第二步：精读重点段落

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

Reality distortion field

Companies that burn $1bn a year are sexy, dangerous, and statistically doomed

[1] YVES SAINTLAURENT, Lady Gaga, David Bowie. Some people do not operate by the same rules as everyone else. Might the same be true of companies? Most bosses complain of being slaves to short-term profit targets. Yet a few flout the orthodoxy in flamboyant fashion. Consider Tesla, a maker of electric cars. This year, so far, it has missed its production targets and lost $1.8bn of free cash flow (the money firms generate after capital investment has been subtracted). No matter. If its founder Elon Musk muses aloud about driverless cars and space travel, its shares rise like a rocket—by 66% since the start of January. Tesla is one of a tiny cohort of firms with a licence to lose billions pursuing a dream. The odds of them achieving it are similar to those of aspiring pop stars and couture designers.

• flout [flaʊt]  n.轻视;嘲笑;愚弄 vt. 藐视;嘲笑;愚弄 vi. 对…表示轻蔑
• orthodoxy [ˈɔ:rθədɑ:ksi]  n.正统;正统性;正教，信奉正教;正统派的观念[学说，做法等]
• flamboyant [flæmˈbɔɪənt]  adj.艳丽的;火焰似的;过分华丽的n.凤凰木;火焰色红花
• subtracted [səbt'ræktɪd]  adj. 减掉的，除去的v. 减，扣除，做减法
• cohort [ˈkoʊhɔ:rt]  n.（古罗马军队的）步兵大队，军队;一群人;同伙，共犯;支持者
• aspiring [əˈspaɪərɪŋ]  adj.有抱负的;有志气的;高耸的v.渴望;追求

[2] Investing today for profits tomorrow is what capitalism is all about. Amazon lost $4bn in 2012-14 while building an empire that now makes money. Nonetheless, it is rare for big companies to sustain heavy losses just to expand fast.

• capitalism [ˈkæpɪtlˌɪzəm]  n.资本主义（制度）;资本（或财富）的拥有

[3] But a few firms love life in the fast lane. Netflix, Uber and Tesla are tech companies that say their (largely unproven) business models will transform industries. Two others stand out for the sheer persistence of their losses.

• lane [len]  n.车道;小路，小巷;航道，空中走廊，规定的单向行车道;[篮球]罚球区

[4] Collectively these firms have burned $100bn in the past decade, yet they boast a total market value of about $300bn. Combining punchy valuations with massive losses means taking the entrepreneurial art form to a dizzying extreme. Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, was said to have a “reality distortion field” that allowed him to bend the perception of others The experience suggests that bending reality today has three elements: a vision, fast growth, and financing.

• punchy [ˈpʌntʃi]  adj.言简意赅的;简洁有力的;生气勃勃的;有分量的
• entrepreneurial [ˌɒntrəprə'nɜ:rɪrl]  adj.创业的，具有企业精神的;企业性质的

[5] Take the vision thing first. A charismatic leader with a world changing plan is de rigueur.

• charismatic [ˌkærɪzˈmætɪk]  adj.有魅力的;神赐能力的;神授

[6] The vision needs to be validated by runaway growth. Often firms emphasise a flattering operating measure, such as the number of rides hailed and so on. Investors need to believe in a high “terminal value”, a point in the future when high, stable profits will arrive.

[7] The third element is financing to pay for huge cumulative losses. Each of the five firms has been a financial innovator, taking advantage of cheap money and growth-hungry investors. Uber has tapped private capital markets, Nextera has structured part of its business as a partnership, Tesla has taken deposits from customers and also trades environmental tax credits. Chesapeake Energy sparked Wall Street’s lust for shale junk bonds, and Netflix has signed commitments to make $14bn of future payments to studios and artists to buy creative content.

• shale [ʃel]  n.[矿]页岩;泥板岩

[8] So sustaining a reality distortion field is possible, but the longer it goes on for, the harder it gets. More capital has to be raised and, in order to justify it, the bigger the firm’s projected ultimate size—its terminal value—has to be. Fast growth puts huge strain on managers. At some point the edifice can come tumbling down.

• distortion [dɪˈstɔrʃən]  n.扭曲，变形;失真，畸变;[心理学] 扭转

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

Reality distortion field

Companies that burn $1bn a year are sexy, dangerous, and statistically doomed

[1] YVES SAINTLAURENT, Lady Gaga, David Bowie. Some people do not operate by the same rules as everyone else. Might the same be true of companies? Most bosses complain of being slaves to short-term profit targets. Yet a few flout the orthodoxy in flamboyant fashion. Consider Tesla, a maker of electric cars. This year, so far, it has missed its production targets and lost $1.8bn of free cash flow (the money firms generate after capital investment has been subtracted). No matter. If its founder Elon Musk muses aloud about driverless cars and space travel, its shares rise like a rocket—by 66% since the start of January. Tesla is one of a tiny cohort of firms with a licence to lose billions pursuing a dream. The odds of them achieving it are similar to those of aspiring pop stars and couture designers.

• flout [flaʊt]  n.轻视;嘲笑;愚弄 vt. 藐视;嘲笑;愚弄 vi. 对…表示轻蔑
• orthodoxy [ˈɔ:rθədɑ:ksi]  n.正统;正统性;正教，信奉正教;正统派的观念[学说，做法等]
• flamboyant [flæmˈbɔɪənt]  adj.艳丽的;火焰似的;过分华丽的n.凤凰木;火焰色红花
• subtracted [səbt'ræktɪd]  adj. 减掉的，除去的v. 减，扣除，做减法
• cohort [ˈkoʊhɔ:rt]  n.（古罗马军队的）步兵大队，军队;一群人;同伙，共犯;支持者
• aspiring [əˈspaɪərɪŋ]  adj.有抱负的;有志气的;高耸的v.渴望;追求

[2] Investing today for profits tomorrow is what capitalism is all about. Amazon lost $4bn in 2012-14 while building an empire that now makes money. Nonetheless, it is rare for big companies to sustain heavy losses just to expand fast. If you examine the members of the Russell 1000 index of large American firms, only 25 of them, or 3.3%, lost over$1bn of free cash flow in 2016 (all figures exclude financial firms and are based on Bloomberg data). In 2007 the share was 1.4% and in 1997, under 1%. Most billion-dollar losers today are energy firms temporarily in the doldrums as they adjust to a recent plunge in oil prices. Their losses are an accident.

• capitalism [ˈkæpɪtlˌɪzəm]  n.资本主义（制度）;资本（或财富）的拥有
• doldrums [ˈdoʊldrəmz]  n.忧郁;无生气，沉闷;赤道无风带

[3] But a few firms love life in the fast lane. Netflix, Uber and Tesla are tech companies that say their (largely unproven) business models will transform industries. Two others stand out for the sheer persistence of their losses. Chesapeake Energy, a fracking firm at the heart of America’s shale revolution, has lost at least $1bn of free cash flow a year for an incredible 14 years in a row. Nextera Energy, a utility that runs wind and solar plants, and which investors value highly, has managed 12 years on the trot.

• lane [len]  n.车道;小路，小巷;航道，空中走廊，规定的单向行车道;[篮球]罚球区
• fracking液压破碎法（利用高压将水、化学物质和沙打到地下以获取天然气的方法，这样做会污染了地下水，从而导致雨水也受影响）
• trot [trɑ:t]  n.马的小跑;人快步走;摇摇摆摆学步的孩子;〈古〉老太婆v.小跑;快速前进;赶紧

[4] Collectively these five firms have burned $100bn in the past decade, yet they boast a total market value of about $300bn. Combining punchy valuations with massive losses means taking the entrepreneurial art form to a dizzying extreme. Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, was said to have a “reality distortion field” that allowed him to bend the perception of others (although Apple itself was fairly timorous, losing just $874 in its worst year, in 1993). The experience of the five suggests that bending reality today has three elements: a vision, fast growth, and financing.

• punchy [ˈpʌntʃi]  adj.言简意赅的;简洁有力的;生气勃勃的;有分量的
• entrepreneurial [ˌɒntrəprə'nɜ:rɪrl]  adj.创业的，具有企业精神的;企业性质的
• timorous [ˈtɪmərəs]  adj. 胆怯的，羞怯的adv. 胆怯地，羞怯地n.羞怯，胆怯

[5] Take the vision thing first. A charismatic leader with a world changing plan is de rigueur. For its first 23 years Chesapeake was led by Aubrey McClendon, a cocky Oklahoman who pioneered the process of blasting rocks to extract gas and oil (he died last year in a high-speed car crash). Reed Hastings at Netflix plans to destroy the conventional TV industry by selling films and shows over the internet. Like Mr Musk, Travis Kalanick, Uber’s tarnished former boss, dreams of changing how humans travel. Nextera is led by technocrats but their aim is grandiose—to usher in a new generation of energy technology.

• charismatic [ˌkærɪzˈmætɪk]  adj.有魅力的;神赐能力的;神授
• cocky [ˈkɑ:ki]  adj.狂妄自信的;骄傲的，自大的;过于自信的
• tarnish [ˈtɑ:rnɪʃ]  vt.& vi.（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗vt.玷污，败坏
• technocrat [ˈtɛknəˌkræt]  n.技术专家，专家政治论者，技术统治论者
• grandiose [ˈgrændioʊs]  adj.宏伟的;浮夸的;壮阔;沾沾自喜

[6] The vision needs to be validated by runaway growth. Often firms emphasise a flattering operating measure, such as oil and gas pumped from the ground, the number of rides hailed and so on. Investors need to believe in a high “terminal value”, a point in the future when high, stable profits will arrive. So it helps to show that, hypothetically, profits would gush if break neck growth were to stop. Uber says it is profitable in cities where it has operated longest, such as San Francisco. Nextera says that if it stopped investing in new capacity, it would make $6bn of free cash flow a year. Netflix amortises the cost of content over periods of up to five years, so reports an accounting profit even as it bleeds cash.

• gush [ɡʌʃ]  v.喷涌;迸出n.涌出;迸发
• amortise [ə'mɔ:taɪz]  v.摊还

[7] The third element is financing to pay for huge cumulative losses. Each of the five firms has been a financial innovator, taking advantage of cheap money and growth-hungry investors. Uber has tapped private capital markets, Nextera has structured part of its business as a partnership, Tesla has taken deposits from customers and also trades environmental tax credits. Chesapeake Energy sparked Wall Street’s lust for shale junk bonds, and Netflix has signed commitments to make $14bn of future payments to studios and artists to buy creative content.

• shale [ʃel]  n.[矿]页岩;泥板岩

[8] So sustaining a reality distortion field is possible, but the longer it goes on for, the harder it gets. More capital has to be raised and, in order to justify it, the bigger the firm’s projected ultimate size—its terminal value—has to be. Fast growth puts huge strain on managers. At some point the edifice can come tumbling down. The five companies described here have $60bn of borrowings, and one, Chesapeake, is struggling with its debt load.

• distortion [dɪˈstɔrʃən]  n.扭曲，变形;失真，畸变;[心理学] 扭转Poker face

[9] A few firms other than Amazon have defied the odds. Over the past 20 years Las Vegas Sands, a casino firm, Royal Caribbean, a cruise-line company, and Micron Technology, a chip-maker, each lost $1bn or more for two consecutive years and went on to prosper. But the chances of success are slim. Of the current members of the Russell 1000 index, since 1997 only 37 have lost $1bn or more for at least two years in a row. Of these, 21still lose money.

• defy [dɪˈfaɪ]  vt.蔑视;公然反抗;不服从;向…挑战n.对抗;挑战

[10] To justify their valuations, the five firms examined by Schumpeter must grow their sales by an estimated 8-33% each year for a decade. Based on the record of all American companies since 1950, and the five firms’ present revenue levels, the probability of this happening ranges between 0.1% and 25%, using statistical tables from Credit Suisse, a bank.

• Credit Suisse瑞士信贷集团公司总部所在地：瑞士主要业务：银行

[11] Firms that burn piles of cash are often lionised in an era when growth is sluggish and few companies reinvest all their profits. But losing a billion dollars or more a year is a wildly risky affair and the odds are that such businesses will fall flat. This should not be a surprise—hardly anyone can pull off building a fashion empire around androgyny, wearing a raw meat dress to an awards ceremony, or singing about life on Mars.

• sluggish [ˈslʌɡɪʃ]  adj.行动迟缓的，反应慢的;不机警的;懒散的，不活泼的;无精打采的
• androgyny [æn'drɒdʒɪnɪ]  n.雌雄同体;雌雄同体性