2023考研英語閱讀清白先生
Mr Clean
清白先生
Ian King wants to transform the way the world sthird-biggest defence company does business
伊安金想轉(zhuǎn)變世界第三大軍工公司的經(jīng)營之道
ON JUNE 27th last year, just six weeks after MikeTurner, the chief executive of BAE Systems, hadbeen detained on arrival in America in connectionwith corruption allegations, Ian King wasannounced as his successor. Mr Turner andanother of the firm s directors were not held for long, and many felt that the Department ofJustice, which seized their laptops and BlackBerrys, had acted heavy-handedly. But theincident, which stemmed from a long-running investigation into claims that BAE hadlubricated the ?43 billion al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabiawith bribes to government officials and members of the royal family, was yet anotherembarrassment for the world s third-biggest defence company.
去年6月27日，就在英國BAE系統(tǒng)公司的首席執(zhí)行官M(fèi)ike Turner抵達(dá)美國即因牽涉腐敗案件而被拘留之后六周，伊安金被宣布接替他的職務(wù)。Turner先生和另一位公司主管并沒有被扣押太久，很多人認(rèn)為，收繳了他們的手提電腦和黑莓手機(jī)的司法部出手過重。但這一事件使這個世界第三大軍工公司又一次陷入尷尬。這一事件源于一個長期調(diào)查，旨在證明BAE向沙特阿拉伯的政府官員和皇室成員行賄，以促成430億英鎊的al-Yamamah軍火交易。
In some ways Mr King s appointment was a surprise. Dick Olver, BAE s chairman since 2004,has been on a mission to restore the reputation of a firm that has all too often found itselfat the centre of corruption allegations. In 2007 he took the extraordinary step of asking aformer Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, to lead an independent inquiry into BAE s ethicalstandards. After he pushed Mr Turner into early retirement, it was assumed that Mr Olverwould make a clean break with the past by choosing an outsider to carry forward hiscrusade. Indeed, several Americans were considered for the job . So when Mr King, the only internal candidate, got the nod, somesuspected that the British government had used its golden share to veto the appointment ofa foreigner.
從某些方面來說，金先生的任命出人意料。2004年上任的BAE主席Dick Olver一直都肩負(fù)著重塑公司聲譽(yù)的使命，這個公司已過多地陷入腐敗案件的中心。2007年他走出了不同尋常的一步，他請來前最高法院首席法官 Woolf閣下展開對BAE道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的獨(dú)立調(diào)查。在他迫使Turner先生提前退休之后，人們認(rèn)為Olver先生將與過去做出果斷的決裂，選擇一位局外人來推動他的改革運(yùn)動。的確，曾有幾個美國人被考慮過擔(dān)任這項(xiàng)職務(wù)。所以，當(dāng)金先生，這個唯一的國內(nèi)候選人，獲得首肯的時候，有些人懷疑英國政府投出了它的 金票來否決一個外國人的任命。
BAE executives deny that happened, but the government must have been relieved that thecountry s dominant defence contractor would be run by someone it knew well. Mr Kingbegan his career in 1976 as a trainee accountant with Marconi, a defence-electronicssubsidiary of Arnold Weinstock s GEC, Britain s biggest industrial conglomerate. In the late1990s a wave of consolidation hit the defence industry on both sides of the Atlantic andMarconi Electronic Systems, as it had become, was taken over by British Aerospace to formBAE Systems.
BAE的執(zhí)行官們否定了這種說法，但英國政府一定為這個國家最重要的軍工商由一個它了解的人來管理而感到放心。金先生于1976年在Marconi擔(dān)任會計實(shí)習(xí)生，從而開始了他的事業(yè)，這是Arnold Weinstock建立的英國最大的工業(yè)聯(lián)合企業(yè)GEC的軍防電子子公司。1990年代后期，合并浪潮席卷了大西洋兩岸的軍工業(yè)，Marconi成了 Marconi電子系統(tǒng)公司，并被英國航空航天公司兼并，成為BAE系統(tǒng)公司。
John Weston, the abrasive boss of British Aerospace asked Mr King, who had been financedirector at Marconi for several years, to handle strategy for the merged firm. A number ofoperational roles followed, which ultimately left Mr King running most of the business outsideAmerica. Mr King s background at Marconi may well have counted in his favour when it cameto appointing a new chief executive. British Aerospace, which did the first al-Yamamah dealin 1985, had a buccaneering culture very different from that of GEC, where, says Mr King,Lord Weinstock always demanded the highest standards of commercial behaviour.
粗暴的英國航空航天公司老板John Weston要求擔(dān)任Marconi財務(wù)主管多年的金先生來把握這個合并公司的戰(zhàn)略。后續(xù)的幾個運(yùn)營管理角色接踵而來，最終讓金先生掌握了除美國以外的幾乎所有業(yè)務(wù)。到了任命新的首席執(zhí)行官的時候，金先生在Marconi公司工作的背景也為他加分。英國航空航天公司在1985年做成第一單al- Yamamah生意，它海盜般的文化和GEC截然不同，金先生說，在GEC，Weinstock閣下一直都以最高的商業(yè)行為標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來要求他們。
After nearly a decade of steadily growing profits and armed with a strong balance-sheet, BAEis in many ways in good shape. But the next few years are likely to be more testing. With theexception of Saudi Arabia, where the firm has recently completed another multi-year deal tosell and maintain fighter aircraft, BAE s major customers are pulling in their horns. Spirallinggovernment debt in America and Britain means that wars of choice are no longeraffordable and the search is on for cuts in big procurement programmes. The reviewrecently undertaken by Robert Gates, America s defence secretary, resulted in thecancellation of part of the Future Combat Systems programme, a big army-modernisationproject for which BAE is a prominent contractor. In Britain, cuts to an already overstretcheddefence budget are only being postponed until after next year s election.
擁有強(qiáng)有力的資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表，且保持近十年的利潤穩(wěn)步增長，從很多方面來說，BAE都狀況良好。但接下來的幾年可能會經(jīng)受更多考驗(yàn)。除了沙特阿拉伯BAE剛又跟它簽署了一項(xiàng)多年的銷售和維護(hù)戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)的協(xié)議之外，BAE的其他客戶都在縮減開支。螺旋上升的債務(wù)使得美國和英國無力承擔(dān)選擇之戰(zhàn)，對于大額采購項(xiàng)目縮減方案的搜索行動也開始啟動。美國國防部長Roberts Gates最近展開的調(diào)查，令美國取消了部分未來戰(zhàn)斗系統(tǒng)項(xiàng)目，這個龐大的軍隊(duì)現(xiàn)代化項(xiàng)目最主要的承包商就是BAE。在英國，對已經(jīng)過于鋪張的國防預(yù)算的縮減計劃被推遲到明年大選之后。
Mr King appears unfazed. BAE is less dependent on big platform sales than it used to beand now sees itself as a provider of through-life support for complex systems, much likethe aero-engine industry. He also believes that BAE s strength in army equipment,particularly armoured and mine-resistant vehicles, stands it in good stead for what he callsthe current fight in places such as Afghanistan. It is all business as usual for anexperienced operator like Mr King. What is not, however, is the company s effort totransform the way in which it does business. BAE admits to no wrongdoing over al-Yamamah, which was primarily a deal between governments, it says, nor over any of theother deals that are still under scrutiny . But BAE has promisednot just to implement the 23 recommendations made by Lord Woolf in his report, but also toembed his ideas in its culture. To that end, Mr King has embarked on a huge trainingprogramme to inform all 97,000 BAE employees worldwide of their ethical responsibilities.
金先生似乎并不擔(dān)心。BAE已不再像過去那樣依賴大的平臺銷售，它現(xiàn)在更將自己看作是復(fù)雜系統(tǒng)的終身支持提供商，這很像航空引擎業(yè)。他還相信，BAE在軍隊(duì)設(shè)備方面的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)，尤其是裝甲車和防地雷車，讓它在發(fā)生在像阿富汗這樣地方的他稱之為當(dāng)前戰(zhàn)斗之中，處于有利地位。對于金先生這樣一個經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的管理者來說，這只是日常生意。而不尋常的，是這個公司轉(zhuǎn)變經(jīng)營方式的努力。BAE不承認(rèn)在al-Yamamah中有任何過錯，他說，這主要是政府之間的生意，它在其他任何仍在接受調(diào)查的案件中也沒有過錯。但是，BAE承諾，它不僅將實(shí)施Woolf閣下在報告中提出的23項(xiàng)建議，而且還將把他的理念融入公司文化。為了實(shí)現(xiàn)這個目的，金先生已經(jīng)著手開展一個龐大的培訓(xùn)項(xiàng)目，向全球9萬7千名BAE員工宣講他們的道德責(zé)任。
1-800-MORAL-FIBRE
道德品質(zhì)免費(fèi)熱線
Mr King says he wants staff to be able to raise ethical issues in the same way they would anengineering problemsomething to be discussed openly. Earlier this year BAE sent a 64-pagecode of conduct to each of its workers, with detailed advice on how to behave in everysituation. With the booklet came a small card, to be carried at all times, with a list of toll-freenumbers for the firm s ethics helpline.
金先生表示，他希望員工能夠提出道德問題，就像他們提出工程技術(shù)問題一樣，是可以公開討論的事情。今年早些時候，BAE向它的每個工人發(fā)放了一本64頁的行為準(zhǔn)則，列明了各種情況下應(yīng)該如何應(yīng)對的詳細(xì)建議。這個冊子里還夾著一張便于隨時攜帶的小卡片， 上面列有免費(fèi)電話號碼，可以打給公司的道德幫助熱線。
It is easy to scoff at the idea of an arms firm preaching ethics, particularly one that is stillmaking money from deals concluded before its squeaky-clean rules were put in place. Nor isan industry veteran, such as Mr King, an obvious new broom. But he has all the fervour of atrue convert. You have to believe in it, he says. It s a journey you personally have tomake. Helpfully, a significant part of his own remuneration is, he says, linked to makingBAE a benchmark for responsible behaviour in the industry. Shareholders, he claims, aresupportive. They have accepted that it is better to lose business in some parts of the worldthan to expose BAE to reputational risk. As for the Saudis, Mr King says that they too nowwant to do things differently. And if a rival firm were to offer to do business with them in thetraditional way? Then the Saudis will have to make their choice, he says.
要嘲笑一個軍火商去鼓吹道德是很容易的，尤其是這個公司在實(shí)施它一塵不染的規(guī)定之前達(dá)成的那些交易還在掙錢的時候。一個身經(jīng)百戰(zhàn)的業(yè)內(nèi)老兵如金先生者也不是一個新官。但他擁有進(jìn)行真正轉(zhuǎn)變的所有熱情。你必須相信它，他說，它是一條你必須親自踏上的旅途。有幫助的是，他說，把BAE塑造成業(yè)內(nèi)負(fù)責(zé)任行為的標(biāo)桿這一目標(biāo)將與他自己酬勞的很大一部分相關(guān)聯(lián)。他表示，股東們很支持。他們情愿接受在世界某地失去業(yè)務(wù)，也不愿BAE承受聲譽(yù)風(fēng)險。至于沙特人，金先生說，他們現(xiàn)在也想改變行事方法。那么如果一個競爭對手公司提出和他們用傳統(tǒng)的方式做生意呢?那么沙特人就必須做出他們的選擇， 他說。
Mr Clean
清白先生
Ian King wants to transform the way the world sthird-biggest defence company does business
伊安金想轉(zhuǎn)變世界第三大軍工公司的經(jīng)營之道
ON JUNE 27th last year, just six weeks after MikeTurner, the chief executive of BAE Systems, hadbeen detained on arrival in America in connectionwith corruption allegations, Ian King wasannounced as his successor. Mr Turner andanother of the firm s directors were not held for long, and many felt that the Department ofJustice, which seized their laptops and BlackBerrys, had acted heavy-handedly. But theincident, which stemmed from a long-running investigation into claims that BAE hadlubricated the ?43 billion al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabiawith bribes to government officials and members of the royal family, was yet anotherembarrassment for the world s third-biggest defence company.
去年6月27日，就在英國BAE系統(tǒng)公司的首席執(zhí)行官M(fèi)ike Turner抵達(dá)美國即因牽涉腐敗案件而被拘留之后六周，伊安金被宣布接替他的職務(wù)。Turner先生和另一位公司主管并沒有被扣押太久，很多人認(rèn)為，收繳了他們的手提電腦和黑莓手機(jī)的司法部出手過重。但這一事件使這個世界第三大軍工公司又一次陷入尷尬。這一事件源于一個長期調(diào)查，旨在證明BAE向沙特阿拉伯的政府官員和皇室成員行賄，以促成430億英鎊的al-Yamamah軍火交易。
In some ways Mr King s appointment was a surprise. Dick Olver, BAE s chairman since 2004,has been on a mission to restore the reputation of a firm that has all too often found itselfat the centre of corruption allegations. In 2007 he took the extraordinary step of asking aformer Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, to lead an independent inquiry into BAE s ethicalstandards. After he pushed Mr Turner into early retirement, it was assumed that Mr Olverwould make a clean break with the past by choosing an outsider to carry forward hiscrusade. Indeed, several Americans were considered for the job . So when Mr King, the only internal candidate, got the nod, somesuspected that the British government had used its golden share to veto the appointment ofa foreigner.
從某些方面來說，金先生的任命出人意料。2004年上任的BAE主席Dick Olver一直都肩負(fù)著重塑公司聲譽(yù)的使命，這個公司已過多地陷入腐敗案件的中心。2007年他走出了不同尋常的一步，他請來前最高法院首席法官 Woolf閣下展開對BAE道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的獨(dú)立調(diào)查。在他迫使Turner先生提前退休之后，人們認(rèn)為Olver先生將與過去做出果斷的決裂，選擇一位局外人來推動他的改革運(yùn)動。的確，曾有幾個美國人被考慮過擔(dān)任這項(xiàng)職務(wù)。所以，當(dāng)金先生，這個唯一的國內(nèi)候選人，獲得首肯的時候，有些人懷疑英國政府投出了它的 金票來否決一個外國人的任命。
BAE executives deny that happened, but the government must have been relieved that thecountry s dominant defence contractor would be run by someone it knew well. Mr Kingbegan his career in 1976 as a trainee accountant with Marconi, a defence-electronicssubsidiary of Arnold Weinstock s GEC, Britain s biggest industrial conglomerate. In the late1990s a wave of consolidation hit the defence industry on both sides of the Atlantic andMarconi Electronic Systems, as it had become, was taken over by British Aerospace to formBAE Systems.
BAE的執(zhí)行官們否定了這種說法，但英國政府一定為這個國家最重要的軍工商由一個它了解的人來管理而感到放心。金先生于1976年在Marconi擔(dān)任會計實(shí)習(xí)生，從而開始了他的事業(yè)，這是Arnold Weinstock建立的英國最大的工業(yè)聯(lián)合企業(yè)GEC的軍防電子子公司。1990年代后期，合并浪潮席卷了大西洋兩岸的軍工業(yè)，Marconi成了 Marconi電子系統(tǒng)公司，并被英國航空航天公司兼并，成為BAE系統(tǒng)公司。
John Weston, the abrasive boss of British Aerospace asked Mr King, who had been financedirector at Marconi for several years, to handle strategy for the merged firm. A number ofoperational roles followed, which ultimately left Mr King running most of the business outsideAmerica. Mr King s background at Marconi may well have counted in his favour when it cameto appointing a new chief executive. British Aerospace, which did the first al-Yamamah dealin 1985, had a buccaneering culture very different from that of GEC, where, says Mr King,Lord Weinstock always demanded the highest standards of commercial behaviour.
粗暴的英國航空航天公司老板John Weston要求擔(dān)任Marconi財務(wù)主管多年的金先生來把握這個合并公司的戰(zhàn)略。后續(xù)的幾個運(yùn)營管理角色接踵而來，最終讓金先生掌握了除美國以外的幾乎所有業(yè)務(wù)。到了任命新的首席執(zhí)行官的時候，金先生在Marconi公司工作的背景也為他加分。英國航空航天公司在1985年做成第一單al- Yamamah生意，它海盜般的文化和GEC截然不同，金先生說，在GEC，Weinstock閣下一直都以最高的商業(yè)行為標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來要求他們。
After nearly a decade of steadily growing profits and armed with a strong balance-sheet, BAEis in many ways in good shape. But the next few years are likely to be more testing. With theexception of Saudi Arabia, where the firm has recently completed another multi-year deal tosell and maintain fighter aircraft, BAE s major customers are pulling in their horns. Spirallinggovernment debt in America and Britain means that wars of choice are no longeraffordable and the search is on for cuts in big procurement programmes. The reviewrecently undertaken by Robert Gates, America s defence secretary, resulted in thecancellation of part of the Future Combat Systems programme, a big army-modernisationproject for which BAE is a prominent contractor. In Britain, cuts to an already overstretcheddefence budget are only being postponed until after next year s election.
擁有強(qiáng)有力的資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表，且保持近十年的利潤穩(wěn)步增長，從很多方面來說，BAE都狀況良好。但接下來的幾年可能會經(jīng)受更多考驗(yàn)。除了沙特阿拉伯BAE剛又跟它簽署了一項(xiàng)多年的銷售和維護(hù)戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)的協(xié)議之外，BAE的其他客戶都在縮減開支。螺旋上升的債務(wù)使得美國和英國無力承擔(dān)選擇之戰(zhàn)，對于大額采購項(xiàng)目縮減方案的搜索行動也開始啟動。美國國防部長Roberts Gates最近展開的調(diào)查，令美國取消了部分未來戰(zhàn)斗系統(tǒng)項(xiàng)目，這個龐大的軍隊(duì)現(xiàn)代化項(xiàng)目最主要的承包商就是BAE。在英國，對已經(jīng)過于鋪張的國防預(yù)算的縮減計劃被推遲到明年大選之后。
Mr King appears unfazed. BAE is less dependent on big platform sales than it used to beand now sees itself as a provider of through-life support for complex systems, much likethe aero-engine industry. He also believes that BAE s strength in army equipment,particularly armoured and mine-resistant vehicles, stands it in good stead for what he callsthe current fight in places such as Afghanistan. It is all business as usual for anexperienced operator like Mr King. What is not, however, is the company s effort totransform the way in which it does business. BAE admits to no wrongdoing over al-Yamamah, which was primarily a deal between governments, it says, nor over any of theother deals that are still under scrutiny . But BAE has promisednot just to implement the 23 recommendations made by Lord Woolf in his report, but also toembed his ideas in its culture. To that end, Mr King has embarked on a huge trainingprogramme to inform all 97,000 BAE employees worldwide of their ethical responsibilities.
金先生似乎并不擔(dān)心。BAE已不再像過去那樣依賴大的平臺銷售，它現(xiàn)在更將自己看作是復(fù)雜系統(tǒng)的終身支持提供商，這很像航空引擎業(yè)。他還相信，BAE在軍隊(duì)設(shè)備方面的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)，尤其是裝甲車和防地雷車，讓它在發(fā)生在像阿富汗這樣地方的他稱之為當(dāng)前戰(zhàn)斗之中，處于有利地位。對于金先生這樣一個經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的管理者來說，這只是日常生意。而不尋常的，是這個公司轉(zhuǎn)變經(jīng)營方式的努力。BAE不承認(rèn)在al-Yamamah中有任何過錯，他說，這主要是政府之間的生意，它在其他任何仍在接受調(diào)查的案件中也沒有過錯。但是，BAE承諾，它不僅將實(shí)施Woolf閣下在報告中提出的23項(xiàng)建議，而且還將把他的理念融入公司文化。為了實(shí)現(xiàn)這個目的，金先生已經(jīng)著手開展一個龐大的培訓(xùn)項(xiàng)目，向全球9萬7千名BAE員工宣講他們的道德責(zé)任。
1-800-MORAL-FIBRE
道德品質(zhì)免費(fèi)熱線
Mr King says he wants staff to be able to raise ethical issues in the same way they would anengineering problemsomething to be discussed openly. Earlier this year BAE sent a 64-pagecode of conduct to each of its workers, with detailed advice on how to behave in everysituation. With the booklet came a small card, to be carried at all times, with a list of toll-freenumbers for the firm s ethics helpline.
金先生表示，他希望員工能夠提出道德問題，就像他們提出工程技術(shù)問題一樣，是可以公開討論的事情。今年早些時候，BAE向它的每個工人發(fā)放了一本64頁的行為準(zhǔn)則，列明了各種情況下應(yīng)該如何應(yīng)對的詳細(xì)建議。這個冊子里還夾著一張便于隨時攜帶的小卡片， 上面列有免費(fèi)電話號碼，可以打給公司的道德幫助熱線。
It is easy to scoff at the idea of an arms firm preaching ethics, particularly one that is stillmaking money from deals concluded before its squeaky-clean rules were put in place. Nor isan industry veteran, such as Mr King, an obvious new broom. But he has all the fervour of atrue convert. You have to believe in it, he says. It s a journey you personally have tomake. Helpfully, a significant part of his own remuneration is, he says, linked to makingBAE a benchmark for responsible behaviour in the industry. Shareholders, he claims, aresupportive. They have accepted that it is better to lose business in some parts of the worldthan to expose BAE to reputational risk. As for the Saudis, Mr King says that they too nowwant to do things differently. And if a rival firm were to offer to do business with them in thetraditional way? Then the Saudis will have to make their choice, he says.
要嘲笑一個軍火商去鼓吹道德是很容易的，尤其是這個公司在實(shí)施它一塵不染的規(guī)定之前達(dá)成的那些交易還在掙錢的時候。一個身經(jīng)百戰(zhàn)的業(yè)內(nèi)老兵如金先生者也不是一個新官。但他擁有進(jìn)行真正轉(zhuǎn)變的所有熱情。你必須相信它，他說，它是一條你必須親自踏上的旅途。有幫助的是，他說，把BAE塑造成業(yè)內(nèi)負(fù)責(zé)任行為的標(biāo)桿這一目標(biāo)將與他自己酬勞的很大一部分相關(guān)聯(lián)。他表示，股東們很支持。他們情愿接受在世界某地失去業(yè)務(wù)，也不愿BAE承受聲譽(yù)風(fēng)險。至于沙特人，金先生說，他們現(xiàn)在也想改變行事方法。那么如果一個競爭對手公司提出和他們用傳統(tǒng)的方式做生意呢?那么沙特人就必須做出他們的選擇， 他說。
