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讀紐時學英文
2017/10/20 第189期 訂閱/退訂看歷史報份
 
 
紐時周報精選 The Not-So-Glossy Future of Magazines雜誌前景黯淡「無所不試」 時代也播動物影片
To Woo Amazon, Nothing's Too Weird城市各出奇招 向亞馬遜招手
紐時周報精選
 
The Not-So-Glossy Future of Magazines雜誌前景黯淡「無所不試」 時代也播動物影片
Sydney Ember and Michael M. Gryn
譯/王麗娟

One evening in mid-September, a gaggle of writers and bon vivant editors gathered by the outdoor fireplace and ivy-covered trellis of a West Village tavern. Steak was served, and the toasts lasted late into the night, the revelry trickling out to the nearby sidewalk.

It could have been a scene from the Jazz Age heyday of the Manhattan magazine set — or even the 1990s, when glossy monthlies still soaked up millions of dollars in advertising revenue, and editors in chauffeured town cars told the nation what to wear, what to watch and who to read.

九月中旬的一個夜晚,在西村的一家小酒館,一群作家和喜歡享受生活的編輯們聚集在一個室外壁爐和常春藤覆蓋的格狀架子旁。牛排上桌後,眾人杯觥交錯直到深夜,歡鬧聲流瀉到鄰近的人行道上。

這幕場景可能來自爵士時代曼哈坦雜誌業全盛時期,甚至是90年代,以亮光紙印刷的月刊還是廣告收入淹腳目,編輯們坐在司機駕駛的豪華轎車內,告訴全國該穿些什麼、欣賞什麼、閱讀什麼人的年頭。

This night, however, had an elegiac tinge. The staff of Vanity Fair was saluting the magazine’s longtime editor, Graydon Carter, who had announced that he was departing after a 25-year run. In the back garden of Carter’s restaurant, the Waverly Inn, star writers like James Wolcott and Marie Brenner spoke of their gratitude and grief.

Carter has always had a knack for trends. Within two weeks, three other prominent editors — from Time, Elle and Glamour — announced that they, too, would be stepping down. Another titan of the industry, Jann S. Wenner, said he planned to sell his controlling stake in Rolling Stone after a half-century.

不過,這一晚透著一種悲傷的況味。《浮華世界》的員工正向雜誌的長期總編輯葛雷登.卡特致敬。卡特在任職25年後,宣布即將離職。在卡特自家餐廳「韋佛利餐廳」的後花園中,一些明星作家如詹姆士.沃科特、瑪麗.布倫納都表達了他們的謝意和感傷。

卡特一向走在趨勢前端。不出兩星期,又有3位知名雜誌總編,分別是《時代》、《ELLE她》、《魅力》的總編也宣布準備下台。另一個業界巨頭,《滾石》創刊人詹恩.溫納則表示,打算出售他在《滾石》已保有半個世紀的控制性持股。

Suddenly, it seemed, long-standing predictions about the collapse of magazines had come to pass.

Magazines have sputtered for years, their monopoly on readers and advertising erased by Facebook, Google and more nimble online competitors. But editors and executives said the abrupt churn in the senior leadership ranks signaled that the romance of the business was now yielding to financial realities.

突然之間,長久來有關雜誌業終將崩潰的預言,似乎成真了。

雜誌業步履蹣跚已有多年,雜誌對讀者和廣告的壟斷遭到臉書、谷歌和更靈活的網路競爭對手侵奪。編輯和高管表示,高階領導階層的突然異動,說明這一行業的羅曼史正向財務現實低頭。

As publishers grasp for new revenue streams, a “try-anything” approach has taken hold. Time Inc. has a new streaming TV show, “Paws & Claws,” that features viral videos of animals. Hearst started a magazine with the online rental service Airbnb. Increasingly, the longtime core of the business — the print product — is an afterthought, overshadowed by investments in live events, podcasts, video, and partnerships with outside brands.

The changes represent one of the most fundamental shifts in decades for a business that long relied on a simple formula: glossy volumes thick with high-priced ads.

“Sentimentality is probably the biggest enemy for the magazine business,” David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, said in an interview. “You have to embrace the future."

隨著發行人尋找新的收入來源,「無所不試」的作法開始出現。時代公司因此有了新的串流電視節目《寵物》,主要播出網路瘋傳的動物影片。赫斯特集團與網路出租服務公司Airbnb合辦了一份雜誌。但是雜誌業長久以來的核心─紙本產品卻越來越像後來才添加的產品,對於現場直播、播客、影片的投資,以及和外面品牌的合作關係,都讓紙本產品黯然失色。

這些變化代表這一行出現了數十年來最根本的轉變,而這個行業一向仰賴一個簡單公式存活,光鮮亮麗的書冊和滿滿的高價廣告。

赫斯特雜誌集團總裁大衛.凱里受訪時說:「多愁善感恐怕是雜誌業最大的敵人。你必須迎向未來。」

說文解字看新聞

文/張佑生

本文從標題就玩文字遊戲,glossy magazine是用高級亮光紙印刷、照片很多的雜誌,通常是時尚雜誌,但雜誌的前途並不怎麼光明(not so glossy)。

作者先描寫雜誌編輯與作家觥籌交錯的景象,讓人彷彿置身在爵士年代的雜誌全盛期(heyday)。狄更斯小說《荒涼山莊》(Bleak House)對戴洛克夫人(Lady Dedlock)的描述很有意思:She has beauty still, and if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in its autumn.

廣告收入日進斗金;soak up接金錢或資源時一定是很大的數量。筆鋒隨即一轉,原來是餞別,歡宴帶有淡淡哀愁(elegiac tinge)。雖源自elegy(輓歌),但elegiac的原因未必是死別,也可能是生離。透過對比,雜誌的前景更顯悲涼。

 
To Woo Amazon, Nothing's Too Weird城市各出奇招 向亞馬遜招手
Nellie Bowles
譯/王麗娟

Business leaders in Tucson, Arizona, have tried to mail Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, a 21-foot cactus. The largest conference room in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, mayor’s office has been converted to a war room, with 50 volunteers poring over videos of Bezos.

In Philadelphia, hundreds of Wharton Business School students have a new fall semester assignment: Pitch the city to Amazon. And the mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, flew to Seattle last week to walk as close to Amazon’s headquarters as is publicly accessible.

亞歷桑納州土桑市的商界領袖試圖郵寄一株21呎高的仙人掌給亞馬遜執行長傑夫.貝佐斯。奧克拉荷馬州土爾沙市市長辦公室最大的一間會議室已改為戰情室,50名志工正在鑽研貝佐斯的各項影片。

在費城,賓州大學華頓商學院的數百名學生有一個新的秋季班作業:向亞馬遜推銷費城。加拿大安大略省渥太華市市長上周則飛往西雅圖,在對大眾開放的區域內,走到最靠近亞馬遜總部的地方。

“It’s like ‘The Amazing Race,'” said Jim Watson, the mayor of Ottawa. “You’ve got this cast of characters running toward the Holy Grail.”

Amazon, on the hunt for a place to build a second headquarters, where it plans to invest $5 billion and create 50,000 jobs, has begun an enormous competition among cities across North America. With a loose set of requirements such as proximity to an airport and walkability, the e-commerce behemoth has set officials on a journey to sell their towns, with the aim of getting in on what some are calling one of the largest economic development deals of the century.

渥太華市長吉姆.華森說:「它就像 《驚險大挑戰》。有這麼一堆角色衝向聖杯。」

亞馬遜正在尋找建造第二個總部的地點,計畫投資50億美元,創造5萬個就業機會。這項計畫已在北美各城市之間掀起巨大的競爭。由於開出的一系列條件十分寬鬆,如靠近機場、適宜步行等,亞馬遜這家電子商務巨擘已讓一些官員踏上推銷他們城市的旅程,目的是成為號稱本世紀最大經濟開發交易案的一份子。

That sometimes means going to extreme lengths to draw Bezos’ eye. Is Bezos impressed?

“We’re energized by the response,” said Adam Sedo, an Amazon spokesman. “We invited cities to think big, and we are starting to see their creativity.”

有時這意味得走極端才能吸引貝佐斯的眼光。貝佐斯被我們打動了嗎?

亞馬遜發言人亞當.塞多說:「這種回響很令人鼓舞。我們邀請各城市放膽去設想,而我們已開始看到他們的創意。」

For Jeff Cheney, the mayor of Frisco, Texas, a city of 160,000 about a half-hour drive from Dallas, the courtship includes offering to build his city around Amazon.

“Our city’s only about 60 percent built out, so we’ve got a lot of available land where we can build to suit,” Cheney said. “We play to win. We’re innovators. We’re forward thinkers, and we’re serious.”

對德州佛里斯科市長傑夫.錢尼來說,追求亞馬遜的方法包括提議以亞馬遜為中心建造城市。佛里斯科市距達拉斯約半小時車程,人口16萬。

錢尼說:「我們的城市只開發了約6成,我們還有很多可用的土地,可配合要求建造。既然加入了競爭就非贏不可。 我們是創新者。 我們是前衛的思想家,而且我們是認真的。」

City applications are not due until Oct. 19, but Cheney has already sent a video letter to Amazon. The video opens on him holding an Amazon box and saying, “Amazon, you’re growing your business, and we want to grow with you.” Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is seen talking about catching the “Frisco Flu,” which the mayor’s office said was a phrase Jones came up with. Cheney also gets a Jamba Juice (Jamba Juice is based in Frisco).

In Canada, the selling point is, well, Canada.

城市申請的截止日期為10月19 日,但錢尼已發送了一封影片信函給亞馬遜。影片一開始是他手拿一個亞馬遜紙箱說道:「亞馬遜,你正在發展你的事業,我們希望和你一起成長。」職業美足聯盟球隊達拉斯牛仔隊東家傑里.瓊斯則將他得了「佛里斯科流感」掛在嘴上,市長辦公室說,這是瓊斯自己想出來的一句台詞 。錢尼則是得到一杯Jamba果汁(Jamba果汁集團總部在佛里斯科)。

在加拿大,唔,賣點就是加拿大。

 
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