By Calum MacLeod

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China’s richest man celebrated his 50th birthday a few months before in the United States and expects his company will last twice as long, plus two years. Revealing his ambition—and a love of numbers common in China—Jack Ma says Alibaba will last 102 years so the Internet empire he founded in 1999 can span1three centuries.

Under Ma’s maverick leadership, the 15-year-old firm has already bridged a period of extraordinary change in global trade and the Chinese economy.2In a nation with little e-commerce, he raised a still-growing giant whose U.S. initial public offering, which starts trading under the BABA ticker, is the largest in history.3. 在這樣一個(gè)只有極少數(shù)電商的國(guó)度里，他創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)不斷發(fā)展壯大的企業(yè)巨頭，創(chuàng)造了美國(guó)史上規(guī)模最大的IPO，并以BaBa這一股票代碼進(jìn)行交易。initial public offering:簡(jiǎn)稱IPO，首次公開(kāi)募股，指企業(yè)通過(guò)證券交易所首次公開(kāi)向投資者增發(fā)股票，以募集用于企業(yè)發(fā)展資金的過(guò)程；ticker: 股票代碼。

他曾經(jīng)是個(gè)英語(yǔ)老師，但他的夢(mèng)想?yún)s是自己創(chuàng)業(yè)；他曾經(jīng)被身邊人戲謔為“瘋子”，但也正是他與眾不同的理念和別具一格的眼光帶領(lǐng)他走上互聯(lián)網(wǎng)之路，并最終成為這一行業(yè)的領(lǐng)軍人物；他在事業(yè)上雄心勃勃，而生活上卻極其簡(jiǎn)單樸素……2014年9月19日，他一手創(chuàng)辦的企業(yè)成功登陸紐交所，并創(chuàng)美股史上最高融資紀(jì)錄。他是馬云，是阿里巴巴的創(chuàng)始人之一，是中國(guó)內(nèi)地富豪榜上最新的龍頭老大，是無(wú)數(shù)傳奇的締造者。

Rejected by KFC

His rags-to-riches4. rags-to-riches: 白手起家的，從貧窮到富裕的。journey is just as spectacular. A scrawny5. scrawny: 骨瘦如柴的。Ma,just over 5 feet tall, was rejected by KFC and other employers in his hometown of Hangzhou in east China. He believed in the Internet’s business potential when few other Chinese did. Outlandish ideas earned him the nickname “Crazy Jack Ma.”6. outlandish: 稀奇古怪的；earn: 使得到……；nickname: 綽號(hào)，昵稱。No one thinks he’s mad now, even when dressing in wild wigs and lipstick for his annual meeting where he serenades a stadium full of Alibaba employees.7.（但是）現(xiàn)在大家不再認(rèn)為他是個(gè)瘋子了，哪怕他在年會(huì)上帶著夸張的假發(fā)，涂著口紅，在坐滿阿里巴巴員工的體育館里唱小夜曲。wig:假發(fā)；serenade: 唱小夜曲。

Ma’s readiness to make fun of himself, and speak his mind, stands in contrast to China’s often conservative corporate barons8. baron: 巨頭，大亨。. Charismatic and energetic, this former teacher has become an inspiration to millions across China. He flunked at math but loved English, and countless books and DVDs sell his business lessons in every airport lounge.9. flunk: 考試不及格；lounge: 休息室。

Ma—whose net worth is $21.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index—now stars in the coming-out party for China’s private sector onto the world stage.10. 根據(jù)彭博億萬(wàn)富豪指數(shù)，馬云目前擁有218億美元凈資產(chǎn)，成為中國(guó)民營(yíng)企業(yè)初入世界舞臺(tái)的主角。net worth: 凈資產(chǎn)；coming-out party:女子初入社交界的交誼會(huì)，這里指中國(guó)民營(yíng)企業(yè)首次登上世界舞臺(tái)；private sector: 民營(yíng)企業(yè)。He praises and uses Western management techniques but also quotes regularly from Chairman Mao.He is a fan of China’s kung fu novels and made those legends part of his company’s culture. He also travels the world with a tai chi11. tai chi: 太極拳。trainer.

Ma Meets the Internet

After twice failing the national college entrance exams, Ma entered what he called “Hangzhou’s worst college.” Graduating in 1988, Ma married his college sweetheart and taught English at a local college for five years, earning $15 a month. During that time, he also applied for, and failed to land, jobs at a local KFC, a hotel and the city police.

Determined to enter business, Ma set up a translation company, but he still had to peddle12. peddle: 叫賣，兜售。goods on the street to get by. He traveled to the United States in 1995 as a translator to help a Chinese firm recover a payment. The attempt failed, but a friend in Seattle showed Ma the Internet, and an idea began brewing.

Ma noticed there was not a single online listing for “China” and “beer,”unlike those that popped up13. pop up: 突然出現(xiàn)。for American and German beer. He returned to China and set up a listing site that he later sold to the government. After working in Beijing for an Internet firm under the Ministry of Commerce,Ma returned home to Hangzhou to pursue his dream.

Alibaba Founded

With the help of more than a dozen friends who pooled their resources—just $60,000—he founded Alibaba, a business-to-business online platform.The company now makes more pro fit than rivals Amazon.com and e-Bay combined, as China’s burgeoning14. burgeoning: 迅速增長(zhǎng)的。middle class are big spenders online,and small companies rely on Alibaba and its online payment system.

Ma seized opportunities as China was transforming into a market economy. At the time, the Internet was first being promoted, and small, private businesses struggled to get loans and had to compete against government-protected state firms,said economist Feng Pengcheng, director of the China Research Center for Capital Management at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

“The business model Ma Yun created in China suited the Chinese market. It might be a failure in the U.S. market, but it’s so successful in China,” Feng said. “What’s more, Ma Yun is good at cooperating with other talents. His company culture and his personal charm attracted employees, and his slogans are uplifting,” he said.

For a billionaire so outspoken on company and business issues, Ma says little about his family and manages to keep his private life quiet and scandal-free.15. outspoken: 坦率的，直言不諱的；scandal-free: 沒(méi)有流言蜚語(yǔ)的。Ma and his wife Zhang Ying have a son, an undergrad at the University of California-Berkeley, where Ma had audited classes.16. undergrad: 大學(xué)在校生；University of California-Berkeley: 加利福尼亞大學(xué)伯克利分校，美國(guó)最佳公立大學(xué)之一，是美國(guó)工程科技界的學(xué)術(shù)領(lǐng)袖；audit: 旁聽(tīng)。A black-and-white photo of a young Ma with his older brother and younger sister went viral in China’s cyberspace, as many people were unaware their richest citizen even had siblings.17. 馬云年輕時(shí)和哥哥妹妹的一張黑白合照在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上瘋傳，很多人才知道這位中國(guó)首富原來(lái)還有兄弟姐妹。go viral: 像病毒般擴(kuò)散；sibling: 兄弟姐妹。

“Ma Yun’s lifestyle is very simple and modest. His hobbies are still tai chi and kung fu novels,” Chen, his friend and assistant, said from Boston, while accompanying Ma on Alibaba’s U.S. roadshow18. roadshow: 路演，巡回演出。before the IPO.

“I don’t think he has changed much, he is still that old style. After the IPO, I am sure his lifestyle will be simpler. He won’t change,” Chen said. In his book,Chen said Ma enjoys meditation19. meditation: 冥想。in the mountains, playing poker with friends and writing his own kung fu fiction. By Ma’s own account, he believes in both Buddhism and Taoism, and follows many tenets of Confucianism.20. 據(jù)馬云自己稱，他信奉佛教和道教，并且還遵循很多儒家信條。tenet: 原理，信條。

Opposite of Stuffy21. stuffy: 古板的。

“He is the opposite of stuffy and canned.22. canned:〈俚〉千篇一律的，陳腐的。He’s funny, creative and a compelling speaker. I often thought he has another career in stand-up comedy23. stand-up comedy: 脫口秀，單口相聲。,” said Duncan Clark, a Brit who is a Beijing-based technology consultant.

Ma resigned in 2013 as Alibaba’s CEO, but he clearly remains in charge as the firm’s executive chairman. He has hinted at exploring more “cultural” pursuits,such as film-making, education and environmental protection.

“One issue facing China is that people’s wallets are bulging24. bulge: 膨脹。, but their heads are empty,” he told Hong Kong’sSouth China Morning Post. Ma also promises more philanthropy25. philanthropy: 慈善事業(yè)。, including what may be China’s largest charity foundation.