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Money mountains

The pile far exceeds the cash buffers that tech and pharmaceutical firms traditionally carry to compensate for their lack of physical assets that debt can be secured against. For example a selection of five cash hoarders from an early generation of tech giants—Cisco, Intel, Oracle, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments—together have had an average ratio of only 1.3 times since 1996.

pharmaceutical [,fɑrmə'sutɪkl] connected with making and selling drugs and medicines制药的；配药的；卖药的

physical assets实物资产，实体资产

科技和制药公司向来都会保留一些缓冲现金，以弥补举债时可抵押实体资产不足的情况，但五强的现金量远远超过一般水平。例如，从早一代科技巨头中五家偏爱囤积现金的公司来看，1996年以来，思科、英特尔、甲骨文、高通和德州仪器这五家公司的净现金平均仅为其现金流的1.3倍。

The money mountain will get much bigger as profits soar. The five firms have policies for returning some cash to shareholders. For example, Alphabet and Facebook will not pay dividends for the “foreseeable future” but have small buy-back programmes, albeit with no deadlines. Apple pays a meaty dividend and has a budget for repurchasing shares until 2019.

soar if the value, amount or level of sth soars, it rises very quickly急升；猛增

*Unemployment has soared to 18%. 失业率猛升到了 18%。

buy-back回购；产品返销

随着利润飙升，五强企业的金山还会变得更大。它们有向股东返还部分现金的政策，例如，Alphabet和Facebook在“可预见的未来”虽不会分红，但有小规模的回购计划，尽管没有设定期限。苹果分红丰厚，还有在2019年前回购股份的预算。

Factoring in these programmes, and analysts’ profit forecasts, their total net cash will reach $680bn by 2020, or three times gross cashflow. Even Amazon, which has a relatively small pile now, will reach $50bn.

Factor n. one of several things that cause or influence sth因素；要素

factor sth ∽ in | factor sth ∽ into sth把…因素包括进去

*Remember to factor in staffing costs when you are planning the project. 规划该项目时，记住要把雇人费用这个因素考虑进去。

考虑到这些计划和分析师的利润预测，到2020年，五强净现金总额将达到6800亿美元，相当于总现金流的三倍。即使是目前现金相对较少的亚马逊，净现金额也将达到500亿美元。

One reason for the cash build up is tax: 80% of the five firms’ gross cash is held abroad, allowing them to defer the levy American firms pay when repatriating profits. The bill for bringing half the cash home might be about $50bn. That is not to be sniffed at, but being clever about tax has become an excuse for firms to obfuscate and dither about their plans for their balance sheets.

build up v. 使积聚；使逐渐增加；n. 逐步的增长

obfuscate v. to make sth less clear and more difficult to understand, usually deliberately(故意地)混淆，使困惑，使模糊不清

*She was criticized for using arguments that obfuscated the main issue.她被批评使用了混淆主要问题的论点。

dither v. to hesitate about what to do because you are unable to decide犹豫不决；踌躇

*We're still dithering over whether to marry.我们仍在犹豫要不要结婚。

囤积现金的一个原因是税收：五强的总现金中有80%是在海外持有，这让它们可以递延美国公司在汇回海外利润时支付的税款。将其中一半现金收回国内的税款可能就高达约500亿美元。对此不应嗤之以鼻，不过，合理避税已经成为企业在计划资产负债表时混淆视听和犹豫不决的借口。

The cash cushion is far larger than is needed to absorb shocks, such as a financial crash or a hacking attack. Schumpeter has devised a tech “stress test”. It assumes that staff are paid in cash not shares, which might happen after a stock market collapse, and that firms pay all their contingent tax liabilities (including all repatriation levies) as well as regulatory and litigation claims. It also includes a year of contractual payments—for instance Apple has to pay $29bn to component suppliers. Including all of these costs, the five firms would still have $380bn of net cash by 2020.

contingent adj. Liable to occur but not with certainty; possible. 可能的；可能但又有不确定性的；Happening by chance or accident; fortuitous偶然的：偶然或意外发生；depending on something else in the future in order to happen 视…而定的；因…而变的；取决于…的

*Outdoor arrangements are, as ever, contingent on the weather.同以前一样，室外布置依天气而定。

五强的现金储备远远超出应付金融危机或黑客攻击这类突发事件所需。熊彼特设计了一个科技公司“压力测试”。测试假定员工薪酬以现金而非股票支付（这种情况在股市崩溃之后可能发生），且公司会付清所有可能发生的税目（包括资金汇回本国缴纳的税款）以及监管和诉讼费用。测试还包含了一年的合同付款，例如苹果必须向零配件供应商支付290亿美元。把所有这些费用都算上，五强到2020年仍将拥有3800亿美元的净现金。

Nor could fresh investments soak up all the cash. The five tech firms together put $100bn last year into research and development and capital spending, three times more than half a decade ago. A torrent of money is already flowing into data centres, software, new headquarters and “moon shots” such as driverless cars and immortality drugs. In order for the firms to spend all of the cashflow they are on track to retain, annual investment would need to rise to almost $300bn by 2020.

soak up If a soft or dry material soaks up a liquid, the liquid goes into the substance 吸收(液体)；If you soak up the sun, you sit or lie in the sun, because you enjoy it 晒(太阳)；If something soaks up something such as money or other resources, it uses a great deal of money or other resources用去，耗费(大量金钱、资源等)。

*External broadcasting soaks up more resources in Britain than elsewhere.英国花费在对外广播上的财力高于其他国家。

新投资也不会用尽所有现金。五强公司去年共投入1000亿美元用于研发和资本支出，比五年前多三倍。已经有大笔资金流入数据中心、软件、新总部，以及无人驾驶汽车和长生不老药这类“探月”项目。以目前的收入状况，如果公司要花光所有留存的现金，2020年之前年投资额将需要达到近3000亿美元。

■一句一练■

Nor could fresh investments soak up all the cash.

这句以nor开头，句子倒装，could前置。相当于fresh investments could not soak up all the cash, either。具体翻译为：新投资也用不完所有现金。