【新闻精讲】

Europe’s 100 most valuable firms were founded more than 40 years ago.
纵观欧洲100家大公司，绝大部分都建立在40年前。
Even America, which is more entrepreneurial, is succumbing to middle-aged spread.
即使是更具创业精神的美国也难以抵挡公司中年化现象的蔓延。
Entrepreneurial
1. 企业家精神
2. 创业家精神
Succumb
屈服 + to
The Minister said his country would never succumb to pressure.

The proportion of mature firms, or those 11 years old or more, rose from a third of all firms in 1987 to almost half in 2012, and the number of startups fell between 2001 and 2011.
从1981到2012年间，资深公司（已建立11年或更长时间）由占公司总数的1/3上升到占一半左右，而2001到2011年间，新公司数量则一直下降。
Proportion = ratio
比例增加
Startup
创业
That is enough to pay the startup costs for fourteen research projects.
那足以支付14个研究项目的启动资金。

People who extol free markets often blame such stagnation on excessive regulation.
自由市场的支持者经常把这种经济停滞归咎于政府管制过多。
That has certainly played its part.
这种说法的确有一定道理。
Extol
赞美，程度》praise
They kept extolling my managerial skills.
Play one’s part = play one’s role
发挥作用
I hope to play a part in the development of the new product.

But the authors argue that stagnation has most to do with the structure of capitalism itself.
然而，《创新的假象》的作者则认为，这种停滞与资本主义自身的结构有更大关系。
Structure
体系：在复杂整体中各部份之间的内在联系或排列组合：
political structure; plot structure.
政治体系；结构体系

Companies are no longer actually owned by adventurous capitalists but by giant institutions such as the Vanguard Group (with more than $3 trillion under management) which constantly buy and sell slivers of ownership for anonymous investors.
事实上，公司已不再由具冒险精神的资本家控制，而是由像先锋集团（the Vanguard Group）这种大型机构掌控。该公司资产逾3万亿美元，不断为匿名投资者购买和出售所有权。
Adventurous
冒险主义精神
Warren was an adventurous businessman.
Sliver
细片：切下、劈下或折下的细长的一段；碎片：
slivers of broken glass.
打碎的玻璃碎片

These institutions are more interested in predictable returns than in enterprise.
比起商业发展，他们更看重可预测回报。
Predictable
可预测
The result was entirely predictable.
Return
回报：给予或赠送以作为回报：
She returned his praise.
她回报了他的夸奖

It is not all Mark Zuckerbergs at the top, the authors posit.
作者认为并非所有高层都像马克•扎克伯格一样。
The big firms are answering the call for predictability by hiring corporate bureaucrats.
多数大公司都雇佣“企业官僚“来满足投资者对可预测性的渴求。
These people shy away from risky investments in new technology.
这些企业管理者往往会避免对新技术进行风险投资。
Posit
1. 假定
Several writers have posited the idea of a universal consciousness.
2. 提出以供考虑或研究；建议：
“If a book is hard going, it ought to be good. If it posits a complex moral situation, it ought to be even better”(&b{Anthony Burgess})
“如果一本书很难读，那么它应该是一本好书；如果它提出了一个复杂的道德状况，那么它就更应该是本好书了”(安东尼•伯吉斯)
answer the call
响应
Of course, that responsibility begins with the parties themselves, who must answer the call of history.
当然，这种责任必须首先由冲突双方承担，他们必须听从历史的召唤。
bureaucrat
官僚（者）：拘泥于行政管理程序细枝末节的行政官员
英文注释：An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure.
shy away from
= avoid 避免
"I shy away from this task"

After rising relentlessly as a share of GDP in 1950-2000, investment in IT began declining in the early 2000s.
在1950到2000年间，IT行业投资曾作为GDP的一部分持续增长，但于2000年早期开始衰退。
Relentless
1. 持续不断的：稳定的和持续的；不松懈的：
the relentless beat of the drums.
持续不断的击鼓声
2. 无情的：在严酷或严格方面不屈从的，不宽容的：
relentless persecution.
无情的迫害

Instead of shaking up markets, bureaucratic CEOs focus on squeezing the most out of their sunk costs and fight to defend niches.
比起颠覆市场，官僚型CEO更注重于尽可能压缩沉没成本和捍卫利基市场。
Shake up 摇匀；整顿
例句:The government wanted to reform the institutions, to shake up the country.
政府想要实施机构改革，整顿国家。
Squeezing
压缩（经济）
If a voluntary agreement is not reached，the government will squeeze the economy into a severe recession to force inflation down.
Sunk Cost
“沉没成本（Sunk Cost）”（或称沉淀成本或既定成本）的概念，代指已经付出且不可收回的成本。
举例来说，如果你预订了一张电影票，已经付了票款且假设不能退票。此时你付的价钱已经不能收回，就算你不看电影钱也收不回来，电影票的价钱算作你的沉没成本
1. 付钱后发觉电影不好看，但忍受着看完；
2. 付钱后发觉电影不好看，退场去做别的事情。
Niche
1. 壁龛
2. 有利可图的市场(或形势等)
I think we have found a niche in the toy market.
我认为我们已经在玩具市场找到了领地。

They hoard cash, buy back their firms’ shares and reinforce their positions by merging with former rivals.
他们通过储备现金，回购自家公司股份以及与竞争对手合并来巩固公司的市场地位。
The gloomsters’ case is true to some extent but it is overstated.
这些悲观人士的言论在一定程度上是对的，但还是言过其实了。
Hoard 囤积
They've begun to hoard food and gasoline and save their money.
Merge 使合并或结合：= combine
merging two sets of data.将两组数据合并
To some extent
某种程度 = to some degree; partly.
I've solved this problem to some extent.