You'll never be alone if you've got a book.
只要手捧書卷，你就永遠不會感到孤獨。
UNTIL recently 「Uber envy」 afflicted many top executives at Airbnb, a platform for booking overnight stays in other people’s homes. So admits a big investor in the firm. The two companies often raised money at the same time, and the ride-hailing giant reliably received more cash and closer attention.
hail [動詞 + 名詞短語] to signal to a taxi or a bus, in order to get the driver to stop 招手（請計程車或公共汽車停下）
直到不久前，「優步嫉妒症」還困擾著短租民宿平臺愛彼迎（Airbnb）的許多高管。該公司的一個大投資者坦然承認自己也是如此。這兩家公司經常在同一時間融資，而網約車巨頭總是能融到更多資金、得到更密切的關注。
Uber is America’s most valuable private technology firm, with a valuation of close to $70bn at last count; Airbnb is still in second place with a value of around $30bn. But with Uber facing a series of setbacks, including allegations of intellectual-property theft, departures by senior executives and a consumer boycott, jealousy in Airbnb’s hallways has largely evaporated.
優步是美國最有價值的私營科技公司，最新估值近700億美元，愛彼迎仍然位居第二，估值約300億美元。不過隨著優步經受了一系列挫折，包括竊取智慧財產權的指控、高管離職和消費者抵制等，愛彼迎公司內的嫉妒情緒已經基本消散了。
It helps that the firm is on a tear. Last year 80m people booked stays on Airbnb, double the number in 2015. It now plans to expand into other bits of the market for accommodation, including luxury trips and business travel. New products, such as bespoke city tours, are in the works.
愛彼迎去年業績風生水起，這也讓公司的情緒有所好轉。去年，有8000萬人通過愛彼迎預定住宿，比2015年的數字多了一倍。愛彼迎現在計劃向住宿市場的其他領域拓展，包括豪華遊和商務行。定製城市遊這樣的新產品正在籌備中。
The firm’s ultimate aim is to evolve from being a platform for overnight stays into a comprehensive travel company, capturing an ever-greater share of tourists』 spending. In 2017 it may notch up as much as $2.8bn in sales, up by around 65% from a year earlier.
愛彼迎的最終目標是從短租平臺逐步成為一個綜合旅遊公司，獲取更大的遊客消費份額。2017年，愛彼迎或許將創下28億美元的銷售額，比上年增長約65%。
Forecasts suggest it could reach $8.5bn in revenues by 2020. An IPO may be in the offing, yet pitfalls also lie in wait. Chief among these is regulation, ensuring guests』 safety and, increasingly, the need to fend off rivals such as Priceline, a fearsomely efficient online travel-booking company.
fend offto defend or protect yourself from sth/sb that is attacking you 抵擋，擋開，避開（攻擊）
還有預測稱，到2020年，公司可能實現85億美元的收入。上市也許為時不遠，不過也面臨一些困難，其中最主要的是監管和保證用戶安全，還有越來越重要的與競爭對手抗衡，比如在線旅行預訂公司Priceline就是一個效率極高的對手。
Airbnb’s founders started as complete outsiders to the hospitality business and indeed, to commerce. Brian Chesky, its 35-year-old chief executive, had no previous business experience or technical expertise.
愛彼迎的各位創始人一開始完全是酒店業的外行——實際上他們和整個商業都全無接觸。35歲的執行長布萊恩之前沒有任何商業經驗或技術專長。
Instead, he and one of his co-founders, Joe Gebbia, had studied design at Rhode Island School of Design before teaming up with a software engineer, Nathan Blecharczyk, to launch what was then called AirBed and Breakfast, with the aim of renting out air mattresses in apartments.
相反，他和另一個聯合創始人傑比亞是在羅德島設計學院（Rhode Island School of Design）學設計出身，後來與軟體工程師布萊卡斯亞克合作成立公司，當時叫作AirBed and Breakfast，目的是出租公寓裡的充氣床墊。
They were so untutored in investing that when an early adviser suggested raising money from small investors known as 「angels」, Mr Chesky thought people in Silicon Valley believed in celestial beings.
他們幾個人在投資方面一竅不通。早期，一個顧問建議通過被喚作「天使」的個人投資者融資時，切斯基還以為矽谷的人信奉各路天神。
Both Airbnb and Uber—America’s two most valuable 「unicorns」, private startups worth over $1bn—operate platforms without owning the underlying rooms and cars that are being used; both take a cut from every transaction. Airbnb charges both guests (6-12% of total rental fees) and hosts (around 3% of their total earnings from the site).
愛彼迎和優步這兩個美國最有價值的「獨角獸」公司（估值超過10億美元的私營創業公司）只運營平臺，不擁有任何供租用的客房和汽車。兩者都從每筆交易中抽成。愛彼迎是對租客和房東雙向收費：向租客收取總房租的6%到12%，向房東收取從該平臺獲得的總收入的約3%。
A particular feature of Airbnb’s model is that its rental listings are usually not available on the websites of any of its competitors, because hosts tend to be loyal. So while Uber is locked in a fierce competition with rivals in most markets for customers and drivers, and has chosen to subsidise journeys to avoid losing market share, Airbnb has no need to pay up to keep hosts and users.
愛彼迎模式的一個特點是房東往往忠誠度高，該網站能查到的出租房屋通常在任何競爭對手的網站上都找不到。因此，優步在大多數市場上都要為爭奪乘客和司機而與競爭對手陷入激戰，並選擇補貼出行以免丟失市場份額，而愛彼迎卻不用花錢來留住房東和租客。
An attention to costs that is uncommon in the startup world is also paying off handsomely. In 2015 Airbnb hired as its chief financial officer Laurence Tosi, who had previously done the same job at Blackstone, a private-equity firm. He is regarded as the adult supervision.
關注成本在創業公司中不常見，愛彼迎卻因此得到了可觀的回報。2015年，愛彼迎聘請勞倫斯擔任財務長。託西之前在私募股權公司黑石（Blackstone）擔任同樣的職務，人們認為他在愛彼迎扮演了監護人的角色。
Airbnb reportedly achieved profitability for the first time in the second half of 2016 and will make money in 2017. It has raised $3bn and spent only around $300m of it (Uber is said to have lost $2.8bn in 2016 alone).
據報導，愛彼迎在2016年下半年首次實現盈利，2017年將繼續盈利。愛彼迎已融資30億美元，僅花掉了3億美元左右（據說優步單在2016年就虧損了28億美元）。
未 完 待 續