1
导读
感谢思维导图作者
Step by step，星光不问赶路人，时光不负有心人
思维导图是如何完成的？
昨天参考翻译：
But the possibility that some may agonise over whether to die should not trump the certainty that others will suffer unendurable pain if their freedom to choose is denied.
一些人可能为是否应该活下去内心备受煎熬，但并不能为此牺牲其他人自由选择的权利——他们被剥夺选择后，却一定会承受难以忍耐的痛楚。
2
听力|精读|翻译|词组
The corporate metaverse
企业元宇宙
英文部分选自经济学人20211113期商业版块
The corporate metaverse
企业元宇宙
Virtual world, Inc
虚拟世界（公司）
Companies want to build a virtual realm to copy the real world—and reshape it
企业的“建球大业”——复制真实世界，打造虚拟王国
Call it the multiplication of the metaverses. Ever since Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook—sorry, Meta—laid out his vision in late October for immersive virtual worlds he thinks people will want to spend lots of time in, new ones are popping up all over. An entertainment metaverse will delight music fans, influencers will flock to a fashion metaverse to flaunt digital clothes, and there is even a shark metaverse (it has something to do with cryptocurrencies). Mostly these are the brainchildren of marketeers slapping a new label on tech’s latest craze.
今年算得上是元宇宙蓬勃发展的开局之年。脸书老板，噢不对，Meta公司老板马克·扎克伯格在十月末表达了对建立沉浸式虚拟世界的愿景，他认为人们会想要沉浸其中。自此以后，各类新兴的虚拟世界如雨后春笋般纷纷涌现。娱乐元宇宙让音乐迷心花怒放；网红博主将在时尚元宇宙齐聚一堂，大秀数字化服装；甚至还出现了一个鲨鱼元宇宙*（与加密货币相关）。这些大多是营销人员头脑风暴的产物，只不过胡乱给最新的科技热潮贴上了崭新的标签。
注释：
1. multiplication：n. a large increase in the size, amount, or number of something
2. starsharks is a community-driven shark metaverse where players, developers, and investors could define the value evolution of underlying NFTs in a sustainable ecosystem.星际鲨鱼（StarSharks）是一个以鲨鱼主题的元宇宙，由社区与可持续经济系统定义和共享。StarSharks 是由游戏玩家、治理委员会和游戏开发商开发的基于BSC 链（币安智能链Binance Smart Chain）的 NFT-GameFi 生态系统。游戏融合了不同类型的游戏，打破了游戏之间的壁垒，让玩家可以使用同一个角色进入Shark-metaverse。它使玩家能够聚集在一起建立和管理新的元宇宙，并在鲨鱼元宇宙中创建社区文化。
One new virtual world deserves real attention: the “enterprise metaverse”. Forget rock stars and fancy frocks, this is essentially a digital carbon copy of the physical economy. Building living, interactive blueprints that replicate the physical world might, in time, come to shape it. The vision of what this might mean has become clearer in recent days. Microsoft, the world’s largest software firm, earlier this month put it at the centre of its annual customer shindig, as did Nvidia, a big maker of graphics processors, on November 9th.
还有一类新兴的虚拟世界真正值得我们关注：企业元宇宙。与摇滚明星和时尚的数字化服装不同，企业元宇宙本质上是从现实经济体复制而来的虚拟副本。构建逼真且具有交互式体验的蓝图来复刻现实世界，最终可能会重塑现实世界。近来，实现这份蓝图的路径愈加清晰。全球最大的软件公司微软在本月初的年度客户盛会上重点聚焦元宇宙，图形处理器巨头英伟达也在11月9日宣布了自己的元宇宙计划。
注：
1. Frock: [old-fashioned] a woman's or girl's dress连衣裙，女装
2. Carbon copy:a copy of written or typed material made with carbon paper 复写本，副本
3. Shindig: a noisy party – used especially in news reports喧闹的聚会〔尤用于新闻报道〕
4. 英伟达：NVIDIA是一家人工智能计算。1999年，NVIDIA定义了GPU，这极大地推动了PC游戏市场的发展，重新定义了现代计算机图形技术，并彻底改变了并行计算。2020年7月8日美股收盘后，英伟达首次在市值上实现对英特尔的超越，成为美国市值最高的芯片厂商，这也是2014年后再次有新面孔站上美国芯片企业市值第一的位置。
Corporate virtual worlds are already more of a reality than Meta’s consumer version, where people will get to hang out with their friends at imaginary coastal mansions. Unlike that metaverse, which is populated mostly by human avatars, the corporate version is largely a collection of objects. These are “digital twins”, virtual 3d replicas of all sorts of physical assets, from single screws to entire factories.
与Meta公司的消费者元宇宙相比，企业元宇宙已经更加真实。在Meta的元宇宙中，虚拟用户居多，他们能够在虚构的海滨豪宅与朋友相聚；而企业元宇宙主要是现实物体虚拟化的集合。这就是“数字孪生体”（digital twins），也就是各类实物资产的虚拟3D复制品，从单颗螺丝到整个工厂的实物，应有尽有。
注:
1.Avatar: an incarnation, embodiment, or manifestation of a person or idea. （人或思想的）化身，体现
2. Replica:an exact copy or model of something, especially one on a smaller scale（尤指比原物小的）复制品，模型
Crucially, they are connected to their real selves—a change on the shop floor, for instance, will trigger the equivalent change in its digital twin—and collect data about them. This set-up enables productivity-enhancing operations that are hard today, for example optimising how groups of machines work together. Simulating changes virtually can then be replicated in the real world. And, its boosters hope, a path would be laid to automate even more of a firm’s inner workings.
重要的是，这些复制品与现实中的实物相关联。例如，生产车间若有变化，其数字孪生体也将发生相应的改变，并收集相关数据。这样一来，就可以进行提高生产率的操作，如优化机器组工作的协同性（目前很难实现这种操作）。然后，这种模拟变更就可以复刻到实现世界中。而且，公司元宇宙的支持者们还希望能借此进一步推动公司的内部运作自动化。
注释：
1. shop floor 车间
Shop floor is the area of a factory, machine shop, etc. where people work on machines, or the space in a retail establishment where goods are sold to consumers. The term shop floor is in contrast to office, which is a space that provides accommodation to the business's management.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shop_floor
2. Set-up: the way that something is organized or arranged〔事物的〕安排，布局
Whether the enterprise metaverse becomes a reality is not simply of interest to aficionados of corporate information technology (IT). Innovations unlocked through insights gleaned from digital mirror-worlds can help firms become more adaptable and efficient—helping them reduce carbon emissions, for example. Promoters of the concept even argue that it will put to rest the old adage, coined by Robert Solow, a Nobel-prizewinning economist, that you can “see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics”.
关心企业元宇宙成功与否的，并不只有企业IT发烧友。企业也可以从数字镜像世界中汲取灵感，实现创新，进而增强其适应性，提升其效率——例如，帮助它们减少碳排放。提倡这一概念的人甚至认为，这将颠覆诺贝尔经济学奖得主罗伯特·索洛（Robert Solow）多年前提出的“生产率悖论”，即“我们到处都看得见计算机，就是在生产率统计方面却看不见计算机。”
注：
1. Be of interest: Arousing (someone's) interest or curiosity; exciting or engaging (to someone).
Aficionado:a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime 狂热爱好者，迷
2. 生产率悖论：即企业的IT投资与投资回报率（ROI）之间没有明显关联。
https://wiki.mbalib.com/wiki/%E7%B4%A2%E6%B4%9B%E6%82%96%E8%AE%BA
The concept of this “twinworld”, as the enterprise metaverse might be called (a spiffy moniker will surely be found), is not new. Some of the necessary technologies have been around for years, including devices with sensors to capture data, known as the “internet of things” (IoT)—another field still waiting for a moniker upgrade. Software to design detailed virtual replicas originated in computer games, the current benchmark for immersive worlds.
这种“孪生世界”（ 可能给“企业元宇宙”所取的代称，相信定会找到一个时髦的代称）的概念其实并不新鲜。一些必要技术，如在设备中配备采集数据的传感器，已在“物联网”（IoT）存在多年（尽管这个代称本身也亟待升级）。能够设计逼真的虚拟复制品的软件起源于电脑游戏，这也是目前沉浸式世界的衡量标准。
注：
1. Spiffy: [old-fashioned informal especially AmE] very neat, attractive, and fashionable整洁漂亮又时髦的
2. Moniker: (informal)a name  (非正式)名字
But other bits have only recently become good enough, including superfast wireless links to connect sensors, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, which can predict how a system is likely to behave. “Digital twins aggregate all of these things,” explains Sam George, who runs the enterprise-metaverse effort at Microsoft.
但直到最近，企业元宇宙得以顺利运转的其他方面才日臻完善，譬如连接传感器的超高速无线链路、云计算以及可预测系统行为的人工智能技术。“数字孪生体囊括了上述的一切，”负责微软元宇宙业务营运的山姆·乔治解释道。
注：
1. Bits:[with adj.] (informal)a set of actions or ideas associated with a specific group or activity. (非正式)（与某一群体、某种活动有关联或相应的）一整套做法（或想法）
2. Miranda could go off and do her theatrical bit. 米兰达可以离开这儿去做她那些跟演戏有关的事。
As is its wont as a maker of corporate software, Microsoft has developed an entire platform on top of which other firms can develop applications. This includes tools to build digital twins and analyse the data they collect. But this “stack”, as such collections of code are known, also provides technology which allows people to collaborate, including Mesh, a service that hosts shared virtual spaces, and HoloLens, a mixed-reality headset, with which users can jointly inspect a digital twin.
作为老牌企业软件制造商，按照惯例，微软已经开发了一个完整的平台——其他公司可以基于此开发应用程序。其中就包括相应的工具，以建立数字孪生体并分析其收集的数据。但这个 “技术栈”（此类代码的集合）也给多人协作提供了技术支持，如Mesh（一个承载共享虚拟空间的服务）以及HoloLens（一种混合现实头盔，多名用户可以联合检查同一个数字孪生体）。
注释：
1. wont：按惯常的做法;常常 If someone does a particular thing as is their wont, they do that thing often or regularly.
Nvidia’s roots in computer graphics mean it focuses more on collaboration and creating demand for its chips. Its Omniverse is also a platform for shared virtual spaces, but one that allows groups of users to bring along elements they have built elsewhere and combine these into a digital twin they can then work on as a team. The common technical format needed for such collaboration will come to underpin digital twins in the same way HTML, a standard formatting language, already underpins web pages, predicts Richard Kerris, who is in charge of Omniverse.
英伟达身上流淌的计算图形学血液，意味着其更注重协同合作以及为其芯片创造需求。这句留给大家，希望大家踊跃参与。负责全能宇宙的里查德·克莱斯（Richard Kerris）预测，协作所需的通用技术格式将成为数字孪生体的基石，就如同超文本标记语言（HTML，一种标准标记语言）之于网页的骨架性作用一样。
Both platforms have already attracted a slew of startups and other firms that base some of their business on this technology. Cosmo Tech, for instance, takes Microsoft’s tools to do complex simulations of digital twins to predict how they might evolve. And Bentley Systems, which sells engineering software, uses Omniverse to optimise energy infrastructure. Both Microsoft and Nvidia have also teamed up with big firms to show off their wares. AB InBev, a beer giant, collaborates with Microsoft to create digital twins of some of its more than 200 breweries to better control the fermentation process. In the case of Nvidia, the top partner is BMW, which uses Omniverse to make it easier to reconfigure its 30 factories for new cars.
两个平台均已经吸引一大批初创企业和其他公司入驻，这些公司均有业务是基于此项技术。例如，Cosmo Tech公司利用微软的工具对数字孪生体进行复杂的模拟，以预测它们未来的发展轨迹。而销售工程软件的Bentley Systems则使用全能宇宙优化能源基础设施。微软和英伟达还与其他大公司合作，高调推销他们的产品。旗下坐拥200余家啤酒厂的啤酒巨头百威英博（AB InBev）与微软开展合作，为公司部分酒厂打造数字孪生体以便更好地控制发酵过程。英伟达的顶级合作伙伴是宝马公司，后者为生产新车对30家工厂进行了改造，在过程中利用全能宇宙简化了相关流程。
注：
1. A slew of:(informal, chiefly N. Amer.)a large number or quantity of something  (非正式，主北美)许多，大量
2. Wares: articles offered for sale. 商品
3. Reconfigure:  configure (something) differently改造…的外形；更换…的部件；重新安装
Despite all this activity, it is not a given that the enterprise metaverse will take off as fast as its champions expect, if ever. Similar efforts have failed or disappointed, including many IoT projects. “Smart cities”, essentially attempts to build urban metaverses, turned out to use technology that was just not up to snuff and relied too much on proprietary standards*.
尽管如此，目前尚不确定企业元宇宙是否切实可行；即便可行，也未必会像其拥护者所期待的那样开始快速发展。此前，类似尝试（包括很多物联网项目）要么一败涂地，要么结果远不及预期。比如，“智能城市”计划曾致力于打造城市元宇宙，但因技术不过关和对专有标准依赖性过高而付诸东流。
注：
1. Given: a basic fact that you accept as being true肯定的事实
2. Champion: champion of sth / sb, someone who publicly fights for and defends an aim or principle, such as the rights of a group of people某事物/某人的捍卫者（斗士）
3. up to snuff: up to the required standard 合乎标准，达标
These are designed, created, maintained and controlled by a licence agreement which is owned by an organisation or individual, ie privately owned. Proprietary standards may be free to use, but the file specification is often closed rather than being open.
If the enterprise metaverse does indeed take shape, though, it will be an intriguing process. Will it be based on proprietary technology or on open standards (there is already a Digital Twin Consortium)? And, asks George Gilbert, a veteran observer of the IT industry, how will software-makers such as Microsoft be paid for their wares? Since their code will be more embedded than ever in firms’ products and services, some may ask for a slice of revenue instead of licensing or subscription fees.
即便企业元宇宙真能旗开得胜，其发展过程也将充满不确定性。它将应用专利技术还是实施开放标准呢（数字孪生体联盟早已存在）？并且，正如IT行业的资深观察人士乔治·吉尔伯特发问道：像微软这样的软件制造商如何就其元宇宙产品向企业收费呢？要知道，他们的代码与公司的产品和服务将达到前所未有的融合，因此一些制造商可能不再满足于收取授权或订阅费用，而是根据企业收入抽成。
注释：
1. take shape: assume a distinct form; develop into something definite or tangible 成形；形成
Consortium: an association, typically of several business companies 协会；联合，联盟（尤指联营企业、财团）
2. DTC, Digital Twin Consortium：全球第一个数字孪生体行业组织，由工业4.0研究院牵头发起，专注数字孪生体关键技术的研发，立足开源社区建设数字孪生创新生态，推动数字孪生体产业发展。
And then there is the question of how the overall metaverse economy will function. Since most business activity will be digitally replicated, economists may have unprecedented insight into what is going on. Digital twins could exchange services between themselves and perhaps replace firms as the main unit of analysis. If digital twins live on a blockchain, the sort of platform that underpins most cryptocurrencies, they could even become independent and own themselves. Expect at least as many possibilities as metaverses to unfold.
同时，还存在一个问题：整个元宇宙经济将如何运转呢？由于大部分的经济活动都将被虚拟复制，经济学家对现行经济状况可能会有前所未有的解读。数字孪生体之间可以进行服务互换，也可能代替公司成为主要的分析单元。区块链支持大多数加密货币，如果数字孪生体在该平台运行，他们甚至可以独立出来，并自立门户。无限的元宇宙，无限的可能性，敬请期待吧。
翻译组：
Anna，下辈子做只猫
Rain，未来北外同传小香菜
Pay，一个想要坚定远航的sailor
Des，愿你半生追逐便士，归来依旧心有月光
校对组：
Freddie，小镇做题人
Cristina，enjoy life as it is
Francis，满地都是六便士，我却抬头看见了月亮
感谢其他平台编辑作者：
B站地址：
https://space.bilibili.com/522030734
编辑：Daisy，勤勤恳恳工具人，B站客服的好朋友
知乎地址：
zhihu.com/people/damon0922 
编辑：jill，会展经济，想跨界英专的英语学渣
微博地址：
https://weibo.com/u/2375202237
编辑：Erin，在校大学生一枚，行动的矮子
3
观点|评论|思考
本周感想
Very，男，电气民工，经济学人资浅爱好者
最近正在查阅有关元宇宙的相关信息，的确在脸书大张旗鼓宣传之前对这个概念并不知晓，但是提及的内容却是略有耳闻，说实话我并不清楚这只是一个营销的概念还是确有其深刻的内涵，反正国内外的投机者们是闻风而动，和AR、VR、虚拟货币等成千上万个被炒作的起来概念的开头相类似，都是一个赚钱的风口，但真正能够落实到几何，现在恐怕没人知道。这里这么说感觉已经是有一种刻板印象加之于身了，但是我们对于新概念还是尽量抱着审慎的态度为好，先去了解背景，再观察动向，最后作出判断，如果的确是一个好的方向，也不妨涉身其中。
虽然绝大部分的企业还是将元宇宙与自身的真实产品结合起来，但是外人看来总是不免联想到诸如《骇客帝国》等电影里的场景，并且幻想元宇宙的终极形态是否也就是如此呢？这个答案不得而知，但是我喜欢这种充满谨慎态度的幻想，想象给予我们无穷的创造力和无限制的目标，而谨慎的态度又给了我们一定过得自制力，不至于漂浮起来，而必定还有一个根基拴在脚踝上，不会飞得太远而落得个不好的下场（落得这个动词还真是形象）。
我猜国内对于元宇宙的应用应该还是会注重社交和电子商务领域，毕竟这是我们所擅长的，而且也没有太多禁忌和约束，对于刚刚过去的双十一的确已经如同八十有余还未到拿养老保险年纪的老人一般，苟延残喘，却不得不还继续工作以维持生计，心酸，但却又无可奈何。可能元宇宙会给他们一定的想象空间，我虽然猜不出到底会生出一个怎样的宝宝，但以一贯的经验看，应该还一个畸形的复制品，好听点就是具有本地特色的产品吧。
元宇宙的概念满足了我们对于未来的期待，至少是画了一幅遥远却又能触碰的美妙画卷，触碰一词用得不太好，因为已经是元宇宙时代了呀，要用immersiveholograms才对，总算略微跟上一点潮流了。
3
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