《时代》2021年度人物——埃隆·马斯克

LearnAndRecord 2022-07-26

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2017年，揭露了各行各业性骚扰和性侵事件的“打破沉默者”当选《时代》杂志年度人物。

2018年，一群被称为“真相守护者”的记者当选年度人物。

2019年，瑞典环保少女格蕾塔·桑伯格成为史上最年轻的年度人物。

2020年，美国当选总统乔·拜登（Joe Biden）及副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯（Kamala Harris）成为年度人物。

今年，《时代》杂志将2021年度人物（Person of the Year）授予：埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）。

无注释原文：

Naming Elon Musk person of the year is Time’s ‘worst choice ever’, say critics

The Guardian

Time magazine’s decision to make Tesla billionaire Elon Musk its person of the year for 2021 has been criticised because of his attitude to tax, opposition to unions and playing down the dangers of Covid.

Musk, who is also the founder and chief executive of space exploration company SpaceX, recently passed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s wealthiest person as the rising price of Tesla shares pushed his net worth to around $300bn (£227bn).

Describing him as a “clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman”, Time cited the breadth of Musk’s endeavours, from his founding of SpaceX in 2002, to his hand in the creation of the alternative energy company SolarCity in addition to Tesla, the most valuable car company in the world.

The magazine emphasised that its annual acknowledgement was not an award, but rather, “recognition of the person who had the most influence on the events of the year, for good or for ill”. The award has previously been bestowed to popes, Ebola healthcare workers and Greta Thunberg but also Hitler and Stalin, who received it twice. In 1982, it went to “The Computer”.

But the accolade drew sharp criticism in the US, where Musk is a controversial figure because of his attitude to tax, opposing a “billionaires tax” floated by some. He, along with other prominent super-wealthy people, paid only small tax rates relative to the significant increase in his total wealth between 2014 and 2018 according to a Propublica investigation this year, with Musk paying a “real” rate of 3.27%. While legal, the rates expose the failures of America’s tax laws to levy increases in wealth derived from assets in the way wages – the prime source of income for most Americans – are taxed.

Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted that the Time decision highlighted the need for the tax code to be reformed “so the person of the year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else”.

Robert Reich, who served as labour secretary in the Clinton administration, said the announcement was a good time to remind people that he “illegally threatened to take away stock options if employees unionised”, an apparent reference to a 2019 National Labour Relations Board finding regarding a tweet in which Musk wrote: “Why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?”

Musk also earned controversy in 2020 by playing down the dangers of Covid in a series of tweets and initially kept his northern California factory open despite a local “shelter-in-place” order, before later halting production. The author Kurt Eichenwald said it was the “worst choice ever”.

Time magazine also noted the sway Musk holds over an army of loyal followers (and investors) on social media.

Using his 66 million followers on Twitter, he offers outlandish advice to the world and drives even his own followers and investors mad by roiling markets. He was sued by stock market regulators for tweeting in 2018 about taking Tesla private, and they alleged in correspondence to Tesla this year that two further tweets were not pre-approved by the company’s lawyers, as required by a court settlement in the earlier case.

Though it became profitable only in recent years, Tesla is by far the world’s most valuable car company, at one point this year crossing the $1tn market capitalisation threshold. Traditional heavyweights such as Ford and General Motors combined are worth less than $200bn.

The choice was questioned on Twitter, by users who suggested other figures might be more worthy of recognition this year.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were Time magazine’s person – or persons – of the year for 2020.

- ◆ -

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：

Naming Elon Musk person of the year is Time's ‘worst choice ever’, say critics

The Guardian

Time magazine's decision to make Tesla billionaire Elon Musk its person of the year for 2021 has been criticised because of his attitude to tax, opposition to unions and playing down the dangers of Covid.

《时代》（Time）杂志将特斯拉（Tesla）亿万富翁埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）评选为2021年度人物。因他对税收的态度、反对工会以及淡化新冠病毒的危险性，《时代》杂志的这一决定受到了批评。

play sth. down

play sth down表示“对…作低调处理；淡化…的重要性（或糟糕程度）”，英文解释为“to make something seem less important or less bad than it really is”举个🌰：

They have played down the significance of the reports.

他们已贬低了这些报告的重要性。

📍前几天在昭昭前事，惕惕后人文中提到了downplay作动词，表示“对…轻描淡写；贬低；低估”，英文解释为“to make something seem less important or less bad than it really is”举个🌰：

The coach is downplaying the team's poor performance.

教练对这个队的拙劣表现不以为然。

Musk, who is also the founder and chief executive of space exploration company SpaceX, recently passed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world's wealthiest person as the rising price of Tesla shares pushed his net worth to around $300bn (£227bn).

马斯克也是太空探索公司SpaceX的创始人和首席执行官。因特斯拉股票价格的上涨将他的净资产推高到约3000亿美元（2270亿英镑），最近马斯克超过亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝佐斯（Jeff Bezos）成为世界首富。

Describing him as a “clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman”, Time cited the breadth of Musk's endeavours, from his founding of SpaceX in 2002, to his hand in the creation of the alternative energy company SolarCity in addition to Tesla, the most valuable car company in the world.

《时代》杂志称他为“小丑、天才、装X、有远见、工业家、爱出风头”，并列举了马斯克的各项事业，从他在2002年创立SpaceX，到他参与创建新能源公司SolarCity，再到世界上最有价值的汽车公司特斯拉。

clown

表示“丑角，小丑”，英文解释为“an entertainer who wears funny clothes, has a painted face, and makes people laugh by performing tricks and behaving in a silly way”。

edgelord

edge +‎ lord 构成的一个新词，An edgelord is someone on an internet forum who deliberately talks about controversial, offensive, taboo, or nihilistic subjects in order to shock other users in an effort to appear cool, or edgy.

📍Someone who tries to appear edgy by doing or saying risque or offensive things.

📍A person who delights in making provocative comments, esp on an internet forum. 以上是不同词典的解释，你觉得中文译成什么合适呢？

补充：

📍edgy本身有“紧张不安的，烦躁的，易怒的”（tense, nervous, or irritable）和“前卫的，领导潮流的；尖端的，最先进的”（at the forefront of a trend）的含义。

visionary

表示“有眼光的人，有远见卓识的人”，英文解释为“a person who has the ability to imagine how a country, society, industry, etc. will develop in the future and to plan in a suitable way”

showman

表示“善于引起公众注意的人；喜欢出风头的人”，英文解释为“a person who does things in an entertaining way and is good at getting people's attention”。

industrialist

industrialist /ɪnˈdʌs.tri.ə.lɪst/ 表示“工业家；实业家；工厂主；产业工人”，英文解释为“an owner or an employee in a high position in industry”

alternative energy

表示“非传统能源（指水力、风力、太阳能以及沼气产生的能源）”，英文解释为“energy from moving water, wind, the sun, and gas from animal waste”

The magazine emphasised that its annual acknowledgement was not an award, but rather, “recognition of the person who had the most influence on the events of the year, for good or for ill”. The award has previously been bestowed to Ebola healthcare workers and Greta Thunberg but also Hitler and Stalin, who received it twice. In 1982, it went to “The Computer”.

该杂志强调，其年度人物评选不是一个奖项，而是“对当年事件影响最大的人的认可，不论是好是坏”。此前，该奖项曾授予埃博拉医疗工作者和格蕾塔·通贝里（Greta Thunberg），但也有希特勒（Hitler）和斯大林（Stalin），其中，斯大林曾两次获选。1982年，奖项颁发给“计算机”（首次非人物获得）。

bestow

bestow 表示“授予；给予；赠给”，英文解释为“To bestow something on someone means to give or present it to them.”，举个🌰：

The United States bestowed honorary citizenship upon England's World War II prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill.

美国授予了二战期间的英国首相温斯顿·丘吉尔爵士荣誉公民的称号。

But the accolade drew sharp criticism in the US, where Musk is a controversial figure because of his attitude to tax, opposing a “billionaires tax” floated by some. He, along with other prominent super-wealthy people, paid only small tax rates relative to the significant increase in his total wealth between 2014 and 2018 according to a Propublica investigation this year, with Musk paying a “real” rate of 3.27%. While legal, the rates expose the failures of America's tax laws to levy increases in wealth derived from assets in the way wages – the prime source of income for most Americans – are taxed.

但这一荣誉在美国引起了尖锐的批评，马斯克在美国是一个有争议的人物，因为他对税收的态度，反对一些人提出的“亿万富翁税”。根据Propublica今年的调查，他和其他著名的超级富豪一样，相对于他在2014年至2018年期间总财富的大幅增长，只支付了很小的税率，马斯克支付的“实际”税率为3.27%。虽然合法，但这些税率暴露了美国的税法未能以工资（大多数美国人的主要收入来源）的方式征收来自资产的财富增加。

accolade

accolade /ˈækəˌleɪd/ 表示“赞美，赞赏；荣誉，嘉奖”，英文解释为“praise and approval”举个🌰：

He's been granted the ultimate accolade - his face on a postage stamp.

他获得了最高荣誉——他的头像被印在了邮票上。

float

作动词，原意表示“漂浮”，此处熟词僻义，表示“提出，提请考虑（想法或计划）”，英文解释为“to suggest an idea or a plan for other people to consider”举个🌰：

They floated the idea of increased taxes on alcohol.

他们建议提高酒税。

🎬电影《阿罗哈》（Aloha）中的台词提到：And frankly, just floating the idea of you and me as a couple... 坦白讲只要随便想想如果我们成了一对的话...

📍2020年，侃爷宣布竞选美国总统文中卫报（The Guardian）也用了这个词：Indeed, the rapper has floated the idea of running for president before. 事实上，这位说唱歌手之前就提出过竞选总统的想法。

prominent

1）表示“重要的；著名的；杰出的”，英文解释为“important or well known”举个🌰：

He played a prominent part in the campaign.

他在这次运动中发挥了重要作用。

2）表示“突出的，显眼的”，英文解释为“Something that is in a prominent position can easily be seen.”举个🌰：

New books are displayed in a prominent position on tables at the front of the store.

新书陈列在商店前面桌子上的一个显眼位置。

levy

表示“征收（税等）”，英文解释为“If a government or organization levies a tax or other sum of money, it demands it from people or organizations.”如：a tax levied by the government on excess company profits 政府对公司超额利润征收的税。

🎬电影《国王的演讲》（The King's Speech）中的台词提到：Can I... Can I... levy a tax? Declare a war? No. 我能我能征税吗能宣战吗不能。

Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted that the Time decision highlighted the need for the tax code to be reformed “so the person of the year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else”.

参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦（Elizabeth Warren）在推特上说，《时代》杂志的决定强调了改革税法的必要性，“这样年度人物就会真正缴税，而不再从其他人身上捞钱”。

code

熟词僻义，表示“法典，法规；行为准则，道德规范”，英文解释为“a set of rules, laws, or principles that tell people how to behave”，如：fire code可以解释为消防规范，消防法规，highway code （英国）交通规则。

📍2020年教资考试选择题考了《汉谟拉比法典》（The Code of Hammurabi）刻在哪里？详见：考个教资周杰伦都能帮上忙。其中，法典就是用的code.

freeload

表示“占便宜，吃白食”，英文解释为“to use money or other things provided by other people, and give nothing in return”举个🌰：

He had a reputation for freeloading off friends and acquaintances.

大家都知道他喜欢占朋友和熟人的便宜。

Robert Reich, who served as labour secretary in the Clinton administration, said the announcement was a good time to remind people that he “illegally threatened to take away stock options if employees unionised”, an apparent reference to a 2019 National Labour Relations Board finding regarding a tweet in which Musk wrote: “Why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?”

曾在克林顿政府担任劳工部长的罗伯特·赖克（Robert Reich）说，这一宣布是提醒人们的好时机，他“非法威胁说，如果员工加入工会，就剥夺股票期权”，这显然是指2019年国家劳工关系委员会对马斯克在推特上写道：“为什么要缴纳工会会费然后放弃股票期权，白白浪费？”

unionise/unionize

表示“使加入工会”，英文解释为“to organize workers to become members of a trade union”举个🌰：

They're about to launch a campaign to unionize workers at all major supermarkets in the area.

他们准备发起一场运动，号召本地区所有大型超市的员工都加入工会。

dues

通常复数表示“会费”，英文解释为“the official payments that you make to an organization you belong to”。

Musk also earned controversy in 2020 by playing down the dangers of Covid in a series of tweets and initially kept his northern California factory open despite a local “shelter-in-place” order, before later halting production. The author Kurt Eichenwald said it was the “worst choice ever”.

马斯克在2020年也引发争议，他在一系列推文中淡化了新冠病毒的危险性，尽管当地有“就地避疫”的命令，但他的加州北部工厂最初仍然开放，随后又停止了生产。作家库尔特·艾兴瓦尔德（Kurt Eichenwald）说这是“最糟糕的选择”。

halt

1）表示“使停住；停住”，英文解释为“When a person or a vehicle halts or when something halts them, they stop moving in the direction they were going and stand still.”举个🌰：

They halted at a short distance from the house.

他们停在离房子不远处。

2）表示“使完全停止；完全停止”，英文解释为“When something such as growth, development, or activity halts or when you halt it, it stops completely.”举个🌰：

Workers halted production at the auto plant yesterday.

昨天，汽车厂的工人完全停止了生产。

🎬电影《危情时速》（Unstoppable）中的台词提到：Emergency responders want to halt all activity near the line 应急响应人员打算停止铁路附近的所有活动。

Time magazine also noted the sway Musk holds over an army of loyal followers (and investors) on social media.

《时代》杂志还提到马斯克在社交媒体上对一批忠实的粉丝（和投资者）所拥有的影响力。

sway

表示“控制，统治；影响”，英文解释为“control or influence”如：under the sway of 受...的影响。

补充：

📍hold sway表示“掌握权力；有很大影响”，英文解释为“to have power or a very strong influence”举个🌰：

These beliefs hold sway over whole districts.

这些信仰在整个地区处于支配地位。

🎬 电影《斯隆女士》（Miss Sloane）中的台词提到：Our third is to identify who holds sway in target states 第三个就是，找到操控重点州票数的关键人物。

Using his 66 million followers on Twitter, he offers outlandish advice to the world and drives even his own followers and investors mad by roiling markets. He was sued by stock market regulators for tweeting in 2018 about taking Tesla private, and they alleged in correspondence to Tesla this year that two further tweets were not pre-approved by the company's lawyers, as required by a court settlement in the earlier case.

他利用自己在推特上的6600万粉丝，向全世界提供离奇的建议，甚至通过搅乱市场来使自己的粉丝和投资者疯狂。他因在2018年发布有关将特斯拉私有化的推特而被股市监管机构起诉，他们在今年给特斯拉的信函中称，还有两条推特没有得到该公司律师的事先批准，而这是先前案件中法院和解的要求。

outlandish

outlandish /aʊtˈlændɪʃ/ 表示“稀奇古怪的；不寻常的；难以接受的”，英文解释为“If you describe something as outlandish, you disapprove of it or find it funny because you think it is very unusual, strange, or unreasonable.”举个🌰：

This idea is not as outlandish as it sounds.

这主意听上去荒诞不经，事实上却并非如此。

roil

roil 表示“扰乱；使混乱”，英文解释为“Something that roils a state or situation makes it disturbed and confused.”也可以表示水的“激荡；翻腾”，英文解释：If water roils, it is rough and disturbed. 举个🌰：

The water roiled to his left as he climbed carefully at the edge of the waterfall.

当他在瀑布边缘小心攀爬时，水飞溅到他左边。

correspondence

表示“信件，信函（尤指公函或商业信函）”，英文解释为“letters, especially official or business letters”举个🌰：

Any further correspondence should be sent to my new address.

以后来信请寄到我的新地址。

Though it became profitable only in recent years, Tesla is by far the world's most valuable car company, at one point this year crossing the $1tn market capitalisation threshold. Traditional heavyweights such as Ford and General Motors combined are worth less than $200bn.

尽管特斯拉在最近几年才开始盈利，但它是迄今为止世界上最有价值的汽车公司，今年一度突破了10万美金的市值门槛。福特（Ford）和通用汽车（General Motors）等传统巨头公司的价值加起来还不到2000亿美元。

The choice was questioned on Twitter, by users who suggested other figures might be more worthy of recognition this year.

这一选择在推特上受到了质疑，网友们认为其他人物今年可能更值得表彰。

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were Time magazine's person – or persons – of the year for 2020.

乔·拜登（Joe Biden）和卡玛拉·哈里斯（Kamala Harris）是《时代》杂志评出的2020年度人物。

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