《塑造第四次工业革命的未来：创造更美好世界指南》，作者克劳斯•施瓦布和尼古拉斯•戴维斯，企鹅Portfolio出版社出版，售价14.99英镑，共274页。
Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: A Guide to Building a Better World, by Klaus Schwab with Nicholas Davis, Portfolio Penguin, £14.99, 274 pp
There were times reading this book when your reviewer wondered whether it might have been written by a robot, such was the clunking lifelessness of the prose. All this blinking automaton would have needed to do was to machine-read the World Economic Forum’s back catalogue and churn out a 274-page text of the buzziest（词汇） phrases and most common clichés（词汇）.书评人读这本书时，有时候不禁会问作者是否是一个机器人，语言太生硬、没有人味儿了。这个讨厌的机器人只需要机读世界经济论坛(WEF)的旧目录，然后攒出一份274页的由最热门的词组和最常见的陈词滥调组成的文本。
PHRASAL VERB To churn out something means to produce large quantities of it very quickly. 【AND】V-T If something churns water, mud, or dust, it moves it about violently.
Such an exercise would certainly have validated the book’s central contention that technology is fast usurping a bewildering array of human capabilities and that this should force us all to stop and think about the future. But, sadly, I suspect this book really was written by humans — ones who inhabit a strange twilight world of stakeholders, externalities, inflection points（词汇） and “developtory sandboxes”.这种做法肯定能验证本书的中心论点：科技正快速夺走人类的各种能力，这应迫使我们所有人都停下来思考未来。但遗憾的是，我猜这本书实际上确实是人类写的，他们居住在一个奇而朦胧的世界里，这里充斥着利益相关者、外部性、拐点和“开发沙箱”。
V-T To validate something such as a claim or statement means to prove or confirm that it is true or correct.
N-UNCOUNT Twilight is the time just before night when the daylight has almost gone but when it is not completely dark.
Try this for a sentence: “Considering the economic pressures can also highlight where incentives problematise an entire class of technologies.” Translated into human, I think that means that the market can result in bad outcomes.试试这句话：“考虑经济压力还能够突显出激励举措如何将整个科技领域问题化。”如果翻译成人话，我想它的意思是市场可能会带来糟糕的结果。
Following the lukewarm reception（句型） for The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab (plus a co-writer) is back with his latest tome: Shaping The Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As might be deduced, the two books contain similar material but the latest volume comes with bonus（句型） platitudes. The opening sentence boldly declares that the “world is at a crossroads”, a phrase that my secondary school history teacher would have crossed out in fury. When is the world not at a crossroads, he would have growled.在《第四次工业革命》(The Fourth Industrial Revolution)遇冷后，克劳斯•施瓦布(Klaus Schwab)（还有一位合著者）祭出最新大作：《塑造第四次工业革命的未来》(Shaping The Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution)。我们或许能推断出，这两本书的内容类似，但最新版加上了额外的陈词滥调。开篇第一句大胆宣称，“世界正处在一个十字路口”，我的中学历史老师会愤怒地删掉这句话。他会咆哮说世界什么时候不是处在十字路口了？
V-T If you deduce something or deduce that something is true, you reach that conclusion because of other things that you know to be true.
N-COUNT A platitude is a statement that is considered meaningless and boring because it has been made many times before in similar situations.
V-T If someone growls something, they say something in a low, rough, and angry voice.
N-COUNT A bonus is something good that you get in addition to something else, and which you would not usually expect.
“The good news is that the evolution of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is entirely within our power, and we are still at its very earliest stages,” the authors assert. But, standing at these crossroads, we bear a huge responsibility not to miss “the window of opportunity” to “promote the common good” by acting right now to connect the dots（句型）. Responsive and responsible leadership is the watchword of the day.两位作者声称：“好消息是，第四次工业革命的发展完全在我们的控制之中，我们仍处在最早期的阶段。”但站在这些十字路口，我们承担着巨大的责任，不能错失“推动公共利益”的“机会窗口”，现在就应采取行动理清头绪。积极反应和负责任的领导是当今的口号。
It would be a shame if the opening chapters deterred the reader from discovering the real value of this book, which lies in the pithy summaries of our latest technologies, reflecting the input of specialist experts. There are insightful chapters on quantum computing, blockchain, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, neurotechnologies, geoengineering and several other technologies. This section will provide a handy crash course for any time-pressed（句型）executive mugging up for a strategy session — or an Alpine conference.如果开头几个章节让读者望而却步、结果发现不了本书的真正价值，那将太可惜了。本书的真正价值在于对我们的最新科技做出了精炼的总结，反映出专业专家对本书的贡献。书中有关于量子计算、区块链、人工智能、增材制造、神经科技、地理工程以及其他几项技术的富有洞见的章节。这部分内容将为那些时间紧张、突击准备一次战略会议（或一次阿尔卑斯山会议）的高管提供一门方便的速成课程。
V-T To deter someone from doing something means to make them not want to do it or continue doing it.
ADJ A pithy comment or piece of writing is short, direct, and full of meaning.
mug up V to study (a subject) hard, esp for an exam
Pretty much all the experts stress the dual nature of most of these technologies and urge readers to think about the consequences of their misuse. They are also surely right to stress that the unpredictable confluence of many of these technologies may make the future extraordinarily hard to manage.几乎所有专家都会强调其中多数技术的两面性（词汇）并敦促读者思考不当使用的后果。他们还强调，很多技术的不可预测的融合可能会让我们对未来的掌控变得异常困难，这么说也肯定是正确的。
N-SING The confluence of two rivers is the place where they join and become one larger river.
By focusing on the technological challenges of our age, though, the book skirts the social and political forces that are reshaping our world. There is scarcely a nod to the rise of populist nationalism in the west or digital authoritarianism in China. It is hard to imagine that world leaders such as Donald Trump, Rodrigo Duterte or Jair Bolsonaro, will be leafing through（句型）this book as a guide to the future.然而，通过侧重于我们这个时代的技术挑战，本书绕开了正重塑我们这个世界的社会和政治力量。本书几乎没有提及（句型）西方民粹主义或中国的数字威权主义的崛起。很难想象，唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)、罗德里戈•杜特尔特(Rodrigo Duterte)或雅伊尔•博尔索纳罗(Jair Bolsonaro)等世界领导人会把这本书作为未来指引去翻看。
V-T/V-I If you skirt a problem or question, you avoid dealing with it.
In the authors’ view, emerging technologies should not be regarded as “mere tools” that can be used with controllable consequences. But it would be equally unwise to treat them as “exogenous, deterministic forces outside of our control”. We all have a role, as consumers, voters, executives and policymakers in choosing the future we want to inhabit.在本书的作者们看来，新兴科技不应被视为“仅仅是”使用时结果可控的“工具”。把它们视为“我们控制之外的外生（词汇）决定性力量”也同样不明智。作为消费者、选民、高管和政策制定者，我们在选择我们希望的未来方面都扮演着一定的角色。
The truly interesting question, posed by the Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, is to what extent these emerging technologies will strip us of that agency. In a world in which computers know us better than we know ourselves, he asks, will we still be able to exercise autonomous choice? Or will we be rendered economically useless and politically powerless?以色列历史学家尤瓦尔•诺亚•赫拉利(Yuval Noah Harari)提出了一个真正有趣的问题：这些新兴科技将在何种程度上剥夺我们的这个作用。他问，在这个电脑对我们的了解超过我们自己的世界里，我们还能做出自主选择吗？或者我们是否会变得在经济上无用和在政治上无力？
V-I If you strip, you take off your clothes.
N-COUNT An agency is a business that provides a service on behalf of other businesses.
This book’s authors do not venture into that terrain, merely asserting the primacy of the individual. Or, in their words: “Individuals are, ultimately, the people who will live in the future that technologies help to create.”本书的作者没有触及（句型）这个领域，只是维护了个体的重要性。或者用他们的话来说：“最终，个体将生活在科技帮助创建的未来。”
V-T If you venture a question or statement, you say it in an uncertain way because you are afraid it might be stupid or wrong.
Maybe I was right about that robot.或许，我在文章开头对那个机器人的设想是对的。