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【文章预读】
Being a global tech hegemon has been lucrative for America. Tech firms support 7m jobs at home that pay twice the average wage. Other industries benefit by using technology more actively and becoming more productive: American non-tech firms are 50% more “digitised” than European ones, says McKinsey, a consulting firm. America sets many standards, for example on the design of USB ports, or rules for content online, that the world follows. And the $180bn of foreign profits that American tech firms mint annually is a boon several times greater than the benefit of having the world’s reserve currency.
A loss of these spoils would be costly and demoralising. Is it likely? Schumpeter has compiled ten measures of tech supremacy. The approach owes much to Kai-Fu Lee of Sinovation Ventures, a Chinese VC firm. It uses figures from AllianceBernstein, Bloomberg, CB Insights, Goldman Sachs and McKinsey and includes 3,000 listed, global tech firms, 226 “unicorns”, or unlisted firms worth over $1bn, plus Huawei, a Chinese hardware giant.
The overall conclusion is that China is still behind. Using the median of the yardsticks, its tech industry is 42% as powerful as America’s. But it is catching up fast. In 2012 the figure was just 15%.
【文章精讲】
Being a global tech hegemon has been lucrative for America. Tech firms support 7m jobs at home that pay twice the average wage. Other industries benefit by using technology more actively and becoming more productive: American non-tech firms are 50% more “digitised” than European ones, says McKinsey, a consulting firm. America sets many standards, for example on the design of USB ports, or rules for content online, that the world follows. And the $180bn of foreign profits that American tech firms mint annually is a boon several times greater than the benefit of having the world’s reserve currency.
美国凭借科技界全球霸主的地位获得了不少好处。科技公司为美国国内提供了七百万个工作岗位，薪资水平是平均工资的两倍。其他行业也因为更加积极地采用技术成果提高了生产率而受益。咨询公司麦肯锡指出，美国非科技公司的“数字化”程度比欧洲同类公司高出50%。美国设立了许多全世界都在遵循的标准，比如USB接口的设计，或者在线内容的发布规则。美国科技公司每年赚取的海外利润高达1800亿美元，比保有世界储备货币所带来的收益高出几倍。
hegemon n.霸王
- hegemony n.霸权主义
lucrative adj.有利可图的，赚钱的
benefit v.获利
digitise v.数字化
port n.接口
content n.内容
mint v.铸造，创造
annually adv.每年地
- annual adj.每年的
boon n.福利，好处
reserve currency 储备货币
A loss of these spoils would be costly and demoralising. Is it likely? Schumpeter has compiled ten measures of tech supremacy. The approach owes much to Kai-Fu Lee of Sinovation Ventures, a Chinese VC firm. It uses figures from AllianceBernstein, Bloomberg, CB Insights, Goldman Sachs and McKinsey and includes 3,000 listed, global tech firms, 226 “unicorns”, or unlisted firms worth over $1bn, plus Huawei, a Chinese hardware giant.
一旦失去这些好处，不仅损失重大，还会挫伤锐气。这有没有可能发生呢？本专栏编制了十项指标，衡量究竟谁在科技界处于领先地位。此考量方法很大程度上要归功于中国风投公司创新工场的创办者李开复。方法采用的数字来自联博（AllianceBernstein）、彭博、CB Insights、高盛和麦肯锡，涉及3000家上市全球科技公司、226家“独角兽”即估值超过10亿美元的非上市公司，以及中国硬件巨头华为。
spoil n.好处
demoralising adj.士气低下的，没有信心的
- morale n.士气
compile v.汇编
- She compiled a list of names.
supremacy n.至高无上，霸权
approach n.方法
owe to… 归功于
listed adj.上市的
unicorn n.独角兽
The overall conclusion is that China is still behind. Using the median of the yardsticks, its tech industry is 42% as powerful as America’s. But it is catching up fast. In 2012 the figure was just 15%.
median adj.中位数
yardsticks n.衡量标准
【推荐句式表达】
1. benefit by doing..
2. owe to…
n. 预备品，贮存，候补
n. 克制，含蓄
