ECO名人人就一辈子100篇《经济学家》读译6170.docx

1、ECO名人人就一辈子100篇经济学家读译6170TEXT 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 en

2、ds 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 lim

3、its 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

4、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

5、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

6、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

7、. 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 impa

8、ct 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

9、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

10、 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

11、 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 produc

12、ts. 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

13、 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

14、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

15、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_

16、.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

17、 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KE

18、Y 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”。）S

19、ep 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

20、 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 Beij

21、ings 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

22、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

23、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。

24、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. Weste

25、rn 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 Ari

26、ba 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

27、 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

28、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 la

29、ter 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 b

30、y 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 offic

31、es 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

32、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