1999年，數位朋友集資6萬美元，幫助馬雲創建了阿裏巴巴——壹個B2B的在線交易平臺。當時，沒有人會想到這家剛起步的小公司會在華爾街上市，並且融資額超過亞馬遜，eBay等國際巨頭，創下美國市場最大規模IPO紀錄。
Ma’s bold ambitions, which were birthed in a time when China was a digital backwater, were realized last week.
馬雲的無畏抱負在中國數字化落後的年代產生，上周終於得以實現。
The initial public offering, which will raise as much as $25 billion, cements his position as one of China’s richest.
(阿裏巴巴)首次公開募股，股指就達到250億美元，使馬雲壹躍成為中國首富。
Chari *** atic and energetic, Ma is nicknamed “Crazy Jack Ma” and is seen as China’s version of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, according to AP. And his story of starting an empire from scratch already makes him an inspiration to millions across China.
馬雲的超凡魅力和活力，被美聯社昵稱為“瘋狂的傑克?馬”，將其視為中國的喬布斯或比爾?蓋茨。而他白手起家創建電商帝國的故事也早已激勵了數百萬中國人。
Ma isn’t just popular because of his wealth. He also possesses munication skills that allow him to municate with audiences from a wide variety of cultural contexts through roadshows and TV interviews.
馬雲不僅因其財富而出名，在路演與電視采訪中，他還展示出與各文化背景觀眾無障礙交流的強大溝通能力。
Reflecting on his success as a startup manager and English major, we try to *** yze how Ma used his language skills to bee an international superstar and profound visionary.
不論身為企業創始人還是英語專業畢業生，馬雲都是成功者。下面，就為大家分析馬雲是如何運用他的語言能力成為國際註目的商界明星，成為富有深刻遠見卓識之人。
Underdog who seized the moment
抓住機遇的“失敗者”
Ma failed his college entrance exams twice. He managed to enroll in Hangzhou Normal University on his third attempt, where he studied English.
經歷了兩次高考落榜後，馬雲終於在第三次勉強考進杭州師範大學學習英語。
He graduated in 1988 and taught English for years at the Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Engineering.
1998年畢業後，他進入杭州電子工業學院，教授了數年的英語。
Ma first experienced the Inter in 1995 on a short trip to Seattle. He can remember searching for the word “beer” on Yahoo!.
馬雲第壹次接觸網絡是在1995年。當時是短暫途經西雅圖，他第壹次在雅虎上搜索了“啤酒”這個單詞。
Ma noticed there was not a single online listing for “China” and “beer”, unlike those that popped up for American and German beer.
他註意到沒有壹家網站上有“中國”的“啤酒”，而當時彈出框中美國或德國的啤酒隨處可見。
He quickly became obsessed with this online information system. Gradually, his obsession turned into a vision.
他很快就沈迷於這種在線信息系統。漸漸地，他的沈迷變成壹種願景和遠見。
According to USA Today, he believed in the Inter’s business potential when few other Chinese did. So in 1999, Alibaba, which is dedicated to promoting online businesses, was born in his apartment.
根據《今日美國》的報道，在鮮有中國人註意互聯網的時候，馬雲已經開始看好網上市場的潛力。於是，1999年，致力於連接商家之間的網絡交易平臺“阿裏巴巴”公司在他的公寓中誕生。。
At the time e-merce was unheard of in China.
那時，電商在中國還聞所未聞。
“I called myself a blind man riding on the back of blind tigers,” he once said to The Guardian.
談到當年的決定，馬雲對《衛報》的記者說：“我覺得自己就像騎在盲虎背上的盲人。”
It turns out he was right.
結果證明，他是對的。
“The business model Ma Yun created in China suited the Chinese market,” said Feng Pengcheng, director of the China Research Center for Capital Management at the University of International Business and Economics.
外經濟貿易大學中國資本運營研究中心主任馮鵬程說：“馬雲在中國創建的商業模式很適合中國市場。’’
“Ma seized opportunities as China was transforming into a market economy with the middle class unleashing buying power online on a significant scale.”
他說，“馬雲抓住了中國向市場經濟轉型的機遇，此時，中產階級正釋放出空前規模的網上購買力。”
交流上的成功
Many are surprised to see how good Ma’s mand of English was in his IPO roadshow video and interview with Bloomberg after the listing (both video clips went viral online). He was always an English ethusiast. Starting at age 12, Ma says he awoke at 5 am to walk or bicycle to Hangzhou’s main hotel so he could practice his English with foreign tourists. He did this for nine years and acted as a free tour guide to many, befriending several groups along the way.
在IPO路演與上市後接受彭博社采訪的視頻中，馬雲都展示出驚艷的英語水平(這兩段視頻已在網上被瘋轉)。其實，馬雲壹直是狂熱的英語愛好者。他說，12歲開始，他每天都早上5點起床，步行或騎自行車去杭州壹些主要的酒店，與那裏的外國遊客練習口語。這壹練就是9年，期間，他還給很多遊客做過免費導遊，甚至幫助過壹些旅行團。
“He is the opposite of stuffy and canned. He’s a funny, creative and a pelling speaker. I often thought he could have another career in stand-up edy,” Said Duncan Clark, a Beijing-based technology consultant.
來自北京壹家公司的技術顧問鄧肯?克拉克曾評價道，“他(馬雲)壹點也不沈悶古板。相反，他說話風趣，很有想法，也很吸引人。我總覺得，他如果去做脫口秀，也能做得很好，”
Responding to rumors that Ma planned to move to Hong Kong next year on an investment immigration scheme, according to ment from The Guardian, “his speech was both patriotic and diplomatic, colloquial yet clearly well-planned. He explained that he had no plans to emigrate.”
在回應壹些媒體對於他計劃於明年通過投資移民搬往香港的傳言，英國《衛報》對馬雲的溝通能力有如此評論，“他的演講既充滿愛國熱情又兼顧外交效果，語言通俗但內容明顯經過精心準備。他澄清自己並沒有移民計劃。”
Describing his ideas to press in the US and UK, according to BBC, Ma often uses a dizzying array of visual symbols, such fish in a pond and gold bars falling from the sky.
據BBC報道，在面對英美媒體，表達自己的觀點，馬雲常會運用很多生動形象比喻，比如，池塘裏的魚，以及天上掉下的金條。
Sanjay Varma, a former Alibaba vice-president who now works in Hong Kong, still remembers how Ma could be such a convincing speaker when talking about his ambitions. He had long, late-night conversations with Ma about his ambitions in 1999, soon after the pany was founded.
目前在香港工作的阿裏巴巴前任副總裁——桑傑?瓦爾馬仍然記得馬雲在陳述自己的抱負時，令人動容的說服力。1999年公司剛剛成立時，他和馬雲曾多次在徹夜長談對未來的雄心與計劃。
“He really wanted to empower the little guys, the *** all panies,” said Varma.
瓦爾馬說，“他真的很想促進微小企業的發展”
To use the wording of the BBC, it is a “rags-to-riches” story both for Ma and the millions who depended on the eco-system he forged in the digital age of Alibaba.
正如BBC所言，不論對於馬雲，還是千千萬依靠著馬雲依托數字時代建起的阿裏平臺發家致富的人，這都是壹個“白手起家”的神話。