外刊精读W7P1：Tech trends for 2018: the big will get bigger 2018年科技业大走势

• 1. If you are wondering what the biggest business stories in the tech world will be next year, forget driverless cars, augmented reality goggles and computers that respond to the human voice.

(1)driverless cars 重在这个'driverless'的表达 妈妈再也不会担心我不会说无人驾驶汽车了
（2）augmented reality goggles 所谓AR 便是“augmented reality”，AR goggles,虚拟现实眼镜

• 2. Those inventions generate eye-catching headlines, but the main engines of growth for the biggest tech companies in 2018 are ones that have already become a deeply ingrained part of business life: digital advertising, ecommerce and the wholesale move of global IT to the cloud.

ingrained in+grain+ed adj. “谷物作为主食/粮食非吃不可的印象已经在人们心中根深蒂固了”

3. It is always dangerous to put too much faith in extrapolation, but some trends in digitisation are hard to ignore. They are driven by the emergence of a pervasive technology infrastructure and a preference among users for the convenience of digital services. They also reflect the willingness of more businesses to operate on platforms built by companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon — as well as China’s emerging tech giants Alibaba and Tencent.

(1)extrapolation，根据后文的* but some trends in digitisation are hard to ignore推断其释义为“过去的规律/趋势”，更为准确的翻译为对现有趋势将会持续下去的假设和认为*

（2）a pervasive technology infrastructure 无处不在的科技基础设施
（3）reflect the willingness of 显示/展现了xxx的意愿 注意reflect的运用

• 4. Consider advertising. About 40 per cent of global ad spending is currently devoted to digital channels — only a slightly higher proportion than accounted for by TV. The superior targeting and potential for interactivity of digital networks should continue that shift.

（1） only a slightly higher proportion than accounted for by TV.
到底是谁比谁的广告投入比例高呢？
only a slightly higher proportion than(that is) accounted for by TV.
比电视渠道的占比略高一成
(2)The superior targeting and potential for interactivity of digital networks should continue that shift.
很亮的一个句子，抄一下译文：数字网络出众的定向能力和互动潜力应该会继续推动这种转变。

• 5. Advertising has also become theprime example of digital platform dominance. Just two companies — Google and Facebook — account for almost all of the net increase in digital ad spending over the past two years. **The pace of digitisation will slow if couch potatoes cling to their TV habits, and others may carve off a bigger slice of the video advertising pie, but the underlying shift feels inexorable.

（1）prime example 绝佳例证
（2）第二处加粗译文：如果沙发土豆依然保持他们沉迷电视的习惯的话，数字化的速度将会放缓，其他渠道(others)也可能从电视广告这块巨大的馅饼上切掉一块，但基本的转变趋势应当是无可阻挡的

• 6. A lower share of the world’s retail sales has found its way online, leaving plenty of room for growth. Ecommerce accounts for about 14 per cent of sales in the US and 9 per cent in western Europe, according to Goldman Sachs. In China, the figure is 22 per cent.

Goldman Sachs

• 7. As with the leading advertising platforms, Amazon has been exhibiting some of the winner-takes-all characteristics that come with digital dominance. Its growth rate has accelerated as it has grown, not slowed.

(1)winner-takes-all a.赢家通吃
(2)As with 同...一起

• 8. Meanwhile, a recent Goldman survey found that only about 19 per cent of the computing workloads carried out by large multinational companies have moved into the cloud. The sunk cost of the existing IT infrastructure will mean that the transition to cloud computing will take many years to play out. But with global IT spending set to reach $3.7tn next year, according to Gartner, the size of the business opportunity is massive.

moved into the cloud 并非自己想象的什么俗语表达；结合上下文之后可以看出是“过渡至云计算”

• 9. The US platform companies that have positioned themselves to ride these waves are ending 2017 as the world’s five most valuable groups: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook. And even with Apple expected to show barely any revenue growth in 2018, these companies are forecast to add $100bn in sales between them next year — a collective growth rate of 14 per cent.

(1)=regard xxx as 将自己视为/放在xx的地位
(2)a collective growth rate of 一个总的增长率

• 10. So what are the main risks? It may be that, in 2018, intimations of mortality will become more apparent. Apple has struggled to show where it will find growth beyond the smartphone. Google has yet to repeat its search advertising success in other markets. Microsoft still has one foot planted in the old PC world.

(1)intimations of mortality 死亡的征兆
intimation要和intimacy区分开,前者=hint/indication
后者则表示 close relationship
(2)译文:谷歌还未能 has yet to...

• 11. The most immediate threat could be external. European regulators and courts have led the way in pushing back against the power and wealth of the tech giants, from last year’s €13bn penalty over Apple’s preferential tax position in Ireland to this month’s ruling that Uber should be regulated as a transport company. In between came a record antitrust fine against Google.

译文:...已经率先 led the way对科技巨头的权力和财富发起反击 pushing back against