我的经验－提高很有效的每日英语－尤其适合学经济的

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11月25日每日英语--美国梦的阴暗面

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Patti Waldmeir: Dark side of the American dream
By Patti Waldmeir
Published: November 23 2003 16:06 | Last Updated: November 23 2003 16:06


I went to Wal-Mart the other day to gaze on the dark side of the American dream - and I came home with Christmas lights. Frugality got the better of my philosophy. I went to the store, at the crack of a November dawn, determined to feel the pain of the Wal-Mart workforce, which - if lawsuits are any guide - are held in a peculiarly American form of serfdom.


Allegedly underpaid, overworked, under-insured and unfairly promoted, Wal-Mart workers have been thrust into the centre of a very old argument about how America makes its money.

Is it right to exploit the labour of immigrants willing to risk penury as a stepping-stone to a prosperity that may never materialise? Is that just the way capitalism works: survival of the cheapest?

Or have we moved beyond that state of nature, to a world where immigrants are people too, and deserve a union wage? Wal-Mart has suddenly become a lightning-rod for a new national debate about justice and capitalism.

But as soon as I entered the vast car park of the local Wal-Mart, and walked through its oversized door, I forgot there was a cultural debate waging around what Business Week calls the "Beast of Bentonville" (after Wal-Mart's backwaters headquarters in Arkansas).

I noticed the apparently weary immigrant staff (and the equally weary immigrant clientele) but what really caught my eye was the full- sized toy kitchen for less than $30 (

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11月27日每日英语--美国梦的阴暗面

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Patti Waldmeir: Dark side of the American dream
By Patti Waldmeir
Published: November 23 2003 16:06 | Last Updated: November 23 2003 16:06


I went to Wal-Mart the other day to gaze on the dark side of the American dream - and I came home with Christmas lights. Frugality got the better of my philosophy. I went to the store, at the crack of a November dawn, determined to feel the pain of the Wal-Mart workforce, which - if lawsuits are any guide - are held in a peculiarly American form of serfdom.


Allegedly underpaid, overworked, under-insured and unfairly promoted, Wal-Mart workers have been thrust into the centre of a very old argument about how America makes its money.

Is it right to exploit the labour of immigrants willing to risk penury as a stepping-stone to a prosperity that may never materialise? Is that just the way capitalism works: survival of the cheapest?

Or have we moved beyond that state of nature, to a world where immigrants are people too, and deserve a union wage? Wal-Mart has suddenly become a lightning-rod for a new national debate about justice and capitalism.

But as soon as I entered the vast car park of the local Wal-Mart, and walked through its oversized door, I forgot there was a cultural debate waging around what Business Week calls the "Beast of Bentonville" (after Wal-Mart's backwaters headquarters in Arkansas).

I noticed the apparently weary immigrant staff (and the equally weary immigrant clientele) but what really caught my eye was the full- sized toy kitchen for less than $30 (

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11 月24 日每日英语--1日元创办一家新公司? Set up a new company for a yen?

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11 月24 日
1日元创办一家新公司? Set up a new company for a yen?


9个月前，日本政府将1日元开公司成为可能。在日本，1日元 只够买根口香糖。
Nine months ago the Japanese government made it possible to set up a new company with just one yen - the price of a stick of chewing gum.

日本的消费水平在世界上名列前茅，但长久以来，日本缺少创业精神被视为一大结构性缺陷。这是日本经济业绩乏善可陈一大原因。
A lack of business innovation has long been recognised as one of the structural weaknesses behind the lacklustre economic performance of one of the world's most expensive countries.

在全球创业观察（Global Entrepreneurship Monitor，简称 GEM)对37个国家的创业和经济发展所做的研究报告中，日本排名垫底。
Research by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a 37-country study of start-up business activity and economic growth, put Japan at the bottom of the league.

在日本，参与创业或成立新公司不足3年半的企业家人数仅占总人口的2%，而在中国、韩国和泰国，这个数字分别为12%，14%和18%。
Just 2 per cent of the population were involved in starting a new business or owning a business less than 42 months old. In China the figure was 12 per cent, in Korea 14 per cent and in Thailand 18 per cent.

为鼓励创业，日本政府承诺每年将新公司数目增加1倍；到2006年，力争达到36万家。1日元办公司的优惠政策由此而来。
Hence the one-yen initiative, which is part of a drive to foster entrepreneurial activity under which the Japanese government has committed itself to doubling the number of enterprises established each year to 360,000 by 2006.

然而，自今年2月新政策启动以来，政府只收到268份申请，实际新成立的“1日元”公司也只有178家。
However, since February only 268 applications have been received under the new rules and just 178 one-yen companies have actually been set up.

管理合法公司组建的日本法务省称，在经历了前两年的下滑后，虽然2003年新增公司数量比上年同期增长了8%，但仍大大低于日本原有水平和国际平均水平。
While new business formation has risen by 8 per cent year-on-year in 2003 after two years of decline, according to the Ministry of Justice, which monitors legal incorporations, it is still well below the levels previously seen in Japan and still stands significantly below international averages.

此外，日本仍泥潭深陷，不能自拔。日本不仅缺少企业家，而且融资渠道不畅，加上日本文化中对风险事业的反感，都阻碍了这些为数不多的企业家的发展。
Instead, the country remains trapped in the worst of all possible worlds - not only does it not have very many entrepreneurs in the first place, but those few it does possess are being stunted by a lack of financing channels and a cultural aversion to risk-taking.

日本对企业家的态度似乎与其它国家迥然不同，是造成这一现状的原因部分。
Part of the reason for this state of affairs is that attitudes towards entrepreneurs in Japan seem to differ from the rest of the world.

例如，当被问道企业家是否具有社会价值时，在接受抽样调查的美国人中，表示认同的占91%，而赞成这种说法的日本人仅占受访者的8%。
When, for example, a sample of US citizens was asked if entrepreneurs were socially valuable, 91 per cent said yes. Just 8 per cent of Japanese respondents agreed with them.

来自日本总务省的数据也反映出这一价值取向。在过去的20年里，日本每年意欲成为企业家的人数超过100万，但在同一时期内，实际新成立公司的平均数已从66%下降至31%。
Figures from the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications reflect this trend. Over the last 20 years the number of would-be entrepeneurs in Japan has been over 1m annually, but the number of actual start-ups has declined from an average of 66 per cent to 31 per cent over the same period.

这些数字揭示出一个令人沮丧的事实。尽管日本政府推出了一系列扶持新公司的举措，但在创造良好的创业环境方面，他们正被亚洲地区的竞争对手迎头赶上。
The numbers tell a depressing story. Despite the government's moves to foster young companies, the country's efforts to create an environment that encourages new businesses are being outpaced by its Asian regional rivals.

显而易见，日本缺少资本家的创业精神，而这与日本没有一个成熟的融资市场也有很大关系。
Japan's apparent lack of capitalist endeavour also has much to do with the lack of a mature financing market.

日本经济产业省提供的一组数据最为生动地说明了这个问题。美国大约有40万名“天使”投资人准备为新公司提供资金，而日本只有1500人。美国风险企业中心(US Venture Enterprise Centre) 的数据显示，2001年，日本股 票形式的风险资本投资约为1.02万亿日元（合93.4亿美元），比美国少30倍。
The most dramatic illustration of this is the fact that there are around 400,000 "angel" investors prepared to finance start-up companies in the US compared to just 1,500 in Japan, according to the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Investment. Venture capital investment in Japan in 2001 on a stock basis was around Y1,020bn ($9.34bn) - 30 times less than in the US - according to the US Venture Enterprise Centre.

经济产业省对日本创业情况所做的调查显示，62%的企业表示，筹集资金是他们在尝试创业时遇到的最大难题，80%的企业则被迫动用自己的资金。
An economy ministry survey of creative entrepreneurial activity revealed that 62 per cent of enterprises said raising funds was the main challenge when trying to start up a business, and 80 per cent were forced to use their own capital.

在日本，创办公司的成本也比较高。一家支持中小企业的政府机构—国民生活公库(National Life Finance Corporation) 对新公司所做的调查显示，在美国，创业资 金等于或低于2万美元的新公司占58%，而日本只有25%的新公司以低于4.5日元的资金起家。同时，据日本银行称，自1994年以来，在各大银行，区域性银行，信用社和政府金融机构中，金融机构对中小企业发放的贷款有所下降。这主要是因为中小企业存在不良贷款问题。
Start-up costs are also high. A survey of new companies by the National Life Finance Corporation - a government agency which supports small and medium-sized businesses - revealed that 58 per cent of start-ups in the US used $20,000 or less, while in Japan only 25 per cent started with less than Y45,000. At the same time, according to the Bank of Japan, lending by financial institutions to small and medium enterprises has been falling since 1994 at large banks, regional banks, credit associations and government financial institutions, mainly as a result of their non-performing loan problems.

对此，政府已采取行动，尝试填补金融机构产生的缺口，但贷款额度较小。
In response, the government has taken action to try and fill the gap created by the financial institutions, but the numbers are small.

成立于2000年的日本小企业金融公司(The Japan Finance Corporation for Small Business)，目前已提供了总额高达 3亿美元的802项贷款。日本商工中金银行(Shoko Chukin Bank) 也为310家新公司提供了总计2800万美元的无抵 押贷款。
The Japan Finance Corporation for Small Business - which was established in 2000 - has provided 802 loans which amount to $300m, and the Shoko Chukin bank has offered zero collateral loans to 310 start-ups totalling $28m.

日本政府已经意识到，缺乏创业热情是一个十分严重的问题。政府也已采取行动，尝试解决这个问题。
The Japanese government has recognised that the country's lack of entrepreneurial activity is a significant problem and has taken action to try and solve it.

但正如伟大的英国经济学家约翰•梅纳德•凯恩斯(John Maynard Keynes)所说的那样：“发展新观念并不太困难 ，难的是如何摆脱旧观念。”
But as the great British economist John Maynard Keynes put it: "The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones." xref Japanese exports up,

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11 月21 日每日英语--中国必须适应新角色 China must adapt

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11 月21 日
中国必须适应新角色 China must adapt


有人生来伟大，有人获得伟大，有人肩负起伟大的使命。就国家规模、经济成就和对世界经济开放的程度而言，中国三者兼有。中国幅员辽阔，并在过去20多年中实现了异乎寻常的经济增长，对世界产生了重要影响。如何对待这个亚洲巨人的崛起，成为我们时代一个无法逃避的问题。
Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. By virtue of its size, economic achievements and openness to the world economy, China falls into all three categories. It is huge, has managed extraordinary growth for over two decades and has a global impact. Managing the rise of Asia's giant has become an imperative of our era.

在这一方面，前人的例子并不令人乐观。当新强人出现时，现有的强权并不甘心，怀疑日增，直至爆发冲突。修西得底斯（Thucydides）描述了类似的悲剧：公元前5世纪发生在斯巴达和雅典之间的伯罗奔尼撒战争。在20世纪，挑战者和现有秩序维护者之间的冲突，造成了两次世界大战以及冷战时期。经过一个世纪奋斗之后，美国这个19世纪的暴发户，成为21世纪初的“超级强权”。现在美国面临着潜在的从未有过的最大挑战者：这个新来者拥有四倍于美国的人口。
Precedents are not encouraging: a rising power emerges; incumbent powers challenge the newcomer; suspicion grows and conflict breaks out. Thucydides wrote about one such calamity: the Peloponnesian war between Sparta and Athens in the fifth century BC. In the 20th century, conflicts between challengers and incumbents created two world wars and a cold war. At the end of a century of struggle, the US, an upstart in the 19th century, has turned into the "hyperpower" of the early 21st. Now the US confronts potentially the biggest rival of all: a newcomer with more than four times its population.

幸运的是，美国和新崛起的中国发生严重军事冲突的可能性几乎不存在。核弹幽灵、美国的常规军力、对付伊斯兰恐怖主义的共同利益，最重要的是，两国对经济繁荣共同的渴望，足以防止任何形式的神经错乱。
Fortunately, armed conflict between the US and a rising China hardly seems a serious danger. The spectre of nuclear weapons, the conventional military strength of the US, a common interest in combating Islamist terrorism and, most important, a shared desire for prosperity should suffice to guard against such insanity.

但是，公开冲突并非唯一的风险。美国的崛起对19世纪末期的自由经济秩序产生了破坏性的影响。1870年代，源源不断的廉价谷物引起欧洲的保护主义。这种保护主义的现代版本便是欧洲共同农业政策。美国的贸易政策破坏了英国单方面的自由贸易承诺。美国宏观经济波动动摇了金本位制。要不是因为大萧条，可能也不会出现希特勒和东条英机。
Yet open conflict is not the only risk. The rise of the US had devastating consequences for the liberal economic order of the late 19th century. The outpouring of cheap grain in the 1870s led to the agricultural protectionism in Europe whose contemporary manifestation is the common agricultural policy. US trade policies undermined the British commitment to unilateral free trade. US macroeconomic instability destroyed the gold standard. Without the great depression, there would have been no Hitler and no Tojo.

这位有竞争力的新来者也拥有无穷无尽的供给潜力，中国是劳动集约型制造业，就像当年美国的谷物一样。作为一个贸易强国，中国即将超过日本，在十多年后，会与美国和欧盟并驾齐驱。中国也是一个生产率不断提高的低通货膨胀国家，外汇储备已经达到3800亿美元，仅次于日本，位于世界第二。已经有人指责中国向全世界出口通货紧缩了。
China is for labour-intensive manufactures what the Americas were for grain: a competitive new supplier with nigh-inexhaustible potential. It is on the brink of surpassing Japan as a trading power and, within a decade, will match the US and the European Union. It is a low-inflation country, with soaring productivity and foreign currency reserves that have reached $380bn, the world's second largest after Japan's. It is already accused of spreading deflation worldwide.

如今，幸运的是，在中国和美国之间，存在着一种共生关系。中国“出”钱，美国花钱。美国追求扩张性的货币政策，而中国在帮美国抑止通货膨胀。双方各取所需：美国人花的比他们挣的多，而中国人喜欢储备带来的安全感。但是，这种方便的姻缘关系隐含着日后闹离婚的隐患：美国与中国日益增长的贸易赤字，常常成为美国政治家蛊惑人心的借口。在通货膨胀的威胁面前，美国的经常帐户赤字使美元这个主要的世界货币十分脆弱。
Today, fortunately, a symbiotic relationship exists between China and the US. The latter spends, while the former lends. The US pursues aggressive monetary easing, while China curbs US inflation. Both sides obtain what they want: Americans spend more than they earn; China enjoys the security of its reserves. But this marriage of convenience contains the seed of a bitter divorce: the growing bilateral US trade deficit with China is open to populist exploitation, while the US current account deficit makes the world's key currency vulnerable to an inflationary collapse.

即使避免了发生最坏的事情，有两点也是很清楚的：一是中国必须充分考虑其政策和进步在世界上引起的反响。二是需要赋予中国对世界经济演进的共同责任。可幸的是，目前世界存在一种制度性框架，这个框架可以容纳新生的强权。而一百多年前则没有这样的框架。这方面的伟大成就，是美国的功劳，即使现在美国发现由此造成的束缚令其不快。
Even if the worst does not happen, two points are clear: China must take full account of the global repercussions of its policies and its progress; China also needs to be given joint responsibility for the evolution of the world economy. Fortunately, the world possesses an institutional framework within which to accommodate new powers, something lacking a century ago. For that great achievement, the US deserves credit, even if it now finds the resulting constraints irksome.

中国是一个西方阵营以外的发展中大国，由对民主和人权概念持抵制态度的共产党统治。在处理仍然是西方主导的世界经济事务中，并不是一个天然的参与者。没有中国的参与，七国集团发现其重要性在日益减弱。七国集团包括了美国、日本、德国、法国、英国、意大利和加拿大在内的央行行长和财政部长。而“Quad”集团---- 一个由美国、欧盟、日本和加拿大贸易部长组成的非正式集团，甚至更显荒唐。中国可能还不是成熟的金融强国，因为其货币尚不能自由兑换，但是，中国已经是一个贸易强国。
China, a huge, non-western developing country, ruled by a communist party resistant to notions of democracy and human rights, is far from a natural participant in managing what remains a western-dominated world economy. Yet the Group of Seven, which includes the finance ministers and central bank governors of the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Canada, will find itself increasingly irrelevant without full Chinese participation. The "Quad", an informal grouping of the trade ministers of the US, the EU, Japan and Canada, will be even more absurd. China may not yet be a fully fledged financial power, since it lacks a convertible currency, but it is already a huge trading entity.

由于中国的战略极为成功，如果要求对其作出改变，中国政府自然会加以拒绝。但是中国出口的高速增长，似乎走了这样一条道路，即低估的实际汇率，结果造成外汇储备的迅速积累，这必然会让其重要的经济伙伴感到不悦。中国也积累了回报率很低的美国政府债券，并使国内货币控制更为困难。那么中国应当怎样重估其在全球经济体系中的优先事宜呢？
The Chinese government will, naturally, resist changing any aspects of its outstandingly successful strategy. But the path of rapid export growth, built on what seems an undervalued real exchange rate and consequent rapid accumulation of foreign currency reserves, is bound to upset important economic partners. It also builds a mountain of low-return US government liabilities and makes domestic monetary control difficult. How then should China reassess its priorities within the global economic system?

第一，中国应当考虑迅速实现自由贸易，至少在制造业产品领域理应如此。现在，中国制造业产品的加权平均关税率已经降到7％。作为世界上最富有竞争力的制造业和外国直接投资的吸铁石，中国有能力把其市场向全世界产品开放。这将有助于提高其非歧视、自由贸易政策的声誉。这是中国增长所依赖的。这样做也可能有利于解除贸易保护主义者的武装，他们对中国的出口产品持抵制态度。甚至还可能提高对其具有社会敏感性的农业部门的保护。如果承诺实现制造业产品的自由贸易，中国便可能在重新启动多哈谈判方面扮演决定性的角色。
First, it should consider a rapid move towards free trade, at least in manufactures. Already its average weighted tariff on manufactures is down to 7 per cent. As the world's most competitive entrant into manufacturing and a magnet for foreign direct investment, it can afford to open its market to the products of the world. This would help give a big boost to non-discriminatory, liberal trade, on which its growth depends; it would help disarm protectionist resistance against its exports; and it would even increase relative protection in its own socially sensitive agricultural sector. Committed to free trade in manufactures, China could play a decisive role in relaunching the Doha round.

第二，中国积累的外汇储备使之获得加快过渡到灵活性汇率机制、金融自由化和货币自由兑换的机会。一个仍然存在大量贫困人口的国家，向世界上最富有的国家进行开放型投资，这实在是令人费解的。更不能容忍的是，其得到的回报是接受国的忿恨。更为糟糕的是，这样做推迟了急需的全球宏观经济调整。政策改变不需要在一夜之间现实。但是，考虑怎样来实施政策改变应当成为亟待优先考虑的事情。
Second, the accumulation of foreign currency reserves presents an opportunity for China to accelerate its move towards exchange rate flexibility, financial liberalisation and a convertible currency. It cannot make sense for a country burdened by vast poverty to make open-ended investments in the world's richest country. Worse, it receives its beneficiary's resentment in return. Worse still, it postpones needed global macroeconomic adjustments. Changes in policy do not need to be made overnight. But consideration of how they are to be executed needs to be an urgent priority.

对所有政策转型的相对经济重要性作出估价并不容易。中国的崛起将挑战美国在世界舞台上所起的作用。在过去几十年中，中国因沉溺于内斗而蒙受耻辱。在邓小平的领导下，中国转向复兴之路。到上世纪末为止，中国开始担负起世界责任。伟大的使命现在落到中国的肩上。世界经济的未来取决于中国以及现有的强权怎样适应它们的新角色。
All transitions in relative economic importance are difficult. China's rise will rival in significance the arrival of the US itself on the world scene. For many decades, a humiliated China indulged in the politics of resentment. Under Deng Xiaoping, it turned to renewal. By the end of the last century, China had come to bear global responsibilities. Greatness has now come to China. The future of the world economy depends on how both China and the incumbent powers adapt to their new roles.

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11 月20 日每日英语--CEO怎能同体育明星比? Athletes carry our dreams as no chief executive ever will

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11 月20 日
CEO怎能同体育明星比? Athletes carry our dreams as no chief executive ever will


启程前往澳洲参加橄榄球世界杯赛之前，南非队队员都必须参加一个为时三天的训练营。在那里，训练者要求队员脱得一丝不挂，跳进冰冷的湖中，在水下给橄榄球打气。有些运动员熬不住想出来，其中包括队长考恩•克瑞奇（Corne Krige），但训练者用枪逼着他们下水。
Before leaving for the Rugby World Cup in Australia, the South African team were ordered to attend a three-day training camp. There they were told to strip naked, jump into a freezing lake and pump up rugby balls underwater. Players who tried to climb out, including Corne Krige, the captain, were forced back at gunpoint.

根据《约翰内斯堡星期日时报》（Johannesburg Sunday Times）的报道，训练者还让队员裸体挤进一个洞里，用“天佑吾皇”的歌声，用新西兰赛前的战斗口号“哈卡”来捉弄他们。最后，他们总算获准去睡觉了。但每隔15分钟，就有枪声把他们惊醒。
The players, the Johannesburg Sunday Times reported, were also crammed naked into a hole, where they were taunted with renditions of "God Save the Queen" and the Haka, the New Zealand pre-match war cry. When they were finally permitted to sleep, they were woken every 15 minutes by gunfire.

商业领袖们质问，一流运动员的收入太高了，为什么没有人站出来反对？他们忘了，没有几个企业会在拓展训练课程中要求学员赤身裸体。还有，别看报上常有“舆论枪口下的首席执行官之类的标题，其实还是比喻，南非的运动员被枪指着训练，那才是货真价实。
Business leaders who ask why no one objects to how much top athletes earn should remember that few company Outward Bound courses require participants to strip, and that the headline "Chief executive under fire" is usually metaphorical.

过去，英国的首席执行官总是对体育明星、流行歌手、电视名人的收入口诛笔伐。大概在15年前，顶尖的企业执行官们年薪开始上百万的时候，如有不平者，他们则以商业歧视、妒忌文化这样的说法来解释。他们说，运动员踢几脚球，演员在舞台上蹦蹦跳跳，就能大把挣钱，生意人负责成千上万的工作岗位，为什么就不能拿高薪？他们还说，美国人就不对首席执行官们的收入说三道四。
Moaning about sports stars' earnings, as well as those of pop singers and television celebrities, was once the preserve of British chief executives. When, about 15 years ago, top UK executives starting earning more than

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11 月19 日每日英语--公开的秘密送花人 Lucy Kellaway: A not-so-secret admirer

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11 月19 日
公开的秘密送花人 Lucy Kellaway: A not-so-secret admirer


今天上午一上班，我第一件事就是给Interflora花店打电话，订了两束花，一束送给《金融时报》总编辑安德鲁•高尔斯(Andrew Gowers), 另一束送给坐在我隔壁的同事黛乐•布莱德肖(Della Bradshaw)。
The first thing I did when I got to work this morning was phone Interflora and order two bunches of flowers. One was for Andrew Gowers, the editor of the Financial Times, and one for Della Bradshaw, a colleague who sits in the next cubicle.

我口述了感谢词，感谢二位的辛勤工作，但是要求花店不留我的名字。我还多给了10英镑，让花店务必在三小时内将鲜花送达。
I dictated a message of thanks to each for their hard work, but asked for my name to be left off the card. I paid an extra ?0 to ensure the flowers would arrive within three hours.

在我急切地等待送花之时，我想解释一下我到底是在玩什么花招。这种秘密献花的主意来自新泽西州托托华（Totowa）的一位读者。肯尼•莫尔（Kenny Moore）是美国能源公司Keyspan的人力资源总监。其个人经历也颇不寻常，他曾在天主教会当过15年的牧师。他告诉我说，他在工作中“负责唤醒公司的喜乐、意义和承诺意识。”
As I sit here now anxiously waiting for the delivery, I shall try to explain what on earth I think I am playing at. The idea for these mystery floral tributes came from a reader in Totowa, New Jersey. Kenny Moore is director of human resources at Keyspan, a US energy company, and is a little unusual. He spent 15 years as a Catholic priest and told me that in his job he is "responsible for awakening joy, meaning and commitment in the company".

我在工作中总能收到不少怪人发来的邮件。肯尼也算一怪，但是他基本上是属于脑筋正常的那种。他说他没有时间拜读诸如汤姆•彼得斯（Tom Peters）、杰克•韦尔奇（Jack Welch）之类人物的大作，也没有时间去推动制定使命宣言、实施文化变革、提高员工士气之类的企业行动。这话出自一位人力资源总监之口，不可谓不正常啊。
In my job I get a lot of e-mails from nutters. Kenny, though odd, struck me as being basically of sound mind. He said he had no time for Tom Peters, Jack Welch or for any corporate attempts to issue mission statements, change culture or raise morale en masse - which coming from a corporate HR person is very sound indeed.

相反，他从儿童图书中去找点子，比如《亥奇先生，有人爱你》。这本书中，孤独的亥奇先生收到了一份礼物，上面写着“有人爱你。”亥奇先生开始和陌生人打招呼，希望能遇到他的仰慕者。他的个性从此陡然一变，所有的邻居都开始爱他。最后，他才发现原来礼物是误送给他的，亥奇先生于是想回到自我封闭的生活之中。但是邻居却不答应他这样做了。
Instead, he drew inspiration from a children's book called Somebody Loves You, Mr Hatch. In this book a lonely man gets sent a gift with the label "somebody loves you". He starts greeting strangers, hoping to meet the admirer. He undergoes a personality change, and all his neighbours start to love him. It then turns out that the present was delivered to him by mistake, and Mr Hatch tries to go back into his shell. But the neighbours will not let him.

要是让我看，我一时还看不出这个愉快的故事能给企业什么启发，但是肯尼就看出了门道。他决定在公司里秘密实施亥奇先生试点活动，他做此事是抱着这样一个可贵的原则：做错了请求原谅，总是比申请批准容易。
The corporate lessons of this cheery tale are not immediately obvious to me, but to Kenny they were. He decided to conduct a Mr Hatch pilot in his company without asking anyone - on the admirable principle that it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

他送出了两束鲜花，一束送给同一层楼上班的一位妇女，另一束送给主管高级副总。他说，“我本人讨厌当权的人，但是我也注意到，从来没有人对高层主管说‘谢谢’。”这一点我本人也是认同的。
He sent out two bunches of flowers, one to a woman on his floor and one to his senior vice-president. "While I personally hate anyone in authority, I notice that no one ever says 'thank you' to executives," he said. I agreed with that bit, too.

订完鲜花之后，他却有一种莫名的不安，正如我现在的感觉一样。但是他的担心是多余的。收到鲜花的那位妇女虽然不知究竟，但仍觉得开心，其他的妇女则围到她的桌子边大呼小叫。
After he ordered the flowers he felt, as I do now, strangely uncomfortable. Yet he need not have feared. The woman was delighted, though mystified, and other women gathered round her desk and oohed and aahed.

几天后，他到副总那里准备如实交代，但他还没有开口，他的顶头上司就说他从一位感恩的员工处收到了一束鲜花，因此，他准备在退休前几年侧重于满足各位职员的需求。
A couple of days later he went to own up to the SVP, but before he could say anything, his boss said he had just received a bunch of flowers from a grateful employee, and that as a result he was going to spend his last few years until retirement concentrating more on the needs of individual employees.

刚写到肯尼的试点活动取得令人振奋的收效，就听到黛乐接听电话，是要她去前台领鲜花的电话。她拿鲜花回来的时候，我一直在看着。她脸上带着笑，但表情却是迷惑的。在读附卡的时候，她把头稍稍低下去，嘴里说道：“上面是说：‘感谢你的辛勤劳动’，但是没有署名。真是要人命啊。”
As I write about the heartening results of Kenny's pilot, Della has just taken the call telling her there are flowers waiting for her in reception. I watch as she returns carrying them; she's smiling but her expression is puzzled. Her face falls slightly as she reads the message. "It says: 'Thanks for your hard work', but it's not signed. This makes me feel really paranoid," she says.

“这可是不妙啊！”邻座的一个人叫道。另外一个人说：“老天，有人在跟踪你呢。”
"That's really sinister!" exclaims the person who sits next to her. "Christ, you've got a stalker," says someone else.

但黛乐不愧是记者。她立刻拿起话筒，给花店拨打电话。此时，我真想一头钻进电脑键盘里去。幸运的是，花店的人说不能透露送花者的姓名。
Like a true journalist, she snatches up the phone to call the florist. I try to bury my whole body into my computer keyboard. Mercifully the florist says she cannot reveal the name of the sender.

“总编辑也收到了一束，”黛乐说。“真是奇怪。”
"The editor has got one too," Della says. "It's so weird."

最后，大家一致同意，这是个愚蠢的公关噱头，大家于是都对此事失去了兴趣。没有人去想，或许真是有人诚心诚意地感谢她确实付出的辛勤投?Ｋ?担?拔蚁氩煌ǎ??钦饩烤刮?裁匆?庋?觯俊?
The consensus is that this is some daft PR stunt and everyone loses interest. It does not occur to anyone that some genuine well-wisher would really be thanking her for her genuine hard work. "I mean, why would they do that?" she says.

我下楼去看秘密献花在总编辑那里有何反应。他刚乘夜间航班从华盛顿回来，在赶写采访美国总统的文章。我从他门上的玻璃孔中看过去。看不见鲜花在或不在。突然间，我意识到他不会对此事感兴趣。这些鲜花绝对不会促使他决定在我们身上花更多时间（这并不说明我会赞同此举）。
I go downstairs to see if I can find out how my floral tribute is playing with the editor. He has just stepped off an overnight flight from Washington and is writing up an interview with the president of the US. I peep though the glass hole in his door. I can't see if the flowers are in there or not. Suddenly I know they are not going to interest him at all. They are certainly not going to make him decide he wants to spend more time with us individually (not that I would necessarily advocate such a course of action).

肯尼的试验成功之后，他开始每周秘密送花。他说，他并没有成功地改变企业文化。但是他这个小点子能让他开开心心地开始一周的工作。负责供货的花店自然也很开心。总之，他每周能让两个人感到开心，而且还能引起一些愉快的困惑。
After the success of his pilot, Kenny has been secretly sending flowers out every week. He says he has not succeeded in changing corporate culture. But his little scheme makes him happy on Mondays. It also makes the guy from the shop who supplies the flowers happy, makes two people feel good each week and causes a good deal of pleasant bemusement.

而我的试验失败之后，我是不会再去尝试了。这一做法不能奏效。我在想，在接受感谢的时候，我们只有在认识感谢者（并且重视他们）时，他们的感谢才会让我们觉得舒心。如果肯尼知道了这一点，他应该不会感到吃惊或不高兴。他说得对，这些小点子是不能模仿的。在一个地方适用，换到另外一个地方，其魅力就可能消失殆尽。总之，大家都应该想出自己的主意。
After the failure of my pilot, I shall not be extending it. It did not work. I suspect this is because it is only nice to be thanked if you know (and value) the person who is thanking you. I don't think Kenny would be surprised or hurt to learn this. He says, and here he is right, that small-scale initiatives cannot be copied. They may work in one place but, if you translate them, the magic may be lost. People should think up their own things, anyway.

或许这正是我失误的地方。我试验的失败还有一层原因。上文中我只说我送了两“束”花。事实上我送的是两支天可怜见的金鱼草，再平凡不过了。更要命的是，它们看起来如同男性阴茎。这也是有原因的。我把我的试验活动算入了业务开销，我会要求报销的，理由如下：1)我是合理合法用此举来寻找写作启发；2)我认为肯尼买花是报销的。我的点子并不好。但是，至少没让《金融时报》花多少钱。
So that was partly where I went wrong. There is a second reason why my experiment was a flop. I said earlier that I sent two "bunches". In truth I sent two pathetic, bottom-of-the-range single antirrhinums that had an unfortunately phallic appearance. There was a reason for this, too. I was treating my pilot as a business expense, which I shall be claiming on the grounds that a) they were legit research for an article; and b) I think Kenny claims his. It wasn't a great idea. But at least I did not cost the FT too much money.

要看很久的了……