2017考研英語閱讀《經濟學人》：中國的打車軟件

考研英語來源：中公考研 2016-02-25　

Car-hailing apps in China

中國的打車軟件

More than mobility

不只是客運

The ambitions of Didi Kuaidi, Uber's Chinese rival, gofar beyond taxi-hailing

作為Uber的競爭對手，滴滴快的不再只限于召喚出租車。

FOREIGN internet giants often struggle in China. Facebook, Twitter and Google are largelyirrelevant on the mainland. Uber, an American car-hailing app that is conquering marketseverywhere else, is also finding China hard to crack. But unlike those other tech titans, the taxidisrupter is not being frozen out by unfair Chinese regulations favouring local firms. Uber'sbiggest problem is that it has encountered a world-class local upstart.

國際互聯網巨頭經常在中國栽跟頭。Facebook, Twitter和Google基本上都無法涉足這個市場。就連在世界其他地方都所向披靡的美國打車軟件Uber(優步)，也認為中國市場難以攻克。然而，不像其他科技巨頭那樣，Uber所面臨的最大難題，不是中國政府對本土企業的偏袒政策，而是，它遇上了有世界級水平的本土競爭對手。

Didi Kuaidi was forged last year by the merger of rival taxi-hailing apps controlled by Alibabaand Tencent, two Chinese internet giants. It now dominates China's online market for personaltransport. Last year it arranged 1.4 billion rides in China, more than Uber has done worldwidein its history. It has perhaps two-thirds of the market for private-car rides (the source of mostof its revenues) and provides a taxi-hailing service in several hundred cities. Uber, with a thirdof the market for private-car service, this week announced plans to expand to cover 55Chinese cities. Both have spent heavily on subsidies to lure drivers to sign up.

去年，由中國互聯網兩大巨頭阿里巴巴和騰訊分別控制的滴滴打車和快的打車合并為滴滴快的。如今，它主導了中國線上個人交通市場，去年僅在中國就接單14億次，比Uber過去在全球的戰績還要輝煌。滴滴快的已經占領了三分之二的私家出租車市場(也是其收入的主要來源)并為幾百個城市提供了打車服務。而為剩下三分之一的私家出租車市場提供服務的Uber，本周宣布將擴張至55個城市。滴滴和Uber都在加大補貼以吸引司機的注冊。

Unlike Uber, which in China focuses on private-car services, Didi lets users select a taxi, privatecar, shared car, shuttle van or bus to pick them up. During next month's Chinese New Yearmass migration, when millions of travellers will encounter sold-out flights and trains, Didi willhelp users share intercity rides at prices comparable to train fares.

不同于Uber在中國主要專注于私家出租車市場，滴滴讓消費者有權利選擇讓什么車來接他們——出租、私家車、拼車、往返貨車、甚至是公交車。在下個月的春運期間，數百萬乘客可能買不到機票或火車票，滴滴軟件則能向用戶提供跨城拼車業務，價格與火車票相當。

It has also forged alliances with, and invested in, Uber's rivals elsewhere: GrabTaxi in South-East Asia, Ola in India and Lyft in America. Jean Liu, Didi's president and a former GoldmanSachs dealmaker, helped Didi raise $3 billion to take on Uber. Soon half of the global market willbe on her alliance's technology platform, Ms Liu says, which will help both Chinese peopletravelling abroad and foreigners visiting China.

滴滴還與Uber在全球的其他競爭者結成同盟或者投資他們：東南亞的Grab出租車，印度的Ola以及美國的Lyft。柳青，滴滴的董事長也是前高盛集團投資經理人，幫助滴滴籌集30億美金來與Uber競爭。柳青表示，很快全球一半市場都將納入她的聯盟科技技術平臺上，這既有助于中國人去國外旅行又便于外國人來訪中國。

But getting people from A to B is just the start of Didi's ambitions. It plans to offer a variety ofother services that make the most of its huge base of users and the trove of data it holds onthem. On January 26th the firm announced an agreement with China Merchants Bank (CMB). Agrowing number of Didi's drivers want to buy a new car, and many have a steady incomethanks to the app, but often lack formal credit. Didi and CMB will start offering car loans—firstto drivers, but in future perhaps to passengers as well.

但是在兩地間接送乘客僅僅只是滴滴野心的開端。滴滴還計劃提供其他多種服務，充分利用大規模的用戶資源及其數據庫。1月26日，公司宣布與中國招商銀行達成合作協議。多虧了這一打的軟件，許多司機都有了份穩定的收入，越來越多的滴滴司機想要買輛新車，但是常常缺乏正規信貸。滴滴與中國招商銀行將開始提供汽車貸款——起初給司機，但是未來可能也會面向乘客。

Didi's app already lets passengers book test drives of new cars on behalf of several carmakers,including Mercedes and Audi. Some 1.4m customers have taken one of 92 models for a spinsince this service was launched in October.

滴滴軟件已經能讓乘客預約多個汽車品牌的新車試駕，其中包括奔馳與奧迪。自十月提供了這項服務以來，已有大約1400萬用戶從92款車型中挑選其中一款進行試駕。

Perhaps Didi's quirkiest new sideline is that of matchmaker. Hitch, its ride-sharing service, willsoon allow drivers and passengers to select each other based on their shared interests. Italready has a deal with LinkedIn, to let people join up their accounts on the two networks. Theintention of such initiatives is that white-collar workers, who often endure daily commutes ofan hour or two, will have more fruitful journeys during which business, friendship and maybeeven romance will develop.

也許滴滴最奇特的附加業務是做介紹人。滴滴順風車，這一拼車服務將會允許司機與乘客基于共同的興趣選擇彼此。滴滴已經與LinkedIn(領英)達成協議，可為用戶提供兩個網站的賬戶合并。這些舉措的初衷是為每日需在上下班路上花費一兩個小時的白領工作者提供更多收獲的旅程，而在通勤路上，他們可以拓展商務關系、發展友誼甚至邂逅浪漫的愛情。

1.more than 超過

例句:He had notched up more than 25 victories worldwide.

他已贏得了超過25次國際級別賽事的勝利。

2.expand to 擴展到

例句:When asked if the site would expand to equity-based crowdfunding once the SEC sets such rules, Zanker was noncommittal.

問及一旦美國證券交易委員會(SEC)設定相關規則之后，這個網站是否會向股權眾籌融資擴展時，贊克沒有明確表態。

3.plan to 計劃

例句:The military operation was the first step in a plan to crush the uprising.

軍事行動是鎮壓暴動計劃的第一步。

4.pick up 拿起

例句:He would just pick up the phone and get foreign people to invest in his economy in South Africa.

他會拿起電話打給國外的投資人，讓他們到南非來投資。