The Mountain Behind the Scenes Has Fallen: The Death of Ubisoft Co-Founder Claude Guillemot — HSK 5-6 Chinese Listening Practice (5:21) | Fluentide

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The Mountain Behind the Scenes Has Fallen: The Death of Ubisoft Co-Founder Claude Guillemot — HSK 5-6 Chinese Listening Practice (5:21) | Fluentide

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原文

Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.

今天，我们聊一个人的离开。

他的名字，叫克劳德·吉尔莫。

对绝大多数人来说，

这是一个，

相当陌生的名字。

但是他亲手参与缔造的那家公司，

却几乎无人不知——

育碧。

《刺客信条》、

《孤岛惊魂》、

《舞力全开》……

这些响彻全球的游戏，

背后都站着同一个名字：

育碧。

全世界有数以亿计的玩家，

都曾在它构筑的虚拟世界里，

度过无数个夜晚。

而克劳德，

正是这一切的，

起点之一。

让我们把时间，

拨回到四十年前。

一九八六年，

在法国西部，

一个叫布列塔尼的地方，

五个亲兄弟，

合伙创立了育碧。

克劳德，

是其中之一。

在那个年代，

他们做的，

不过是一门，

再朴素不过的小生意——

靠邮购的方式，

贩卖电脑软件。

谁也无法预料，

这门不起眼的家庭生意，

会在几十年间，

生长为一个，

横跨全球的游戏帝国。

在这五兄弟之中，

真正为公众所熟知的，

是弟弟伊夫·吉尔莫。

长期以来，

伊夫担任育碧的首席执行官，

是公司当之无愧的"门面"，

频繁地，

出现在镜头前、

财报会上、

和聚光灯下。

而克劳德，

选择的，

是一条截然相反的道路。

他极其低调，

几乎从不在公众面前抛头露面。

他更像是这个庞大家族企业的，

"总管家"和"压舱石"：

默默地，

打理着公司的运营，

统筹着资本与内部的，

千头万绪。

与此同时，

他还执掌着，

家族旗下，

另一家专做游戏硬件的公司。

你我玩游戏时，

握在手里的手柄、

脚下的方向盘和踏板，

都与他经营的版图，

息息相关。

如果说，

弟弟伊夫，

是站在台前、

光芒四射的那颗明星，

那么克劳德，

就是那个，

始终隐于幕后，

用双肩，

默默扛起整座舞台的人。

那么，

这场猝不及防的悲剧，

究竟是如何发生的？

就在这个星期五的傍晚，

克劳德，

登上了一架，

小型私人飞机——

一架双引擎的塞斯纳。

飞机一路飞向，

法国西海岸，

一座名叫拉博勒的海滨小城，

准备降落。

然而，

就在即将着陆的那一刻，

飞机失去控制，

一头扎进田野，

随即燃起熊熊大火。

机上两人，

连同克劳德本人，

以及一位经验丰富的飞行教练，

全部不幸罹难。

克劳德，

享年六十九岁。

噩耗传开，

整个游戏行业，

都陷入了震惊与哀痛。

而这则消息，

之所以格外令人唏嘘，

还在于它出现的，

这个微妙的时刻。

事实上，

最近这两年，

育碧的处境，

相当艰难。

玩家的不满，

业绩的下滑，

让这家昔日的巨头，

不得不踏上，

痛苦的重组之路——

大刀阔斧地，

削减成本，

重新划分业务，

身后，

还有像腾讯这样的资本，

在静静地，

等待与观望。

就在这样一个，

风雨飘摇、

前途未卜的关口，

这位曾经，

一砖一瓦，

把它亲手垒起来的人，

却以这样一种，

突如其来的方式，

永远地，

退场了。

说到这里，

我想和你聊聊，

这件事更深的一层。

我们身处的这个时代，

习惯于，

把所有的掌声与目光，

都投向那些，

站在聚光灯下的面孔。

我们记得CEO，

记得明星，

记得那一个个，

被反复提起的名字。

但克劳德的一生，

却像是一个，

温柔而沉默的提醒：

在每一座，

我们仰望的高楼背后，

都有这样一些人，

甘愿，

一辈子待在阴影里，

不为人知，

却把最重的那块基石，

稳稳地，

扛在了自己肩上。

节目的最后，

我想把两个问题，

留给你。

第一，

回到你自己的生命里——

有没有那样一个"幕后的人"，

你很少看见他，

甚至很少想起他，

但正是他，

一直在为你，

默默地，

撑着一片天？

第二，

当一个人，

倾尽一生，

建起了一座城，

而这座城，

此刻正风雨飘摇，

他的骤然离去，

究竟是一个故事的，

落幕，

还是另一段，

艰难旅程的，

开始？

这两个问题，

没有标准答案。

但是它们，

值得你，

慢慢地想。

English transcript reference

Today, we'll talk about one man's departure.

His name was Claude Guillemot.

To the vast majority of people,

this is

a rather unfamiliar name.

But the company he helped build with his own hands

is known to almost everyone —

Ubisoft.

Assassin's Creed,

Far Cry,

Just Dance …

these games that ring out across the world,

all stand behind one name:

Ubisoft.

Hundreds of millions of gamers worldwide

have, in the virtual worlds it built,

spent countless nights.

And Claude

was, of all this,

one of the starting points.

Let's turn the clock

back forty years.

In 1986,

in western France,

a place called Brittany,

five blood brothers

jointly founded Ubisoft.

Claude

was one of them.

In that era,

what they did

was no more than

the plainest of small businesses —

by mail order,

selling computer software.

No one could have foreseen

that this unremarkable family business

would, over a few decades,

grow into

a game empire spanning the globe.

Among these five brothers,

the one truly known to the public

is the younger brother, Yves Guillemot.

For a long time,

Yves served as Ubisoft's CEO,

the company's undisputed 'face',

frequently

appearing before the cameras,

at earnings calls,

and under the spotlight.

Claude, by contrast,

chose

a completely opposite road.

He was extremely low-key,

almost never showing his face in public.

He was more like, of this vast family enterprise,

the 'head steward' and the 'ballast stone':

quietly

tending to the company's operations,

coordinating the myriad threads of capital and

internal affairs.

At the same time,

he also headed

another company under the family,

one devoted to gaming hardware.

When you and I play games,

the controller in our hands,

the wheel and pedals at our feet,

are all, to the domain he ran,

closely tied.

If

the younger brother Yves

was the dazzling star

out on the stage,

then Claude

was the one

who stayed always behind the scenes,

and with his shoulders

quietly bore the whole stage.

So,

this tragedy that struck without warning —

how exactly did it happen?

On this Friday evening,

Claude

boarded

a small private plane —

a twin-engine Cessna.

The plane flew all the way to

France's west coast,

a seaside town called La Baule,

preparing to land.

But then,

at the very moment of landing,

the plane lost control,

plowed into a field,

and instantly erupted in roaring flames.

The two people on board —

Claude himself,

and an experienced flight instructor —

all perished.

Claude

was sixty-nine.

As the grim news spread,

the entire game industry

fell into shock and mourning.

And this news

is all the more wrenching

because of

the delicate moment at which it came.

In fact,

over the past two years,

Ubisoft's situation

has been quite hard.

Players' discontent,

falling results,

have forced this former giant

to set out on

a painful road of restructuring —

boldly

cutting costs,

redrawing its businesses,

while behind it,

capital like Tencent

waits and watches,

quietly.

At just such

a storm-tossed,

uncertain juncture,

this man who once,

brick by brick,

built it up with his own hands,

departed, in such

an abrupt way,

and forever,

left the stage.

Speaking of this,

I want to talk with you about

a deeper layer of this.

The era we live in

is used to

casting all its applause and gaze

onto those

faces standing in the spotlight.

We remember the CEO,

remember the stars,

remember those

names brought up again and again.

But Claude's life

is like

a gentle, silent reminder:

behind every

tall tower we look up to,

there are people like this,

willing

to spend a lifetime in the shadows,

unknown,

yet carrying the heaviest cornerstone

steadily

on their own shoulders.

At the end of the show,

I want to leave you

with two questions.

First,

back in your own life —

is there such a 'person behind the scenes',

one you rarely see,

even rarely think of,

yet it is precisely he

who has always, for you,

quietly

held up a piece of the sky?

Second,

when a person

pours out a whole lifetime

to build a city,

and this city

is, at this moment, storm-tossed,

is his sudden departure

the ending

of one story,

or the beginning

of another

hard journey?

These two questions

have no standard answer.

But they

are worth your

thinking about slowly.

Listen again

Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.