1、1.Car-hailing apps in China中国的打车软件More than mobility不只是客运The ambitions of Didi Kuaidi, Ubers Chinese rival, go far beyond taxi-hailing作为 Uber 的竞争对手，滴滴快的不再只限于召唤出租车。FOREIGN internet giants often struggle in China. Facebook, Twitter and Google are largelyirrelevant on the mainland. Uber, an American ca
2、r-hailing app that is conquering marketseverywhere else, is also finding China hard to crack. But unlikethose other tech titans, the taxidisrupter is not being frozen out by unfair Chinese regulations favouring local firms. Ubersbiggest problem is that it has encountered a world-class local upstart.
3、国际互联网巨头经常在中国栽跟头。Facebook, Twitter 和 Google 基本上都无法涉足这个市场。就连在世界其他地方都所向披靡的美国打车软件 Uber（优步），也认为中国市场难以攻克。然而，不像其他科技巨头那样，Uber 所面临的最大难题，不是中国政府对本土企业的偏袒政策，而是，它遇上了有世界级水平的本土竞争对手。Didi Kuaidi was forged last year by the merger of rival taxi-hailing apps controlled by Alibabaand Tencent, two Chinese internet giants
4、. It now dominates Chinasonline 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 se
5、veral 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，由中国互联网两大巨头阿里巴巴和腾讯分别控制的滴滴打车和快的打车合并为滴滴快的。如今，它主导了中国线上个人交通市场，去年仅在中国就接单 14 亿次，比 Uber 过去在全球的战绩还要辉
6、煌。滴滴快的已经占领了三分之二的私家出租车市场（也是其收入的主要来源）并为几百个城市提供了打车服务。而为剩下三分之一的私家出租车市场提供服务的 Uber，本周宣布将扩张至 55 个城市。滴滴和 Uber 都在加大补贴以吸引司机的注册。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 months Chinese New
7、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 在中国主要专注于私家出租车市场，滴滴让消费者有权利选择让什么车来接他们 出租、私家车、拼车、往返货车、甚至是公交车。在下个月的春运期间，数百万乘客可能买不到机票或火车票，滴滴软件则能向用户提供跨城拼车业务，价格与火车票相当。It has al
8、so forged alliances with, and invested in, Ubers rivals elsewhere: GrabTaxi in South-East Asia, Ola in India and Lyft in America. Jean Liu, Didis president and a former GoldmanSachs dealmaker, helped Didi raise $3 billion to take on Uber. Soon half of the global market willbe on her alliances techno
9、logy platform, Ms Liu says, which will help both Chinese peopletravelling abroad and foreigners visiting China.滴滴还与 Uber 在全球的其他竞争者结成同盟或者投资他们：东南亚的 Grab 出租车，印度的 Ola 以及美国的 Lyft。柳青，滴滴的董事长也是前高盛集团投资经理人，帮助滴滴筹集 30 亿美金来与 Uber 竞争。柳青表示，很快全球一半市场都将纳入她的联盟科技技术平台上，这既有助于中国人去国外旅行又便于外国人来访中国。But getting people from A t
10、o B is just the start of Didis 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 Didis drivers want to buy a n
11、ew car, and many have a steady incomethanks to the app, but often lack formal credit. Didi and CMB will start offering car loansfirstto drivers, but in future perhaps to passengers as well.但是在两地间接送乘客仅仅只是滴滴野心的开端。滴滴还计划提供其他多种服务，充分利用大规模的用户资源及其数据库。1 月 26 日，公司宣布与中国招商银行达成合作协议。多亏了这一打的软件，许多司机都有了份稳定的收入，越来越多的滴
12、滴司机想要买辆新车，但是常常缺乏正规信贷。滴滴与中国招商银行将开始提供汽车贷款 起初给司机，但是未来可能也会面向乘客。Didis 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.滴滴软件已经能让乘客预约多个汽车品
13、牌的新车试驾，其中包括奔驰与奥迪。自十月提供了这项服务以来，已有大约1400 万用户从 92 款车型中挑选其中一款进行试驾。Perhaps Didis 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 joi
14、n 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.也许滴滴最奇特的附加业务是做介绍人。滴滴顺风车，这一拼车服务将会允许司机与乘客基于共同的
15、兴趣选择彼此。滴滴已经与 LinkedIn（领英）达成协议，可为用户提供两个网站的账户合并。这些举措的初衷是为每日需在上下班路上花费一两个小时的白领工作者提供更多收获的旅程，而在通勤路上，他们可以拓展商务关系、发展友谊甚至邂逅浪漫的爱情。2.Health reform医疗改革Medicare, the opera医改的闹剧Another election, another nonsensical fight over the elderly又一场选举，又一场关于老年人的荒谬斗争APRIL has been a cheerful month for the Affordable Care Act
16、, better known as Obamacare.More than7m Americans have signed up for private coverage through the laws exchanges and,by the end of February, more than 3m people had enrolled in Medicaid, the health programmefor the poor. According to the latest Gallup poll, Americas share of uninsured has fallen to
17、itslowest level since 2008. These figures are good news for anyone keen to expand healthcoverage. They may not be so helpful for the Democrats election prospects.四月对平价医疗法案（或者称其为奥巴马医改）来说是值得欢呼的一个月。截至二月末，已有超过七百万美国人通过法律交换签署了私人保险，以及超过三百万人参加了专为穷人设置的健康计划 医疗补助。根据盖洛普最新的调查显示，美国人未参加保险的比例已降至 2008 年以来的最低水平。这些数据对
18、所有热衷扩大医保范围的人来说都无疑是个好消息。但对民主党竞选前景的改善可能没有太大裨益。To understand why, consider another set of figures. More than 40m older Americans areenrolled in Medicare, the public-health programme for those aged 65 and older, with more than15m of them in private Medicare plans.These are reliable voters in elections.
19、And Republicasare singing them the same aria again and again: Democrats are raiding their benefits to pay forObamacare.看看另外一组数据便知原因。美国参加了医保的老年人数量已超过 4 千万，该医保是一项为 65 岁及以上的老年人制定的公共健康计划，其中超过一千五百万人同时参与了个人医保计划。这些人都是在选举中所能够依赖的选民。共和党人频频高唱同一叹调：民主党人为了支付奥巴马医改而损害了他们的利益。Democratic politicians are desperate to c
20、onvince them otherwise. On April 7th health officialsprovided some help: after proposing in February to cut payments to private Medicare plans by1.9%, the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said they would rise slightlyinstead. This will not quiet Republicans.民主党的政治家竭尽全力的想要说服他们。4 月 7 日
21、，卫生部官员也参与其中：在提出将在二月份削减个人医保计划支出费用的 1.9%后，医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心（ CMS）表示，其支出并非降低，反而微升。但这并不能安抚共和党人。Obamacare does indeed lower Medicare spending by $716 billion from 2013 to 2022. Of this, $156 billion comes from Medicare Advantage, which lets the elderly use public money to buyprivate health plans. For years t
22、he government has paid more for these private plans, perperson, than for traditional Medicare. Private insurers passed along the extra subsidy toconsumers in the form of additional benefits or lower fees. Obamacare sought to bring privatepayments in line with traditional Medicare.奥巴马医改确实会在 2013 至 20
23、22 年间降低医疗开支约 7160 亿美元。其中， 1560 亿美元来自医疗照顾优先计划（Medicare Advantage），该计划允许老年人使用公共资金购买个人健康计划。多年来，政府为每个人在个人健康计划上的花费要高于传统医保。私人保险公司以给予额外好处或降低保费的形式，对消费者提供额外补贴。奥巴马医改试图将个人支付带回传统医保的正轨上来。This was not a radical idea, but it is politically controversial nevertheless. MedicareAdvantage is increasingly popularabout
24、three in ten Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in aprivate plan. Insurers argue that Obamacares cuts, combined with other measures, will forcethem to raise prices or cut benefits.这个想法并不激进，但在政治上却引起争议。医疗照顾优先计划愈发流行，约有三成的医保受益者参加了个人计划。保险公司抱怨到，奥巴马医改中与其他措施相配合的缩减政策，会迫使他们提价或削减福利。Last months special electio
25、n in Florida was a cautionary tale for Democrats. “To pay forObamacare, Washington is forcing seniors to endure deep cuts to Medicare Advantage,” purredan advertisement. “Sadly, Alex Sink supports these cuts.” Ms Sink lost her campaign. Notsurprisingly, Republicans as well as many anxious Democrats
26、implored CMS not to lowerpayments. In February 40 senators wrote toCMS to ask as much. On April 3rd 29congressional Democrats and Republicans sent their own letter.上月佛罗里达的补选一事，值得民主党警惕。一则竞选标语这样写道：“为了支付奥巴马医改，华盛顿正迫使老年人忍受医疗照顾优先计划的削减。不幸的是，Alex Sink 支持这项削减政策。”随后 Sink 失掉了竞选。不出意料，共和党人以及许多焦虑的民主党人恳求医疗保险和医疗补助服
27、务中心（CMS）不要削减这项支出。2 月，40 名参议员致函医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心（CMS）提出同样的要求。4 月 3 日，国会中 29 名民主党人和共和党人致函医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心（CMS）。In the end CMS said it would raise payments by 0.4%. The true effect on Medicare Advantage ismore complex. Americas Health Insurance Plans, the industry group that had lobbied againstcuts, maintains
28、 that CMSs changes still amount to lower payments. Ana Gupte of LeerinkSwann, an investment bank, points out that delaying cuts now may mean a bigger cut nextyear.最后，医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心（CMS）表示将支付金额提高 0.4 个百分点。医疗照顾优先计划的真正影响比这更加复杂。美国健康保险计划是一个反对削减支出的行业组织，他们认为，医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心（CMS）的承诺仍旧意味着降低支付。来自 Leerink Swann 投
29、行的 Ana Gupte 指出，现在的推迟可能意味着明年更大幅度的削减。The ruckus belies a simple fact. Both Democrats and Republicans agree that Medicare spendingmust be contained. The budget proposed by congressional Republicans, written by Paul Ryan,would preserve all Obamacares cuts to Medicare, including those to Medicare Advant
30、age. Justdont expect Republicans to mention that on the campaign trail.骚动掩盖了一个简单的事实：民主党人和共和党人均认为，必须遏制医疗支出。国会共和党提出的预算由 PaulRyan撰写，该预算保留了所有奥巴马医改中对医疗支出的削减政策，其中也包括了医疗照顾优先计划。但别指望着共和党人会在竞选中提及此事Journalism in America美国新闻业Digital resurrection数字复兴Some moderately good news in the news industry新闻业的好消息IN FEBRUAR
31、Y Vice, a media firm that caters to youngsters who like their news with a dollop ofsass and hip-hop, toured the opulent residence of the ousted president of Ukraine, ViktorYanukovych, and postedthe video online. “It looks like a weird dictatorship theme park,” thesardonic reporter told the camera. A
32、 new report bythe Pew Research Centre, a think-tank,finds that a third of Americans now watch news videos online, about as many as say they watchnews on cable television. Among those aged 18-29, around half do.传媒公司 Vice 迎合年轻人的口味播报充满狂言妄语的新闻及嘻哈音乐。今年二月，该传媒公司的记者参观了已被罢黜的乌克兰总统亚努科维奇豪宅并将视频传到了网上。“这个地方就像一个怪异的
33、独裁主题公园”记者颇具讽刺性地对着摄像机说道。智库皮尤研究中心最近发表了一个新的报告，该报道显示近三分之一的美国人在网上看视频新闻，约近乎三分之一的人称他们在有线电视上看新闻。在那些 18-29 岁的年轻人中，近一半的人在网上看新闻。In years past Pews “State of the News Media” reports have been sombre, chronicling theevisceration of jobs and the gutting of news budgets. This year, however, Pew sounded moreoptimis
34、tic, pointing to the slew of digital-news services, such as Vices online news channel,that have sprung up recently. Around 5,000 full-time jobs have been created at 468 digital-news firms, according to Pew. Many online-news firms have hired high-profile journalists awayfrom big publications, such as
35、 the New York Times and Washington Post, and are launchingbureaus around the world (although not nearly as many as have been shuttered bynewspapers).在过去的几年，皮尤中心有关“新闻媒体的状况”的报告都是阴郁的，长久以来都是老生常谈的就业问题和新预算。但是今年，皮尤似乎更为乐观，指出数字新闻服务局势的回转，比如说 Vice 在线新闻频道，最近如雨后春笋一般冒出来。根据皮尤的数据，468 家数字新闻公司已经创造了近 5000 个全职岗位。许多在线新闻
36、公司从大型出版社挖墙脚，雇了许多高知名度的记者，如纽约时报级华盛顿邮报，并在全球广设分局（尽管并非很多由于纸质新闻业而惨遭关闭）。Digital news firms used to do little besides rehashing traditional newspapersstories. Now theyare starting to feature more original articles. Last year Business Insider, a business-news site,ran a profile of Marissa Mayer, the boss of
37、Yahoo. At 23,000 words, it was as long as a novella. “Online you can afford to do that. In a magazine youd go broke,” says Henry Blodget, the bossof Business Insider. Buzz Feed, which used to be known for casting out “click bait” online, nowclaims around170 full-time staff, including a Pulitzer-priz
38、e winner, Mark Schoofs, who has beenhired to run a new investigative team.数字新闻公司过去除了重复传统新闻报纸的故事之外很少写自己的东西。而现在他们正开始创作更多原创的文章。去年，商业新闻网站“财经内幕” 就写了一篇文章概述雅虎的老板玛丽莎梅耶尔，该文章字数达到 2.3 万，已然是一部中篇小说了。“你可以在网上这么做，若是在杂志上你就直接破产了”，该杂志的老板亨利布洛杰特声称。Buzz Feed，曾经因网上清楚“点击诱惑” 而闻名，现拥有约 170 名全职员工，其中包括普利策奖获奖者 Mark Schoofs，他目前负责
39、一个新闻调查组。Lower costs explain why so many digital news firms, like Silicon Valley start-ups, are launchingtoday. Ken Doctor, a newspaper analyst, reckons it costs as little as $5m to start a “credible”digital news offering. Financiers and philanthropists are investing in news: eBay founder PierreOmidy
40、ar put $250m into a new non-profit, First Look Media. All this has injected hope into abeleaguered industry. Last month Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist, predicted thatjournalism may “be entering into a new golden age” and that the news industry would growten- or a hundredfold.低成本运行解释了为什么现在如此之多
41、的新闻公司就像硅谷的暴发户一般地崛起。新闻分析人肯多科特回想当时打造可靠的数字新闻产品仅需 500 万美元。现在金融家和慈善家都在投资新闻：易趣网创始人皮尔斯奥米戴尔投资了 2,5亿元运营一个新的非盈利网站 First Look Media。所有的这些为这个四面楚歌的行业注入了一缕希望。上个月，风险资本家 Andreessen 预测新闻业将“进入一个新的黄金期”并且新闻业的利润将增长十倍甚至百倍。Journalism is at least becoming more participatory. Pew finds that around half of social-mediausers
42、share news articles or videos, and comment on them. Around 7% of American adultshave posted their own news video to a social network, or submitted one to an establishednews site. Interactive features are doing particularly well. Last year the New York Timess mostpopular “article” was a quiz in which
43、 people could test whether they spoke more like a LosAngeleno or a Louisianan.至少现在新闻业变得越来越具参与度了。皮尤研究中心发现近乎一半的社交媒介用户分享新闻视频和文章并且在上面发表评论。约 7%的美国成年人将他们自己的新闻视频传到社交网站，或转交至已存在的新闻网站。交互式的特写做的尤其出色。去年，纽约时报最受欢迎的文章是一个小测试，通过该测试人们可以知道他们的口音是更像洛杉矶人还是更像路易斯安娜人。Some positive news is welcome, but newsrooms continue to b
44、leed jobs (see chart). The rise ofdigital-media firms has done little to restore local news coverage, which has suffered with theclosure of many local papers. Digital-news firmslong-form narratives and investigativejournalism may grab attention, but they are unlikely to compensate for projects that
45、willnever take place again in old newsrooms because of budgetary woes.积极的新闻总是受欢迎的，但是新闻编辑室持续削减全职编辑（见图）。数字媒体公司的崛起为重建本地新闻报道做的事少之又少，当地许多报刊倒闭。数字新闻公司长篇的叙事手法以及调查性新闻或许能吸引读者的眼球，但是他们依然不能弥补那些由于预算困难而不再恢复其在新闻编辑室的位置。Facebook users may be reading news, but they spend on average only a minute and a half on anews si
46、te each month if they come from Facebook, about a third of the time that visitors spendif they go to anewspapers site directly. And digital video may be growing, but its advertisingonly accounts for around 10% of all digital ad revenues, and viewing growth has slowed. Eventelevision news is not havi
47、ng an easy time. In 2013 the three big cable news channelsCNN,Fox and MSNBClost around 11% of their combined audience during prime-time. The newsindustry today resembles Newtons third law of motion, says Amy Mitchell, Pews director ofjournalism research: for every action, there is an equally strong
48、reaction. The momentummight have shifted online, but gravity is still pulling everyone down to earth.脸谱网的用户或许在读新闻，但是如果消息来自脸谱网，他们平均一个月花一分半钟看新闻，若他们直接进入新闻网网页，访客花费的时间约占三分之一。数字视频或有增长，但是其广告收入仅占所有数字广告收入的 10%，并且据观察增长已放缓。即便是电视新闻日子也不好过。2013 年，三大新闻频道，美国有线新闻网、福克斯和微软全国有线广播电视新闻公司黄金时间流失了约 11%的共同观众。今天的新闻业与牛顿的第三运动定律
49、很像，皮尤新闻调查中心的主任 Amy Mitchell 如是道，每一步都会有同等强烈的反应。新闻业的发展势头或许已经转向了网络，但是重力作用依然在将人们往地上拽3.Journalism in America美国新闻业Digital resurrection数字复兴Some moderately good news in the news industry新闻业的好消息IN FEBRUARY Vice, a media firm that caters to youngsters who like their news with a dollop ofsass and hip-hop, toured the opulent residence of the ousted president of Ukraine, ViktorYanukovych, and postedthe video online. “It looks like a weird dictatorship theme park,” thesardonic reporter told the camera. A new report bythe Pew Research Centre, a think-tank,finds that
