What do Donald Trump and Jack Ma have in common?
來源：
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38565947
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/10/technology/jack-ma-trump-us-jobs-claim/index.html
Another week, and yet another Asian business leader finds himself in bear-like embrace of the US President-elect Donald Trump.
This time it is China's Jack Ma - the founder of Alibaba.
On the face of it they're an unlikely pairing.
One's been raised in the lap of luxury /'l?ɡ??ri/, the other had humble/?h?mb?l/ beginnings. One has taken advantage of the free market capitalism of the West, the other grew up in the Chinese Communist system.
humble/?h?mb?l/
But there are a few things they have in common.
They both think huge
It is possibly Donald Trump's favourite word: Huge. And whatever you might think of him, the President-elect certainly has had grand plans. Taking over his father's real estate /?'stet/ business and turning it an empire /'?mpa?r/. Expanding it into an entertainment business. Running for, and winning, the highest office in the land. There's no lack of ambition. He's now thought to be worth almost $4bn (although consistently /k?n's?st?ntli/ claims he's worth more than double that).
Taking over 掌握
estate /?’stet/
* n. 房地產(chǎn)糟港；財(cái)產(chǎn)攀操；身份
* empire /'?mpa?r/
* n. 帝國；帝王統(tǒng)治秸抚，君權(quán)
* n. (Empire)人名速和；(法)昂皮爾
* consistently /k?n’s?st?ntli/
* adv. 一貫地；一致地剥汤；堅(jiān)實(shí)地
When it comes to wealth, China's Jack Ma isn't far behind. He is China's third richest man and Forbes names him amongst the most powerful people on the planet. But he started his professional life teaching English to students in a university in a small Chinese town, reportedly making about US$12 a month. To get better at English, he would court foreign tourists, charming /'t?ɑrm??/ them into having conversations at local hotels. He started the e-commerce giant/'d?a??nt/ Alibaba in his flat /fl?t/, and hasn't looked back.
charming /'t?ɑrm??/
* adj. 迷人的颠放；可愛的
* v. 使陶醉（charm的現(xiàn)在分詞）
giant/'d?a??nt/
* n. 巨人；偉人吭敢；[動(dòng)] 巨大的動(dòng)物
* adj. 巨大的碰凶；巨人般的
* flat /fl?t/
* n. 平地；公寓鹿驼；平面
Mr Ma also has a grand vision which has driven the company from the start: to create ten million profitable businesses and 100 million jobs in the next 20 years.
They aren't afraid to take risks
Both men are known risk-takers, or as some would say, gamblers /'ɡ?mbl?/.
gamblers /'ɡ?mbl?/
* n. 賭徒欲低；投機(jī)者（gambler的復(fù)數(shù)）
And perhaps Mr Trump's biggest gamble was running for president. He was initially seen as the weakest contender during the campaign for the Republican nomination. But a decision to take a risk and be outrageous /a?t'red??s/ helped him, in part at least, to get his name on the ballot/'b?l?t/ paper and ultimately to win the presidency /'pr?z?d?nsi/.
outrageous /a?t'red??s/
* adj. 粗暴的；可惡的畜晰；令人吃驚的
in part at least? 至少部分
ballot/'b?l?t/
* n. 投票砾莱；投票用紙；投票總數(shù)
* vi. 投票凄鼻；抽簽決定
* vt. 使投票表決腊瑟；拉選票
* n. (Ballot)人名；(英)巴洛特块蚌；(法)巴洛
* presidency /'pr?z?d?nsi/
* n. 總統(tǒng)（或董事長扫步、會(huì)長、大學(xué)校長等）的職位（任期）匈子；管轄；支配
Jack Ma is similarly unafraid to take risks. One of his early internet ventures, China Pages, ended badly when he ended up having to form a joint venture with China Telecom and lost control of the company. He also burned through a lot of cash in his early days, and at one point had to lay off all of his international staff. But Mr Ma, who was once rejected from a managerial /?m?n?'d??r??l/ role at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Hangzhou, says he wouldn't be where he is today without having to learn to deal with failure.
managerial /?m?n?'d??r??l/
* adj. [管理] 管理的闯袒；經(jīng)理的
They embrace their inner crazy
Mr Trump is known as one of America's most colourful and famous billionaires. He rose to fame as the boss in the hit television show "The Apprentice/?'pr?nt?s/" and his trademark "You're Fired" became a catchphrase. But eccentric /?k's?ntr?k/, and many would say outrageous, comments on the campaign trail have also led to him being called crazy by his critics, for all the wrong reasons. Remember when he said he would impose a total "shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States? Or how about the the pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico, and get the US's neighbour to pay for it? The list goes on.
rose to fame
* 成名虎敦，名聲大振
* frame /frem/
* n. 框架；結(jié)構(gòu)政敢；[電影] 畫面
* vt. 設(shè)計(jì)其徙；建造；陷害喷户；使…適合
* vi. 有成功希望
* adj. 有木架的唾那；有構(gòu)架的
* n. (Frame)人名；(英)弗雷姆
* Apprentice/?'pr?nt?s/
* n. 學(xué)徒褪尝；生手
* vt. 使…當(dāng)學(xué)徒
* vi. 當(dāng)學(xué)徒
* eccentric /?k's?ntr?k/
* adj. 古怪的闹获，反常的
* n. 古怪的人
Mr Ma is often called "Crazy Jack" (though that craziness isn't seen as offensive.).
His trademark speeches captivate? /'k?pt?vet/and inspire employees. He is a showman who regularly entertains /??nt?'ten/ Alibaba staff with performances that would make Justin Timberlake proud. He's a familiar smiling face on the televised galas launching Alibaba's Singles Day sales, and is also known to preside/pr?'za?d/ over mass marriages at the firm.
captivate? /'k?pt?vet/
* vt. 迷住期犬，迷惑
* entertains /??nt?’ten/
* vt. 娛樂；招待避诽；懷抱龟虎；容納
* vi. 款待
* preside/pr?'za?d/
* vi. 主持，擔(dān)任會(huì)議主席
* vt. 管理
The Buddy economy
Almost every time a billionaire goes through the doors of Trump Towers, the President-elect comes out with a pledge to create jobs in the US. It is starting to be seen as a fast-pass route to getting business done - as I wrote about when Japan's Masayoshi Son met with Mr Trump late last year.
His meeting with Jack Ma was no different.
And while the practice of business leaders visiting publicly-elected officials might have many scratching their heads in Western nations, the relationship between business and politics is much closer in many parts of Asia - including China. So this is a way of doing business that Mr Ma will know and understand well.
China-US relations may well deteriorate after January 20, when Mr Trump has promised to call China out as a currency manipulator, Mr Ma is making sure that his personal relationship with the new president isn't affected - which can only be good for his business
deteriorate/d?’t?r??ret/
* vi. 惡化沙庐，變壞
* vt. 惡化
*
Alibaba's 1 million American jobs promise isn't realistic
Alibaba founder Jack Ma met with Donald Trump Monday and pledged to create one million jobs in the U.S. over the next five years through the company's e-commerce platform.
That is a vague /veɡ/ and misleading /?m?s'lid??/ promise. /'prɑm?s/
vague/veɡ/
* adj. 模糊的鲤妥；含糊的；不明確的拱雏；曖昧的
* n. (Vague)人名棉安；(法)瓦格；(英)韋格
* misleading /?m?s'lid??/
* adj. 令人誤解的铸抑；引入歧途的
Ma is not going to build factories. He is not planning to set up Alibaba operations centers that would employ tech savvy/'s?vi/ Americans. And he is not touting /taut/ a big investment in the U.S.
touting /taut/
* v. 兜售贡耽；[貿(mào)易] 招徠顧客（tout的現(xiàn)在分詞形式）
In other words, Ma isn't promising what most experts and economists would define as job creation. He's talking about stimulating/'st?mjulet??/ trade by helping one million small businesses sell American goods to consumers in China and Asia.
stimulating/'st?mjulet??/
* adj. 刺激的；有刺激性的
* v. 刺激羡滑；激勵(lì)菇爪；促進(jìn)（stimulate的ing形式）
To create one million jobs would require each of those businesses to hire one new worker. So far so good. But U.S. trade on Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall shopping sites is relatively small at the moment. More than 7,000 U.S. brands sold $15 billion worth of goods to Chinese consumers last year, according to Alibaba spokesperson Rico Ngai. (Alibaba did $17.8 billion in sales in 24 hours during its online shopping bonanza /b?'n?nz?/ in November.)
Ma has been pushing since 2015 to increase U.S. sales to China on Alibaba. But getting one million American brands onto its platforms would require a 142-fold increase in business.
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[sentences]
On the face of it they're an unlikely pairing.
But there are a few things they have in common.
They both think huge
It is possibly Donald Trump's favourite word: Huge.
He's now thought to be worth almost $4bn
When it comes to wealth, China's Jack Ma isn't far behind.
But he started his professional life teaching English to students in a university in a small Chinese town
They aren't afraid to take risks
And perhaps Mr Trump's biggest gamble was running for president.
Jack Ma is similarly unafraid to take risks.
says he wouldn't be where he is today without having to learn to deal with failure.
They embrace their inner crazy
Alibaba's 1 million American jobs promise isn't realistic
That is a vague /veɡ/ and misleading /?m?s'lid??/ promise. /'prɑm?s/
