Sonic boom

来源: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21719842-risk-one-japans-greatest-tech-tycoons-his-messianic-streak-masayoshi-son-goes?frsc=dg%7Ce

sonic英[ˈsɒnɪk] 美[ˈsɑ:nɪk]
adj. <物>音波的，音速的; 能发声音的;
[例句]He activated the door with the miniature sonic transmitter.
他用微型声波发射器开启了门。
sonic boom英[ˈsɔnik bu:m] 美[ˈsɑnɪk bum]
n. 音爆; 声震; 轰声;
[例句]The new aircraft creates a sonic boom.
那种新飞机会产生声震。
但是注意这篇文章说的sonic boom来源于孙正义先生，所以文章标题可以翻译为：孙声夺人

Masayoshi Son, a Japanese technology tycoon, begins a $100bn shopping spree

Masayoshi Son：
孙正义：1957年出生于日本，国际知名投资人。软件银行集团董事长兼总裁。
1978年，孙正义毕业于美国加州大学伯克利分校。1981年创建软银集团，短短33年成了一个信息技术帝国。美国《商业周刊》杂志把孙正义称为电子时代大帝（Cyber Mogul）。2014年9月16日，随着阿里巴巴登陆美股市场，孙正义的财富净值涨至166亿美元，跻身日本首富。（图为马云和孙正义合照）

tycoon 英[taɪˈku:n] 美[taɪˈkun]
n. 大亨; <日><史>大君; 将军; <口>企业巨头;
[例句]a self-made Irish property tycoon.
白手起家的爱尔兰房地产巨头
spree 英[spri:] 美[spri]
n. 狂欢; 欢闹; 无节制的狂热行为;
vi. 狂欢; 狂饮;
[例句]Some Americans went on a spending spree in December to beat the new tax.
一些美国人在12月疯狂花钱，以避开新税。

IF YOU want to find a spectacular vision of the future, Silicon Valley is not the only place to look. In Tokyo Masayoshi Son, the boss of Soft Bank, a Japanese telecoms group, is starting an investment fund worth $100bn which, he hopes, will make him the Warren Buffett of technology. “Masa” is no stranger to risky bets: Soft Bank was an early investor in Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce company, and has sunk $22bn in Sprint, a struggling American telecoms firm. Now he has been seized by the kind of Utopian fever that would make the Sage of Omaha choke on his Cherry Coke.

spectacular 英[spekˈtækjələ(r)] 美[spɛkˈtækjəlɚ]
adj. 惊人的; 场面富丽的，壮观的; 引人注意的; 惊动一时的;
n. 壮观的场面，精彩的表演; 〈美〉一小时半以上的大场面电视节目; 特大霓虹灯广告;
[例句]They have revamped the business with spectacular success
他们成功地调整了业务，成绩斐然。
utopian 英[ju:'təʊpɪən] 美[juˈtopiən]
adj. 乌托邦的; 空想的; 不切实际的;
n. 空想的社会主义者，空想家; 乌托邦居民;
[例句]He was pursuing a utopian dream of world prosperity
他怀揣着一个实现世界繁荣的乌托邦之梦。

长难句：
In Tokyo Masayoshi Son, the boss of Soft Bank, a Japanese telecoms group, is starting an investment fund worth $100bn which, he hopes, will make him the Warren Buffett of technology.
In Tokyo介词短语，修饰语，删掉不影响句子架构，在这里表地点的，意思是在东京。
Masayoshi Son：人名放在句首作句子的主语。
the boss of Soft Bank：主语之后打逗号是插入语，插入语往往两个逗号隔开，这里两个逗号中间的名词作主语Masayoshi Son的同位语。解释说孙正义是软银的老板。
之后还是继续两个逗号中间给出插入语a Japanese telecoms group修饰Soft Bank，说明软银是一家日本电信公司。
插入语都删掉之后给出了谓语动词is starting
an investment fund宾语
worth $100bn分词结构修饰investment fund，价值1000亿的投资基金。
Which引导的定语从句修饰investment fund，
从句内部主语which充当，he hopes是插入语，删掉，谓语动词是will make
make“使得什么怎么样”后面常跟宾语及补足语，这里宾语是him，补足语the Warren Buffett of technology
句意：在东京，日本电信集团软银的老板孙正义正在启动一个1000亿美元的投资基金，希望藉此成为科技界的巴菲特。

Mr Son, who is 59, believes that the world will soon encounter what is known as the Singularity, the point at which artificial intelligence exceeds the human kind. The brains of people and machines will become enmeshed. Every person will have over 1,000 devices linked by a seamless global network, with the data analysed by machines in the cloud. As well as smart glasses, people will wear smart shoes and every car and washing machine will link up to the web. This internet revolution, says Mr Son, will be more momentous than the first.

Singularity 英[ˌsɪŋgjuˈlærəti] 美[ˌsɪŋɡjəˈlærɪti]
n. 奇点; <正>异常; 奇怪; 奇特;
[例句]The bifurcation problems with trivial solution is discussed by using the methods in singularity theory.
利用奇点理论的思想和方法研究了具有平凡解的分支问题。
enmeshed 英[ɪn'meʃd] 美[ɪn'meʃd]
v. 使陷入（网中）( enmesh的过去式和过去分词 );
[例句]All too often they become enmeshed in deadening routines.
他们时常陷入枯燥的日常事务之中。
seamless 英[ˈsi:mləs] 美[ˈsimlɪs]
adj. 无缝的; 无漏洞的;
[例句]It was a seamless procession of wonderful electronic music.
这是一曲优美流畅的电子乐曲。
momentous 英[məˈmentəs] 美[moʊˈmentəs]
adj. 重大的; 重要的;
[例句]The past three years have been among the most momentous in world history.
过去的3年是世界历史上最重要的时期之一。
长难句：
Mr Son, who is 59, believes that the world will soon encounter what is known as the Singularity, the point at which artificial intelligence exceeds the human kind.
Mr Son名词放在句首作主语，
主语之后打逗号因为插入语，
这里who is 59是插入语，两个逗号隔开，
第二个逗号后面给出谓语动词believes，
而believes后面跟的是that引导的宾语从句，说明其认为的内容。
宾语从句内部主干是the world will soon encounter，宾语是what引导的宾语从句。
从句中出现singularity是一个专有名词，后面又跟了the point名词作其同位语。
At which引导定语从句继续修饰the point。
架构分析清楚之后，我们来看句子含义：
句意：现年59岁的孙正义相信世界将很快来到人工智能超越人类智慧的所谓“奇点”。

He has begun making acquisitions. Last year he spent $31bn buying Britain’s ARM Holdings, which designs the chips in mobile devices (it will be owned jointly by Soft Bank and the fund). He also invested a total of $2bn in One Web and Intelsat, two satellite-technology firms that aim to launch thousands of microsatellites to orbit the Earth providing high-speed internet access.
Tech firms around the world are bracing for more swoops by Mr Son, who says his aim is to build a business empire lasting 300 years. What he doesn’t mention is that he also wants to prove beyond all doubt that his fortune is due to skill, not one lucky deal.

acquisition 英[ˌækwɪˈzɪʃn] 美[ˌækwɪˈzɪʃən]
n. 收购; 获得; 购置物; 获得物;
[例句]How did you go about making this marvellous acquisition then?
那么你是怎么买到这一绝品的？
swoop 英[swu:p] 美[swup]
vi. （鹰） 俯冲，猛冲; 突然扑向;
vt. 出其不意的抓起;
n. 飞扑，攫取; [航] 下扑;
[例句]The terror ended when armed police swooped on the car
武警突袭了这辆车从而制止了这起恐怖活动。

长难句：
He also invested a total of $2bn in One Web and Intelsat, two satellite-technology firms that aim to launch thousands of microsatellites to orbit the Earth providing high-speed internet access.
He also invested a total of $2bn in One Web and Intelsat这是句子主干部分，相对简单直接，他投资了共20亿美金给One Web和Intelsat,
后面two satellite-technology firms是One Web和Intelsat的同位语。
that aim to launch thousands of microsatellites to orbit the Earth providing high-speed internet access定语从句作firms的后置定语。
定语从句内部架构也复杂，主干是aim to do sth，再后面to orbit是不定式作名词microsatellites的后置定语的。
句意：他还向卫星科技公司One Web和Intelsat总共投资了20亿美元，这两家公司计划向地球轨道发射数以千计的微型卫星来提供高速互联网的接入。

Mr Son believes he has anticipated successive paradigm shifts in technology. The son of an ethnic-Korean pig farmer, whose childhood was spent in a shack in southern Japan, Masa wept joyfully when, as a teenager, he first saw a picture of a microchip. He learned programming while at the University of California, Berkeley, then in the 1980s sold software in Japan. He was an early
investor in internet firms, buying a share of Yahoo in 1995 and the Alibaba stake in 1999. Later he invested in mobile telecoms, first in 2006 with his purchase of Vodafone’s Japanese mobile arm and then of Sprint in 2013. Now SoftBank is huge, with an enterprise value (its market value plus its net debt) of$193bn.

paradigm 英[ˈpærədaɪm] 美[ˈpærəˌdaɪm, -ˌdɪm]
n. 范例，样式，模范; 词形变化表;
[例句]He had become the paradigm of the successful man.
他已经成为成功人士的典范。
[其他] 复数：paradigms
shack 英[ʃæk] 美[ʃæk]
n. 窝棚，简陋的小屋; <俚>无线电收发室; <美>游民; 驽马，废马;
vi. 未婚而同居; 居住，暂住; <口>追到，拣起并把（球）丢回去;
[例句]They have since knocked down the shack.
从那以后他们拆掉了简陋的棚屋。

Yet Mr Son’s career is still defined by Alibaba. In 1999 he was visited in Tokyo by Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai, co-founders of a fledgling website in Hangzhou. Mr Son tapped on a calculator as they haggled and agreed that SoftBank would buy 30% of the young firm for $20m. The deal was “based on my sense of smell”, Mr Son said later. Now Alibaba’s market value is $270bn, and,
after selling some shares last year, SoftBank still owns 28%.

fledgling 英[ˈfledʒlɪŋ] 美[ˈflɛdʒlɪŋ]
n. （刚学会飞的） 幼鸟; 无经验的人; 乳臭小儿;
adj. 刚开始的; 无经验的;
[例句]Iran also helped to set up Sudan's fledgling arms industry, now the third-largest in Africa.
伊朗也帮助苏丹建立了年轻的军火产业，目前它的规模在非洲排名第三。
haggle 英[ˈhægl] 美[ˈhæɡəl]
n. 讨价还价; 争论;
vt. 乱劈; 乱砍; 使疲惫;
vi. 讨价还价; 争论不休;
[例句]Ella taught her how to haggle with used furniture dealers
埃拉教她如何和旧家具经销商砍价。

About 95% of SoftBank’s market value is accounted for by the Alibaba stake, so the rest of what it does, from telecoms to venture capital, may be worth little, once debts are deducted. Mr Son says that SoftBank has made an internal rate of return of 43% on all its other investments, excluding Alibaba, but the basis of his calculations is unclear. There have been triumphs—SoftBank made $5bn buying and selling Supercell, a Finnish gaming firm, between 2013 and 2016. But the group has produced little cashflow, and Mr Son’s deals have left it with $110bn of net debt.

deduct 英[dɪˈdʌkt] 美[dɪˈdʌkt]
vt. 演绎; 扣除，减去;
[例句]The company deducted this payment from his compensation
公司从他获得的赔偿金中扣去了这笔付款。
triumph 英[ˈtraɪʌmf] 美[ˈtraɪəmf]
n. 胜利; 巨大的成就; （成功的） 典范; （巨大成功或胜利的） 心满意足;
vi. 战胜; 获胜; 克服; 打败;
[例句]The championships proved to be a personal triumph for the coach, Dave Donovan
事实证明，在这次锦标赛中教练戴夫·多诺万取得了非凡的个人成就。

长难句：
About 95% of SoftBank’s market value is accounted for by the Alibaba stake, so the rest of what it does, from telecoms to venture capital, may be worth little, once debts are deducted.
About 95% of SoftBank’s market value这是句子主语，about 95% of这都属于数字类词汇修饰后面的名词，名词是核心。
谓语动词is accounted for这里account for是搭配，合起来看作句子的谓语。
这里使用被动语态，后面用by把account for动作的发出者接了出来，是the Alibaba stake。
So“因此”表结果。
the rest of what it does这是so后面从句的主语，from telecoms to venture capital是其同位语。
谓语动词是may be worth little,
once debts are deducted是一个条件状语从句
句意：软银集团约95%的市值都来自阿里巴巴的股份，因此除去债务后，集团旗下从电信到风险投资在内的其他业务可能价值无几。

So Mr Son has a minority investment in a great firm, but has yet to build one himself from scratch. And SoftBank’s poor finances are impeding his ambitions. Because his stake is only19%, he cannot raise cash by selling shares without weakening his grip on the firm. He could sell the rest of the Alibaba stake, but appears reluctant to let go altogether. Or he could try to broker a merger of Sprint with T-Mobile, another American telecoms firm, allowing SoftBank to rid its balance-sheet of Sprint’s $31bn of net debt. Until now antitrust regulators have opposed a deal. But Mr Son hopes that the Trump administration will be more amenable.

impeding 英[ɪm'pendɪŋ] 美[ɪm'pendɪŋ]
v. 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的现在分词 );
[例句]Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers.
坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
antitrust 英[ˌæntiˈtrʌst] 美[ˌæntiˈtrʌst, ˌæntaɪ-]
adj. 反垄断的; 反托拉斯的;
[例句]The jury found that the NFL had violated antitrust laws.
陪审团裁决全国橄榄球联盟触犯了反垄断法。
amenable 英[əˈmi:nəbl] 美[əˈminəbəl, əˈmɛnə-]
adj. （对法律等） 负责的; 易控制的; 经得起检验（或考查）的; 可用某种方式处理的;
[例句]The Jordanian leader seemed amenable to attending a conference
约旦领导人似乎愿意参加会议。

长难句
He could try to broker a merger of Sprint with T-Mobile, another American telecoms firm, allowing SoftBank to rid its balance-sheet of Sprint’s $31bn of net debt.
He could try to do sth是句子的主干部分
这里try to do的事情呢就是broker a merger of Sprint with T-Mobile
其中another American telecoms firm是T-Mobile的同位语
后面allowing在这里是句子的结果状语。前面整件事发生之后导致的结果。
Allow sb to do sth
这里的do sth就是rid its balance-sheet of Sprint’s $31bn of net debt。
句意：他可以撮合Sprint和美国另一家电信公司T-Mobile 合并，另软银摆脱资产负债表上Sprint高达310亿美元的净负债。

The alternative is partially to bypass SoftBank, which is what the new $100bn fund achieves. Mr Son will have more discretion over what to buy, free of grumbling public shareholders. Outside investors will give him huge firepower. Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund, for example, has promised to give him buckets of cash. The fund and its debts will be kept off SoftBank’s books.

discretion 英[dɪˈskreʃn] 美[dɪˈskrɛʃən]
n. 慎重; 考虑周到; 判断力，辨别力; 自行决定的自由;
[例句]Larsson sometimes joined in the fun, but with more discretion
拉森有时会和大家一起玩乐，但是显得更加矜持。
grumbling 英[ˈgrʌmblɪŋ]
adj. 喃喃鸣不平的，出怨言的;
v. 发牢骚; 抱怨( grumble的现在分词 ); 咕哝; 发哼声;
[例句]Nothing pleased him. He was always grumbling.
没有什么能使他满意，他总是发牢骚。

Investors in the new vehicle and owners of SoftBank shares should have three worries. First, while Mr Son’s ideas stand out for their intensity, they are not entirely original. Others in tech share his vision of ubiquitous, web-linked devices with their data crunched by machines, so the values of firms involved in these areas are sky-high; SoftBank paid 71 times earnings for ARM. Second, Mr Son can lose focus. Some of the startup she particularly admires, such as Uber and Airbnb, are only loosely related to his notion of the internet. Others are even more tangential. On March 20th SoftBank bought a $300m stake in WeWork, a trendy office-rental firm with a dizzying valuation. The third worry is governance. Mr Son’s mind skips from one obsession to the next. In 2014-15 he was briefly infatuated by India’s tech scene, for example, and appointed Nikesh Arora, an Indian-born former Google executive, as his heir apparent, only to ease him out a year later, in 2016. It is clear that one man with a messianic streak will dominate the fund as well as the running of SoftBank. Mr Son’s dual role also produces conflicts of interest: if there is a juicy deal, who benefits—the fund or the firm?

intensity 英[ɪnˈtensəti] 美[ɪnˈtɛnsɪti]
n. 强度; 烈度; 强烈; （感情的） 强烈程度;
[例句]Speech is made up of sound waves that vary in frequency and intensity.
语音是由不同频率和强度的声波组成的。
ubiquitous 英[ju:ˈbɪkwɪtəs] 美[juˈbɪkwɪtəs]
adj. 无所不在的; 普遍存在的;
[例句]In the US, the camcorder has become ubiquitous
便携式摄录机在美国随处可见。
tangential 英[tænˈdʒenʃl] 美[tænˈdʒɛnʃəl]
adj. <正>间接相关的; 次要的; 外围的; 略为触及题目的;
[例句]Too much time was spent discussing tangential issues
太多的时间花在了讨论那些无关紧要的问题上。
dizzying 英[ˈdɪziɪŋ]
adj. 令人昏乱的，灿烂的;
v. 使人眩晕的( dizzy的现在分词 ); 头昏眼花的; 引起头晕的; 愚蠢的;
[例句]Today, technology offers a dizzying number of choices for entertainment, information, and communication.
今天，科技在娱乐，信息和交流方面为我们提供了令人晕眩的选择。
Infatuated 英[ɪnˈfætʃueɪtɪd] 美[ɪnˈfætʃuˌetɪd]
adj. 热恋的，着迷的;
v. 冲昏头脑( infatuate的过去式和过去分词 );
[例句]He was utterly infatuated with her
他完全被她迷住了。
messianic 英[ˌmesiˈænɪk]
adj. 救世主的，以救世主自居的，救星似的;
[例句]The cult leader saw himself as a Messianic figure.
这个异教团体的领袖把自己看作救世主一般的人物。
streak 英[stri:k] 美[strik]
n. （与周围有所不同的） 条纹; （通常指不好的）特征（倾向） ; （不断经历成功或失败的） 一段时期;
vi. 快速移动; 加上条纹;
vt. 使布满条纹;
[例句]There are these dark streaks on the surface of the moon
月球表面有这样一些黑色的条痕。

长难句：
In 2014-15 he was briefly infatuated by India’s tech scene, for example, and appointed Nikesh Arora, an Indian-born former Google executive, as his heir apparent, only to ease him out a year later, in 2016.
In 2014-15时间状语，
he 是句子的主语，
本句子有两个谓语动词was infatuated 和appointed，两个动词通过and并列的。
第一个动词was infatuated后面用by接出了动作发出者India’s tech scene
第二个动词appointed sb as…任命某人为…这里的sb是Nikesh Arora, 后面名词an Indian-born former Google executive是他的同位语，进一步解释这个人什么来头。
only to ease him out a year later, in 2016这里only后面的内容是状语，修饰句子的主语。
句意：例如，在2014年至2015年，他短暂地迷上了印度科技界，并指出出生于印度的谷歌前高管尼科什.阿罗拉为自己的接班人，但仅仅在一年后也就是2016年就把他打发走了。

For Mr Son, these are quibbles that will fade into irrelevance over his 300-year horizon. He has said that, looking back on his first six decades, he regrets that he “focused too much on the daily routine and didn’t really think big.” So far only 3% of his brain power has been devoted to big investment decisions, he believes. Now more than half of his mental capacity will be directed at fulfilling his destiny. Masa is just getting started.

quibble 英[ˈkwɪbl] 美[ˈkwɪbəl]
n. 吹毛求疵的反对意见或批评，遁词，模棱两可的话;
vi. 使用遁词，含糊其辞，吹毛求疵;
[例句]Council members spent the day quibbling over the final wording of the resolution
委员会成员一整天都在为决议的最终措词争论不休。
horizon 英[həˈraɪzn] 美[həˈraɪzn]
n. 地平线; 范围; 界限; 眼界;
[例句]A grey smudge appeared on the horizon. That must be Calais, thought Fay
一个模糊的灰影出现在地平线上。那里一定是加来，法伊心想。
destiny 英[ˈdestəni] 美[ˈdɛstəni]
n. 命运; 天命，天数; 命运的三女神; 主宰事物的力量;
[例句]We are masters of our own destiny
我们是自己命运的主宰者。

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