了他在旧金山上一届 QCon 大会上留下的印象,其中谈到了为什么初创企业从一开始就不考虑可扩展性。
Facebook has been the subject of scrutiny lately, including its pursuit of younger users and how it responds to the misuse of products. "Both at the product level and at the umbrella-brand, parent-brand level, there's a lot of negative feeling about that at the moment. And they clearly want to launch this new strategic direction to say they're more than just Facebook."
最近,Facebook成了监管机构的主要审查对象,审查内容包括该公司争取年轻用户的手段,以及如何处理产品滥用问题。“此次审查给公司带来了许多负面情绪,无论是在产品层面,还是在伞型品牌或母品牌层面都是如此。而Facebook显然是希望通过推出这个新战略方向,表明自己不只是Facebook。”
scrutiny指详细审查
Foreign policy has come under close scrutiny recently.近来,政府的外交政策受到了认真彻底的审查。
动词形式为“scrutinize“
The statement was carefully scrutinized before publication.声明在发表前经过仔细审查。
同近义词有:
censor/examine/investigate/review
The news reports had been heavily censored.这些新闻报道已被大幅删剪。
The government today announced that press censorship was being lifted.该政府今日宣告说正在撤销新闻审查。
The agreement has been examined minutely. 协议经过了细致入微的审查。
The issue has led to a reexamination of censorship rules. 这件事导致了对审查制度的重新审视。
The FBI has been called in to investigate.联邦调查局奉命进行调查。
Work has temporarily come to a stop while the funding is reviewed. 资金审查期间工作暂停。
The case is subject to judicial review. 这个案子必须接受司法审查。
its pursuit of younger users其实是指expand their market reach。
misuse误用,滥用。词根是mis-,”the act of using something in a dishonest way or for the wrong purpose“。如:
alcohol/drug misuse 酗酒;滥用药物
the misuse of power/authority 滥用职权
再来几个例句加深理解:
The new law toughens up penalties for those that misuse guns.这部新法律加强了对滥用枪支者的惩处。
Misuse of a fire extinguisher will result in fines.滥用灭火器会被罚款。
另外常见的替换词是”abuse”
What went on here was an abuse of power. 这里发生的情况是职权的滥用。
The government is taking action to combat drug abuse.政府正在采取措施,打击滥用毒品。
umbrella-brand & parent-brand
对这两个词的理解可能要涉及到公司品牌战略:
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伞型品牌策略(umbrella-brand strategy):企业生产的所有产品均使用一个品牌,而这些产品的目标市场和市场定位可能都不一样,产品宣传的创意和组织活动分别单独进行,公司品牌是所有产品的伞品牌(umbrella brand)
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母品牌战略(parent-brand strategy):母品牌是指凌架于所有产品之上的、为所有产品共用的品牌。它下面可以根据不同的产品类别有不同的子品牌,例如:海尔是一个大品牌(parent brand),它包括空调、电冰箱、洗衣机等不同的产品。
If Facebook's new brand is able to solidify the company's standing in the metaverse space, that might help its success there, marketing experts say.
市场营销专家表示,Facebook的新品牌如果能巩固它在元宇宙领域的地位,那么也就可能帮助该公司在这个领域获得成功。
Solidify one’s standing巩固……的地位
常见替换词有strengthen/cement/consolidate/entrench/shore up
The publication of Great Expectations, which was both widely reviewed and highly praised, strengthened Dickens' status as a leading novelist.《远大前程》被广泛讨论,饱受好评,此书一出版便巩固了狄更斯作为顶级作家的地位。
The Back to the Future films cemented its place in the public consciousness. 影片《回到未来》巩固了其在公众意识中的地位。
Italy consolidated their lead with a second goal.意大利队的第二个进球巩固了其领先的地位。
And with worries over climate change and with the advance of green technology there are reasons to expect that 2010 will entrench the trend towards energy conservation even as economic growth resumes.
鉴于公众担心气候变化,加之绿色技术日益进步,我们有理由相信,即使经济复苏,2010年节能趋势也会更加强劲。
Amid weekend reports that Brown would be asked to make a repayment, he moved quickly to shore up his position.周末时的一篇报告曾指出,布朗将被要求作出偿还,他为巩固地位迅速采取了行动。
via 自由翻译日记
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