北京時間1月19日，百度創始人、董事長兼CEO李彥宏登上最新一期《時代周刊》（亞洲版）封面。這是中國網際網路企業家第一次登上該周刊封面。
文章中回顧了李彥宏創立百度的創業歷程，並稱目前的百度是僅次於谷歌的搜尋引擎，在中國佔有80%的市場份額，成為全球第四大網站。現在百度已經發展成為一個在中國只有社交媒體巨頭騰訊和馬雲的在線購物帝國阿里巴巴才能媲美的600億美元巨無霸。
Baidu's Robin Li is Helping China Win the 21st Century
百度李彥宏正在幫助中國贏得21世紀
WhenRobin Lilooks back at the question now, he can laugh. But things were different in 1992, when the Baidu CEO was atongue-tied[1]Chinese student applying for a computer-graphics graduate program in the U.S. The interviewing professor asked him, 「Do you have computers in China?」 It left the young manstunned. 「I was very embarrassed,」 saysLi, 49,breaking into a grinfromthe penthouse officeof his Beijing headquarters. 「I thought, One day I'll demonstrate that China has a really powerful computer industry.」
如今的李彥宏在回想起當年別人問他的一個問題時，他盡可以一笑而過。然而在1992年他卻並沒有這樣的底氣。那一年，還沒有成為百度CEO的李彥宏申請了一所美國大學的計算機圖形學專業的研究生。面試他的教授向他提出了一個問題：「你在中國有計算機嗎？」這樣一個問題讓年輕的李彥宏感到不知所措。現年49歲的他坐在位於北京的百度總部的辦公室裡，他在回憶起那一幕的時候表示：「我當時非常尷尬。我那時想，總有一天我要證明中國擁有非常強大的計算機產業。」
[1]tongue-tied：If you get tongue-tied, you find it difficult to express yourself, usually because you are nervous. （通常因緊張而）張口結舌的，說不出話的
Eight years later, he did. In 2000,LifoundedBaidu, a search engine that today is second only toGooglein popularity, and whose 80% market share in China makes itthe world's fourth most popular website.
8年之後，他成功做到了這一點。2000年李彥宏創立了百度公司，如今它已經成為了世界上流行程度僅僅次於谷歌的第二大搜尋引擎，百度在中國擁有80%的搜索市場份額，這也讓百度成為了世界上流行程度排在第四名的網站。
The company, whose namederives froma 13th century Chinese poem, has grown into a $60 billionbehemoth[2]rivaled in China only by social-media-focusedconglomerate[3]TencentandJack Ma's online shopping empireAlibaba.Baidu Mapsdirects every Chinese motorist,Baidu searchresultsenlightenevery student. Nobody is askingRobin Liif computers exist in China anymore.
百度的名字來自於中國13世紀的一首宋詞，如今的百度已經成為了市值600億的網際網路巨鱷，在中國的網際網路市場上，它與馬化騰的騰訊以及馬雲的阿里巴巴鼎足而立。百度地圖為每一名中國的司機提供導航服務，百度搜索也啟發了每一名中國的學生。如今，已經沒有人再問李彥宏中國到底有沒有計算機。
[2]behemoth：something that is extremely large and often extremely powerful 龐然大物；強大的事物
a grocery chainbehemoth
大型連鎖食品雜貨店
[3]conglomerate：a company that owns several smaller businesses whose products or services are usually very different 聯合大企業，企業集團
a financial/industrialconglomerate
金融／工業企業集團
In fact, what was once a land ofcheapknockoffs[4]now hasSilicon Valleylosing sleep[5]. China has nurtured a third of the world's 262 tech 「unicorns,」 or private $1 billion startups, according to a recent report by the global consulting firm McKinsey.Alibaba's 2014 stock floating remains the biggestIPO*in history, valued at $25 billion.
在美國人眼中，中國曾經一度是充斥著廉價仿製品的國度，然而如今正是這個國家，已經開始讓矽谷不可一世的大佬們愁到難以入眠。諮詢機構麥肯錫最近發布的一份報告顯示，在全世界所有262家科技獨角獸企業（估值超過10億美元的私有初創企業）中，有三分之一都來自中國。2014年阿里巴巴上市，到如今他們依然保持著科技行業內規模最大IPO的記錄，這家公司在IPO後的市值當時是250億美元。
[4]cheap knockoffs：(a cheaper copy of an expensive and popular product) 廉價仿製品
[5]lose sleep over/about sth：to worry about something 擔心，憂
I wouldn'tlose any sleepover what happened.
事已至此，我才不擔心呢。
* 首次公開募股（Initial Public Offerings，簡稱IPO）是指一家企業或公司 （股份有限公司）第一次將它的股份向公眾出售（首次公開發行，指股份公司首次向社會公眾公開招股的發行方式）。
China isthe world's largest e-commerce market, accounting for almost half of all global transactions by value, up from less than 1% just over a decade ago. Its big cities areverging on[6]a cashless society, where evensteamed bunsorrickshaw ridescan be purchased with a flash of a smartphoneQR code. It'sa far cry from[7]when former U.S. Vice PresidentJoe Bidenscoffed[8]thatthe Middle Kingdomdidn't innovate.
中國如今已經成為世界上最大的電子商務市場，全球幾乎一半的電子商務交易量都來自中國，相比10年前的不到1%大幅上升。中國的大城市正在推行無現金社會的發展，在大街上買個包子或是坐個三輪車都可以通過用手機掃碼進行支付。前美國副總統喬·拜登曾經嘲諷中國沒有創新，但是這個評價早已經無法適用於現在的中國。
[6]verge on sth：to be almost a particular state, quality, or feeling, especially one that is very bad or very good 接近；瀕臨
[7]be a far cry from sth：to be completely different from something 和…相去甚遠，與…大相逕庭
[8]scoff：to laugh and speak about a person or idea in a way that shows that you think they are stupid or silly 嘲笑，譏笑
China has nowset its sightson the next tech frontier:artificial intelligence. On July 20, China's State Council issued aNext Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Planto become the 「premier global AI innovation center」 by 2030, when it predicts China's core AI industry will be worth $148 billion, with AI-related fields at $1.48 trillion.
現在的中國已經將目標瞄準在下一個科技前線之上：人工智慧。去年7月20日，中國國務院發布了新一代人工智慧發展規劃的通知，提出要讓中國在2030年前成為「世界主要人工智慧創新中心」，國務院預計中國的核心人工智慧產業的規模將會達到1480億美元，而與人工智慧相關的產業規模將會達到1.48萬億美元。
China alreadyrivalsthe world's leading developed nations by spending 2.1% of its $11.2 trillion GDP on research and development. At November'sArtificial Intelligence and Global Security Summitin Washington,Eric Schmidt, then executive chairman of Google parent Alphabet, predicted China's AI prowess will overtake the U.S. within a decade. 「By 2030, they will dominate the industries of AI,」 he said. Russian PresidentVladimir Putinrecently said thatwhoever masters AI will become 「ruler of the world.」
當前中國已經開始了與發達國家之間的競爭，在全部11.2萬億美元的GDP中，中國花費其中的2.1%用於研發之上。去年11月，人工智慧與全球安全峰會在華盛頓舉行，會上谷歌母公司Alphabet CEO埃裡克·施密特（Eric Schmidt）預計，中國的人工智慧實力將在10年內超越美國。他表示：「到2030年，他們（中國）將會統治人工智慧產業。」俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾·普京（Vladimir Putin）最近也表示，無論誰掌握了人工智慧，都將會成為「世界的統治者」。
No onein Chinatakesthis challengemore seriously thanRobin Li. Some $1.2 billion of his firm's $9 billion revenue over the first three-quarters of 2017 wasput back into R&D, according to published accounts–much of it into AI.
在中國，沒有哪個人在發展人工智慧這個挑戰上比李彥宏更上心。百度已公布的會計報表顯示，2017年前三季度，百度公司的總營收為90億美元，其中12億美元被百度用於研發。而在所有的研發工作中，大部分都是人工智慧方面的研發。
He believesBaiducan dominate the global market for AI by harnessing China's greatest advantage:scale. At a basic level,AI systems replicate human learning based on empirical data: whether driving patterns, financial behavior or the true intention behind aslurredvoice command.The more data, the better trained the algorithm–giving acompany that serves the world's most populous nation an obviouslegup[9]. 「[China is] a very large and uniform market,」Lisays. 「Everyone speaks the same language; they all obey the same law.」
李彥宏認為，百度能夠統治全球的人工智慧市場，要想做到這一點，他們需要利用好中國最大的優勢：規模。從最基本的層面來看，人工智慧系統能夠憑藉經驗數據模仿人類的學習能力：例如駕駛習慣、財務行為以及語音命令之後的真實意圖等等。數據越多，就越能更好地訓練算法，為這個服務於世界上人口最多的國家的公司提供顯而易見的優勢。李彥宏表示：「中國是一個巨大而且統一的市場。所有人說著相同的語言；所有人都遵守著相同的法律。」
[9]give sb a leg up：to help someone to improve their situation, especially at work 幫助（某人）提高，幫（某人）一把
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But in fact, business thrives inside the firewall's confines–on its guardians' terms, of course–and the restrictions have not appeared tostymie[10]progress.The central government in Beijinghas a fearsome capacity to get things doneand is willing to back its policy priorities with hard cash. The benefits for companies willing or able to go along with its whims are clear. The question for Baidu–and for Li–ishow far it is willing to go.
中國的科技和網際網路市場一片欣欣向榮，即使監管也沒有阻止創新的湧現。中國政府如果想要做成一件事情，願意用真金白銀與政策傾斜為做成這件事提供支持。毫無疑問，同樣想要做成這件事的企業能夠從中得到許多好處。現在對於百度和李彥宏來說，最大的問題是：他們願意走多遠。
[10]stymie：to prevent something from happening or someone from achieving a purpose 阻止，妨礙，阻撓
A trip in Baidu's self-driving car isnot yeta comfortable ride. WhenTIMEtook a test drive around theBaidu campus, potential obstacles like trash cans or parked cars caused the vehicle to regularlyjolt to a halt.The car is far from road-ready: there's aclumsy spinning radaron the roof and a trunk full ofwhirring gadgetry.Still, Baidu's driverless-car platform,Apollo, has been adopted by 130 independent manufacturers, testament to whatBaiduhas achieved in the field.
當前百度的無人車還無法給你帶來舒適的乘車體驗。《時代》雜誌曾經在百度總部體驗過他們的無人車，垃圾桶、停在路邊的其他車輛等障礙物會讓百度無人車時不時的停下來。百度的無人車離實際開上道路還要有很長一段時間：現在車頂上還安放著一個碩大的旋轉雷達，後備箱裡放著大量呼呼作響的電子儀器。然而儘管如此，百度的無人駕駛平臺阿波羅仍然被130個獨立生產商所接受，他們都想要知道百度在這個領域取得了什麼樣的成就。
The company has launchedvoice-recognition software,DuerOS, which it says recognizesMandarin Chinesemore reliably than a human being does. ItsAI-driven facial-recognition softwareis so advanced, it is being used to reunite missing children with their parents by digitally aging and matching photographs. On Jan. 8, Baidu was ready to unveilApollo 2.0, which enables autonomous driving on simple urban roads, at the Consumer ElectronicsShow in Las Vegas. Baidu's message at the event said it all: 「AI is changing the world, at China speed.」
百度還發布了語音識別軟體DuerOS，百度宣稱這個軟體識別普通話的能力甚至比人類自己更可靠。該公司的人工智慧面部識別軟體也十分先進，如今它已經被用來尋找丟失兒童，讓這些孩子與自己的親生父母得以團聚。今年1月8日，百度在CES上發布了阿波羅2.0（Apollo 2.0）無人駕駛平臺，百度表示新技術能讓無人駕駛汽車在簡單的城市道路內進行行駛。在本次活動上，百度給外界傳遞了一個信息：人工智慧正在改變世界，而人工智慧在以中國速度進行發展。
「Our visionis that humans can interact with all devices using human language,」 saysLi. 「The difference between humans and animals is thathumans can use tools. Over the past 100,000 years, whatever tools you invent you have to learn how to use. In the future, you won't need to do that–tools will learn how to understand human language, human intentions. That's the future.」
李彥宏表示：「我們的願景是，人類可以與所有設備進行互動，而這些設備使用的是人類的語言。任何動物的區別，就是人類會使用工具。在過去的10萬年中，無論你發明了哪些工具，你都要學會如何使用它。未來，你不再需要學習工具的使用，而是要讓工具學習理解人類的語言和意圖。這就是未來的方向。」
It's a future thatLicould hardly have imagined growing up inYangquan, a city of about 1 million people in China'shardscrabblecentral province of Shanxi, known for farming and mining. Li's high school had only fiveApple IIcomputers for 1,800 pupils, so the teachersprioritizedtheir usage for the dozen kids with the best math scores.Lienjoyed math but 「immediately fell in love with computers,」 he says. 「I thought they were magical.」
李彥宏在山西陽泉長大，這個城市大約有1100萬人，以農業礦業著稱。放在當年，這樣的未來是李彥宏不敢想像的。李彥宏上高中時，1800名學生只有5臺Apple II電腦，老師只能讓幾十名數學成績最好的學生優先使用。李彥宏很喜歡數學，他說：「我很快就愛上了計算機，在我看來，它簡直就像魔法一樣。」
After studyinginformation managementatPeking University,Liobtained a computer-science degree atthe State University of New Yorkat Buffalo. He initially worked forthe Wall Street Journalas a software engineer, before joining search-engine pioneerInfoseek. ThenLimade the decision to return to China to found his own company, in a hotel room oppositethe Peking University campus. 「I hired a professor and five students about to graduate to work on the first version of theBaidusearch engine,」 he says.
在北京大學拿到信息管理學位之後，李彥宏又在紐約州立大學拿到了計算機科學學位。後來參加工作，他的第一份工作是在《華爾街日報》擔任軟體工程師，然後進入搜索先驅Infoseek。就在此時，李彥宏決定返回中國，創辦自己的公司，他在酒店創業，而不是北京大學校園。李彥宏說：「我請了一名教授和5名即將畢業的學生，開發第一版百度搜索。」
Baiduwent from strength to strength[11],unperturbedeven by the entry ofGoogleto the Chinese market in 2005.Baiduhad over 40% of Chinese search traffic at that time, compared with its rival's 30%. By the timeGooglewithdrew from China in 2010, citing what it believed was government hacking of Gmail, Baidu had 75% of Chinese search traffic, whileGooglehad shrunk to just in the teens.
百度越變越強，2005年穀歌闖進中國，百度擋住了攻勢。當時，百度佔了中國搜索流量的40%還要多，谷歌只有30%。直到2010年穀歌離開中國，百度擁有中國搜索流量的75%，而谷歌呢？縮減到只有百分十幾。
[11]go from strength to strength：to gradually become more successful 從成功走向成功，日漸強大
Lisays the company used government
meddling
as an excuse. 「Googleleft becauseBaiduwas gaining market share,」 he says. 「The China market is very competitive and things can change very quickly, so you really need to make decisions very quickly, and the problem is thatU.S. companies' decisionmaking is not made here in China.」Lee Kai-Fu, head of Google in China at the time, says the decision to retreat was 「difficult.」 「You really have to make the decision toforkyour product into two different products. That's very painful–especially forSilicon Valleyentrepreneurs.」
李彥宏認為：「谷歌之所以離開主要是因為百度攻城略地，份額不斷增加。中國市場是一個競爭激烈的市場，形勢變化很快，決策一定要快，美國企業的決策並不是在中國做出的，這是一個問題。」當時掌管谷歌中國的是李開復，他說做出決定是一件很難的事。李開復稱：「你必須做出決定，將自己的產品分成兩種不同的產品，對於矽谷企業家而言，這是一件非常痛苦的事。」
China's 1.4 billion people are atantalizing[12]prospect for American business minds, but the obstacles are significant. Chief among them iscompliance withlocal regulations, including censorship.Skype, for example, was removed from Chinese app stores in mid-November for failing toabide by new regulations. Last year, China rolled out a controversial new cybersecurity law that, among many stipulations, requires foreign companies doing business in the country tostore related data locally. ... Even so, that hasn'tdissuadedevery U.S. company; on Jan. 10,Appleagreed to outsource localiCloudservices to a Chinese firm.
中國有14億人，在美國商業領袖看來無疑是一個潛力巨大的市場，但是進入的難度很大。有一個障礙相當關鍵：遵守本地法規。例如，因為未能遵守規定，去年11月中旬Skype從中國應用商店下架。去年中國又頒布新網絡法，條款甚多，有一條明確要求在中國經營業務的外國企業必須將數據存儲在中國本地。重重困難是否嚇倒了所有美國企業呢？不是，1月10日，蘋果同意將本地iCloud服務外包給中國企業運營。
[12]tantalizing：causing feelings of excitement, pleasure, or anticipation; making you feel excited or hopeful about having something that you want, often something that you never get誘人的；撩人的；讓人非常著急的
...Liisunapologetic. 「If certain things are deemed illegal, then it's illegal, and we should block it,」 he says. 「That's our way of doing business here.」
李彥宏說：「如果某些事情被認為不合法，那就是不合法的，我們應該禁絕。在這裡，我們就是這樣經營業務的。」
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IsLiworried that Chinese cyberspace is getting smaller? 「As an Internet company, we always don't want anything regulated so we can do things freely,」 he says carefully. 「But I also recognize that that's not practical and not even good for the country.」
李彥宏難道不擔心中國的「網絡空間」變小嗎？他謹慎回答說：「作為一家網際網路公司，我們當然不希望有任何監管，這樣就可以自由行事了。但是我認為這種想法不切實際，對於國家也沒有好處。」
... For the moment at least, both are united in their goal of harnessing the potential of AI. But the technology brings awesome risks as well as rewards. Tesla bossElon Musksays uncontrollable AI represents a 「fundamental」 threat to humanity, while renowned physicistStephen Hawkingfears it could 「spell the end of the human race.」
就目前而言，百度的目標是充分利用AI的巨大潛力。但這項技術帶來巨大回報的同時也蘊含著風險，特斯拉電動汽車公司執行長伊隆·馬斯克（Elon Musk）認為，無法控制的AI代表了對人類的「根本性」威脅，而著名物理學家史蒂芬·霍金（Stephen Hawking）擔心這可能「意味著人類的末日」。
Lidisagrees, saying, 「Humans will always have the capabilities to make the world a safe place. Think about nuclear weapons: they can kill a lot of people, they killed a lot of people, butwe can actually control this type of weaponry.And the real function of nuclear weapons was to end the Second World War. They did not start the Third World War.」
李彥宏不認同，他說：「人類有能力讓世界變得安全，一直以來都是這樣的。看看核武器，它的確可以殺死許多人，許多許多，但是我們可以對核武器進行有效控制。核武器的真正作用就是結束了二戰，它沒有引發第三次世界大戰。」
Not yet, at least. But fears over AI are not all abouta dystopian future. The technology is already automating tasks that provided incomes to people.Driverless technologywill most quickly be adopted for long-distancehaulage[13], potentially putting up to 16 million Chinese truckers out of work. ForLi, the problem is unavoidable. 「When technology changes the world, then a lot of jobs are lost,」 he says, comparing it to the advent of the steam engine. 「You cannot change that. What you can do is continue to innovate and create more new jobs for people.」
至少到目前為止還沒有。擔心AI並不完全與反烏託邦的未來有關。有了AI技術，一些事情可以自動完成，為民眾創造了福利。很快，無人駕駛技術極有可能會進入長途貨車，1600萬中國卡車司機也許會失業。在李彥宏看來，這種事情不可避免。他說：「當技術改變世界時，總會有許多工作職位消失。」蒸汽機出現時就曾發生過這樣的事。他還認為：「你無法改變趨勢，唯一能做的就是繼續創新，為民眾創造更多職位。」
[13]haulage：the business of moving things by road or railway 公路（或鐵路）貨運業
a roadhaulagefirm
公路運輸公司
That will require the Chinese government to remain open to the world, he suggests, and not withdraw as the U.S. appears to have done underPresident Trump. The White House's proposals to limit immigration 「damage the innovation environment of the U.S.,」Lisays, urging China to take a different tack. 「We should create a better environment for foreigners to open up here, to innovate here, to set up companies.」 But for that to happen, and forBaiduto truly dominate AI,Limay have to confront China's own ideological tightening. For now, however,Liis focused on his mission: 「to make the complex world simpler.」 Or, perhaps, to pull down barriers faster than others can throw them up.
李彥宏認為，如果想追趕潮流，中國政府需要保持向世界開放，在川普總統的領導下，美國在開放面前出現倒退跡象。李彥宏認為，白宮提議限制移民，這種做法傷害了美國的創新環境，他希望中國走不一樣的道路。李彥宏稱：「我們要為外國人創造更好的環境，讓他們在這裡起步，在這裡創新，在這裡創辦企業。」就眼下來說，李彥宏會專注於自己的使命：讓複雜的世界變簡單。或者說，用更快的速度掃除障礙，比其它人設置障礙的速度快。
譯文來源：http://t.cn/RQ9pzXK，僅供參考
This appears in the January 29, 2018 issue of TIME.