PART 1 Expressions
1. Musk did not have Riley around to celebrate with and share in this run of good fortune.
run: a series of successes or failure SYN streak, string
a run of good luck/ bad luck/ defeats/ victories etc
His extraordinary run of successes has been stopped.
2. He didn’t really exude that “playboy drinking scotch while zooming through Afghanistan in an army convoy” vibe.
exude: 1. to flow out slowly and steadily; 2. if you exude a particular quality, it is easy to see that you have a lot of it
She exudes self-confidence.
He exuded an air of wealth and power.
类似表达: emanate
3. This restful period did not last long and soon enough Tesla’s battle for survival resumed.
resume: to start doing sth after stopping or being interrupted
She hopes to resume work after the baby is born.
resume doing sth
He will resume training as soon as the injury is better.
4. In October 2012, the presidential hopeful Mitt Romney dubbed Tesla “a loser,” while slagging off a couple of other government-backed green technology companies during a debate with Barack Obama.
be dubbed sth: sth or sb be givena name that describes them in some way SYN label, name
slag sb off: to criticize sb in an unpleasant way, especially when this is unfair
He's always slagging her off behind her back.
5. Publicly, Tesla said it needed to conduct maintenance on the factory, which was technically true, although the company would have soldiered on had the orders been closing as expected.
soldier on: to continue working in spite of difficulties
We'll just have to soldier on without him.
6. What transpired next was the Summer of Musk. Musk put his public relations staff on high alert, telling them that he wanted to try to have one Tesla announcement per week.
transpire: （植物）水汽蒸发；formal to happen
Exactly what transpired remains unknown.
it transpires that: you discover sth is true
It now transpires that he kept all the money for himself.
on (the) alert for sth/ sb: ready to notice and deal with a situation or problem
on full alert / on high alert: completely ready to deal with a dangerous situation
Troops in the vicinity were put on alert.
Be on the alert for anyone acting suspiciously.
7. Musk’s star shone brighter and brighter as Tesla’s market value ballooned to about half that of GM and Ford.
1. to suddenly become larger in amount SYN explode
The company's debt has ballooned in the past year.
2. if someone balloons, they suddenly become fat
Paul ballooned after he got married.
8. Musk cracked jokes during the presentation and played off the crowd’s enthusiasm.
play off sb/ sth: to deliberately use a fact, action, idea etc in order to make what you doing better or to get an advantage
The two musicians played off each other in a piece of inspired improvisation.
9. Tesla is a benchmark for what we do here.
(n.) sth that is used as a standard by which other things can be judged or measured
figures that are a useful benchmark for measuring the company's performance
results that are used as a benchmark of success
类似表达： a gauge of sth
Retail sales are a gauge of consumer spending.
10. The venture capitalists were all running for the hills.
1. To move to higher ground, as in preparation for or in response to a natural disaster.
There are bound to be tidal waves after an earthquake like that. We'd better run for the hills!
2. To flee hastily; to clear out or depart quickly.
Uh oh, Uncle Jerome's been drinking again. Run for the hills, everyone!
The staff all ran for the hills when it was announced that there would be a stock-take at the end of the shift.
PART 2 Thoughts
"It's not really like there was a rush to this idea, and we got there first," Straubel said. "It is frequently forgotten in hindsight that people thought this was the shittiest business opportunity on the planet. The venture capitalists were all running for the hills."
有一句话说：“冠军永远跑在掌声之前。” 乔布斯也好，Elon Musk也好，在他们成功之前都有一段漫长的沉寂、不被看好的时期。他们承受住了寂寞、落败和旁人的冷眼并且从未迷失自己认定的方向才有了后来的掌声。之前在微博上有看到一个成功人士劝告年轻人毕业十年之内不要参加同学聚会，因为同学聚会会形成不良的竞争，那些事业起步晚的人会丧失对自己未来的信心。虽然不太赞同十年不参加同学聚会的做法，但是我同意他所说的观点，同学之间的互相比较会形成不良的竞争。每个人都有自己独特的人生之路，有人成功早，有人成功晚，有人行走在康庄大道上，也有人喜欢曲径通幽处。因此如果选择了一条与大多数人不一样的道路，就不要被旁人的评价所左右，更不要以别人的生活为尺度来自我衡量。
