商業英語世界觀-世界公民文化中心

2010年度人物，《時代》雜誌選出Facebook創始人札克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）。這位26歲的網路金童當選，是因為他創造了一個全新的資訊交換系統，既不可或缺，卻又讓人心裡怕怕。

Time magazine named Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg its 'Person of the Year' for 2010. The magazine's editor Rick Stengel said Time chose the 26-year-old Internet star and philanthropist, in part, 'for creating a new system of exchanging information that has become both indispensable and sometimes a little scary.'

It marks the fourth time in recent history that a figure from technology won the pop culture honor.

《時代》（Time）雜誌將Facebook創始人札克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）選為2010年度人物。該雜誌編輯斯坦格爾說，《時代》選擇這位26歲的網路巨星和慈善家，部分是由於他創立了一個不可或缺的、有時又令人害怕的全新資訊交換系統。

這是科技界人士近些年第四次獲得該流行文化獎項。

In 2006, the magazine chose 'You' for the idea, represented by YouTube and blogs, that ordinary people now had power to create content online.

In 2005, the winners were Bill and Melinda Gates plus Bono--representing 'The Good Samaritans'--in honor of the charitable giving by the Microsoft co-founder and his wife.

In 1999, there was Amazon.com founder Jeffrey Bezos, chosen for the potential of e-commerce to change the way we shop.

And in 1997, the winner was Andy Grove, the early Intel employee and leader.

其餘的四位是，2006年《時代》雜誌的年度人物是“你”（You），以YouTube和部落格為代表，傳達了一個概念：所有人都是網路上內容創造者。

2005年將慈善代言人比爾蓋茲夫婦和U2樂隊主唱波諾（Bono）選為年度人物，向這位微軟創始人夫婦的慈善捐贈表示敬意。

1999年，亞馬遜創始人貝佐斯獲此殊榮，原因是他讓電子商務開始改變人們的消費模式。

1997年的年度人物是英特爾的安迪葛洛夫（Andy Grove）。

If fellow Internet star Bezos is any guide, Zuckerberg could still be in store for a wild ride. While Amazon's revenue--and stock price--have grown to an all-time high over the last year, the company went through a rough patch for a while after Bezos won the honor, with analysts and investors fretting about its business model and for a while preferring rival eBay.

Yet Bezos is now back on top of his game, with the Kindle e-reader once again shaking up the book industry and new ventures like Web services holding the potential to shake up the way business gets done. Bezos is fond of saying that he remained focused on the long-term with Amazon, seeing past the daily concerns of Wall Street to what might best serve customers.

拿同樣是網路明星的貝佐斯當借鏡，札克伯格也許還得經歷一番波折。亞馬遜的收入和股價在往年創歷史新高，而在貝佐斯獲評年度人物後，該公司卻度過了一段艱難的歲月，分析師和投資者對其商業模式感到擔心，一度偏向其競爭對手eBay。

然而，貝佐斯現在又回到了制高點，Kindle電子閱讀器再次引起書市大變革，亞馬遜網路服務等風險投項目也有可能會革新貿易運作方式。貝佐斯總愛說，他注重的還是亞馬遜的長期發展，不往整天擔憂股價，而是想著如何才能為消費者提供最好的服務。

關鍵學習

1. Go through a rough patch  (事業/經濟/人生)觸礁

Patch是「一塊」，字面上的意義是「經歷一塊崎嶇不平的地」，口語用patch指一段特別的日子。a bad / difficult / sticky / rough patch是一段困難的日子，「遇到困難或不順遂之事」，也可說成 hit a rough patch。a purple patch則是一段事事如意的日子，例如
（1）I am in a difficult patch this month （=I have hit / struck a difficult patch this month這一整個月做什麼都不順）。
（2）The boxer has hit a purple patch, going from victory to victory in the ring（那拳師這陣子春風得意，在拳擊台上戰無不勝）

2. Shake-up  重新改組

Shake-up有幾種不同的意思，可以當名詞也可以當動詞。Shake-up作名詞的意思是“（人員的）大改組、大變動”，放在文中特指當前許多行業的大規模裁員。例如：a series of personnel shake-ups（一系列的人事變動）。shake-up除了指人員的改組之外，也指“（政策等的）劇變”，例如：a political shake-up（政治劇變），a shake-up in regulations（規章制度的重大變革）。

當動詞的時候，shake up something就是 重新改組，例如：
(1) The company announced that it would shake up top management and cut 1,000 jobs. 公司宣布高層改組，並裁員1000人。
(2) Every new boss likes to shake things up a bit when they take over. 每個新老闆剛上任時都傾向重新改組。


本文同步刊於2011.1.29工商時報”世界公民weekly”。歡迎訂閱電子報