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Geeks v bureaucrats

How France's data scientists are upstaging its administration

They are succeeding where the énarques failed

When the pandemic broke out, a 23-year-old French data scientist was working in his bedroom at his parents’ house in a Savoyard valley. Guillaume Rozier began to plot, and tweet, cases of covid-19 in Italy against those in France. His data analysis swiftly became a popular covid-19-tracking site. This April it spawned “ViteMaDose” (QuickMyJab), a website that in two clicks scans disparate French health sites for scarce vaccination slots. It now draws 2m-3m views each day.

France’s geeks are taking on its mighty bureaucrats. Armed with simplicity, clarity and algorithms, they are defeating the administration’s fondness for complexity, confusion and rules. Other new sites, such as Covidliste or Covid Anti Gaspi, match unused vaccine doses in fridges to willing takers nearby. “How”, an astonished talk-show host asked Mr Rozier, “have you managed to create this system that the French administration hasn’t?”

Mr Rozier, whose site is non-profit, says he saw the need when struggling in March to get an appointment for a relative. France’s health system is fragmented, with no centralised booking; vaccine deliveries are patchy. He crowdsourced help to refine the algorithm and design. “Lots of people contact us to say thanks for helping find appointments,” he says. “That’s really cool.”

France’s 5m bureaucrats are masters of the art of convolution. When the government started a new lockdown in March, they devised a two-page permission form to leave home, with 15 different justifications, before shelving it in the face of ridicule. Current rules mix precision with farce. The French can buy alcohol, for instance, but not underwear.

President Emmanuel Macron is trying to overhaul the administration. He is abolishing the elite École Nationale d’Administration. Cédric O, his digital minister, is piloting the European Union’s first digital health certificate, for travel to Corsica. But bureaucrats are generally better at devising rules and collecting information than making either comprehensible. Allez les geeks.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Geeks v bureaucrats" (The Economist, May 1st 2021)

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注：中文文本为机器翻译仅供参考，并非一一对应

含注释全文：

Geeks v bureaucrats

How France's data scientists are upstaging its administration

They are succeeding where the énarques failed

When the pandemic broke out, a 23-year-old French data scientist was working in his bedroom at his parents' house in a Savoyard valley. Guillaume Rozier began to plot, and tweet, cases of covid-19 in Italy against those in France. His data analysis swiftly became a popular covid-19-tracking site. This April it spawned “ViteMaDose” (QuickMyJab), a website that in two clicks scans disparate French health sites for scarce vaccination slots. It now draws 2m-3m views each day.

疫情爆发时，一位23岁的法国数据科学家正在他父母位于萨瓦山谷房子的卧室里工作。纪尧姆·罗齐尔（Guillaume Rozier）开始将意大利的covid-19病例与法国的病例进行对比，并在推特上公布。他的数据分析迅速成为一个受欢迎的covid-19追踪网站。今年4月，它催生了“ViteMaDose”（QuickMyJab），这个网站只需点击两下，就能扫描不同的法国卫生网站，寻找稀缺的疫苗接种名额。它现在每天吸引了200万至300万的浏览量。

upstage

表示“抢…的风头”，英文解释为“If someone upstages you, they draw attention away from you by being more attractive or interesting.”举个🌰：

He had a younger brother who always publicly upstaged him.

他有个弟弟，总是公开抢他的风头。

plot

表示“在图上标绘…的位置；绘制…的图；标出…的航线”，英文解释为“to make marks to show the position, movement, or development of something, usually in the form of lines or curves between a series of points on a map or piece of paper”举个🌰：

Radar operators plotted the course of the incoming missile.

雷达操作员标绘出了来袭导弹的轨迹。

tweet/retweet

tweet作名词，表示“发布在推特上的信息”，其实指的就是“推文”，英文解释为“a short remark or piece of information published on Twitter”；作动词，指的就是“发推文，发推特”（to publish a short remark or piece of information on Twitter），retweet就是转发推文，举个🌰：

He tweeted that he was just about to meet the president.

他发推特说自己即将见到总统。

spawning

1）spawn作动词，表示“使大量出现，使大量产生；酿成”，英文解释为“to make a series of things happen or start to exist”，举个🌰：

New technology has spawned new business opportunities.

新技术创造了大量新的商机。

2）表示“（鱼或蛙）大量产卵”，英文解释为“if a fish or frog spawns, it produces eggs in large quantities at the same time”；

disparate

表示“迥然不同的，不相干的”，英文解释为“consisting of things or people that are very different and not related to each other”举个🌰：

Scientists are trying to pull together disparate ideas in astronomy.

科学家正试图把天文学界各种迥然不同的观点汇集起来。

scarce

表示“缺乏的；不足的；稀少的”，英文解释为“if sth is scarce , there is not enough of it and it is only available in small quantities”，如：scarce resources 稀缺资源。

slot

表示“（名单、日程安排或广播节目表中的）位置，时间，机会”，英文解释为“a position, a time or an opportunity for sb/sth, for example in a list, a programme of events or a series of broadcasts”举个🌰：

Their album has occupied the Number One slot for the past six weeks.

他们的唱片在最近六周占据排行榜首位。

🎬电影《钢铁侠》（Iron Man 2）中的台词提到：I'll make sure I get you a slot. 我肯定会给你个展位的。

France's geeks are taking on its mighty bureaucrats. Armed with simplicity, clarity and algorithms, they are defeating the administration's fondness for complexity, confusion and rules. Other new sites, such as Covidliste or Covid Anti Gaspi, match unused vaccine doses in fridges to willing takers nearby. “How”, an astonished talk-show host asked Mr Rozier, “have you managed to create this system that the French administration hasn't?”

法国的极客们正在向其强大的官僚们挑战。他们以简单、清晰和算法为武器，正在击败政府对复杂、混乱和规则的喜爱。其他新网站，如Covidliste或Covid Anti Gaspi，将未使用的疫苗制剂与附近愿意接种的人配对。“怎么做到的，”一位感到惊讶的脱口秀主持人问罗齐尔先生，“你们是怎么创建这个系统的，而法国政府却没有？”

Mr Rozier, whose site is non-profit, says he saw the need when struggling in March to get an appointment for a relative. France's health system is fragmented, with no centralised booking; vaccine deliveries are patchy. He crowdsourced help to refine the algorithm and design. “Lots of people contact us to say thanks for helping find appointments,” he says. “That's really cool.”

罗齐尔先生的网站是非营利性的（non-profit），他说他在3月份为一位亲戚预约时感到很有必要。法国的卫生系统是零散的，没有集中的预约；疫苗的分配是不均衡的。他通过众包方式帮助完善算法和设计。他说：“很多人与我们联系，说感谢我们帮助找到了预约，”他说，“这真的很酷。”

fragment

表示“支离破碎的，分裂的”，英文解释为“consisting of several separate parts”举个🌰：

In this increasingly fragmented society, a sense of community is a thing of the past.

在这个日益分崩离析的社会中，归属感已经一去不复返了。

patchy

表示“零散的；散落的；分布不均衡的”，英文解释为“patchy substance or colour exists in some places but not in others, or is thick in some places and thin in others.”举个🌰：

Thick patchy fog and irresponsible driving were to blame.

浓重的分布不均的雾和不负责任的驾驶应受到责难。

crowdsource

表示“（网上）众包，群众外包”，英文解释为“to give tasks to a large group of people or to the general public, for example, by asking for help on the internet, rather than having tasks done within a company by employees”举个🌰：

The company plans to crowdsource the translation of its new web app.

这家公司计划把翻译其新网络应用程序的工作通过众包完成。

refine

表示“完善；改进，改善”，英文解释为“If something such as a process, theory, or machine is refined, it is improved by having small changes made to it.”举个🌰：

Surgical techniques are constantly being refined.

外科手术技术正在不断得到完善。

France's 5m bureaucrats are masters of the art of convolution. When the government started a new lockdown in March, they devised a two-page permission form to leave home, with 15 different justifications, before shelving it in the face of ridicule. Current rules mix precision with farce. The French can buy alcohol, for instance, but not underwear.

法国的500万名官僚是绕弯子艺术的大师。当政府在3月开始新的封锁时，他们设计了一个两页的离家许可表，有15种不同的理由，然后在面对嘲笑时将其搁置。目前的规则既精确又滑稽。比如，法国人可以买酒，但不能买内衣。

bureaucrat

bureaucrat /ˈbjʊərəˌkræt/ 表示“官僚主义者；官僚”，英文解释为“an official working in an organization or a government department, especially one who follows the rules of the department too strictly”。

convolution

1）表示“错综复杂；晦涩费解”，英文解释为“a thing that is very complicated and difficult to follow”，如：the bizarre convolutions of the story 那故事错综复杂的离奇情节；

2）表示“（尤指其中之一的）盘绕，弯曲”，英文解释为“a twist or curve, especially one of many”；

3）还有一个含义，学计算机的应该很熟，convolution表示「卷积」，CNN也就是卷积神经网络（Convolutional Neural Networks）。

justification

表示“正当的理由；辩解”，英文解释为“a good reason or explanation for something”举个🌰：

There is no justification for treating people so badly.

没有理由如此恶劣地对待他人。

shelve

表示“搁置（计划、想法等）”，英文解释为“to decide not to continue with a plan, idea etc, although you might continue with it at a later time”，举个🌰：

He has shelved plans to build a driving range.

他已搁置了建造一个高尔夫练习场的计划。

ridicule

表示“嘲笑；奚落；讥笑”，英文解释为“If someone or something is an object of ridicule or is held up to ridicule, someone makes fun of them in an unkind way.”举个🌰：

She is an object of ridicule in the newspapers.

她是报纸中讥笑讽刺的对象。

farce /fɑːs/

表示“滑稽的情景，荒唐的举动，闹剧”，英文解释为“a situation that is very badly organized or unfair”举个🌰：

No one had prepared anything so the meeting was a bit of a farce.

谁也没有作任何准备，因此会议有点儿像出闹剧。

precision

表示“精确；准确；细致”，英文解释为“the quality of being exact, accurate and careful”。

President Emmanuel Macron is trying to overhaul the administration. He is abolishing the elite École Nationale d’Administration. Cédric O, his digital minister, is piloting the European Union's first digital health certificate, for travel to Corsica. But bureaucrats are generally better at devising rules and collecting information than making either comprehensible. Allez les geeks.

埃马纽埃尔·马克龙总统（President Emmanuel Macron）正试图彻底改革行政管理。他正在废除精英的国家行政学院（École Nationale d'Administration）。他的数字部部长塞德里克·奥（Cédric O）正在试行欧盟的第一个电子健康证，用于前往科西嘉岛（Corsica）旅行。但是，官僚们通常更擅长制定规则和收集信息，而不是让他们容易被理解。让极客们来吧。

overhaul

表示“彻底检修，大修；改造；改进”，英文解释为“to repair or improve something so that every part of it works as it should”举个🌰：

I got the engine overhauled.

我彻底检修了发动机。

abolish

表示“废除，废止”，英文解释为“to end an activity or custom officially”举个🌰：

I think bullfighting should be abolished.

我认为斗牛应该废止。

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Geeks v bureaucrats" (The Economist, May 1st 2021)

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