经济发展口译练习:第一篇 (英译汉) Passage 1 (E---C)

第一篇 (英译汉) Passage 1 (E---C)

相关词语 Related Words and Expressions

elbow one’s way into… 用肘推; 挤进

accelerate 加速, 促进

threshold 门槛；起点；开端

cynic 愤世嫉俗的人；好挖苦人的人

abound 多；大量存在；充满

lose out 失败；输掉

cosmetic 化妆品

camouflage 伪装; 伪装器材；幌子

instant 速溶的

premix 预先混合料

cellular phone 便携式电话；手机

subcontractor 转包商, 次承包者

sophistication 醒悟; 久经世故; 老道

optimist 乐观派；乐观主义者

pessimist 悲观, 悲观主义者

caveat 警告, 告诫

degradation 降级, 退化

exotic 异国情调的, 外来的

numerology 数字命理学；数字占卜术

This is time of fundamental change in the global marketplace. It’s like the middle of the 19th century, when European nations dominated the world economy; the U. S. elbowed its way into the club of industrialized nations.

In the middle of the 20th century, when Western nations dominated the world economy, Japan elbowed its way into the club. In both cases, the world economy continued to grow, if not to accelerate, although the monopoly was broken. In absolute terms, each nation experienced growth in its production and exports, although their relative shares of the world market declined.

Today, China stands at the threshold of a similar breakthrough. By some widely used measures, it is already a larger economy than Germany. China, in effect, is in a race with Japan for second place—just behind the U. S. There has been no dramatic equivalent of the Berlin Wall coming down.

To state the obvious, business opportunities in China for Americans are numerous. Nevertheless, cynics abound among Western business executives living in China. They love to quote an imaginary P. T. Wang: “There’s a foreigner born every minute.” They also will tell you of a T-shirt on sale in Beijing: “If you’re too honest, you’ll always lose out.”

Nevertheless, signs of U.S. companies are frequent: Marlboro Man billboards, KFC restaurants, Motorola cellular phones, Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, and Nike sneakers. McDonald’s in Guangdong set a world record—14, 000 customers in one day. When the local 7—11 opened, riot police were called in to control crowds.

Guangdong is Procter & Gamble’s largest overseas market for shampoo. Coca-Cola dominates the soft drink market with bottles at 16 locations, and seven more are on the way. Hainan coconut Juice simply is not a very strong competitor. Other U. S. firms that have invested at least $100 million in China include ARCO, Amoco, United Technologies, PepsiCo, Lucent Technologies, General Electric, General Motors, Hewlett Packard, and IBM.

To be sure, there is often a need to adapt foreign products to China’s culture. Hasbro sells its GI Joe doll as an “international hero”, having changed the colors to the People’s Liberation Army’s camouflage green and the Communist Party’s red. Maxwell House sells instant coffee—complete with premixed packets of cream and sugar for a market not very familiar with the product.

Those who take the freedoms of the private enterprise economy for granted should not forget that government still is pulling many of the strings in the Chinese economy. Companies that try to compete against domestic firms for the Chinese market may not find the path as easy as those that generate the high-tech products and exports Chinese leaders are so anxious to see expand.

The Chinese are the original Yankee traders. They know the great business potential that will be generated as a country with 1.2 billion people industrializes and they are trying their best to take advantage of it. They love foreign investment when it creates new jobs, pays taxes, and generates foreign exchange. Yet, from an American point of view, sometimes those exports compete against the products of the same company’s factories located in other countries.

Thus, Motorola is encouraged to sell cellular telephones and to produce them in China. McDonnell Douglas and Boeing sell jet airplanes in China, but they involve local subcontractors and train local maintenance people. These companies are showing more sophistication than some of the early entrants, such as Schwinn. That U. S. bicycle manufacturer lost its business in China by transferring technology to local manufacturers without adequate protection.

Typically, a U. S. company faces the challenge of developing a presence in the China market in a manner very different from its experience at home or even in Western Europe. In China, there are few 100% American-owned companies. There mostly are joint ventures, often with Chinese middlemen either from the mainland or elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

It is helpful to have some historical perspective about China’s role in the world. For most of recorded history, it was more developed than the West, more prosperous, more sophisticated, and more civilized. That is why they called themselves the “Middle Kingdom”. Only in the past 500 years has the West been ahead. Of course, that’s a long time for us, but the Zhou Dynasty in the fist millennium BC lasted that long. Naturally, most of us never heard of it.

China is on a road that could restore its earlier greatness. By some economic measures, China is just behind Japan. If current trends continue, it could become number two early in the 21st century, right behind the U. S. in terms of economic output. Some optimists (or, rather, pessimists) think it will be number one later in the 21st century, but here we can take considerable satisfaction with a standard caveat: Treads rarely move in a straight line, especially in China. There is no shortage of serious problems facing the Chinese people and their leadership—energy shortages, environmental degradation, infrastructure inadequacies, and corruption and crime. Then again, there is the famous forecast attributed to Napoleon: “China is a sleeping giant. When it wakes, it will shake the world.”

It is vital for Americans to understand events better in that exotic part of the world and not be on the outside trying to look in. China is the prime example of my standard forecast: In change, there is both threat and opportunity. My final point: In Feng Shui (Chinese numerology), eight is a lucky number. Thus, I leave you with my favorite eight letter: Good luck!