Production delays continue on Tesla Inc’s Model 3 manufacturing line, with a number of customers reportedly canceling preorders after becoming fed up with long waiting times. Billionaire tech mogul and Tesla’s chief operating officer Elon Musk has pinned the company’s future on the Model 3, which aims to bring affordable electric car driving to the masses.
Unfortunately, a spate of self-inflicted blows throughout last month has added to the company’s woes and kept Musk in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, partly due to an almost Trump-esque penchant for loosing off reckless tweets on Twitter.
It all started in June with a bizarre Twitter rant directed at a British diver involved in the rescue of a Thai school football team trapped inside a flooded cave. The diver, Vern Unsworth, told a CNN reporter that a mini submarine made from rocket parts which Musk had built to help with the rescue was a “PR stunt.” Musk fired back a series of angry tweets, branding Unsworth a “pedo guy,” or pedophile, without providing any evidence to back up his claims. Musk later apologized and deleted the offending tweets — only to pour more gasoline on the fire last month, reheating the original claim with another injudicious tweet.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
Worse still, on Aug. 7, Musk tweeted out of the blue: “Am considering taking Tesla private at [US]$420. Funding secured,” blindsiding investors and causing the price of Tesla shares to soar 13 percent. In the next few days it became apparent the phrase “funding secured” was not entirely true. Discussions were still ongoing with a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. Reports began to surface in the media that the US Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an investigation into whether Musk had misled investors.
Musk took to Twitter again late last month and executed a dramatic U-turn, announcing he would abandon his attempt to take Tesla private. Some investors have since issued class-action lawsuits against Tesla, accusing Musk of artificially manipulating the share price in an attempt to “burn” short sellers, whom Musk has repeatedly criticized on Twitter.
Adding fuel to concerns about Musk’s state of mind, the New York Times published an interview with Musk, during which he admitted to suffering from intense stress and said he has been taking a sedative called Ambien to help him sleep. He also divulged that he had been working up to 120 hours a week, sometimes not leaving the factory for three or four days at a time, and said he hasn’t taken more than a week off work since 2001, when he was bedridden with malaria.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片:維基共享資源
All the signs point toward the conclusion that Musk’s heavy workload is taking its toll on the entrepreneur. On top of Tesla, Musk is also CEO of two other large companies: SpaceX, which has been contracted by NASA to build delivery systems to send astronauts into space, and The Boring Company, which is developing pressurized tunnels to create a revolutionary new underground transportation system.
Tesla’s board of directors has reportedly been trying to find a second in command to take the strain off Musk. Thus far, their search for a suitable candidate has yielded no results. As an interim solution, perhaps it is time Tesla’s directors ordered Musk to take a fortnight’s holiday on a tropical island somewhere nice — and leave his mobile phone behind.
(Edward Jones, Taipei Times)
製造延誤持續發生在特斯拉公司Model 3汽車的生產線上,據報導已有一些消費者因為受夠了冗長的等待時間而取消預購訂單。億萬身家的科技巨擘暨特斯拉執行長伊隆·馬斯克將公司的未來寄望予Model 3車款,期待為大眾帶來價格可以負擔的電動車駕駛體驗。
不幸的是,上個月一連串因自找麻煩引發的打擊,讓公司營運更為雪上加霜,還不斷讓馬斯克出現在新聞頭條上,而且全部都是來自負面原因,部分可歸咎於馬斯克幾乎像川普一般,喜歡在推特上大放厥詞、魯莽發布推文的傾向。
這一切都開始於馬斯克在六月發布的一則怪異推特抨擊,將矛頭指向一名參與泰國足球隊救援行動、把他們從淹水洞穴中拯救出來的英國潛水員。該名潛水員維恩.昂斯沃思當時曾向CNN記者表示,馬斯克為協助救援而用火箭部分零件打造出的一台小型潛水艇,其實只是一個「公關噱頭」。馬斯克隨即以一連串憤怒的推文反擊,指稱昂斯沃思是個「戀童的人」(戀童癖),卻未提供任何證據支持他的指控。馬斯克後來道歉,並刪除那些冒犯性的推文──上個月卻又在火上澆油,用另一則欠缺判斷力的推文為最初的指控重新加溫。
更糟的是,馬斯克在八月七日無預警突然推文:「我正在考慮以每股四百二十美元將特斯拉私有化。資金來源已經確認」,旋即讓毫無心理準備的投資人陷入混亂,並導致特斯拉股價狂漲十三個百分點。接下來幾天,大家才知道「資金來源已經確認」一說並不完全是真的,而是仍然處於和沙烏地阿拉伯主權財務基金討論的階段。媒體報導紛紛浮上檯面,指出美國證券交易委員會已對馬斯克是否誤導投資人一事展開調查。
上個月底,馬斯克重拾推特,展開戲劇性的峰迴路轉,宣告他將放棄嘗試把特斯拉公司私有化。有些投資人因此對該公司提出集體訴訟,指控馬斯克人為操縱股價,藉此企圖「燒毀」他在推特上不斷批評的那些做空賣家。
在眾人擔憂馬斯克的心理狀態時,紐約時報又火上加油,刊出和這位特斯拉執行長進行的一段訪談。在訪談中,馬斯克承認遭受強烈心理壓力,並且表示他長期都在服用鎮靜藥物恩比安來幫助入睡。馬斯克同時透露他每週工作時數高達一百二十個小時,有時候一次就三天或四天都沒有離開過工廠。他還說,自從二○○一年因為罹患瘧疾臥病在床的那段期間後,他就從來沒有休假超過一星期。
所有跡象都指向一個結論:馬斯克的沉重工作量正讓這位企業家付出代價。除了位居特斯拉高位,馬斯克同時還是另外兩間大型公司的執行長,其中一間是SpaceX,日前承攬美國國家航空暨太空總署合約,要打造出把太空人送上太空的運輸系統,另一間則是隧道公司The Boring Company,目前正在開發加壓隧道,來創造出革命性的嶄新地下運輸系統。
據報導,特斯拉的董事會一直在試圖尋找副手,來消除馬斯克緊繃的精神狀態,只是搜尋適當人選的進度目前仍然沒有任何成果。或許,做為過渡期的解決辦法之一,特斯拉的董事們該是時候命令馬斯克強制休假兩個星期,去某個美麗的熱帶小島上渡假,並把手機留在家裡。
(台北時報章厚明譯)
課後練習
Follow up
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with a short-to-medium-term aim of reducing the cost of space transportation and long-term goal of facilitating the colonization of Mars.
Since its foundation, SpaceX has achieved many firsts. In 2010 it was the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft, and two years later became the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station in partnership with US space agency NASA.
Since then, the company has used thrusters to successfully land and re-use booster rockets on ground pads and drone ships. This technological breakthrough has allowed SpaceX to significantly reduce the cost of space flight as well as the time between launchings by re-using booster rockets. The company achieved the first operational re-use of a previously-flown Falcon 9 booster rocket in March last year, and is also working on the recovery and re-use of second-stage rockets and fairings (nose cones) which should enable the company to further reduce launch costs.
In 2011, a NASA report estimated it would have cost approximately US$4 billion, using a traditional cost-plus contract approach, to develop in-house a booster rocket similar to the design of the Falcon 9 booster. Through its public-private partnership with SpaceX, NASA was able to save a considerable sum of money in its quest to develop a new space transport vehicle, providing just US$396 million toward development of the entire Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule program, with SpaceX providing more than US$450 million.
(Edward Jones, Taipei Times)
A: Also, police seized seven pornographic videos featuring minors that entertainer Mickey Huang purchased in his hard disc. B: That’s just outrageous! A: His ex-girlfriend entertainer Little S and some others are calling for a legal amendment to increase the penalty. B: The buyers and sellers should both be punished heavily. A: But the porn sellers’ Web sites are mostly overseas, so they are hard to catch. A: 此外警方也在黃子佼的硬碟裡,查到7部他買的未成年色情片。 B: 真是令人火大! A: 他的前女友小S等人,還呼籲修法,加重相關的罰則。 B: 購買者和販賣者雙方都該重罰。 A: 不過色情網站大多設在海外要抓也不容易吧。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
A: Entertainer Mickey Huang’s #MeToo scandal has kept snowballing. B: Didn’t Huang just escape prosecution on several sexual misconduct charges due to a lack of evidence? A: He has now been accused of raping a woman identified as "Miss K." B: It’s like one trouble follows another! A: His decent “persona” in the showbiz has totally collapsed. A: 藝人黃子佼的#MeToo事件真是沒完沒了。 B: 他的性騷擾案不是因為證據不足獲得不起訴? A: 但他又被某位「K小姐」指控性侵。 B: 天啊,真是一波未平,一波又起! A: 他在娛樂圈的優質「人設」都崩壞啦。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Jumping rope has long been considered an excellent form of exercise. It not only burns calories but also improves cardiovascular health and __1__ core muscles. Anyone who has used a traditional jump rope, though, knows that it requires a certain level of skill and coordination. However, with the development of the cordless jump rope, this is __2__ the case. The cordless jump rope is an innovation in the fitness industry that has gained popularity in recent years. As its name suggests, it doesn’t have a cord connecting the two handles. Instead, each handle features a short cord with a
Let’s explore another delicacy primarily known to Tainan locals: floating milkfish in thick soup. Despite its peculiar name, this dish is another Tainan specialty that showcases the popularity of milkfish, which is made into fish paste and served in thick soup. Unlike the version with tutuo fish, which also adds other ingredients to its thick soup, the floating milkfish version primarily features the “floating fish” itself in its thick soup, ensuring that the fish paste remains the star of the dish. 讓我們來探索另一道台南人熟悉的美食:浮水魚羹。這道菜名奇特的美食,再再展現了台南虱目魚料理的多樣。浮水魚羹是用虱目魚漿做成的羹品,雖然和𩵚魠魚羹一樣是羹湯,但不像𩵚魠魚羹會在湯中加入其他食材,而是讓虱目魚漿成為這道料理的主角。 peculiar (adj.) 獨特的;古怪的 The belly of a milkfish is considered the most