世界第一电池生产商--宁德时代
原文如下：
China’s “dreamchild” is stealthily winning the battery race
IN AMERICA, IF you want to dominate an industry, you channel your inner Elon Musk and shout about it. But CATL, the Chinese company that makes batteries for some of Mr Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles (EVs), is different. When your columnist first contacted it in 2017, the brush-off was swift. “We want to concentrate on our products only and do not accept any interviews at present.” These days it is only marginally less blunt. “Unfortunately, we are sorry that it’s hard for us to arrange [interviews] at the moment.” The temptation is to give it a dose of its own medicine and ignore it.
And yet in 2017 the firm, founded only six years earlier as Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, vaulted from being the world’s third-largest battery-maker to its biggest. It has since reached market value of 1.3trn yuan ($200bn), more than the second, third and fourth producers----South Korea’s LG Chem, Japan’s Panasonic, and China’s BYD----combined. In recent days its rising share price has made its 53-year-old founder, Zeng Yuqun, richer than Jack Ma, a much-better-known Chinese tech baron. Given Mr Ma’s blackballing by the Chinese government, for Mr Zeng to have kept his head down now looks shrewd.
The world will hear lot more about CATL in the future. That is because one of the justifications for its high valuation is that it is about to move beyond the Chinese mainland, the world’s biggest EV market where it accounts for about half of lithium-ion-battery sales, to Europe, Indonesia and possibly even America. Its profitability far exceeds that of its global peers. Its technology has become at least as good as theirs, giving it the clout to outcompete them and contribute meaningfully to a worldwide clean-energy revolution. And yet it is also what Sam Jaffe of Cairn ERA, a battery consultancy, calls the “dreamchild” of China’s government-industrial complex. That makes it a potential flashpoint in the torrid world of technology geopolitics.
CATL’s low profile starts with its provenance. Mr Zeng created it in the backwater of Ningde, a subtropical city better known for tea than tech, in Fujian province where he grew up in a hillside village. But he has long had high ambitions. In 1999 he founded Amperex Technology Ltd (ATL), a maker of lithium-ion batteries for portable devices, which he sold to TDK, Japanese firm, in 2005. One of his big clients was Apple, maker of the iPhone.
Seeing the potential for EV batteries, which China was keen to turn into a strategic industry, Mr Zeng led spin off from ATL in 2011, severing links with its Japanese parent company----possibly to please the Chinese authorities, says Mark Newman, a battery executive who formerly covered the company as an investment analyst. When it listed in 2018, CATL had a small percentage of direct and indirect state ownership. More important, the government had its back. For years China used subsidies to favour domestically produced batteries for electric cars and buses, kneecapping South Korean competitors such as LG Chem and Samsung SDI. CATL, one of two top-tier Chinese producers, benefited most. The other, BYD, made cars as well as batteries. For that reason, many rival carmakers in China----including foreigners such as Tesla and BMW----gave it a wide berth and turned to Mr Zeng instead.
It is unfair, however, to ascribe CATL’s success purely to economic nationalism. According to James Frith of BloombergNEF, a consultancy, when CATL was faced with the winding down of subsidies in 2019, it quickly leapfrogged its South Korean rivals to produce the latest high-nickel batteries, which run for longer than the cheaper lithium-iron-phosphate ones that had been China’s staple. Chinese carmakers are bolder than their Western counterparts (apart from Tesla) in adopting innovative chemistry, he adds, which gives CATL more freedom to experiment. It also gets more for its investment in China than rivals do elsewhere and has a cheaper workforce, which makes its operating margins, just shy of 15%, the best in the business. Strong profits provide more cash to invest in expansion. Neil Beveridge of Bernstein, an investment firm, expects its capacity roughly to quadruple to 500 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery cells year by 2025. That is an amount similar to what is promised from all of the world’s gigafactories today. Only Mr Musk sets more outlandish targets.
Zeng and the art of market-share maintenance
Most of CATL’s expansion will come in China where it has a growing export business. But by the end of this year it is also expected to start production at its first offshore factory, with capacity of 14GWh in Erfurt, Germany, from where it will supply carmakers like BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler. Its move overseas appears to be motivated by a desire to retain its market leadership as EV sales outside China accelerate. Its South Korean and Japanese rivals have a bigger global presence. Simon Moores, a battery consultant, thinks a subsequent step will be into America.
Yet energy----even the clean stuff----is dirty business, muddied by geopolitical rivalries and economic jingoism. There are already fears in the West that CATL’s profitability in China will enable it to offer cut-price products abroad, reopening wounds caused when China’s subsidised solar panels swept the world in the 2010s. Moreover, advanced batteries, like semiconductors, are increasingly discussed in terms of an arms race. Europe and America are offering big inducements for locally made batteries and adjacent supply chains in order to catch up with China. They see a strategic vulnerability in being too reliant on Chinese supplier.
As a result, CATL will have to be clever. Already it has more alliances with global carmakers than any other battery firm; jointly building factories close to their operations around the world would buy it political support. It will need to counter geopolitical paranoia by stressing the importance of cheap batteries, both for EVs and clean-electricity grids, in the fight against climate change. More transparency wouldn’t go amiss, either. It is a fine line between being coy and acting as if it has something to hide.
世界第一大电池供应商--宁德时代
译文如下：
China’s “dreamchild” is stealthily winning the battery race
中国“梦之子”悄然领跑电池竞赛
IN AMERICA, IF you want to dominate an industry, you channel your inner Elon Musk and shout about it. But CATL, the Chinese company that makes batteries for some of Mr Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles (EVs), is different. When the columnist first contacted it in 2017, the brush-off was swift . “We want to concentrate on our products only and do not accept any interviews at present.” These days it is only marginally less blunt . “Unfortunately, we are sorry that it’s hard for us to arrange [interviews] at the moment.” The temptation is to give it a dose of its own medicine and ignore it.
在美国，要想在某个行业称霸，你需要启动自己内在的伊隆·马斯克，并让它咆哮。但为马斯克的一些特斯拉电动汽车供应电池的中国公司宁德时代却不一样。当笔者在2017年第一次跟这家公司联系采访时，对方干脆地拒绝了。“我们只想专心做产品，目前不接受任何采访。”到如今，它的态度也只是稍微柔和了那么一丁点。“很遗憾，目前恕难安排（采访）。”真是让人恨不得以牙还牙，再不理睬它。
stealthily [ˈstelθɪli]，做副词，暗地里。
栗子：Slowly and stealthily, someone was creeping up the stairs. 蹑手蹑脚地，有人正爬上楼梯。
其名词形式为 stealth ，秘密行动; 暗中活动。
栗子：Lions rely on stealth when hunting. 狮子捕食全凭偷袭。
channel [ˈtʃænl],该词的意思比较多，包括名词意思“电视频道；波段；渠道; 途径；水渠；航道；海峡”。动词意思为“调拨 (钱、资源)；集中 (精力、情感)”。栗子：Stephen is channelling his energies into a novel called Blue.斯蒂芬正集中精力写一本名为《蓝色》的小说。
brush-off [ˈbrʌʃ ɔːf]，作名词，不理睬; 冷落 [非正式]。
栗子：I wanted to keep in touch, but when I called him he gave me the brush-off.我想和他保持联系，可是当我打电话时，他却不理我。
swift [swɪft],做形容词，迅速的。
栗子：After the election there was a swift transfer of power. 大选之后权力迅速交接。
另外 swift 还有名词“雨燕”的意思。
marginally [ˈmɑːdʒɪnəli],做副词，略微地。
栗子：Sales last year were marginally higher than in 1991.去年的销售量比1991年略微高一点。
blunt [blʌnt],
- 做形容词，直言不讳的。栗子：She is blunt about her personal life.她对自己的私生活直言不讳。
- 做形容词，钝的；不锋利的。栗子：The edge is as blunt as an old butter knife.刃钝得跟一把老黄油刀一样。
- 作动词，使减弱。栗子：The constant repetition of violence has blunted the human response to it.持续不断的事件使人们对它的反应减弱了。
temptation [tempˈteɪʃn],作名词，诱惑。
栗子：Will they be able to resist the temptation to buy?他们能抵抗得住购买的诱惑吗？
And yet in 2017 the firm, founded only six years earlier as Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd , vaulted from being the world’s third-largest battery-maker to its biggest. It has since reached market value of 1.3trn yuan ($200bn), more than the second, third and fourth producers----South Korea’s LG Chem, Japan’s Panasonic , and China’s BYD----combined. In recent days its rising share price has made its 53-year-old founder, Zeng Yuqun, richer than Jack Ma, a much-better-known Chinese tech baron . Mr Zeng have kept his head down now looks shrewd .
然而在2017年，创立仅六年的宁德时代从世界第三大电池制造商一举跃升为第一名。公司市值不断攀升，目前已达到1.3万亿元（2000亿美元），超过了第二、第三和第四名的电池制造商韩国LG化学、日本松下和中国比亚迪的总和。近日，随着它的股价不断上涨，53岁的创始人曾毓群的身家已经超过了名气大得多的中国科技大亨马云。曾毓群一直保持低调实属精明。
Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd（CATL） 宁德时代。
vault [vɔːlt],
- 作名词，保险库。栗子：Most of the money was in storage in bank vaults.这笔钱的一大部分是存放在银行保险库中的。
- 作动词，跃过; 跳跃。栗子：He could easily vault the wall.他可以轻而易举地跃过这堵墙。
Panasonic [pʌna'sɔnik]，松下公司
baron [ˈbærən],作名词，
- 男爵 (英国贵族的最低爵位)。栗子：...their stepfather, Baron Michael Distemple.…他们的继父迈克尔• 迪斯坦普尔男爵。
- 大亨。栗子：...the battle against the drug barons.…与大亨们的斗争。
其同义词为 tycoon .
shrewd [ʃruːd]，做形容词，精明的。
栗子：She's a shrewd businesswoman.她是一个精明的商人。
The world will hear lot more about CATL in the future. That is because one of the justifications for its high valuation is that it is about to move beyond the Chinese mainland, the world’s biggest EV market where it accounts for about half of lithium-ion -battery sales, to Europe, Indonesia and possibly even America. Its profitability far exceeds that of its global peers . Its technology has become at least as good as theirs, giving it the clout to outcompete them and contribute meaningfully to a worldwide clean-energy revolution. And yet it is also what Sam Jaffe of Cairn ERA, a battery consultancy , calls the “dreamchild” of China’s government-industrial complex. That makes it a potential flashpoint in the torrid world of technology geopolitics.
未来，世界听见宁德时代的消息频率会大大增加。其原因也正是它获得高估值的一个根据：它即将走出中国大陆这个世界最大的电动汽车市场（它贡献了那里锂离子电池销量的一半左右），进军欧洲、印尼，甚至可能还有美国。它的盈利能力远超全球同行，技术水平也已经至少不输它们，这使它有能力在竞争中胜过对手，并为全球清洁能源革命做出可观的贡献。然而，正如电池咨询公司Cairn ERA的山姆·贾菲所言，宁德时代也是中国的政府产业政策造就的“梦之子”。这令它成为了紧张的科技地缘政治局势中一个潜在的引火点。
justification [ˌdʒʌstɪfɪˈkeɪʃn],作名词，正当的理由。
栗子：To me the only justification for a zoo is educational.对我来说，动物园存在的惟一正当理由就是它的教育意义。
lithium [ˈlɪθiəm]，锂（符号Li）。
ion [ˈaɪən], 离子.
profitability [ˌprɒfɪtəˈbɪləti]，作名词，盈利能力；收益性。
栗子：Although turnover increased, profitability fell. 尽管营业额上升了，但利润率下降了。
peer [pɪə(r)],
- 作动词，费力地看; 盯着。栗子：I had been peering at a computer print-out that made no sense at all.我一直在费力地看一份不知所云的电脑打印稿。
- 作名词，同龄人; 同等地位的人。栗子：She gets on well with her peer group. 她和同龄人相处融洽。
clout [klaʊt],
- 作动词/名词，打。栗子：Rachel clouted him.雷切尔打了他。
- 作名词，影响力。栗子：I knew his opinion carried a lot of clout with them. 我知道他的观点对他们很有影响力。
Outcompete ，超过；胜出。
栗子：Neither is industrialisation - China would outcompete them.工业化也不是——中国将在竞争中胜出。
consultancy [kənˈsʌltənsi],作名词，
- 咨询公司。栗子：He set up several adverting consultancy business in the UK. 他在英国建立了好几家广告咨询公司。
- 咨询。
flashpoint [ˈflæʃpɔɪnt],作名词，引火点。
栗子：It could become the next Balkan flashpoint. 它可能成为巴尔干地区的下一个*药火**桶。
torrid [ˈtɒrɪd],做形容词，
- 炎热干燥的。栗子：...the torrid heat of a Arizona summer....亚利桑那夏日的炎热干燥。
- 激情的；紧张的。栗子：They face a torrid time in tonight's game. 他们在今晚的比赛中面临一场恶战。
CATL’s low profile starts with its provenance . Mr Zeng created it in the backwater of Ningde, a subtropical city better known for tea than tech, in Fujian province where he grew up in a hillside village. But he has long had high ambitions. In 1999 he founded Amperex Technology Ltd (ATL), a maker of lithium-ion batteries for portable devices, which he sold to TDK, Japanese firm, in 2005. One of his big clients was Apple, maker of the iPhone.
宁德时代的出身就很低调。曾毓群在福建的山村里长大，在落后的亚热带城市宁德创建了公司，那里更出名的是茶叶而不是科技。但他一直满怀抱负。1999年，他创立了新能源科技有限公司（ATL），为便携式设备生产锂离子电池，并在2005年把公司卖给了日本TDK。当时他的大客户之一便是iPhone的制造商苹果公司。
profile [ˈprəʊfaɪl],作名词，
- (面部的) 侧面轮廓。栗子：His handsome profile was turned away from us.他英俊的侧面轮廓转离了我们。
- (有关某人的) 简介。栗子：Below you will find a profile of each program. 下面你会看到每个项目的简介。
短语 in profile 。栗子：从侧面。
栗子：This picture shows the girl in profile.这张照片从侧面显示该女孩。
high profile 高关注度。
栗子：This issue has had a high profile in recent months. 近几个月来，这个议题一直是关注的焦点。
provenance [ˈprɒvənəns],作名词，出处 [正式]。
栗子：Kato was fully aware of the provenance of these treasures.卡托对这些珍宝的出处全都了如指掌。
Backwater [ˈbækwɔːtə(r)]，作名词，
- 荒僻处。栗子：...a quiet rural backwater.…一处宁静的乡下偏僻之地。
- 闭塞落后的地方 [表不满]。栗子：This agency will be relegated to the backwaters of Washington.这个机构将被移到华盛顿闭塞落后的地方。
subtropical [ˌsʌbˈtrɒpɪkl],做形容词，亚热带的。
栗子：...the subtropical region of the Chapare....查帕雷亚热带区域。
portable [ˈpɔːtəbl],
- 做形容词，便携式的。栗子：There was a little portable television switched on behind the bar.吧台后有一台便携式小电视机开着。
- 作名词，便携式设备。栗子：We bought a portable for the bedroom.我们卧室里买了台便携设备。
Seeing the potential for EV batteries, which China was keen to turn into a strategic industry, Mr Zeng led spin off from ATL in 2011, severing links with its Japanese parent company----possibly to please the Chinese authorities, says Mark Newman, a battery executive who formerly covered the company as an investment analyst. When it listed in 2018, CATL had a small percentage of direct and indirect state ownership . More important, the government had its back. For years China used subsidies to favour domestically produced batteries for electric cars and buses, kneecapping South Korean competitors such as LG Chem and Samsung SDI. CATL, one of two top-tier Chinese producers, benefited most. The other, BYD, made cars as well as batteries. For that reason, many rival carmakers in China----including foreigners such as Tesla and BMW----gave it a wide berth and turned to Mr Zeng instead.
中国积极推进将动力电池打造成战略产业，曾毓群看到了其中的潜力，在2011年牵头将该业务从ATL剥离出来，切断了与日本母公司的联系——此举可能是为了取悦政府，电池行业高管、曾经作为投资分析师跟踪该公司的马克·纽曼说。宁德时代在2018年上市时，政府也有一小部分直接和间接持股。更重要的是，政府是它的后盾。多年来，中国用补贴支持国产的电动汽车和大巴用电池，令LG化学和三星SDI等韩国竞争对手举步维艰。作为中国两家顶级动力电池制造商之一，宁德时代受益最大。另一家公司比亚迪既生产电池也生产汽车，所以许多在中国的竞争车企——包括特斯拉和宝马等外国车厂——对它绕行，转而向曾毓群采购电池。
spin [spɪn],
- 作动词/名词，转动。栗子：He spun the wheel sharply and made a U turn in the middle of the road.他猛打方向盘，在路中间掉了个头。
- 作动词，眩晕。栗子：My head was spinning from the wine.当时我因喝了酒而感到眩晕。
- 作名词，兜风。栗子：Let's go for a spin. 咱们兜风去。
sever [ˈsevə(r)],作动词
- 切断; 切掉。栗子：Richardson severed his right foot in a motorcycle accident.理查森在一次摩托车事故中轧断了右脚。
- 断绝 (关系、联系)。栗子：She severed her ties with her homeland.她断绝了与自己祖国的联系。
ownership [ˈəʊnəʃɪp],作名词，所有权。
栗子：...the growth of home ownership.…住房拥有率的增长。
subsidy [ˈsʌbsədi]，作名词，补贴金。
栗子：The subsidy of 45 cents per gallon remains. 每加仑45美分的补贴仍然在存在。
kneecap [ˈniːkæp],
- 作名词，膝盖骨。栗子：Pain around and sometimes behind the kneecap. 膝盖周围疼痛，有时候在膝盖后面。
- 作动词，击碎膝盖骨。
在这里作动词用，指的是“使...难以运行”。
berth [bɜːθ],
- 作名词，躲避。栗子：She gives showbiz parties a wide berth.她对娱乐聚会敬而远之。
- 作名词，(轮船、火车的) 卧铺。栗子：Goldring booked a berth on the first boat he could.戈德林在第一艘他能订到卧铺的船上订了个位子。
- 作名词/动词，泊位/停泊。栗子：Where did the ship berth? 船停在何处?
It is unfair, however, to ascribe CATL’s success purely to economic nationalism. According to James Frith of Bloomberg NEF, a consultancy, when CATL was faced with the winding down of subsidies in 2019, it quickly leapfrogged its South Korean rivals to produce the latest high- nickel batteries, which run for longer than the cheaper lithium-iron- phosphate ones that had been China’s staple . Chinese carmakers are bolder than their Western counterparts (apart from Tesla) in adopting innovative chemistry, he adds, which gives CATL more freedom to experiment. It also gets more for its investment in China than rivals do elsewhere and has a cheaper workforce , which makes its operating margins , just shy of 15%, the best in the business. Strong profits provide more cash to invest in expansion.
Neil Beveridge of Bernstein, an investment firm, expects its capacity roughly to quadruple to 500 gigawatt -hours (GWh) of battery cells year by 2025. That is an amount similar to what is promised from all of the world’s gigafactories today. Only Mr Musk sets more outlandish targets.
然而，将宁德时代的成功完全归因于经济民族主义是不公平的。咨询公司彭博新能源财经（BloombergNEF）的詹姆斯·弗里斯（James Frith）表示，在2019年面临补贴退坡时，宁德时代迅速抢在韩国竞争对手之前推出了最新的高镍电池，比中国当时主流的更便宜的磷酸铁锂电池续航更长。他补充说，中国汽车制造商在采用创新化学工艺方面比西方同行（特斯拉除外）更大胆，这给了宁德时代更多试验的空间。与竞争对手在其他市场的投资收益相比，宁德时代在中国的投资收益也更高，同时还享有更廉价的劳动力，因此其经营利润率接近15%，为业内最高。强劲的利润为扩张提供了更多资金。投资公司盛博的尼尔·贝弗里奇（Neil Beveridge）预计，到2025年宁德时代的电池产能将大约翻两番，达到50千兆瓦。这相当于当今世界上所有电池超级工厂预期产能的总和。唯有马斯克设定了更非同寻常的目标。
ascribe [əˈskraɪb],作动词，将…归因于。
栗子：We ascribe great importance to these policies. 我们认为这些政策十分重要。 其常与to连用。
Wind down
- 摇下 (车窗等).栗子：Glass motioned to him to wind down the window.格拉斯示意他摇下车窗。
- (疲劳或紧张后) 放松一下。栗子：I regularly have a drink to wind down.我经常喝点酒来放松一下。
- 逐步减少 (业务或活动等直至停止)。栗子：Aid workers have begun winding down their operation.援助工作人员已开始逐步减少他们的工作。
leapfrog [ˈliːpfrɒɡ],
- 作名词，跳背游戏。栗子：The kids were playing leapfrog and doing somersaults in the backyard.孩子们正在后院玩跳背游戏和翻筋头。
- 作动词，(利用别人成就) 超越。栗子：This presented a chance to leapfrog the old technology and go straight to mobile phones. 这一现实提供了一个机会，从落后的技术直接跃至移动通信业务。
nickel [ˈnɪkl],作名词，
- 镍。栗子：Iron and some nickel, both of which are metals. 铁和一些镍，它们俩都是金属。
- (美国和加拿大的) 五分镍币。栗子：...a large glass jar filled with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.…一个装满1分、5分、10分和25分硬币的大玻璃罐。
phosphate [ˈfɒsfeɪt],作名词，磷酸盐。
栗子："The fish bones are full of calcium phosphate," he said. “鱼骨富含磷酸钙，”他说。
staple [ˈsteɪpl],
- 做形容词，基本的; 主要的 (食物、产品、活动)。栗子：Rice is the staple food of more than half the world's population.大米是世界上半数以上人口的主食。
- 作名词，主食; 主要产品; 主要活动。栗子：Fish is a staple in the diet of many Africans.鱼是许多非洲人饮食中的主食。
- 作名词，重要部分。栗子：Political reporting has become a staple of American journalism.政治报道已经成为美国新闻业的一个重要内容。
- 作名词/动词，订书钉/用订书钉订住.栗子：Staple some sheets of paper together into a book.用订书钉把一些纸张订成一本。
innovative [ˈɪnəveɪtɪv]，做形容词，创新的; 革新的。
栗子：Why are so few companies truly innovative? 为什么真正创新的公司如此之少？
workforce [ˈwɜːkfɔːs]，作名词，
- 劳动力。栗子：...a country where half the workforce is unemployed.…一个半数劳动力无业的国家。
- 雇员总数。栗子：...an employer of a very large workforce.…一个拥有大批雇员的雇主。
margin [ˈmɑːdʒɪn],作名词，
- 差数。栗子：They could end up with a 50-point winning margin.他们最后可能会以50点的优势获胜。
- 页边的空白。栗子：She added her comments in the margin.她在页边空白处加上了她的评语。
- 余地。栗子：The money is collected in a straightforward way with little margin for error.这笔钱是直接募集上来的, 几乎没有出错的余地。
- 边缘。栗子：...the low coastal plain along the western margin.…沿着西部边缘地带的低洼海岸平原。
在这里 margin 作动词，指的是“有余地”。
Shy of
- 对……有顾虑.栗子：He disliked her and had never been shy of saying so. 他不喜欢她，而且从来不忌讳说出来。
- 欠缺；不足。栗子：Tonight there are just shy of 5, 000 wandwavers. 今晚只有不足5,000的挥棒者.
capacity [kəˈpæsəti],作名词，
- 能力。栗子：Our capacity for giving care, love, and attention is limited.我们给予照顾、爱护和关心的能力是有限的。
- 容量；产量。栗子：Bread factories are working at full capacity.面包厂正在满负荷进行生产。
- 容纳力。栗子：Each stadium had a seating capacity of about 50,000.每个运动场能容纳大约五万座席。
quadruple [ˈkwɒdrʊp(ə)l]，
- 作动词，使成4倍; 成为4倍。栗子：China seeks to quadruple its income in twenty years.中国力求在20年内将其收入翻两番。
- 做形容词，4倍的。栗子：This year we produced quadruple the amount produced in 2002. 我们今年的产量是2002年的四倍。
gigawatt [ˈɡɪɡəˌwɒt]名，千兆瓦；十亿瓦特。
Gigafactory 超级工厂（世界最大电池工厂）.
outlandish [aʊtˈlændɪʃ]，形容词，稀奇古怪。
栗子：This idea is not as outlandish as it sounds.这主意听上去荒诞不经，事实上却并非如此。
Zeng and the art of market-share maintenance
曾毓群和市占率维持艺术
market-share 市场份额。
栗子：They claim to have a 40% worldwide market share. 他们声称占有全球40%的市场。
Most of CATL’s expansion will come in China where it has a growing export business. But by the end of this year it is also expected to start production at its first offshore factory, with capacity of 14GWh in Erfurt, Germany, from where it will supply carmakers like BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler. Its move overseas appears to be motivated by a desire to retain its market leadership as EV sales outside China accelerate . Its South Korean and Japanese rivals have a bigger global presence. Simon Moores, a battery consultant, thinks a subsequent step will be into America.
宁德时代大部分扩产将放在中国，它在那里有不断增长的出口业务。但预计到今年年底，它设在德国埃尔福特的产能为14千兆瓦的第一家海外工厂也将投产，为宝马、大众和戴姆勒等汽车制造商供货。在电动汽车销售在中国以外地区提速之际，它出征海外似乎是为了保持自己的市场领先地位。它的日韩竞争对手目前拥有更大的全球业务。电池行业顾问西蒙·摩尔斯认为，下一步是打进美国。
motivate [ˈməʊtɪveɪt]，作动词，激发…的积极性；激起 (某行动)。
栗子：How do you motivate people to work hard and efficiently?你是如何激励人们努力而高效地工作的？
retain [rɪˈteɪn],作动词，保留。
栗子：He struggled to retain control of the situation. 他曾努力保持对局势的控制。
accelerate [əkˈseləreɪt],作动词，使加速; 加速。
栗子：Growth will accelerate to 2.9 percent next year.增长明年将加快到2.9%。
subsequent [ˈsʌbsɪkwənt],做形容词，随后的。
栗子：...the increase of population in subsequent years.…随后几年中的人口增长。
Yet energy----even the clean stuff ----is dirty business, muddied by geopolitical rivalries and economic jingoism . There are already fears in the West that CATL’s profitability in China will enable it to offer cut-price products abroad, reopening wounds caused when China’s subsidised solar panels swept the world in the 2010s. Moreover, advanced batteries, like semiconductors , are increasingly discussed in terms of an arms race. Europe and America are offering big inducements for locally made batteries and adjacent supply chains in order to catch up with China. They see a strategic vulnerability in being too reliant on Chinese supplier.
不过，能源这门生意——即使是清洁能源——也很复杂，被地缘政治对抗和经济沙文主义搅混。西方国家已经开始担心宁德时代会凭借在中国的盈利能力向海外输出廉价产品，重新揭开2010年代受补贴的太阳能面板席卷全球时留下的伤疤。此外，和半导体一样，先进电池也日益被当作一场军备竞赛。欧洲和美国正在大力资助本土制造电池和配套供应链追赶中国。太过依赖某家中国供应商在它们看来是个战略软肋。
stuff [stʌf],
- 作名词，东西。栗子：He pointed to a duffle bag. "That's my stuff."他指着一个旅行袋。“那是我的东西。”
- 作动词，把…塞进。栗子：I stuffed my hands in my pockets.我把双手塞进了我的口袋里。
- 作动词，把…装满。栗子：He grabbed my purse, opened it and stuffed it full, then gave it back to me.他抢走我的钱包，打开并把它装得满满的，然后还给了我。
muddy [ˈmʌdi]，
- 做形容词，泥泞的。栗子：...a muddy track.…一条泥泞的小路。
- 作动词，使沾上泥巴。栗子：The ground still smelled of rain and they muddied their shoes.地面仍散发着雨水的气息，他们的鞋沾上了泥巴。
- 作动词，搅乱 (局势、问题等)。栗子：It's difficult enough without muddying the issue with religion.即使不和宗教搅在一起，这个问题也已够难的了。
rivalry [ˈraɪvlri]，作名词，竞争; 斗争。
栗子：It was Allen who fired this rivalry with real passion. 是艾伦满怀激情地激发了这次对抗。
jingoism [ˈdʒɪŋɡoʊɪzəm],作名词，极端爱国主义。
栗子：Avoid making criticism based on personal moral grounds, spirituality, or jingoism. 避免以个人的道德观点、宗教或极端的爱国主义做出批评。
cut-price [ˌkʌt ˈpraɪs],做形容词，廉价的；打折扣的。
栗子：...cut-price car insurance.…降价的汽车保险。
panel [ˈpænl],作名词，
- 专门小组。栗子：He assembled a panel of scholars to advise him.他集结了一个学者小组为他出谋划策。
- (控制) 面板; (仪表) 板 。栗子：The equipment was extremely sophisticated and was monitored from a central control panel.这台设备极其复杂，是由中央控制面板监控的。
sweep [swiːp]，作动词
- 打扫。栗子：She was in the kitchen sweeping crumbs into a dust pan.她在厨房里正把面包屑扫到一个簸箕里。
- 梳 (头发)。栗子：...stylish ways of sweeping your hair off your face.…把头发梳开不挡住脸的时髦发式。
- 挥动。栗子：Daniels swept his arm over his friend's shoulder.丹尼尔斯一把将手臂搭在他朋友的肩上。
- (风、海浪等) 卷走。栗子：...landslides that buried homes and swept cars into the sea.…掩埋了住宅并把汽车卷入海里的山体滑坡。
- 使迅速传播; 迅速传播。栗子：A flu epidemic is sweeping through Moscow.一场流感正在莫斯科迅速传播。
semiconductor [ˌsemikənˈdʌktə(r)],作名词，半导体。
栗子：National Semiconductor controls around 3%. 国家半导体公司占了大约3%的市场份额。
in terms of 依据；按照；在…方面。
栗子：The book is well organized in terms of plot. 这本书的故事布局十分严谨。
inducement [ɪnˈdjuːsmənt],作名词，引诱物; 诱因。
栗子：There is little inducement for them to work harder. 没有什么动力能促使他们加把劲工作。
其动词形式为 induce ,引诱；诱使.
adjacent [əˈdʒeɪsnt],做形容词，相邻的。
栗子:He sat in an adjacent room and waited.他坐在一间相邻的房间里等。
vulnerability [ˌvʌlnərəˈbɪləti]，作名词，易损性；弱点。
栗子：David accepts his own vulnerability. 戴维承认自己的脆弱。
As a result, CATL will have to be clever. Already it has more alliances with global carmakers than any other battery firm; jointly building factories close to their operations around the world would buy it political support. It will need to counter geopolitical paranoia by stressing the importance of cheap batteries, both for EVs and clean-electricity grids , in the fight against climate change. More transparency wouldn’t go amiss , either. It is a fine line between being coy and acting as if it has something to hide.
因此，宁德时代得机灵些。它与全球汽车制造商的合作已经多过任何其他电池公司；在全球各地贴近这些汽车制造商业务的地方联合建厂可为它赢得政治支持。它还需要强调用于电动汽车和清洁电网的廉价电池在对抗气候变化中的重要性，以此应对地缘政治中的偏执多疑。提高透明度肯定是没错了。毕竟讳莫如深以及表现的似乎有所隐瞒只存在一线之差。
counter [ˈkaʊntə(r)],
1.作名词，柜台。栗子：She was serving behind the counter. 她在柜台服务。
2.作名词，计数器。栗子：The new answering machine has a call counter.这种新型的电话答录机有一个通话计数器。
3.作动词，抵消; 抗衡。栗子：Sears countered by filing an antitrust lawsuit.西尔斯通过提交反垄断诉讼进行了反击。
短语 over the counter 不用开处方地。
栗子：Are you taking any other medicines whether on prescription or bought over the counter?你还要其他药吗，不管是处方药还是非处方药？
paranoia [ˌpærəˈnɔɪə],作名词
- 多疑; 恐惧。栗子：Paranoia is a healthy human trait. 偏执是一个健康人类的特质。
- 偏执狂; 妄想狂。栗子：Paranoia kills conversation. 偏执狂毁灭了会话。
grid [ɡrɪd],作名词，
- 网格; (地图上的) 坐标方格。栗子：...a grid of narrow streets.…网格式的狭窄街道。
- 系统网络 (指输电网等)。栗子：...breakdowns in communications and electric-power grids.…通信与输电网故障。
amiss [əˈmɪs],做形容词，出差错的。
栗子：Their instincts warned them something was amiss.他们的直觉警告他们某些地方不对头。
a fine line 细微的界限；一条精确的线。
栗子：There was a fine line between the good guys and the bad guys. 好人和坏人之间只有一线之差。
coy [kɔɪ],做形容词，
- 腼腆的; 忸怩作态的。栗子：She gave me a coy smile. 她羞答答地对我笑了笑。
- 不愿谈及的。栗子：in fact, both men were coy about specific policies. 事实上，两人都对具体的政策含糊其辞。