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01
译文导读
老年人正在接受数字科技，但互联网却与老年人脱节。这既是机遇也是挑战。一方面，老年人市场的开拓将把互联网福利带给每一个人，让老年人由观望转变为真真实实的参与者；另一方面，老年人网络是一块几乎空白的市场，一旦开发挖掘得当，将给社会带来巨大的经济效益。互联网能否成为应对银发浪潮的有力武器，开发商如何从中获利？
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02
双语精读
Silver screens
银幕
The elderly are the next big growth market for tech firms
对科技公司而言，老年人是下一大增长市场
App-makers are trying to captivate granny
应用程序开发商正试图吸引老年人
Print edition | Business Aug 10th 2019
SOON AFTER dinnertime, Xiangyang Park in central Shanghaitransforms into a ballroom. Loudspeakers pump out old popsongs as elderly folk sway under the plane trees. A picture of geriatric nostalgia—until you meet Ms Shi and Mr Zhou, a couple in their 70s whose enthusiasm for the waltz is matched only by that for their smartphones. Mr Zhou reads online novels. Ms Shi watches far-flung Chinese parks come alive with their own group dancing on Huoshan, a short-video app favoured by teens. Both love WeChat, a messaging app. “I can go without food, but not without my smartphone,” Ms Shi confesses.
晚餐后不久，上海市中心的襄阳公园变成了一个舞厅。扬声器喧闹地播放着怀旧歌曲，老人们伴随着音乐在悬铃木下跳舞。（这是一个）充满老年怀旧气息的场景——直到你遇到施女士和周先生这对70多岁的夫妇。他们对华尔兹的热情只有智能手机能与之相比。周先生在网上读小说，施女士则在火山小视频上看到祖国偏远地区的公园因为团体舞蹈而热闹起来。火山是一个在青少年群体中很受欢迎的短视频应用。老两口都喜欢微信（一款即时通讯应用）。“我可以不吃不喝，但不能没有智能手机”，施女士坦诚地说。
She and her husband remain unusual. Less than one in three Chinese over 50 reported owning a smartphone in 2016, the latest year for which the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, has data, half the share in America. A survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Tencent, which owns WeChat, found that only 17% frequently paid for purchases with mobile phones; close to half had never done so.
施女士和她的丈夫仍然显得与众不同。根据智库皮尤研究中心最新一年的研究结果，在中国超过50岁的人群中只有不到三分之一拥有智能手机，这一覆盖率只有美国的一半。中国社科院和开发设计微信的腾讯公司进行的一项调查发现，只有17%的人经常用手机付费，近一半的人从未这样做过。
Tech companies want to lure more Ms Shis and Mr Zhous online—and take a bigger slice of the 7trn yuan ($1trn) that Chinese seniors are expected to spend on consumer goods in 2020. To tech firms, the disconnectedness of China’s 250m-odd old, or 18% of the population, is an opportunity. Unlike the young, whose fragmented attention is fought over by thousands of apps, retirees are up for grabs. And once on the internet, they splurge. In 2017 JD.com, a big e-commerce firm, found that they spent 2.3 times as much as the average user. Their typical deposit in Yu’E Bao, an online cash-management service controlled by Alibaba, a giant internet firm, is 7,000 yuan compared with 4,000 yuan across all ages.
科技公司希望能吸引更多像施女士和周先生这样的人。中国老年人群体的消费品支出预计将于2020年达到7万亿人民币（1万亿美元），科技公司希望能从中分到更大的份额。对科技公司来说，中国2.5亿多人（或者说18%的总人口）与网络脱节是一个巨大的机会。有成千上万的手机应用在争夺年轻人零散的注意力，与之相比，老年人的市场还有很多机会，任何人都可以进来争夺他们的注意力。而且一旦老年人开始上网，他们的消费更为大手笔。2017年，一家大型电子商务公司京东（JD.com）发现，老年人的花费是普通用户的2.3倍。他们在余额宝(Yu‘eBab)人均存款7000元，而所有年龄段的人均存款才是4000元。余额宝是由互联网巨头阿里巴巴(Alibaba)控股的在线现金管理服务。
Early adopters may be better-off than a typical senior, rattled when shops refuse cash. But startups see rich pickings. “I Have A Partner”, a grey-dating app, debuted last year with bold fonts and voice messaging for slow typists. Tangdou Guangchang Wu (“Jelly Bean Square Dance”), which started out posting dance videos (with filters to iron out wrinkles), aspires to be a one-stop shop for the old. It reports over 200m downloads since its launch in 2015.
智能手机的早期使用者比起典型的老年人可能条件更好，这些老年人在遇到商店不收现金时会感到烦躁。但创业公司从中看到了赚大钱的机会。“我有伴”是一个去年推出的老年交友应用，该应用的字体加粗，同时还有语音功能，方便打字慢的人使用。“糖豆广场舞”这一手机app最开始通过让用户上传广场舞视频（该app带有消除皱纹的滤镜）而起步，它目标是成为老年用户的一站式综合应用。自2015年推出以来，它的下载量超过2亿次。
The big generalists hope to lock the oldies in early. The over-60s use four-fifths of their mobile data on WeChat, against 7% for those aged 18-35. In 2017 Tencent made a video of old-timers rapping about their confusion over tech to encourage children to set their parents up with WeChat Helper, an app assistant. People over 55 are now WeChat’s fastest-growing cohort. Last year Taobao, Alibaba’s online emporium, introduced a “pay-for-me” option for elderly customers to use with family members. The site broadcasts daily over 1,000 live-streaming shows aimed at them. Ele.me, a food-delivery service bought by Alibaba last year, is trialling meal and medicine deliveries for the elderly, and one-off help with things like changing light bulbs. With the over-60s’ share of the population expected to double to one-third by 2050, there is wisdom in this strategy.
业务面更广的互联网巨头希望更早地锁定老年用户。超过60岁的用户有五分之四的移动数据是在微信上产生的，这与18-35岁的群体形成了对比，这一群体对应的数据只有百分之七。2017年腾讯制作了一个视频，其中老年人聊到对科技产品使用的困惑。腾讯希望借此来鼓励儿女帮助他们的父母安装微信助手这款应用助手产品。55岁以上的人群目前是微信增长最快的用户群体。去年淘宝推出了针对居家老人的服务。去年被阿里巴巴收购的外卖产品饿了么正在测试针对老年人的食品药品和外卖服务，以及诸如换灯泡这样的一次性助手服务。预计到2050年，60岁以上人口的比例将翻一番，达到三分之一，这一战略是明智之举。
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译者：Shelly Wong
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03
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