外刊翻译精读笔记|【经济学人】算法冲破疆界（下）

Quant hedge funds, both new and old, are piling in. Castle Ridge Asset Management, a Toronto-based upstart, has achieved annual average returns of 32% since its founding in 2013. It uses a sophisticated machine-learning system, like those used to model evolutionary biology, to make investment decisions. It is so sensitive, claims the firm’s chief executive, Adrian de Valois-Franklin, that it picked up 24 acquisitions before they were even announced (because of telltale signals suggesting a small amount of insider trading). Man AHL, meanwhile, a well-established $18.8bn quant fund provider, has been conducting research into machine-learning for trading purposes since 2009, and using it as one of the techniques to manage client money since 2014.

pile into enter a place in large numbers, especially in a way that is not organized 塞进；挤入

*They opened the doors and all fifteen of us piled in.他们打开门后，我们十五个人都挤了进去。

sophisticated [sə'fɪstɪketɪd] adj. having a lot of experience of the world and knowing about fashion, culture and other things that people think are socially important见多识广的；老练的；见过世面的；clever and complicated in the way that it works or is presented复杂巧妙的；先进的；精密的

*highly sophisticated computer systems 十分先进的计算机系统

acquisition [,ækwɪ'zɪʃən] n. the act of getting sth, especially knowledge, a skill, etc. (知识、技能等的)获得，得到；a company, piece of land, etc. bought by sb, especially another company; the act of buying it购置物；收购的公司；购置的产业；购置；收购

*They have made acquisitions in several EU countries. 他们在几个欧盟国家购买了一些产业。

telltale ['tɛltel] adj. Something that is described as telltale gives away information, often about something bad that would otherwise not be noticed. 泄露内情的；露馅的

新老量化对冲基金都纷纷涌入这一行列。自2013年成立以来，位于多伦多的行业新贵Castle Ridge资产管理公司年均回报率已达32%。该公司采用了一套精密复杂的机器学习系统来做投资决策，类似于进化生物学的建模系统。公司CEO艾德里安•德•瓦卢瓦-富兰克林（Adrian de Valois-Franklin）称，该系统非常灵敏，甚至在24桩收购交易公布之前就捕捉到了消息（因为指示信号显示有小额内幕交易）。同时，资产规模达188亿美元的老企业Man AHL量化基金公司自2009年起就开始研究机器学习在交易上的应用，并在2014年起将其用作管理客户投资的手段之一。

So it seems odd that some prominent quant funds are machine-learning sceptics. Martin Lueck of Aspect Capital finds the technique overrated, saying his firm has found only limited useful applications for it. David Siegel, co-founder of Two Sigma, a quant behemoth, and David Harding of Winton Capital, have also argued that the techniques are overhyped.

sceptic a person who usually doubts that claims or statements are true, especially those that other people believe in惯持怀疑态度的人；怀疑论者

overrated If something or someone is overrated, they are considered to be better or more important than they really are. 被高估的；评价过高的

overhype to promote or publicize to excess过分提倡或宣扬

*Promoters grossly overhyped the movie.赞助者们大肆宣传此部影片。

这样看来，一些知名的量化基金反而是机器学习的怀疑者，似乎就有些奇怪了。Aspect Capital的马丁•卢埃克（Martin Lueck）认为人们高估了这一技术，称他的公司觉得机器学习用处有限。量化基金巨头Two Sigma的联合创始人大卫•西格尔（David Siegel）和Winton Capital的大卫•哈丁（David Harding）也同样认为这种技术被过分炒作。

In other fields, however, machine-learning has game-changing potential. There is no reason to expect finance to be different. According to Jonathan Masci of Quantenstein, a machine-learning fund manager, years of work on rules-based approaches in computer vision—telling a computer how to recognise a nose, say—were swiftly eclipsed in 2012 by machine-learning processes that allowed computers to “learn” what a nose looked like from perusing millions of nasal pin-ups. Similarly, says Mr Masci, a machine-learning algorithm ought to beat conventional trading strategies based on rules set by humans.

rules-based approaches基于规则的方法

eclipse [ɪ'klɪps] v. to cause an eclipse of产生…蚀；to obscure; darken遮光；使暗；to obscure or diminish in importance, fame, or reputation把…遮暗，没落：在地位、名气和名誉方面使人失去荣耀或隐没；to surpass; outshine 超越；光芒盖过

*an outstanding performance that eclipsed the previous record.杰出的表演超越以前的记录。

peruse [pə'ruz] v. to read sth, especially in a careful way细读；研读

*A copy of the report is available for you to peruse at your leisure. 现有一份报告，供你闲暇时细读。

pin-up n. a picture of an attractive person, especially one who is not wearing many clothes, that is put on a wall for people to look at名人(或美人)海报；挂在墙上的半裸美人像

然而在其他领域，机器学习具有颠覆性的潜力。金融界也没有理由成为例外。机器学习基金管理公司Quantenstein的乔纳森•马茨（Jonathan Masci）认为，在计算机视觉领域，多年来的努力方向都是从规则出发，例如告诉计算机如何识别鼻子；而在2012年，机器学习进程迅速超越了这一切——它让计算机通过仔细观察数百万张鼻子的图片，“学习”鼻子长什么样。马茨说，与此类似，机器学习的算法终将战胜以人为设定的规则为基础的传统交易策略。

The real vulnerability may in any case lie outside trading. Many quant funds depend on human researchers to sift through data and build algorithms. These posts could be replaced by better-performing machines. For all their professed scepticism, Two Sigma and its peers are busy recruiting machine-learning specialists.

vulnerability [,vʌlnərə'bɪləti] n. 易损性；弱点

sift through sth to examine sth very carefully in order to decide what is important or useful or to find sth important细查；详审

*Crash investigators have been sifting through the wreckage of the aircraft. 调查坠机事件的专家一直在仔细检查飞机残骸。

professed [prə'fɛst] adj. used to describe a belief or a position that sb has publicly made known公开表明的；used to describe a feeling or an attitude that sb says they have but which may not be sincere自称的；自诩的；假充的

*These, at least, were their professed reasons for pulling out of the deal. 至少这些是他们自称退出这宗交易的理由。

无论如何，真正的弱点可能在交易之外。许多量化基金依赖人类研究人员筛查数据、构建算法。这些岗位可能会被表现更好的机器所取代。虽然Two Sigma及其同行们宣称自己不信机器学习那一套，但它们都在忙着招募机器学习专家。

■一句一练■

So it seems odd that some prominent quant funds are machine-learning sceptics.

这一句话看起来比较短，句中it作为形式主语，真正的主语是that引导的从句。上文的翻译为“一些知名的量化基金反而是机器学习的怀疑者”。句中的难点在于fund这个单词，大家第一眼肯定想到了“资金、基金”。这句话到底是不是这个意思呢？你可以思考一下。下面是我给出的翻译：有些知名的量化基金管理公司却对机器学习抱有怀疑态度，这点看起来很奇怪。