【原版杂志阅读】23期 Day 5：Clubhouse may fade. Group voice chat is here to stay part 1

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Hype club
Clubhouse may fade. Group voice chat is here to stay

What Silicon Valley’s latest hype cycle says about the future of social media 

ONE OF SILICON VALLEY’S most successful inventions is hype. It usually disappoints. In 2015 live-streaming from smartphones became all the rage. But Meerkat, an app which pioneered it, shut down the following year. On April 1st Periscope, its more successful rival, did too (no joke). Will Clubhouse, a buzzy app that hosts live audio gabfests, suffer the same fate? 

Launched at the start of the pandemic last March, Clubhouse quickly became Silicon Valley’s most-talked-about app and a favourite stage for rock-star entrepreneurs. Elon Musk offered his views on colonising Mars and rewiring the brain to thousands of listeners. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, co-founders of a big venture-capital firm, regularly hold forth. More mortal Valleyites discuss everything from the future of San Francisco to the testy relations between tech and the media. This year the Clubhouse craze went global, offering a venue for frank conversations in places from Saudi Arabia to South Korea. 

Amid the buzz, problems are emerging. You still need an invitation from an existing user, but these are easy to come by. As newcomers flood the app, the quality of debate has dropped. Without systematic moderation, chats entitled “How to discipline and train your women” or worse are popping up. Despite lower barriers to entry, the app’s downloads were down to 2.7m in March, from 9.6m in February, according to Sensor Tower, a data provider. 

一、词汇部分

1. gabfest /ˈɡæbfest/ n. 杂谈会；长时间的交谈

• 词汇：gab 空谈(g—a—b)

• 词根：fest- 节日(festival) 

2. moderation/ˌmɒdəˈreɪʃn/  n. 节制

• 词根：mod- 中间

• 后缀：-eration 名词后缀

3. hype /haɪp/ n. 大肆的宣传广告; 炒作

• 联想：嗨捧

4. hold forth 滔滔地说

5. testy /ˈtɛstɪ/ adj. 急躁的; 易怒的

• 单词：test 测试

• 后缀：-y 形容词后缀

二、文章讲解

1. 【ONE OF SILICON VALLEY’S most successful inventions is hype. It usually disappoints.】 In 2015 live-streaming from smartphones became all the rage. But Meerkat, an app which pioneered it, shut down the following year. On April 1st Periscope, its more successful rival, did too (no joke). Will Clubhouse, a buzzy app that hosts live audio gabfests, suffer the same fate? 

1）表达

• 结果往往不尽人意。—-something disappoints. 

• 手机流媒体直播 —-live streaming 

• 风靡一时 —-become all the rage 

• 最先推出这一功能——pioneered ….

• 昔日劲敌 —rival 

• 也有相同的命运 —suffer the same fate 

Something that fails to meet your expectation disappoints you. 

2） all the rage

meaning:If something is all the rage, it is very popular and fashionable. The 1950s look is all the rage at the moment. 

e.g. Disco music was all the rage in the 1970s.

e.g. I can't believe that stupid dance is all the rage right now.

3) suffer the same fate(face the same fate/experience the same fate) 

But to prevent the African Union from suffering the same fate as its precursor, and to help it bridge promise and performance, the new institution would have to devise some form of enforcement mechanism to give its decisions binding force.

——-The New York Times

参考翻译：造势是硅谷最成功的发明之一。但结果往往不尽人意。2015年，智能手机流媒体直播风靡一时。但最先推出这一功能的应用Meerkat第二年就关闭了。今年4月1日，比Meerkat强一些的昔日劲敌Periscope也关门大吉（这可不是愚人节的玩笑）。提供即时语音群聊会场的热门应用Clubhouse会不会也有相同的命运？ 

2. Launched at the start of the pandemic last March, Clubhouse quickly became Silicon Valley’s most-talked-about app and a favourite stage for rock-star entrepreneurs. Elon Musk offered his views on colonising Mars and rewiring the brain to thousands of listeners. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, co-founders of a big venture-capital firm, regularly hold forth. More mortal Valleyites discuss everything from the future of San Francisco to the testy relations between tech and the media. This year the Clubhouse craze went global, offering a venue for frank conversations in places from Saudi Arabia to South Korea. 

1）表达

• 迅速成为 —-quickly become 

• 最为人津津乐道的 —-most-talked-about +名词

• 也是…青睐的舞台 —-a favorite stage for …

• 某人与….分享了…的想法 —-offer one’s views on something to someone 

• 定期高谈阔论 —-regularly hold forth

• 谈天说地 —-discuss everything from ….to…

• A和B的紧张关系 —testy relations between A and B 

• 热潮席卷全球 —-xxx craze go global 

2） 长难句分析：Launched at the start of the pandemic last March, Clubhouse quickly became Silicon Valley’s most-talked-about app and a favourite stage for rock-star entrepreneurs. 

• 过去分词作后置定语：Launched at the start of the pandemic last March

• 逻辑主语：Clubhouse

结构形式：非谓语动词（状语），完整句子。

3）hold forth 

Meaning: to talk about a particular subject for a long time, often in a way that other people find boring

e.g. She held forth all afternoon about/on government incompetence.

4) 长难句分析： This year the Clubhouse craze went global, offering a venue for frank conversations in places from Saudi Arabia to South Korea. 

参考翻译： Clubhouse于去年3月疫情爆发之初上线，迅速成为硅谷最为人津津乐道的应用，也是摇滚明星般的企业家们青睐的舞台。马斯克在Clubhouse上与成千上万听众分享了他对殖民火星和脑机接口的看法。硅谷风险投资巨头安德森-霍洛维茨基金（Andreessen Horowitz）的两位联合创始人马克·安德森（Marc Andreessen）和本·霍洛维茨（Ben Horowitz）也定期在Clubhouse上高谈阔论。更多普通的硅谷人在那里谈天说地，从旧金山的未来聊到科技公司与媒体的紧张关系。今年，Clubhouse热潮更是席卷全球，为从沙特阿拉伯到韩国的人们提供了一个坦诚对话的平台。

3. Amid the buzz, problems are emerging. You still need an invitation from an existing user, but these are easy to come by. As newcomers flood the app, the quality of debate has dropped. Without systematic moderation, chats entitled “How to discipline and train your women” or worse are popping up. Despite lower barriers to entry, the app’s downloads were down to 2.7m in March, from 9.6m in February, according to Sensor Tower, a data provider. 

1）表达

• 现有用户—-existing user

• 入群门门槛

• problems are emerging

2) come by 

meaning: to get something, using effort, by chance or in a way that has not been explained:

e.g. Cheap organic food is still difficult to come by.

e.g. I’d like to know how she came by that black eye.

参考翻译： 喧嚣之下，问题也在显现。要成为用户仍然需要现有用户邀请，不过邀请很容易拿到。随着新用户的涌入，辩论质量每况愈下。因为缺乏系统性管控，不时会出现像“如何调教你的女人”甚至更恶劣的话题。尽管入群门槛降低了，但据数据供应商Sensor Tower统计，Clubhouse的下载量已从2月的960万降至3月的270万。

三、段落翻译

造势是硅谷最成功的发明之一。但结果往往不尽人意。2015年，智能手机流媒体直播风靡一时。但最先推出这一功能的应用Meerkat第二年就关闭了。今年4月1日，比Meerkat强一些的昔日劲敌Periscope也关门大吉（这可不是愚人节的玩笑）。提供即时语音群聊会场的热门应用Clubhouse会不会也有相同的命运？ 

Clubhouse于去年3月疫情爆发之初上线，迅速成为硅谷最为人津津乐道的应用，也是摇滚明星般的企业家们青睐的舞台。马斯克在Clubhouse上与成千上万听众分享了他对殖民火星和脑机接口的看法。硅谷风险投资巨头安德森-霍洛维茨基金（Andreessen Horowitz）的两位联合创始人马克·安德森（Marc Andreessen）和本·霍洛维茨（Ben Horowitz）也定期在Clubhouse上高谈阔论。更多普通的硅谷人在那里谈天说地，从旧金山的未来聊到科技公司与媒体的紧张关系。今年，Clubhouse热潮更是席卷全球，为从沙特阿拉伯到韩国的人们提供了一个坦诚对话的平台。 

喧嚣之下，问题也在显现。要成为用户仍然需要现有用户邀请，不过邀请很容易拿到。随着新用户的涌入，辩论质量每况愈下。因为缺乏系统性管控，不时会出现像“如何调教你的女人”甚至更恶劣的话题。尽管入群门槛降低了，但据数据供应商Sensor Tower统计，Clubhouse的下载量已从2月的960万降至3月的270万。