【视频讲解】

Elsewhere, Tencent unveiled a service in March that will allow firms in Europe to use WeChat to sell on the mainland. This will let them sell directly into China, avoiding red tape. Tencent also recently invested $1.8bn in America’s Tesla, a pioneer in electric and autonomous vehicles. That is a particular challenge to Baidu, which is betting its future on machine learning and AI.
在其他方面，腾讯于3月推出了一项服务，将允许欧洲的公司通过微信在大陆展开销售。这样这些公司便可直接进入中国，省去了繁琐的审批程序。腾讯最近还向电动及自动驾驶汽车先行者美国特斯拉投资18亿美元。这对把自身未来赌在机器学习和AI上的百度来说尤其是个挑战。

unveil v.揭露，公开
- It's a good time to unveil the plans.
red tape 官僚主义
autonomous adj.自动的
vehicle n.车辆

Baidu’s push abroad is mainly a way to get access to talent in these fields. The firm has just started its first recruiting campaign at top American universities, including Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It has a respected AI laboratory in Silicon Valley, despite the recent departure of Andrew Ng, an AI expert. But Baidu does not have the same firepower as Alibaba and Tencent. It tried but has failed to conquer foreign markets such as Japan with its search engine. In April it opened up its self-driving technology to rivals, as Tesla did in 2014, but it has a long way to go before it makes an impact in autonomous driving.
百度在硅谷有一间颇有声望的AI实验室，尽管AI专家吴恩达最近已离职。不过百度并没有阿里巴巴和腾讯那样雄厚的资金实力。它的搜索引擎曾尝试征服日本等国外市场，但未能得手。4月，百度向对手开放了自己的无人驾驶技术，和特斯拉在2014年的做法一样。但要在这一领域产生影响力，百度还有很长的路要走。

recruit v.招聘
- He was recruited by the army.
laboratory n.实验室
firepower n.火力
conquer v.征服 (to take control of...)
- They conquered their enemies.
impact n.影响力

Grandiose BAT statements about global aims should be taken with a pinch of salt. It would be an error to neglect the profitable domestic market. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, reckons that China’s online retail market will more than double in size by 2020, to $1.7trn. As Duncan Clark, author of a recent book on Alibaba, points out, whatever headlines Mr Ma and other internet bosses make with their overseas ventures, “it takes a lot to get away from the sheer gravity of China.” But at home and abroad, one thing is clear: China’s internet titans cannot be ignored.
BAT有关全球目标的豪言壮语不能全信。忽视有利可图的国内市场无异于犯错。投资银行高盛认为，到2020年，中国的在线零售市场规模将至少翻一番，达到1.7万亿美元。正如邓肯•克拉克（Duncan Clark）最近在他关于阿里巴巴的书中指出的那样，不管马云和其他互联网大佬在海外拓展过程中做出了什么引人瞩目的举动，“要脱离中国市场的强大引力可没那么容易。”但不论是在国内还是国外，有一点很明确：中国的互联网巨头不容忽视。

grandiose adj.宏伟的
a pinch of salt 半信半疑
neglect v.忽略
reckon v.认为
venture n.冒险 (a new activity/project/business that involves risk)
- venture v.探险
sheer adj.完全 (total)
gravity n.引力
titans n.泰坦，巨兽