文本选自：The New York Times（纽约时报）
作者：Rob Copeland
原文标题：Zuckerberg Says It’s ‘Time to Move On’ From ‘Cage Fight’ With Musk
原文发布时间：14 Aug. 2023
Zuckerberg Says It's 'Time to Move On' From 'Cage Fight' With Musk
The will-they-or-won't-they drama between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg over a potential "cage fight" appeared on Sunday to end with a whimper, as Mr. Zuckerberg said that Mr. Musk's delays and excuses had rendered the discussion moot. In a post to his nascent social-networking platform, Threads, Mr. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, wrote, "I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on." He included the hint of a taunt, "If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me."
Mr. Zuckerberg's message seemingly ended the suspense around a stranger-than-fiction summer of tension between the technology titans. Less than two months ago, Mr. Musk mused that he was "up for a cage match." That was just before Instagram, owned by Meta, introduced Threads as a competitor to Mr. Musk's Twitter (now renamed "X"). Whether or not he was serious at the time, intermediaries between the men began sketching out the contours of a match. Both executives continued to fan the flames; Mr. Zuckerberg posted photographs of himself shirtless in training, and Mr. Musk said in posts on X that the event could happen in Italy.
As is common with Mr. Musk — who has a history of public pronouncements that don't come to fruition — momentum toward a match came in spurts. In posts, Mr. Musk said the date of the fight was "in flux" because he needed an M.R.I. scan of his neck and back.
马扎笼斗：扎克伯格说，是时候从与马斯克的“笼战”中“向前看了”
精听党背景导读
据外媒报道，近几周以来，Meta CEO马克·扎克伯格和特斯拉CEO埃隆·马斯克一直在闹着要进行“笼斗”，但扎克伯格似乎在当地时间周日取消了这一计划。
扎克伯格声称，马斯克没有认真对待两人约定的“笼斗”比赛，并表示现在是时候向前看了。
马斯克和扎克伯格可能进行“笼斗”的起因是，Meta被曝计划推出一个与推特竞争的平台，而马斯克则公开嘲笑了这种想法，激化了双方的矛盾。
文本选自：The New York Times（纽约时报）作者：Rob Copeland原文标题：Zuckerberg Says It’s ‘Time to Move On’ From ‘Cage Fight’ With Musk原文发布时间：14 Aug. 2023关键词：马斯克 扎克伯格 笼斗
精听党带着问题听
1.“煽风点火”用英语可以怎么表达？2. 如何理解段三中的“come to fruition”？3. “笼战”将会在哪发生？
精听党选段赏析
标题解读
Zuckerberg Says It’s ‘Time to Move On’ From ‘Cage Fight’ With Musk
扎克伯格说，是时候从与马斯克的“笼战”中“向前看了”
move on 继续前进；
cage fight 笼式格斗；
段一
The will-they-or-won’t-they drama between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg over a potential “cage fight” appeared on Sunday to end with a whimper, as Mr. Zuckerberg said that Mr. Musk’s delays and excuses had rendered the discussion moot. In a post to his nascent social-networking platform, Threads, Mr. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, wrote, “I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on.” He included the hint of a taunt, “If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me.”
drama n. 戏剧性事件；剧本，戏剧；
potential adj. 潜在的，可能的；
whimper n. 呜咽声，啜泣声；牢骚，怨声；
delay n. 推迟，延期；1. There's no time for delay. 没有时间了，不能拖延了。
excuse n. 借口，托词；
render vt. 使成为；使变得；使处于某状态；给予，提供；（以某种方式）表达，表现；1. render a service to sb. 给某人提供服务；
moot adj. 无实际意义的；未决议的；
nascent adj. 新兴的，初期的；
chief executive 首席执行官；
hint of 一点点，一丝；
taunt n. 嘲弄（话），讥讽（话）；
get serious about 认真对待；
official event 正式活动；
参考译文
周日，埃隆·马斯克和马克·扎克伯格之间关于一场“他们会不会进行”潜在的“笼战”的戏剧性闹剧以一声呜咽结束，扎克伯格说，马斯克的拖延和借口让这场讨论变得毫无意义。Meta的首席执行官扎克伯格在他刚刚成立的社交网络平台Threads上发帖称，“我想我们都同意埃隆不是认真的，是时候向前看了。”他还带着嘲讽的口吻说:“如果埃隆真的想要约会和正式活动，他知道怎么联系我。”
段二
Mr. Zuckerberg’s message seemingly ended the suspense around a stranger-than-fiction summer of tension between the technology titans. Less than two months ago, Mr. Musk mused that he was “up for a cage match.” That was just before Instagram, owned by Meta, introduced Threads as a competitor to Mr. Musk’s Twitter (now renamed “X”). Whether or not he was serious at the time, intermediaries between the men began sketching out the contours of a match. Both executives continued to fan the flames; Mr. Zuckerberg posted photographs of himself shirtless in training, and Mr. Musk said in posts on X that the event could happen in Italy.
seemingly adv. 貌似，看似；
suspense n. 悬念；1. a tale of mystery and suspense 一个神秘莫测、充满悬念的故事；
stranger-than-fiction 比小说还离奇；
tension n. 紧张，焦虑；紧张关系；
titan n. 巨人；高人；伟人；1. technology titans 科技巨头；
muse vt. 沉思，冥想；
intermediary n. 调解人，中间人；媒介；
sketch out 勾画出；
contour n. 轮廓；
fan the flames 煽风点火；
shirtless adj. 赤膊的；无上装的；
参考译文
扎克伯格的消息似乎结束了围绕着这两大科技巨头之间比小说还奇怪的紧张关系的悬念。不到两个月前，马斯克若有所思地说，他“准备进行一场笼斗比赛”。就在那之后，Meta旗下的Instagram推出了Threads，作为马斯克的Twitter（现已更名为“X”）的竞争对手。不管他当时是不是认真的，两人之间的中间人开始勾勒出一场比赛的轮廓。两位高管都在继续煽风点火；扎克伯格发布了自己赤膊训练的照片，马斯克在X上发帖称，格斗可能会在意大利举行。
段三
As is common with Mr. Musk — who has a history of public pronouncements that don’t come to fruition — momentum toward a match came in spurts. In posts, Mr. Musk said the date of the fight was “in flux” because he needed an M.R.I. scan of his neck and back.
pronouncement n. 声明，宣告；
come to fruition 实现，达成；
momentum n. 势头，推力；
spurt n. 冲刺，迸发；
in flux 处于变动中；
参考译文
马斯克有过多次公开声明都没有实现的前科，和之前一样，双方的比赛势头迅猛。马斯克在帖子中说，打架的日期“不确定”，因为他需要对颈部和背部进行核磁共振扫描。
精听党每日单词
move on
继续前进；
cage fight
笼式格斗；
drama
/ˈdrɑːmə/ n. 戏剧性事件；剧本，戏剧；
potential
/pəˈtenʃ(ə)l/ adj. 潜在的，可能的；
whimper
/ˈwɪmpər/ n. 呜咽声，啜泣声；牢骚，怨声；
delay
/dɪˈleɪ/ n. 推迟，延期；
excuse
/ɪkˈskjuːs/ n. 借口，托词；
render
/ˈrendər/ vt. 使成为；使变得；使处于某状态；给予，提供；（以某种方式）表达，表现；
moot
/muːt/ adj. 无实际意义的；未决议的；
nascent
/ˈneɪs(ə)nt/ adj. 新兴的，初期的；
chief executive
首席执行官；
hint of
一点点，一丝；
taunt
/tɔːnt/ n. 嘲弄（话），讥讽（话）；
get serious about
认真对待；
official event
正式活动；
seemingly
/ˈsiːmɪŋli/ adv. 貌似，看似；
suspense
/səˈspens/ n. 悬念；
stranger-than-fiction
比小说还离奇；
tension
/ˈtenʃ(ə)n/ n. 紧张，焦虑；紧张关系；
titan
/ˈtaɪtn/ n. 巨人；高人；伟人；
muse
/mjuːz/ vt. 沉思，冥想；
intermediary
/ˌɪntərˈmiːdieri/ n. 调解人，中间人；媒介；
sketch out
勾画出；
contour
/ˈkɑːntʊr/ n. 轮廓；
fan the flames
煽风点火；
shirtless
/ˈʃɜːtlɪs/ adj. 赤膊的；无上装的；
pronouncement
/prəˈnaʊnsmənt/ n. 声明，宣告；
come to fruition
实现，达成；
momentum
/moʊˈmentəm/ n. 势头，推力；
spurt
/spɜːrt/ n. 冲刺，迸发；
in flux
处于变动中；
精听党文化拓展
自从马斯克在6月底向扎克伯格发出“约架”挑战以来，这场亿万富翁之间的对决就备受外界关注。然而，两个月时间快要过去了，这场肉搏战仍停留在口水仗的层面上。
Threads是这场争斗的导火索。正是因为扎克伯格当时准备推出与推特竞争的Threads，引起了马斯克的不满，所以两人才打起口水仗，决定单挑。
扎克伯格表示，尽管他已经做好了战斗的准备，但是马斯克却不断找理由推脱。“我已经提出过一个确切的比赛日期。终极格斗冠军赛总裁达纳·怀特（Dana White）曾提议把这场比赛办成一个正规的格斗赛，为慈善事业捐款。”他表示，“（但是）马斯克没有确定比赛日期，然后说他需要手术，现在又要求在我的后院转而办一轮练习赛。”
当地时间周日早些时候，马斯克给扎克伯格发短信，提议下周在扎克伯格的家中进行一场练习赛。随后，马斯克在X（原推特）上发布推文，公布了他与扎克伯格就比赛进行交流的完整短信内容。
马斯克在短信中似乎有些认怂，他把扎克伯格称之为“现代版李小龙”。“我没有进行太多训练，除了今天与莱克斯·弗里德曼（Lex Fridman，巴西柔术高手）进行的短暂练习。考虑到我们的体型差异，尽管我认为你非常不可能赢下比赛，但也许你就是现代版的李小龙，会以某种方式获胜。”他在短信中称。
精听党每日美句
Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
完成伟大的事业不在于体力，而在于坚韧不拔的毅力。