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Turning a Page and a Brin
创始人佩奇和布林退休，谷歌翻开新的一页
注：题目“一语双关”，既指创始人的名字，又寓意谷歌随着创始人的退休，迎来新的一页。 What next for Google's parent after its fathers depart?创始人双双卸任，谷歌的母公司将何去何从？
“GOOGLE IS NOT a conventional company,” declared Sergey Brin and Larry Page as they took their firm public in 2004. “We do not intend to become one.” On December 3rd they bowed outas, respectively, president and chief executive of Alphabet, Google’s parent and the world’s fourth-biggest listed firm. Their creation remains unconventional in some ways, if not in others. They leave a mixed legacy for Sundar Pichai, a career Googler in charge of its core search-engine business, who assumes both roles.
卸任：bow out, step down, leave the scene, hand the reins to2004年，谢尔盖·布林（Sergey Brin）和拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）在他们的公司上市时宣称：“谷歌并非一家传统公司，我们也无意成为其中之一。”今年12月3日，他们分别辞去Alphabet（谷歌母公司，全球第四大上市公司）的总裁和首席执行官职务。从某些方面而言，谷歌仍然保留了非传统的特质，但在另外一些方面，谷歌已然不复从前。他们给桑达尔·皮查伊（Sundar Pichai）留下的“遗产”良莠兼具。他是一名职业谷歌人，负责谷歌核心搜索引擎业务，如今即将身兼两职（谷歌和Alphabet的CEO)。
Messrs Brin and Page lived the Silicon Valley dream. Their solution to the problem of indexingthe growing world wide web grew out of government funded research at Stanford University, and was honed in a friend’s garage. Google was founded in 1998. Today it handles over 2trn search queries a year, and produces the Android operating system that powers 80% of the world’s smart phones. It has shaped the age of the internet and mobile computing in the way that Microsoft helped define the age of the desktop PC. Its revenues have grown from $3.2bn in 2004 to $136bn last year. Its market capitalisation has nearly doubled since 2015, to $910bn.
Index v.使与，挂钩PC (personal computer)个人电脑capitalisation n市值，资本化
布林（Brin）和佩奇（Page）实现了硅谷梦。他们解决了日益庞大的万维网索引问题，该解决方案始于斯坦福大学的一项政府资助的研究，其后在一位朋友的车库里不断完缮。谷歌成立于1998年。现今，谷歌每年处理逾2万亿次搜索查询，开发出支持全球80%智能手机运作的安卓操作系统。正如微软定义了个人电脑时代，谷歌在塑造互联网和移动计算时代也是功不可没。公司收入从2004年的32亿美元增长至去年的1360亿美元，其市值自2015年以来几乎翻了一番，达到9100亿美元。
Its internal culture is famously casual (visitors were often astonished when meetings were interrupted by volleyball games on the central lawn). It hasset the tone for a generation of startups, says Karim Lakhani of Harvard Business School. Yet Google was also quick to embrace professional managers. In 2001 it hired Eric Schmidt, a veteran executive, as CEO. Mr Pichai likewise offers what Mr Brin once jokingly referred to as “parental supervision”.
veteran n. 资深/经验丰富的人startups n.新创办的小公司set the tone for 为，设置基调
谷歌的企业文化是出了名的随性（比如到访者时常讶异于中心草坪上的排球比赛可以打断公司会议）。哈佛商学院（Harvard Business School）的卡里姆·拉克哈尼（Karim Lakhani）认为，这为一水儿初创企业打了样儿。然而，谷歌快速引入职业经理人制度。2001年，谷歌聘请资深高管埃里克·施密特（Eric Schmidt）担任首席执行官。皮查伊成为了谷歌另一位布林曾经开玩笑所说的“成人监护人”。（第一位是施密特，具体看衍生资料）
The firm has grown conventional in other ways, too. Its dominance has attracted the gaze of regulators. Like other powerful firms, it has hired legions oflobbyiststo fight its corner, but with only limited success: from Brussels to the Beltway, politicians rail against its power and attitudes to user privacy. The EU has fined it $9bn. Antitrust investigations loom on both sides of the Atlantic.
Lobbyist n.(游说政客或议员)的说客
legion n. 军团；大量（某类型的人）
但在其他方面，谷歌似乎也越来越传统。其在行业内的霸主地位引起了监管机构的注意。与其他巨头，一样，谷歌也聘请了大批说客为其排忧解难，但收效甚微：从布鲁塞尔到华盛顿，政客们都对谷歌的权力及其对待用户隐私的态度大为不满。欧盟已对其处以90亿美元的罚款。在大西洋两岸，谷歌也受到多起反垄断调查。
Its employees are growing restive; 20,000 walked out a year ago over the firm’s handling ofsexual-harassment cases. Those still wedded to Google’s once-official credo, “don’t be evil” (ditched in 2018), have condemned decisions to offer acensored search engine in China (also binned) or work with America’s armed forces. It has sacked staff involved in unionization efforts. Several said this week that they will file charges with regulators.
restive a.不耐烦的。不满的sexual harrassment (尤指男性对女性的)性骚扰Censor v.审查 n.审查员Unionization n.加入工会
公司员工也越来越焦躁不安。1年前，20000名谷歌员工集体罢工，抗议公司对一系列性骚扰事件的不当处理。那些始终信奉谷歌“不作恶”信条（该条于2018年从谷歌行为准则中移除）的员工谴责公司的诸多行为，他们批评谷歌试图在中国打造xxx的搜索引擎（已停止），谴责公司与美国军方合作。近期，谷歌（不公平地）解雇了参与工会活动的员工。一些员工表示，这周他们将向监管机构提起诉讼。
Perhaps the two founders wanted to palm these problems off to someone else. Perhaps they want to focus on the pet projects—from self-driving cars to human-like artificial intelligence and life-extension technology—which Alphabet has cross-subsidised from its ad business. Mr Brin is seldom seen these days; Mr Page did not turn up for Alphabet’s annual shareholder meeting this year. Mr Pichai is seen as a safe pair of hands. However, since Messrs Brin and Page retain control via a dual-class share structure, his freedom will be circumscribed. Small wonder its share price moved little on the news.
via prep.通过，经由Dual-class share 双重股权
或许两位创始人想将这些问题甩给别人。又或许他们想专注于时下的新宠项目，诸如无人驾驶汽车、人工智能以及长寿技术，谷歌通过其广告业务对这些项目进行补贴。布林现在很少露面。佩奇则缺席了今年的股东大会。皮查伊倒是一个可靠的人。但布林和佩奇通过双重等级的股份结构保留了控制权，因此皮查伊的自由决定权仍将受到限制。难怪两位创始人的卸任对公司股价影响不大。
Although Alphabet rakes in billions, it remains a one-trick pony. Ads bring in over 80% of revenue, little changed from 2015. Its share of the online-ad market is down a bit; that of smaller rivals, such as Amazon, is up a lot. Microsoft has successfully reinvented itself as a cloud-computing firm after Bill Gates stepped down in 2000; it is now worth more than Alphabet. PageBrin bets on futuristic technologies are intellectually thrilling, but have yet to pay off. How long will investors’ patience last?
尽管Alphabet吃遍天下（已经赚了数十亿），但仍然是靠着一招鲜。广告收入占其营收收入的80％以上，较之2015年几乎没有变化。Alphabet在线上广告市场的份额有所下降，而亚马逊等规模较小的竞争对手的份额却上升了不少。2000年，微软比尔·盖茨辞职后，公司成功转型为云计算公司，当前估值已经超过了Alphabet。布林和佩奇则押注于新型智能科技上，虽然前景令人期待，但尚未获得回报。投资者的耐心还能持续多久呢？
重点掌握
bow out 退出，辞职Index v.使与，，，挂钩PC (personal computer)个人电脑 capitalisation n市值，资本化 startups n.新创办的小公司set the tone for 为，，，设置基调 Lobbyist n.(游说政客或议员)的说客restive a.不耐烦的。不满的 sexual harrassment (尤指男性对女性的)性骚扰Censor v.审查 n.审查员 Unionization n.加入工会 via prep.通过，经由Dual-class share 双重股权veteran n. 资深/经验丰富的人 legion n. 军团；大量（某类型的人） hone v. 磨练；训练bow out (of sth) 退出；
