Money mountains
金山
TAKE a moment to admire—and fear—the ascentof America’s big-five tech firms. Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon andFacebook have recently become the five most valuable listed companies in theworld, in that order. With a total market value of $2.9trn,they are worth more than any five firms in history.
listed companies上市公司
market value市值
trn trillion 万亿
我们来花一点时间，对美国五大科技公司的快速成长表示一下赞赏——还有担忧。苹果、Alphabet、微软、亚马逊和Facebook近期成了世界上最有价值的五大上市公司，座次如上。它们的总市值高达2.9万亿美元，比历史上任何五家公司的总价值都高。
Elevated tech valuations used to be a sign of hysteria. Today’s investors believe they are making an ice-cold judgment that these firms are the dominant oligopolies of the 21st century and will extract a vast, rising, flow of profits. There is one gnawing doubt, however: the formidable five’s cash-rich balance-sheets, which are built as if they expect a crisis, not to dominate the world.
Elevated ['ɛlɪvetɪd] adj. high in rank高贵的；职位高的；higher than the area around; above the level of the ground高的；升高的；高出地面的；higher than normal偏高的
*The house is in an elevated position, overlooking the town. 这栋房子地势较高，可以俯瞰全城。
hysteria a state of extreme excitement, fear or anger in which a person, or a group of people, loses control of their emotions and starts to cry, laugh, etc.歇斯底里；情绪狂暴不可抑止；an extremely excited and exaggerated way of behaving or reacting to an event大肆鼓吹；狂热夸张；大惊小怪
*There was mass hysteria when the band came on stage.乐队登台时观众一片疯狂。
formidable ['fɔrmɪdəbl] adj. if people, things or situations are formidable, you feel fear and / or respect for them, because they are impressive or powerful, or because they seem very difficult可怕的；令人敬畏的；难对付的
*In debate he was a formidable opponent. 在辩论中他是位难应付的对手。
balance-sheet资产负债表
科技公司估值高曾经是市场不理性的征兆，而如今投资者认为自己做出了绝对客观的判断，相信这五大公司是主导21世纪的寡头企业，将获得不断增长的巨额利润。然而，有一件事让人心存不安：这五强的资产负债表上现金充裕，不像是要统治世界的架势，倒像是要为应对危机做准备。
It is easy to see why investors are keen. Billions of users are tied into these firms’ social-media networks, digital assistants, operating systems and cloud-computing platforms. The five firms are squeezing traditional competitors such as IBM and Macy’s. Together they make $100bn of profits. Analysts forecast this will rise to $170bn by 2020. The rebels of Silicon Valley have evolved into slick money making machines with high market shares. For investors it just doesn’t get any better.
squeeze [skwiz] v. to press sth firmly, especially with your fingers挤压；揑；to strictly limit or reduce the amount of money that sb / sth has or can use严格限制，削减，紧缩(资金)
*High interest rates have squeezed the industry hard. 高利率使这个行业举步维艰。
rebel [rɪ'bɛl] n. a person who opposes sb in authority over them within an organization, a political party, etc.反抗权威者；a person who does not like to obey rules or who does not accept normal standards of behavior, dress, etc.叛逆者；不守规矩者
投资者热衷五强，原因显而易见。全球数十亿用户都与这些公司的社交媒体网络、数字助理、操作系统以及云计算平台捆绑在一起。五强正在挤压IBM和梅西百货这类传统型竞争对手。这五家公司的利润总计高达1000亿美元，分析师预计到2020年将上升至1700亿美元。硅谷的反叛分子已经进化成了具有高市场份额的高明赚钱机器。对投资者而言，这再好不过了。
Old-economy oligopolists, such as cable, telecoms and beer companies, are confident about their ability to extract reliable rents from customers, so they finance themselves largely with debt, which is cheap but inflexible, and return most of the cash they make to shareholders. Yet, oddly, the biggest tech firms have the opposite approach. Together they have $330bn of net cash (cash less debt), a ratio of twice their gross cashflow.
finance n. money used to run a business, an activity or a project资金；the activity of managing money, especially by a government or commercial organization财政；金融；财务
v. to provide money for a project提供资金
*The building project will be financed by the government. 这个建筑项目将由政府出资。
net cash净现金；现金净价；现金净额
电视、电信和啤酒这类传统经济模式下的寡头垄断企业信心满满，自认有能力从客户那里赚取可靠的收入。因此，它们主要通过债务为自己融资，成本低但不灵活，再把赚到的大部分现金返还给股东。然而奇怪的是，这五大科技公司的做法却恰恰相反，它们共有3300亿美元的净现金（现金减去债务），是它们总现金流的两倍。
■一句一练■
It is easy to see why investors are keen.
这一句不能仅按照字面意思直接翻译为“投资者热衷的原因很明显”。热衷于什么事情，在翻译时需要将此潜在意思翻译出来，表达更完整。根据上下文可以确定意思为投资五大公司。而且，汉语表达时顺序也需要调整。具体翻译如下：投资者热衷于投资这五大公司，原因显而易见。