金融英語泛讀:我是如何做到的——馬云談創(chuàng)業(yè)

How I Did It：The Unlikely Rise of China's Hottest Internet Tycoon我是如何做到的——馬云談創(chuàng)業(yè)

“I rode my bike for 40 minutes every morning to a hotel with a lot of foreign tourists. I showed them around and practiced my English.Those eight years deeply changed me.”

Jack Ma hit pay dirt when his Chinese business-to-business start-up, Alibaba. com, went public, in November，2007.The offering raised more than$1.5 billion and gave the company a valuation of$26 billion.Ma，43，grew up during China's Cultural Revolution.He taught himself English, then caught the Internet wave as China's economy opened in the 1990s.Today, Alibaba is China's largest B2B site and a favorite among American and European companies that are buying from Chinese suppliers.The site earned$39 million on revenues of$129 million in the first half of 2007.Ma has also taken Alibaba into search, engines through a joint venture with Yahoo（NASDAQ：YHOO），and his Taobao online auction site has become bigger than eBay（NASDAQ：EBAY）in China.

When I was 12 years old, I got interested in learning English. I rode my bike for 40 minutes every morning, rain or snow, for eight years to a hotel near the city of Hangzhou's West Lake district, about 100 miles southwest of Shanghai.China was opening up, and a lot of foreign tourists went there.I showed them around as a free guide and practiced my English.Those eight years deeply changed me.l started to become more globalized than most Chinese.What I learned from my teachers and books was different from what the foreign visitors told me.

The other event that fundamentally changed me was in 1979，when I met a family with two kids from Australia. We met and spent three days together and played Frisbee.We became pen pals.In 1985 they invited me to go to Australia for a summer vacation.I went in July, and those 31 days changed my life.Since then, I started to think differently.

l flunked my exam for university twice before I was accepted by what was considered my city's worst university, Hangzhou Normal University. I was studying to be a high school English teacher.In my university, I was elected student chairman and later became chairman of the city's Students Federation.

When I graduated, I was the only one of 500 students assigned to teach at a university. My pay was 100 to 120 yuan（RMB），which is like$12 to$15 per month.I always had a dream that when I finished my five years, I would join a business-a hotel or whatever.I just wanted to go and do something.In 1992，the business environment started improving.I applied for a lot of jobs, but nobody wanted me！I was turned down for secretary to the general manager of a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Then, in 1995，I went to Seattle as an interpreter for a trade delegation. A friend showed me the Internet there for the first time.We searched the word“beer”on Yahoo and discovered that there was no data about China.We decided to launch a website and registered the name“China Pages.”

I borrowed$2000 to set up the company. I knew nothing about personal computers or e-mails.I had never touched a keyboard before that.That's why I call myself“blind man riding on the back of a blind tiger.”

We competed with China Telecom for about a year. The general manager of China Telecom offered to invest$185000 to do a joint venture.It was the most money I had ever seen in my life.But unfortunately, China Telecom got five seats on the board.I got two seats on the board.Everything we suggested, they turned us down.It was like an elephant and an ant.I resigned.Then, I got an offer to come to Beijing and run a new government group to promote e-commerce.

My dream was to set up my own e-commerce company. In 1999，I gathered 18 people in my apartment and spoke to them for two hours about my vision.Everyone put their money on the table and that got us$60000 to start Alibaba.I wanted to have a global company, so I chose a global name.Alibaba is easy to spell and people everywhere associate that with“Open, Sesame，”the command that Ali Baba used to open doors to hidden treasures in One Thousand and One Nights, the book of Middle Eastern folktales.

There were three reasons why we survived. We had no money, we had no technology, and we had no plan.Every dollar, we used very carefully.The office opened in my apartment.We expanded when we raised money from Goldman Sachs in 1999 and then Softbank Corporation in 2000.

We're in China today because I believe in one thing:global vision, local win. We designed the business model ourselves.Our focus is on helping small and medium-size companies make money.We never copied a model from the U.S.，like a lot of Chinese Internet entrepreneurs did.We focused on product quality.It has to be“click and get it.”If l can't get it, then it's rubbish.

I call Alibaba“1001 mistakes.”We expanded too fast, and then in the dotcom bubble, we had to have layoffs. By 2002，we had only enough cash to survive for 18 months.We had a lot of free members using our site, and we didn't know how we'd make money.So we developed a product for China exporters to meet buyers in the U.S.online.This model saved us.Each year we improved.Today, Alibaba is very Profitable.

The lessons I learned from the dark days at Alibaba are that you've got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision. Also, if you don't give up, you still have a chance.

Going public was an important miIestone for Alibaba. The time was right.Our B2B company is established, market conditions are healthy, and management is strong.The reception proved a mainland Chinese company can list in Hong Kong and still get a very strong valuation and global investor interest.

My vision is to build an e-commerce ecosystem that allows consumers and businesses to do all aspects of business online. We are going into search with Yahoo, and have launched online auction and payment businesses.I want to create one million jobs, change China's social and economic environment, and make it the largest Internet market in the world.

What is important in my life is that I can do something that can influence many people and influence China's development. When I am myself, I am relaxed and happy and have a good result.

每天早上我都會騎上40分鐘的自行車，來到一家住著許多外國游客的賓館。我?guī)е麄兊教幑?，同時還鍛煉了我的英語口語。那八年徹底地改變了我。

中國首家企業(yè)與企業(yè)間電子商務公司阿里巴巴網(wǎng)絡有限公司于2007年11月掛牌上市，其創(chuàng)辦者馬云終獲成功。本次上市融資超過15億美元，并使得該公司市值達到260億美元。43歲的馬云在中國的“文化大革命”時期長大，他曾自學英語。恰逢20世紀90年代中國經(jīng)濟逐步開放，馬云趕上了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時代興起的大潮。如今，阿里巴巴網(wǎng)站已成為中國最大的企業(yè)間電子商務平臺，并受到許多需要從中國供應商那里購買商品的歐美公司的青睞。該公司2007年上半年總收入達到1.29億美元，利潤3900萬美元。馬云還通過和雅虎進行戰(zhàn)略合作（納斯達克上市名稱：YHOO），使得阿里巴巴進軍搜索引擎領域。旗下的個人網(wǎng)上拍賣平臺“淘寶網(wǎng)”在中國的規(guī)模也超過易趣網(wǎng)（納斯達克上市名稱：EBAY）。

我12歲時開始對英語學習感興趣。杭州西湖區(qū)位于上海西南方向100公里處。每天早上我都會騎40分鐘的自行車，去附近的一家旅館，八年的時間里，風雨無阻。中國正在不斷地開放，許多的外國游客都會來到這里。我作為他們的免費導游，領著他們四處游覽，同時鍛煉了我的口語。那八年徹底改變了我。比起大部分的中國人，我更能感受到全球化的脈搏。我從老師和書本那里學到的與那些外國游客告訴我的完全不同。

發(fā)生在1979年的另外一件事從根本上改變了我。當時我接觸了一個來自澳大利亞的家庭，這家有兩個孩子。我和他們在一起待了三天，還和他們玩飛盤游戲。后來我們成了筆友。1985年，他們邀請我到澳大利亞度暑假。我7月份到了澳大利亞，在那兒的31天可以說改變了我的人生。從那時起，我開始以不同的思維方式來看待問題。

在我被杭州師范學院，也就是被認為是那個我所在城市里最差的大學錄取之前，我曾兩次在大學入學考試中失利。我努力學習，希望能成為一名高中英語教師。在大學期間，我被選為學生會主席。之后，我又成為杭州市高校學生聯(lián)合會的主席。畢業(yè)后，我是所有500名學生中唯一一個分配到高校任教的畢業(yè)生。我的工資是每月100～120元（人民幣），相當于12～15美元。我一直夢想著當我五年的教師任職期滿后，自己會進入某個商業(yè)領域，比如說酒店業(yè)或是什么的。我就是想做出點名堂來。1992年，商業(yè)環(huán)境開始有所改善。我申請了許多職位，但沒人要我！我曾申請肯德基總經(jīng)理秘書這個職位，結果被拒絕了。

之后到了1995年，我作為一個商貿(mào)代表團的隨團翻譯來到了西雅圖。一位朋友第一次向我介紹了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)這個東西。我們在雅虎上搜索了“啤酒”（beer）這個詞，結果發(fā)現(xiàn)在網(wǎng)上看不到有關中國的任何資料。于是我們決定做一個網(wǎng)頁并取名為“中國黃頁”。

我借了2000美元開辦了這家公司。我對個人電腦和電子郵件可謂是一無所知。在那之前，我都沒有碰過電腦鍵盤。這就是為什么我自稱為“騎在瞎眼老虎身上的盲人”。

我們與中國電信競爭了長達一年的時間。中國電信的老總愿意出資18.5萬美元與我們建立一個合資公司。這可是我當時所見到的最大的一筆資金。但不幸的是，中國電信占了董事會的五個席位，而我們只占了兩個。我們所提出的要求都被他們拒絕了。這就像是一頭大象和一只螞蟻在較量，于是我辭職了。之后，我來到北京，加入了一個政府部門的新團隊來推動電子商務的建設。

我的夢想是建立一家屬于自己的電子商務公司。1999年，我召集了18個人到我家來，把我的想法跟他們講了整整兩個小時。所有人都把他們的錢放到了桌子上，就這樣，我們湊了六萬美元，開始了阿里巴巴的創(chuàng)業(yè)之路。因為我想創(chuàng)建一個全球化的公司，所以我為公司取了一個國際化的名字。阿里巴巴的英文拼寫非常簡單，而且世界各地的人會由此聯(lián)想到“芝麻開門”——在中東民間故事集《一千零一夜》中，“阿里巴巴”是為了藏寶物而用來叫開盜穴大門的咒語。

我們沒有資金、沒有技術，也沒有計劃，但是我們?nèi)阅堋盎钕聛怼?，有三個原因：一是每一分錢我們用得都非常仔細；二是辦公室就在我的家里；三是1999年和2000年，我們分別從高盛公司和軟銀集團那里籌集到兩筆投資，之后我們擴大了公司的規(guī)模。

如今，我們的“根據(jù)地”仍然在中國。這是因為我始終秉承“全球的眼光，當?shù)刂苿佟边@一戰(zhàn)略。我們創(chuàng)造了屬于自己的商業(yè)模式。我們專注于幫助中小企業(yè)贏利，從來不像有些中國的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)企業(yè)家那樣去復制美國企業(yè)的模式。我們注重產(chǎn)品的質(zhì)量，一切都應該是“輕輕一點，成就一切”。如果做不到這一點，那么我們的商業(yè)模式就是垃圾。

我把阿里巴巴叫作“一千零一個錯誤”。我們的規(guī)模發(fā)展得太快，于是在網(wǎng)絡泡沫時代，我們不得不去面對發(fā)展停滯的狀態(tài)。到了2002年，我們所擁有的資金僅夠公司維持18個月的時間。那時有許多客戶還在無償?shù)厥褂梦覀兊木W(wǎng)頁，可我們就是不知道如何從中賺到錢。于是我們?yōu)橹袊某隹谏涕_發(fā)了一個產(chǎn)品，使得他們能夠在網(wǎng)上接觸到美國的購買商。這個商業(yè)模式挽救了我們。公司的狀況每年都有改善。如今，阿里巴巴是很能贏利的。

阿里巴巴所經(jīng)歷的“冬天”使我學到，你必須使你的團隊擁有價值、創(chuàng)新能力和遠見。此外，如果你不放棄，你仍然會有機會。

上市對于阿里巴巴而言是具有里程碑意義的一步。時機是正確的。我們所建立的企業(yè)與企業(yè)間電子商務公司已站穩(wěn)了腳跟，市場環(huán)境是健康的，經(jīng)營管理是有力的。市場對我們的接受證明了一個中國內(nèi)地的公司可以在香港交易所上市，仍然可以獲得很大的市場價值，并且能夠吸引全球的投資者。

我夢想著建立一個電子商務生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。這樣，消費者和經(jīng)營者就可以在網(wǎng)上進行各種交易。我們依托雅虎進入搜索引擎領域，并且建立了網(wǎng)上拍賣和支付平臺。我想為社會創(chuàng)造100萬個就業(yè)機會，改變中國經(jīng)濟社會環(huán)境，使中國成為世界上最大的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)市場。

在我的生命中，重要的是我能夠做一些事情去影響別人，影響中國的發(fā)展。做真正的自己，我才能很放松、很快樂，并且得到一個好的結果。

實戰(zhàn)提升

核心單詞

auction['?:k??n]v./n.拍賣；競賣

globalize['gl?ub?laiz]v.使全球化

fundamentally[,f?nd?'ment?li]adv.基礎地；根本地；重要地

quality['kw?liti]n.才能，本領

milestone['mailst?un]n.里程碑；劃時代的事件

財經(jīng)知識一點通

電子商務（Electronic Commerce）

是利用計算機技術、網(wǎng)絡技術和遠程通信技術，實現(xiàn)整個商務（買賣）過程中的電子化、數(shù)字化和網(wǎng)絡化。人們通過網(wǎng)絡，通過網(wǎng)上琳瑯滿目的商品信息、完善的物流配送系統(tǒng)和方便安全的資金結算系統(tǒng)進行交易（買賣）。

信息技術（lnformation Technology，簡稱lT）

是主要用于信息管理和處理信息所采用的各種技術的總稱。它主要是應用計算機科學和通信技術來設計、開發(fā)、安裝和實施信息系統(tǒng)及應用軟件。它也常被稱為信息和通信技術（lnformation and Communications Technology, lCT）。主要包括傳感技術、計算機技術和通信技術。

翻譯練習

What l learned from my teachers and books was different from what the foreign visitors told me.

My dream was to set up my own e-commerce company.

The lessons l learned from the dark days at Alibaba are that you've got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision.