【系统提升】学地道英文读商业秘籍

Facebook 是一家位于美国加州圣马刁郡门洛帕克市的在线社交网络服务网站。其名称的灵感来自美国高中提供给学生包含照片和联系数据的通讯录昵称 "face book"。Facebook 于2004年2月4日由马克·扎克伯格和他的哈佛大学室友们所创立。Facebook 的会员最初只限哈佛学生加入，后来也逐渐扩展到其他在波士顿区域的同学使用，其中包括部分常春藤名校、麻省理工、纽约大学、斯坦福大学等。接着，Facebook 逐渐放宽注册权限，并在最后开放给任何13岁及以上的用户进行使用。

本集首播于2016-04-29

Message from Facebook: This Could Be War

Messaging apps are arguably the most successful smartphone apps, collectively boasting more than 3 billion accounts; WhatsApp, the leader, alone has 700m. But there is more to them than messages. At an event that starts today in San Francisco, Facebook is expected to say that it will turn its app—called Messenger—which has 500m users, into a "platform". That means others will be able to develop software for it (for gaming, hotel bookings, tickets and so on). Facebook is following WeChat, the leading messaging service in China, and KakaoTalk, a South Korean app, which are already platforms of sorts. But it is also moving into territory occupied by Apple and Google and their respective smartphone operating systems, iOS and Android. Tech veterans may recall the "browser wars" of the late 1990s—the last time a successful program, Netscape's Navigator, tried to usurp a dominant operating system, Microsoft's Windows. The messaging wars may be just beginning.

arguably: adv. 可论证地 (用于缓解绝对性语气)

collectively: adv. 共同地；全体地 (等同于 altogether)

boast: vt. 自豪地拥有

account: n. 账户 (此处理解为用户”)

at an event: 介词搭配 at / in an event

platform: n. 平台

of sorts: 这一类的

usurp: vt. 篡位 (与后文中 dominant (主导地位) 形成对应)

copycat: n. 山寨

甲骨文公司 (Oracle) 是全球最大的信息管理软件及服务供应商。公司成立于1977年，总部位于美国加州红木城的红木岸 (Redwood shore)；

1977年，劳伦斯·埃里森 (Lawrence J. Ellison: 甲骨文 CEO) 同另外两名合伙人在美国加州圣塔克拉拉合资成立了一所名为软件发展的实验室 (SDL: Software Development Laboratories)。1978年，实验室以汇编语言开发出第一版甲骨文系统 (Oracle)。1979年，实验室更名为关连式软件公司 (RSI: Relational Software, Inc.)。1982年，公司更名为甲骨文系统公司 (Oracle Systems Corporation) 并正式推出甲骨文系统。从最初的年入账不及百万美金，到2017年的1900亿美元市值。甲骨文是继微软后，全球收入第二多的软件公司。

本集首播于2016-05-03

Ask the Oracle: What next for Salesforce?

The flood of rumours about a takeover of Salesforce, a cloud-computing pioneer worth $47 billion, has slowed to a trickle since Microsoft indicated this month that it had no plans for a purchase. But the matter is certain to come up today when Marc Benioff, Salesforce's larger-than-life boss, talks to investors and analysts about first-quarter results. This looks like a good moment for Mr Benioff to sell: Salesforce's growth seems to have peaked and it hasn't made a quarterly profit since mid-2011. The likeliest suitor remains Oracle, the world's second-biggest software-seller, despite repeated denials. Salesforce is cut from Oracle cloth: not only is Mr Benioff a former Oracle executive, but his firm is also built on Oracle technology. What's more, as well as having the financial heft for such a deal, Oracle needs to strengthen its cloud business—and has a succession problem. Salesforce could be the answer to both.

Oracle: 甲骨文公司 (世界第二大软件商。此处双关有神谕”的意思）

rumour:  n. 传言；流言蜚语

trickle: n. 细流；小水流

larger-than-life: adj. 有魅力的；成功的；有领导才能的

peak: vi. 到达顶峰

denial: n. 拒绝；否定

suitor: n. 追求者

cut from the same cloth: 同类机理纹路的事物；同路货

heft: vt. 掂......的重量

succession: n. 继承者