经济学人70:经济学人:让小店也分一杯羹

 　　Business

　　商业

　　Bakers¹ and chaebol in South Korea

　　韩国的糕点店与财阀

　　Let them eat cake

　　让小店也分一杯羹

　　A half-baked effort to curb² the conglomerates³

　　控制财阀的笨办法

　　SOME parents give their children cakes. A few give them cake shops.

　　有些父母会给孩子买蛋糕吃，而有一些则会给他们开蛋糕店。

　　The hot topic in South Korea is the trend for daughters and grand-daughters of chaebol families to open bakeries and other small food outlets⁴.

　　如今，韩国人热议的话题是财阀家族纷纷给他们的女儿和孙女们开糕点店和其他小型饮食店。

　　The chaebol are the conglomerates that dominate the Korean economy, so these plutocratic⁵ patissières have deeper pockets than any of the little bakers they compete against.

　　这些财阀都是掌控韩国经济命脉的企业集团，所以这些糕点商的财力比任何一家与之竞争的小糕点店都要雄厚。

　　Their baking has provoked outrage⁶.

　　财阀纷纷开糕点店的行为激怒了人们。

　　Lee Myung-bak, South Korea's president, calls it a "hobby" business for rich girls that threatens the livelihood⁷ of poor shopkeepers.

　　韩国总统李明博称之为富家千金威胁贫穷店主生计的一个"爱好"产业。

　　Lee Ju-young, a member of the national assembly, likens it to Park Ji-sung (Manchester United's Korean midfielder) lording it over amateurs in a backstreet game of football.

　　国会议员李举勇将这比做朴智星（效力于曼联的韩国中场球员）在一场后街足球比赛里对所有的业余球员称王称霸。

　　A restaurateur in Seoul puts it more plaintively⁸: "These families already control everything else in Korea. Why can't they leave something for the rest of us?"

　　首尔一家餐馆老板的说法则更悲哀："这些家族已掌控了韩国的一切，他们为什么就不能给别人留点余地呢？"

　　The chaebol families have decided⁹ that this is not a battle worth picking.

　　这些财阀家族已认识到这场仗不值得打。

　　Scions¹⁰ of the Samsung, LG and Hyundai dynasties are all hanging up their aprons¹¹.

　　三星、LG、现代这几个家族企业的富家千金们都准备退出糕点业了。

　　Artisee, a chain of swanky pastry¹² shops run by Lee Boo-jin, whose dad is the chairman of Samsung, is to close. So is the Hyundai-affiliated Ozen.

　　由三星董事长的女儿李宝金经营的高级糕点连锁店Artisee即将停业，现代集团的Ozen也同样如此。

　　Whether this will help small bakers much is open to question.

　　但仍不清楚这样是否会对小糕点店大有帮助。

　　Artisee has only 27 shops; Ozen a mere¹³ two. Both are cupcakes in comparison to SPC Group, which operates more than 3,000 Paris Baguette shops in Korea.

　　Artisee只有27家分店，Ozen则只有2家；但与SPC集团相比，这不过是小巫见大巫。SPC集团在韩国拥有超过3000家巴黎贝甜糕点店，

　　Buns have always been SPC's bread and butter—and its boss is not an heiress.

　　小圆面包一直是SPC的主要产品，而且其老板也不是富家千金。

　　Some say all this pie-throwing distracts attention from the real problems that overmighty chaebol cause. Entrepreneurs complain that if they have a good idea, the chaebol show up with their chequebooks and poach their staff.

　　有人说，这种胡乱摊派责任的做法分散了人们的注意力，令人们忽视了这些势力强大的财阀引发的真正问题。

　　Small firms that supply chaebol complain that they are ruthlessly squeezed, though few dare say so publicly.

　　企业家们抱怨说，如果他们想出了一个好点子，财阀就会现身用重金挖走他们的员工。财阀的小型供应商则抱怨它们遭到财阀无情的压榨，但没哪家敢公开这样说。

　　Consumers also suffer.

　　消费者的利益也受到了损害。

　　Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) detected over 3,500 cases of price-fixing in 2010, but only 66 led to fines. The average penalty amounted to just 2.3% of unfairly earned revenue.

　　韩国公平交易委员会（FTC）在2010年查明了超过3500宗哄抬价格案，但只有66宗最终是以财阀被罚款告终；平均罚款数仅占财阀以不公平手段赚取的利润的2.3%。

　　Samsung and LG were fined in January for fixing the prices of notebook PCs and flat-screen televisions between June 2008 and September 2009.

　　1月，三星和LG因在2008年6月至2009年9月哄抬笔记本电脑和平板电视的价格而被罚款。

　　Samsung was ordered to pay a fine of 25.8 billion won ($23m); LG, 18.8 billion won. LG's fine is to be waived¹⁴, in return for co-operation with the FTC.

　　三星被勒令支付两百五十八亿韩元（两千三百万美元）的罚款；LG则要支付一百八十八亿韩元。LG因配合FTC的调查而得以被免除罚款。

　　This is the third time the two firms have been caught price-fixing in the past two years.

　　这是这两家公司在过去两年内第三次被发现进行价格哄抬。

　　Politicians follow the same old recipes when dealing¹⁵ with the chaebol. They lean on banks to lend cash to small firms. And they lean on the chaebol to stay out of a few minor¹⁶ businesses, such as baking or tofu-making.

　　政客们在对付财阀时用的仍是老一套：向银行施压，让其贷款给小公司；向财阀施压，不让其插足一些小行业，如糕点或豆腐制作。

　　However you sugarcoat it, this is not serious reform.

　　但无论如何粉饰，这些都不是真正意义上的改革。

1 bakers   

n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三

参考例句：

• The Bakers have invited us out for a meal tonight. 贝克一家今晚请我们到外面去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bakers specialize in catering for large parties. 那些面包师专门负责为大型宴会提供食品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

3 conglomerates   

n.（多种经营的）联合大企业( conglomerate的名词复数 )；砾岩；合成物；组合物

参考例句：

• At the surface, radioactivity of the conglomerates is locally as high as 30 X background. 在地表，砾岩的局部地段的放射性高达30倍本底值。 来自辞典例句
• The conglomerates failed to understand that books could not be sold like soap. 这些联合大企业不懂卖书不象卖肥皂那样。 来自辞典例句

4 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 plutocratic   

adj.富豪的，有钱的

参考例句：

6 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

7 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

8 plaintively   

adv.悲哀地，哀怨地

参考例句：

• The last note of the song rang out plaintively. 歌曲最后道出了离别的哀怨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds cry plaintively before they die, men speak kindly in the presence of death. 鸟之将死，其鸣也哀；人之将死，其言也善。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 scions   

n.接穗，幼枝( scion的名词复数 )；（尤指富家）子孙

参考例句：

• Eldritch giants are powerful scions of arcane lore. 邪术巨人是神秘奥术知识的强大传承者。 来自互联网
• Grafting can join scions with desirable qualities to root stock that is strong and resistsand insects. 嫁接能够将理想质量的接穗嫁接到强有力抗病虫害的砧木上。 来自互联网

11 aprons   

围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份）

参考例句：

• Many people like to wear aprons while they are cooking. 许多人做饭时喜欢系一条围裙。
• The chambermaid in our corridor wears blue checked gingham aprons. 给我们扫走廊的清洁女工围蓝格围裙。

12 pastry   

n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。

13 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

14 waived   

v.宣布放弃( waive的过去式和过去分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等）

参考例句：

• He has waived all claim to the money. 他放弃了索取这笔钱的权利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I waived the discourse, and began to talk of my business. 我撇开了这个话题，开始讲我的事情。 来自辞典例句

15 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

16 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。