ECO名人-人就一辈子100篇--《经济学家》读译61-70.doc

经济学家读译参考 Translated & Edited by Chen JilongTEXT 61How green is your Apple?你的“苹果”有多绿？（陈继龙 编译）Aug 25th 2006From The Economist print edition（1）DISPOSING of computers, monitors, printers and mobile phones is a large and growing environmental problem. Some 20m-50m tonnes of “e-waste” is produced each year, most of which ends up in the developing world. According to the European Union, e-waste is now the fastest-growing category. Last month new rules came into force in both Europe and California to oblige the industry to take responsibility for it. In Europe the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive limits the use of many toxic materials in new electronic products sold in the European Union. In California mobile-phone r_ must now take back and recycle old phones.废旧电脑、显示器、打印机和手机的处理是一个日趋严重的环境问题。每年大约有25千万吨“电子废品”形成，其中大部分是在发展中国家。欧盟认为“电子废品”是目前增长速度最快的一类“产品”。上个月，欧洲和美国加里福利亚均出台了新规定，要求电子产业要为此负责。欧洲的有害物质限制使用规定对在欧盟范围内销售的新电子产品涉及的众多有毒物质都进行了使用限定。加里福利亚则规定手机零售商现在必须对旧手机进行回收和废物处理。Many technology firms are already eliminating certain chemicals and offering recycling schemes to help their customers dispose of obsolete equipment. Yet there is a wide variation in just how green different companies are, according to Greenpeace, an environmental l_ group that launches a new e-waste campaign on August 25th. （2）It has ranked the top mobile-phone and PC-makers based on their progress in eliminating chemicals and in taking back and recycling products.许多科技公司都正在去除产品中所含的特定化学物质，并向客户提供废物处理方案，以帮助其处理陈旧设备。不过据绿色和平组织称，不同公司的环保状况存在很大差异。该组织是一个环境问题游说团体，它于8月25日发起了一项新的“电子废品”运动。它根据手机和个人电脑制造商在去除化学物质以及产品回收和废物再利用方面的进展情况，对一些顶级制造商进行了排名。The RoHS rules ban products containing any more than trace amounts of lead, mercury, cadmium1 and other hazardous substances, including some nasty materials called brominated flame-retardants (BFRs)2. To do well in Greenpeaces rankings, firms must make sure both products and production processes are free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)3 and some BFRs that are not on the RoHS list. （3）Greenpeace also wants companies to adopt a “precautionary principle” and avoid chemicals if their environmental impact is uncertain.有害物质限制使用规定禁止生产含有超量铅、汞、镉以及包括某些难闻物质即溴化阻燃剂（BFR）在内的其它有害物质的产品。至于要想在绿色和平组织的排名中有出色表现，各公司还必须确认产品及生产过程中未使用聚氯乙烯（PVC）和有害物质限制使用规定中未列出的某些BFR。同时，绿色和平组织还希望各公司采取“预防原则”，从而避免使用某些对环境影响作用不确切的化学物质。Although not everyone will agree with Greenpeaces methodology, its ranking still has some merit. Nokia does well: the worlds biggest handset-maker has already got rid of PVC from its products and will eliminate all BFRs from next year. But, Greenpeace g_, it is not sufficiently “precautionary” in other areas. Dell, however, scores well in this regard and on recycling, but loses marks for not having phased out PVC and BFRs yet, though it has set a deadline for doing so.虽然绿色和平组织的这套方法没有得到所有人的认同，但它的排名仍旧具有一定的价值。诺基亚表现出色这个全球最大的手机制造商已经从其产品中去掉了PVC，并从明年起将去除所有溴化阻燃剂。（注：诺基亚排名第一）不过，绿色和平组织抱怨说，诺基亚在其它化学物质的“预防”使用上做得还不够。戴尔公司在这方面以及废物再利用上表现得就很好，但是由于尚未去除PVC和BFR而被扣分，尽管它已经为此制定了最后期限。（注：戴尔排名第二）Perhaps the biggest surprise is the poor rating of Apple. （4）Despite having an image steeped in Californias counterculture4, it is one of the worst heel-draggers, says Zeina Al-Hajj of Greenpeace. The company insists that it has a strong record in recycling and has eliminated BFRs and PVC from the main plastic parts in its products. It scores badly because it has not eliminated such chemicals altogether, has not set time limits for doing so, does not provide a full list of regulated substances and is insufficiently precautionary for Greenpeaces t_. As for recycling, the 9,500 tonnes of electronics Apple says it has recycled since 1994 is puny5 given the amount of equipment the firm sells, says Ms Al-Hajj. Apple responds that many of its products (such as the iPod music-player) are small and light. Greenpeace points out that Nokia also makes tiny devices, but is much better at recycling them.最出人意料的可能是苹果电脑的糟糕名次。绿色和平组织的哈吉说，虽然苹果公司深受加里福利亚反传统文化的熏陶而给人以不拘一格的印象，但它的表现仍然最糟糕（拖了清除电子废品运动的后腿）。该公司坚称有记录表明自己在废物再利用方面做得很好，而且也已经去除了其产品的主要塑料部件中的BFR和PVC。它之所以得分低，是因为它并未完全消除此类化学物质，也没有为此制定最后期限，没有给出一份完整的校准物质名单，没有按照绿色和平组织的意思完全做到防患于未然。至于废物回收再利用问题，哈吉女士说，苹果公司自称从1994年以来已回收了9500吨电子元件，但相比其产品总销量而言，这是微不足道的。苹果公司回应说，其多数产品体积都比较小，也不重（如iPod音乐播放器），而绿色和平组织却指出，诺基亚生产的也是小型装置，但在回收再利用方面表现得就比苹果公司好很多。（5）Alas for Apple, whatever the pros and cons of Greenpeaces ranking criteria, consumers are likely to be influenced by it anyway. Comically, Greenpeace is now considering a plan to promote its e-waste campaign via podcastinga technology that Apple helped to p_.无论人们赞成还是反对绿色和平组织的排名标准，苹果公司都会不好受，因为消费者多少都有可能受到这一排名的影响。搞笑的是，绿色和平组织目前正考虑计划通过播客来推进其电子废品行动，而这一技术恰恰就是苹果公司帮助推广的。 QUIZ1. 根据上下文和英文释义，补全单词：r_（n. a person or business that sells goods to customers in a shop）l_（n. an attempt to persuade a government to change a law, make a new law etc）g_（v. to keep complaining in an unhappy way = moan）t_（n. the kind of things that someone likes）p_（v. to make something well known and liked）2. 英译汉（将划线部分英文翻译成中文）：NOTES(LONGMAN)1. cadmium n. 镉2. brominated flame-retardants (BFRs) n. 溴化阻燃剂3. polyvinyl chloride (PVC) n. 聚氯乙烯4. counterculture n. 反正统（主流）文化 5. puny adj. 小的，微不足道的KEY TO QUIZ1. retailers 零售商（wholesaler 批发商） lobby 游说（团） grumbles 抱怨，发牢骚 tastes 偏好，喜好popularize 普及，推广2.（见译文，仅供参考，欢迎指正）TEXT 62Chinas pied piper马首是瞻（陈继龙 编译）（译注：pied piper原意为“吹笛手”，源自一则古老的故事，说的是一个人通过吹笛子将老鼠引入河中淹死，从而清除了德国一座小镇上的所有老鼠。可后来他由于没有得到任何报酬，就再次吹起笛子把镇上所有的小孩都带走了。后来人们用“pied piper”比喻“有很多追随者、受到人们喜爱或崇拜的人”。）Sep 21st 2006From The Economist print editionON A rainy weekend this month 10,000 businessmen, hobby traders and “netheads” gathered in Hangzhou, a pretty Chinese city near Shanghai, to talk about e-commerce. Most went to meet and s_ tips with other online traders. All came to the “Alifest” to sit at the feet of Jack Ma, a pixie1-sized, boyish 42-year-old who is the founder of Alibaba, an e-commerce firm, and is regarded as the godfather of the internet in China. In a country where businessmen are viewed with suspicion, his popularity is unusual. （1）When he was invited recently to speak in Beijings Great Hall of the People, Mr Ma needed six bodyguards to escape a mob2 of online traders waiting outside to give him a hug.9月的一个周末，天下着雨，一万名商人、业余生意人和“网络老手”聚集在上海附近的美丽的中国城市杭州，谈起了电子商务。过去他们大多数人都是在网上与其他商人互相交流经验，而这次他们都来参加“阿里巴巴盛宴”，拜会马云。马云身材瘦小，42岁，看上去像一个男孩，他是阿里巴巴电子商务公司的创始人，被认为是中国互联网的“教父”。在一个人们都对商人心存疑虑的国度，他能受到广泛欢迎，非同寻常。最近他应邀赴北京人民大会堂演讲时，为了避开在外等候与他拥抱的众多网络生意人，他不得不找来了6个贴身护卫。Mr Mas rock-star status reflects how he has enabled thousands of his countrymen to become their own bosses, build businesses and make money. Alibaba has become the worlds largest online business-to-business (B2B) marketplace, Asias most popular online auction site and, as a result of its a_ of Yahoo! China, the 12th most popular website in the world. That combination makes Alibaba one of the few credible challengers to the global online elite of Google, eBay, Yahoo! and Amazon. 从马云的巨星地位可以看出，他是如何使得数以千计的中国人成为老板，从而能够经营自己的生意并挣到钱的。阿里巴巴已经成为世界最大的B2B交易场所、亚洲访问人次最多的在线拍卖站点，而且在并购雅虎中国之后成为访问人次位居世界第十二位的网站。这一并购也使得阿里巴巴成为Google、eBay以及Amazon等全球网络精锐公司为数不多的几个值得信任的对手之一。Alibaba is far from being just a Chinese knock-off3 of these American giants. Indeed, they have borrowed ideas from him. “Jack is not just a Chinese v_, but a global one. Western companies are taking pages from the Alibaba book,” says Bob Peck, an analyst at Bear Stearns. At Alibabas heart sit two B2B websites ( and ), one a marketplace for firms from across the world to trade in English, the other a domestic Chinese service. Rival e-commerce outfits, such as Americas Ariba and Commerce One, sought to cut multinationals procurement4 costs. （2）In contrast, Alibabas intention was to build markets for Chinas vast number of small and medium-sized enterprises, which make everything from cufflinks5 to motorcycles, by allowing them to trade with each other and linking them to global supply chains. Today, traders in America buy from Alibaba and resell on eBay.阿里巴巴绝非仅仅是这些美国顶尖公司在中国的一个“仿制品”。实际上，这些公司还曾借鉴过马云的经营理念。Bear Sterns的分析家鲍勃佩克说：“马云不仅在中国是一个有着远见卓识的人，在全球同样也是。西方公司正在向阿里巴巴学习。”阿里巴巴的核心部分是两个B2B网站（和），一个是供全世界的公司用英语进行交易的场所，另一个则服务于中国国内。诸如美国Ariba和Commerce One公司这样的电子商务竞争者已经试图削减跨国采购成本，而阿里巴巴的目标却是通过让包括生产衬衫链扣、摩托车在内的绝大多数中国中小型企业进行贸易往来，并把它们与全球连锁供应商连到一起，从而为其打造市场。今天，美国的商人开始从阿里巴巴那里采购，然后拿到eBay上转售。Mr Ma has also led the charge into online communities and social networking, both now booming areas. In 2003 he added a consumer auction site, Taobao, that allowed instant-messaginga feature later added to his business sites. In contrast with eBays relative anonymity, Taobao lets buyers and sellers get chummy6 through messaging and voicemail, and by posting photographs and personal details on the site. Turning e-commerce into a community of “friends” has been critical in a country beset by a lack of trust. And with 70% of Chinas web users aged under 30, Taobaos informal, blog-like format struck a chord7attracting more than 20m users. Many have now gone professional, buying goods w_ on Alibaba and reselling them on Taobao. （3）The story goes that, shortly after visiting Alibabas offices and seeing Taobao, Meg Whitman, eBays boss, bought Skype, an internet-telephony start-up, for its instant-messaging.马云还是第一个把收费服务引入网络社区和社交网络的人，如今这两个领域发展速度都非常快。2003年，他增建了一个消费者拍卖站点即淘宝网，实现了即时通讯功能。这一功能后来也被他加入了他的贸易网站。同eBay匿名交易不同的是，淘宝网通过即时通讯和语音邮件，以及在站点上张贴照片和个人详细资料，使得买卖双方建立了亲密的关系。在一个深受诚信不足困扰的国家，将电子商务变成一个遍布“朋友”的社区已然成为关键之举。而且，对于7030岁以下的中国网络用户而言，淘宝网不拘一格的博客式风格让他们都怦然心动已经吸引了超过2千万的用户。许多人现在都已经逐渐走向职业化，他们从阿里巴巴批发商品，然后再到淘宝网上转售。据报道，eBay老总梅格惠特曼在访问阿里巴巴办公室并了解淘宝网后不久，就收购了新兴网络电话公司Skype，原因就在于它具有即时通讯功能。Alibaba has also outflanked8 the opposition in online payments. Aware that most Chinese do not have credit cards, Mr Ma introduced AliPay, a system that keeps cash in escrow9 until goods arrive. That trick for getting round settlement risk was later adopted in China by eBay. （3）Chinas powerful banking regulator has a hawkish eye on AliPay, which is, in effect, an online bank with thousands of credit histories (something mainland banks crave). Taobaos success has been startling. Its market share jumped from 8% to 59% between 2003 and 2005, while eBay Chinas slid from 79% to 36%. Mr Ma trumpets that it is “game over” for eBay China. Many industry watchers expect eBay to retreat and sell out to a local outfit such as Tencent (a rising star in auctions) or Alibaba itselfas Yahoo! China did. 在在线付款方面，阿里巴巴也有过人之处。马云认识到大多数中国人都没有信用卡，于是就引入了Alipay（支付宝），它可以在到货之前将所付金额一直交由第三方保管。这一降低货款交付风险的技术后来也被eBay在中国采用。强大的中国银行业调控部门对Alipay的态度则比较强硬，因为Alipay实际上是一个拥有数千条存款记录（而这又是中国大陆银行所渴望的）的网络银行。淘宝网的成功令人咋舌。2003年至2005年间，它的市场占有率已从8跃升到59，而eBay在中国的市场占有率则从79跌至36%。马云不无自豪地宣称，eBay中国的“游戏结束”了。产业界众多观察人士预计，eBay将退出中国，并全部转售给一家中国公司，比如腾讯（拍卖业后起之秀）或者就是阿里巴巴，一如雅虎中国的选择。Mr Ma is also at the forefront of the trend to integrate paid search with e-commerce. Alibabas takeover of Yahoo! China last October gave the firm a search engine just as Google was demonstrating the huge potential of paid search, and the deal a_ eBays link-ups with portals (Yahoo! in America, and Google elsewhere). Baidu, Chinas main search engine, is a strong rival. But online advertising is surging in China and small firms are the biggest users of paid search, giving Alibaba an edge.马云同样也走在了搜索付费与电子商务整合潮流的前沿。去年十月收购雅虎中国后，正当Google展示付费搜索的巨大发展潜力之时，阿里巴巴也拥有了自己的搜索引擎，比与许多门户网站如美国雅虎和中国以外的Google等建立链接的eBay抢先一步。中国最大的搜索引擎百度是阿里巴巴的一个强劲对手。不过由于在线广告正在中国兴起，并且小型公司使用付费搜索都比较多，因此阿里巴巴也获得了一定的优势。Mr Ma seldom mentions technology. Whereas most internet e_ are geeks10 (think of Yahoo!s or Googles founders), Mr Ma first touched a computer in 1995 on a trip to Seattle. “Someone as dumb as me should be able to use technology,” he says. He insists on simplicity. A new feature is rejected unless he can understand and use it. Mr Mas approach to running the company is similarly independent. （4）He reads neither business books nor case studies, and ascribes Alibabas survival and success to the fact that he “knew nothing about technology, we didnt have a plan and we didnt have any money.” In truth, Mr Ma had powerful backers early on, including Goldman Sachs and Softbank. Yahoo!s Jerry Yangwho joined Mr Ma at the Alifestis also a longtime friend. In any case, he has money aplenty today: as part of its takeover by Alibaba, Yahoo! paid $1 billion for a 40% stake in the company.马云很少谈及技术问题。大多数互联网创业人士都是行家里手（比如雅虎和Google的创始人），可马云却是在1995年前往西雅图的旅途中才第一次接触电脑。他说：“跟我一样傻乎乎的人应该能够利用技术。”他力求简单。一个新的特色必须要让他能懂会用，否则就得被放弃。马云管理公司的方式也同样不拘一格。他既不读商务书籍，也不看商业案例分析。在他看来，阿里巴巴能够站住脚并获得成功，归根结底是因为他“对科技一无所知，没有任何计划，也没有一分资金。”事实上，马云很早就有了强有力的支持后盾，包括高盛公司和日本软件销售商Softbank。参加马云“阿里巴巴盛宴”聚会的雅虎总裁杨致远也是马云的多年好友。不管怎么说，如今马云已经有了丰裕的资金作为阿里巴巴接收雅虎中国的一部分，雅虎支付了10亿美金以获得该公司40的股份。（5）Only one thing is missing: profits. As the boss of a private company in no rush to join the stockmarket, Mr Ma is relaxed. Revenues should double to more than $200m this year. But Alibaba has so far pursued market share rather than revenue. The global business site charges its users, but Taobao does not; an attempt to do so this year failed. Mr Ma says it is too early: only 30m of Chinas 120m online users have bought anything online. He wants to help the market growcreating 1m jobs in China in the next three yearsnot stifle it with charges. He will have to t_ profitability if he is really to call the tune11.惟一不简单的就是利润。作为不紧不慢迈入股市的一家私有公司的老板，马云可谓优哉悠哉。今年总收入应该会增加一倍，达到2亿美金以上。不过，阿里巴巴迄今一直追求的并不是收入，而是市场份额。全球的商务网站都要对用户收费，而淘宝网却不；今年本来曾经有过收费的尝试，但最终还是取消了。马云说现在收费还为时尚早中国1.2亿网络用户中仅有3千万人曾在网上购物。他希望促进这个市场进一步壮大今后三年内在中国创造100万个就业岗位，而不是用收费来扼杀之。假如他当真想成为市场的主宰，那他就将不得不努力解决好盈利的问题。 QUIZ1. 根据上下文和英文释义，补全单词：s_（v. to give something to someone and get something in return = exchange）a_（n. the act of getting land, power, money etc）v_（n. someone who has clear ideas and strong feelings about the way something should be in the future）w_（n. the business of selling goods in large quantities at low prices to other businesses, rather than to the general public）a_（v. to do something before someone else）e_（n. someone who starts a new business or arranges business deals in order to make money, often in a way that involves financial risks）t_（v. to try to deal with a difficult problem）2. 英译汉（将划线部分英文翻译成中文）：NOTES(LONGMAN)1. pixie n. 小精灵，小仙子2. mob n. 群，帮3. knock-off n. 仿制品，冒牌货4. procurement n.获得，取得 v. procure 5. cufflink n. 男子衬衫袖的链扣6. chummy adj.友好的，关系亲密的（friendly）7. struck a chord 亦作touch a chord （with somebody） 指to do or say something that people feel is familiar or true，即触动心弦，使人回想起某事，引起共鸣，摸透别人的心意8. outflank v. 包抄；胜过（对手，尤指策略上）9. escrow n. 契约，合同（由第三者代为保管）（如：a property to be held in escrow由第三者代为保管的财产）10. geek n. techie（计算机领域的行家）一词的非正式用法，有贬低的意思。Longman的解释为：someone who is not popular because they wear unfashionable clothes, do not know how to behave in social situations, or do strange things = nerd，古板的人，古怪的人，不合群的人11. call the tune 指“to be in a position of authority so that you can give orders and make decisions”，即“颐指气使，发号施令”KEY TO QUIZ1. swap 交换 acquisition 获得；买进visionary 有远见的人 wholesale 批发，趸售anticipated 比抢先一步entrepreneurs 企业家，创业者 tackle 处理，解决2.（见译文，仅供参考，欢迎指正）TEXT 63Sickening spinach讨厌的菠菜（陈继龙 编译）Sep 21st 2006 | PETALUMA, CALIFORNIAFrom The Economist print editionA SMALL card sits above an empty shelf in the Whole Foods store in Petaluma, California. “Consumers are advised NOT to eat fresh bagged spinach at this time. （1）As a precaution, Whole Foods Market has temporarily removed ALL fresh spinach and fresh salad mixes containing spinach from its stores.”加利福尼亚佩塔卢马的“全有食品”商店一座空货架上方悬挂着一张小卡片，上面写着：“特此通知各位消费者，暂时请勿食用袋装新鲜菠菜。为了预防起见，全有食品店已临时撤走所有新鲜菠菜及含有来自该食品店的菠菜的新鲜沙拉混合料。”On September 14th the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta issued the first of several daily alerts concerning an outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7, a potentially lethal pathogen typically associated with adulterated1 beef. Investigators had traced it to consumption of fresh r_ spinach sold in bags. （2）A few days later, an investigation conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had narrowed down the culprits to a California-based grower, Natural Selection Foods, and at least one of its distributors. So far, a 77-year-old woman in Wisconsin has died from eating spinach traced back to Natural Selection, and 146 people in 23 states are ill, some very seriously. Half of the victims have been hospitalised, a high rate that may indicate an especially virulent strain of E. coli.9月14日，亚特兰大疾病控制与预防中心发布了第一份有关O157:H7大肠杆菌暴发传染的每日警报，此后又发布了数次。O157:H7大肠杆菌是一种可能导致死亡的病原菌，一般与掺假牛肉有关。调查人员已经在消费者购买的袋售新鲜生菠菜中发现了这种病菌。几天后，美国食品与药品管理局（FDA）缩小了调查范围，专门对位于加利福尼亚的菠菜种植商“天然选择食品”公司及其至少一家经销商展开了调查。迄今为止，威斯康星州一名77岁的妇女由于食用了“天然选择”菠菜而死亡，并且已有23个州共146人发病，其中有些人病情非常严重。半数受害者都已住院，如此高的住院率表明这可能是一种毒性特别强的大肠杆菌菌株。Investigators continue to search for the cause of the outbreak. （3）They have scoured the companys processing plant as well as the farms that grow the spinach, looking at everything from irrigation water to the proximity2 of livestock, with no sure connections made so far. The fact that Natural Selection is in Californias Salinas Valley has raised alarms, however. According to the FDA, fresh produce from the valley, including spinach, has been the s_ of nine E. coli outbreaks since 1995. 调查人员继续对暴发根源进行了调查。他们对该食品公司的加工厂和菠菜农场进行了仔细检查，检查内容包括灌溉用水和周边的家畜等所有情况，到目前为止尚未发现确切相关的问题。不过，“天然选择”公司位于加利福尼亚萨莱纳山谷这一情况已经引起了调查人员的警觉。FDA称，1995年以来，有9次大肠杆菌暴发感染的源头都是产自萨莱纳山谷、包括菠菜在内的新鲜食品。Moreover Natural Selection, which supplies several supermarket c_ across the United States with co