在被迅速崛起的抖音打個措手不及後，曾經的短視頻市場王者快手準備打一場硬仗。快手CEO宿華表示，平庸的公司沒有未來。
ByteDance rival Kuaishou pledges 『battle』 for China video market
快手不甘於被抖音反超，決心打一場硬仗
《金融時報》
Chinese start-up Kuaishou is bracing for a 「tough battle」 as it looks to counter the meteoric rise of rival ByteDance and attract more users and profits in the country's rapidly expanding short video market.
中國初創企業快手(Kuaishou)準備迎接一場「艱難的仗」。該公司希望抗衡競爭對手字節跳動(ByteDance)的快速崛起，並在中國迅速擴張的短視頻市場吸引更多用戶，分走更多利潤。
表示「作準備，準備迎接（令人不快的事）」，英文解釋為「to mentally or physically prepare yourself or someone else for something unpleasant that is going to happen」舉個🌰：
They are bracing themselves for a long legal battle.
他們在為漫長的法律訴訟作準備。
meteoric /ˌmiːtɪˈɒrɪk/ 表示「迅速成功的」，英文解釋為「achieving success very quickly」，如：a meteoric rise to fame 迅速成名，a meteoric career 迅速成功的事業，舉個🌰：
The company has experienced meteoric growth.
公司經歷了飛速增長。
The Tencent-backed company dominated China's wildly popular short video market from 2016 until the middle of last year, racking up some 200m active users with its simple short-video app that was designed to appeal to less tech-savvy users.
從2016年到去年年中，這家騰訊(Tencent)投資的公司在中國廣受歡迎的短視頻市場中佔據主導地位，其旨在吸引不太懂技術的用戶的簡單易用的應用贏得了約2億活躍用戶。
表示「積累，大量獲得（利潤）；嚴重遭受（損失）；（體育中）多次贏得（比賽）」，英文解釋為「If a business racks up profits, losses, or sales, it makes a lot of them. If a sportsman, sportswoman, or team racks up wins, they win a lot of games or races.」舉個🌰：
Lower rates mean that firms are more likely to rack up profits in the coming months.
更低的費率意味著各公司更有可能在未來的幾個月裡獲得大量利潤。
The Chinese government estimated in May that the total value of the sector would reach Rmb30bn ($4.4bn) by the end of this year, up from Rmb11bn in 2018. In the next five years, online streaming demand is expected to grow 14 times over, with 70 per cent of smartphone traffic comprising videos.
中國政府在今年5月預估，截至今年底，短視頻行業的總價值將達到300億元人民幣（合44億美元），高於2018年的110億元人民幣。未來五年，線上流媒體需求有望增長逾14倍，視頻將佔據智慧型手機70%的流量。
This ballooning demand for cat videos, live streaming and vlogs has helped propel sky-high valuations for Chinese start-ups in the sector, including current market leader ByteDance — which was valued at $75bn in its latest funding round and whose hugely popular global video-streaming app TikTok has been downloaded more than 1bn times, according to third-party estimates.
對貓咪視頻、直播和視頻博客的不斷擴大的需求助推行業內中國初創企業的天價估值，其中包括當前的市場領導者字節跳動——據第三方估計，字節跳動在其最新一輪融資中估值為750億美元，其大受歡迎的全球視頻流媒體應用TikTok（抖音國際版）的下載量已超過10億次。
熟詞僻義，作動詞，表示「突然增加，激增」，英文解釋為「to suddenly become larger in amount」舉個🌰：
The company’s debt has ballooned in the past year.
在過去一年裡，公司的債務激增。
還可以指「突然長胖」，英文解釋為「if someone balloons, they suddenly become fat」舉個🌰：
Paul ballooned after he got married.
保羅婚後吹氣球似地胖了起來。
Kuaishou was caught off guard by Douyin, the version of TikTok for the Chinese mainland, and its features-rich offering that allowed users to edit video, add music and adjust footage speed. Since its launch in September 2016, Douyin has grown to account for about 250m of the 600m smartphone users who share and watch short videos every day in China.
快手被功能豐富的抖音(Douyin)打了個措手不及。抖音允許用戶編輯視頻、添加音樂和調整視頻播放速度。自2016年9月推出以來，抖音的用戶不斷增長，在中國6億每天分享和觀看短視頻的智慧型手機用戶中，抖音的用戶已佔到其中約2.5億。
表示「使（某人）措手不及；趁（某人）不警惕時（做某事）」，英文解釋為「to surprise someone by doing something that they are not expecting or ready for」。
Kuaishou, which previously held the top spot and remains ByteDance's chief domestic rival, is plotting a comeback, according to co-founder Yang Yuanxi.
快手的聯合創始人楊遠熙表示，快手正在謀劃重整再戰。快手曾居於市場首位，目前仍是字節跳動在國內的主要競爭對手。
表示「榜首，最高位置」，英文解釋為「The first position in a ranking.」
表示「復闢；復出；東山再起」，英文解釋為「an attempt to become famous, powerful, or important again after a period of being much less famous, etc.」舉個🌰：
She's trying to make a comeback with her first album for 20 years.
她想憑藉自己20年來的第一張專輯東山再起。
After going through a period of reflection, the company is preparing to 「fight a tough battle」 after the 「shocking」 realisation that the rise of Douyin had caught it flat-footed, Mr Yang said in an interview.
楊遠熙在一次訪談中表示，抖音的崛起讓快手措手不及，在「震驚地」意識到這一點並經過一段時間的反思後，快手準備「打一場艱難的仗」。
flat-footed本義表示「平足的」，可以指「拖著腳走的，蹣跚而行的」（moving in an awkward way）；此處，catch sb flat-footed替換了上文的catch sb off guard，表示「令某人猝不及防，措手不及的」，英文解釋為「to surprise someone so that they cannot do something in the way they ought to」舉個🌰：
He were caught flat-footed when the opinion polls suddenly started to swing the other way.
當民意調查的結果突然倒向另一方時，他陷於了束手無策的境地。
Surveys of users in southern China carried out by Kuaishou showed that many former users had defected to Douyin, he said, adding: 「Suddenly we became number two after being number one for five or six years.」
他表示，快手對中國南方用戶的調查顯示，許多曾使用快手的用戶已轉投抖音。他補充稱：「（我們）做了五六年的第一突然變成第二了。」
1）動詞，表示「背叛，叛逃，投敵，變節」，英文解釋為「to leave your own country or group in order to go to or join an opposing one」舉個🌰：
When the national hockey team visited the US, half the players defected.
國家曲棍球隊訪問美國時，有一半隊員都叛逃了。
2）名詞，表示「缺點，缺陷，毛病」，英文解釋為「a fault or a lack of something that means that something or someone is not perfect」。
Last month, Kuaishou chief executive Su Hua sent employees a letter warning of 「hidden dangers」 if the company did not come up with better products.
上月，快手執行長宿華在致員工的一封信中警告稱，如果公司不能推出更好的產品，公司是存在「隱患」的。
「We are not satisfied with the current situation, where we are coming to be known as a 『slow company』, a relaxed organisation with a Buddha-like attitude,」 Mr Su wrote. 「A mediocre company has no future,」 he added. He has launched a push for 300m daily active users by the end of January 2020.
宿華寫道：「我們對現狀很不滿意，鬆散的組織、佛系的態度，『慢公司』正在成為我們的標籤。」他補充稱：「一家平庸的公司是沒有未來的。」宿華已設立了一個目標，在2020年1月底前實現3億日活躍用戶。
mediocre /ˌmiːdɪˈəʊkə/ 表示「普通的，平庸的，不夠好的」，英文解釋為「not very good」舉個🌰：
The film's plot is predictable and the acting is mediocre.
這部影片的情節都能猜得到，演員的演技也不夠好。
Kuaishou has more users in lower tier cities and rural areas and is less reliant on ads to make money. In contrast to ByteDance, Kuaishou plans to take a 「steady step」 approach to international expansion, preferring instead to focus on the home market, Mr Yang said.
快手在較低線城市和農村地區擁有更多用戶，並且不那麼依賴廣告賺錢。與字節跳動的策略不同，楊遠熙表示，快手計劃以「穩步」的方式進行國際擴張，優先聚焦國內市場。
Matthew Brennan, founder of consultancy China Channel, said the differing nature of Douyin and Kuaishou meant the two could coexist.
諮詢公司China Channel創始人馬修•布倫南(Matthew Brennan)表示，抖音和快手的性質不同，這意味著二者可以共存。
Kuaishou and Tencent’s other short video companies 「are not going to reach the scale of Douyin by any means, but there's going to be many players in this short video market in the long term,」 he said.
他表示，快手與騰訊投資的另外幾家短視頻公司「無論如何都不會達到抖音的規模，但從長遠來看，這個短視頻市場中會有很多參與者」。
譯者/何黎
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