投資顧問(wèn)Jerry跟客戶Frank見(jiàn)面,向他推銷一種投資想法。
Jerry: I believe the iron is hot right now in the field of energy and transportation. Everyone is looking for new ways to reduce energy consumption.
F: Yeah, you're right. I bought a hybrid car last month...saves me as much as 50% in gasoline use!
J: Hybrids are the hottest thing on the market these days, and I think they fill a niche right now, but I'm betting that the future belongs to fully electric-powered vehicles.
Jerry 覺(jué)得,能源和交通是投資的正確方向,一定要趁熱打鐵。Frank表示贊成,說(shuō)自己上個(gè)月剛買了一輛汽電混合動(dòng)力車hybrid,耗油量少了一半。 Jerry承認(rèn),汽電混合動(dòng)力車現(xiàn)在很流行,有自己的市場(chǎng)定位niche, niche is spelled n-i-c-h-e,但他覺(jué)得,汽車今后還是要向純電動(dòng)的方向發(fā)展。
F: That might be true. But I manufacture in China. Millions of people there don't even have a gas-powered car yet.
J: Yes...but don't you see? This is a golden opportunity! Millions of middle class Chinese could potentially leapfrog over the old technologies and embrace electric vehicles.
F: It's an interesting idea. I know the government is supporting electric vehicles since many cities have serious air pollution.
Frank的工廠在中國(guó),而中國(guó)很多人連汽油動(dòng)力車都沒(méi)有,哪談得上什么純電力車呢?Jerry卻覺(jué)得,這是絕好的機(jī)會(huì)。This is a golden opportunity. 因?yàn)橹袊?guó)數(shù)以百萬(wàn)計(jì)的中產(chǎn)階級(jí)都可以跨越陳舊的技術(shù),直接利用新技術(shù),這里所說(shuō)的leapfrog蛙跳,是躍過(guò),跨過(guò)的意思。Frank覺(jué)得,這種想法有道理,因?yàn)橹袊?guó)政府為了治理空氣污染,非常支持電動(dòng)汽車的發(fā)展。
J: Just imagine! You could make a lot of money AND help make China a better place for people to live.
F: So you want me to invest in producing electric cars?
J: I think the real area of interest here is batteries. Battery technology needs to catch up. We already have a lot of companies that can make the cars, but batteries are far too expensive.
開(kāi)發(fā)電力汽車,這種既能賺錢,又能改善中國(guó)生活環(huán)境的事何樂(lè)而不為呢?Jerry補(bǔ)充說(shuō),他其實(shí)不是建議 Frank投資電力汽車,The real area of interest is batteries,真有干頭的是電池這一塊,因?yàn)閎attery technology needs to catch up,電池技術(shù)還需要改進(jìn)。Frank會(huì)被Jerry說(shuō)服,投資電力汽車電池技術(shù)的開(kāi)發(fā)嗎?我們下次繼續(xù)聽(tīng)。