2019年经济学人 企业丑闻新时代(3)

 

Take regulation first. The system is a strange blend: there are pockets of laissez-faire attitudes here,

先说说法规。该体系是一个奇怪的混合：这里是零星的自由放任态度

thickets¹ of rules there and lobbying everywhere. It is variously prone² to laxity, capture and incompetence³.

那里是错综复杂规则并且到处充斥着游说。它在很多方面都倾向于松弛、占有和无能力。

The Federal Drug Administration allowed opioids to be sold to the masses.

联邦药品管理局允许向大众出售类鸦片药物。

The Federal Aviation Administration delegated part of its inspection⁴ process to Boeing employees.

联邦航空管理局将其部分检验过程委托给了波音的员工。

The Federal Trade Commission has struggled to police Facebook. The fines imposed by some regulators can be small relative to market values of giant firms.

联邦贸易委员会努力地监管Facebook。一些监管者实施的罚款相对小于这些巨头公司的市场价值。

Second, litigation may no longer be quite the deterrent⁵ it once was.

第二，诉讼可能不再像从前一样具有相当的威慑力。

Criminal cases leading to jail terms for top executives are as rare as socialists⁶ at Goldman Sachs. And civil law has lost its bite.

刑事案件导致高管坐牢的情况和高盛投资公司中社会主义者一样稀有。民法已经失去了它的利齿。

America has long used class-action suits to punish firms and compensate⁷ consumers.

美国长期以来都用集体诉讼案惩罚公司并补偿消费者。

Tort costs born by firms are equivalent to about 2% of GDP a year, higher than in other countries. Nonetheless, life has got easier for firms.

公司的侵权成本相当于一年GDP的约2%，高于其他国家。但公司的日子越来越容易了。

Arbitration⁸ clauses, in which customers and staff forfeit⁹ the right to pursue class actions, have become more common.

关于顾客和员工因失权而寻求集体诉讼的仲裁条款已经变得更加普遍。

Firms are more likely to extend cases to appeal, which can take up to a decade.

公司更有可能将个案扩展至上诉，上诉时间可以高达10年之久。

One veteran class-action lawyer says that financial penalties have shrunk relative to the value of many firms,

一名经验丰富的集体诉讼律师表示相对于很多公司的市值而言，罚款的金额已经缩水了，

which in turn have risen as a result of a takeover wave.

反过来，由于收购浪潮，这些公司市值还增加了。

She complains that for the top 50 firms, the threat of a multi-billion-dollar legal settlement "doesn't move the needle any more".

她抱怨称对前50家公司而言，几十亿美元诉讼和解的威胁“根本不值一提”。

The final constraint¹⁰ is competition. It can drive firms to cut corners

最后一个约束是竞争。这可以促使公司抄近路

but in the long run should act to discipline careless or badly behaved firms, because customers shun¹¹ them.

但从长期来看，应该行动起来处罚粗心或行为不良的公司，因为客户有意回避它们。

Kraft and Heinz boomed in the 20th century, thanks in part to a reputation for safety. Japanese car firms forced Detroit to raise its game in the 1980s.

卡夫和亨氏在20世纪迅速发展的部分原因是安全性的名声。20世纪80年代，日本汽车公司迫使底特律提高了其竞争力。

And today Netflix trounces the traditional cable TV firms which love to bamboozle¹² customers.

如今Netflix斥责那些喜欢欺诈客户的传统有线电视。

But across the economy incumbent¹³ firms have got more powerful over the past 20 years, making it harder for customers to switch.

但是在整个经济中，在位企业在过去20多年中获得了更多的权力，这使得客户更加难以转变。

There is one alternative to Boeing, Airbus, but it lacks spare capacity. Users find it hard to leave Facebook.

波音还可以替换成空客，但后者缺乏闲置生产力。用户们发现很难离开Facebook。

Pesticides¹⁴ and herbicides, credit-checking, drug distribution and drug retailing¹⁵ have grown more concentrated, too.

农药和除草剂、信贷调查、药品分销和药品零售也越来越集中。

Perhaps the rash of crises will prompt corporate¹⁶ soul-searching. If not, public confidence in capitalism¹⁷ may suffer another blow.

或许危机的大量涌现将促使企业自我反省。如若不反省，那么资本主义的公信力或许会遭遇另一场冲击。

1 thickets   

n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物

参考例句：

• Small trees became thinly scattered among less dense thickets. 小树稀稀朗朗地立在树林里。 来自辞典例句
• The entire surface is covered with dense thickets. 所有的地面盖满了密密层层的灌木丛。 来自辞典例句

2 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

3 incompetence   

n.不胜任，不称职

参考例句：

• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
• She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得，本是老板无能，但她却成了替罪羊。

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

5 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。

6 socialists   

社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。
• The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后，就把其政治信条弃之不顾。

7 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

8 arbitration   

n.调停，仲裁

参考例句：

• The wage disagreement is under arbitration.工资纠纷正在仲裁中。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding.双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

9 forfeit   

vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物

参考例句：

• If you continue to tell lies,you will forfeit the good opinion of everyone.你如果继续撒谎，就会失掉大家对你的好感。
• Please pay for the forfeit before you borrow book.在你借书之前请先付清罚款。

10 constraint   

n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物

参考例句：

• The boy felt constraint in her presence.那男孩在她面前感到局促不安。
• The lack of capital is major constraint on activities in the informal sector.资本短缺也是影响非正规部门生产经营的一个重要制约因素。

11 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

12 bamboozle   

v.欺骗，隐瞒

参考例句：

• He was bamboozled by con men.他被骗子骗了。
• He bamboozled Mercer into defeat.他骗得默瑟认了输。

13 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

14 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

17 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。