经济学人126:公司政治献金 拨云见日

 　　Business Corporate¹ political donations Lighten our darkness

　　商业 公司政治献金 拨云见日

　　There are big differences in what firms reveal about their political donations

　　政治献金信息披露因公司而异

　　IT IS not just the incestuous make-up of News Corporation's board that annoys its shareholders². Activist³ investors⁴ such as the Nathan Cummings Foundation also complain about the firm's lack of transparency about its political donations.

　　不仅仅是新闻集团董事会排外的组织结构让其股东感到懊恼，就连诸如内森?卡明斯基基金会这样的投资积极分子也抱怨该公司在其政治献金项目上缺乏透明度。

　　Although News Corp opened up a bit this year, it is still more opaque⁵ than its peers in the S&P 100, as a new index of corporate political disclosure shows.

　　尽管，今年新闻集团对该项目透露了稍许信息，但是根据一项新的旨在披露公司政治捐赠行为的指数显示，新闻集团较其在标准普尔500指数上市的同行们显得更加不透明。

　　The index, launched by the Robert Zicklin Centre for Corporate Integrity at Baruch College on September 15th, does not argue that corporate political donations are good or bad.

　　9月15日，由纽约市立大学巴鲁克学院的罗伯特金科林企业诚信中心发布了该指数。该指数并未表明赞同抑或否定公司政治捐赠行为的意见。

　　But its compilers believe that the public and shareholders have a right to know what firms are up to.

　　但是该指数的众多编者相信公众和股东有权利知道公司做出捐赠决议的理由。

　　It looks at 57 measures of transparency, including how many clicks it takes to get from the firm's website to information about political donations and how detailed⁶ that information is.

　　指数考察了57项透明度指标，其中包括为获得公司政治捐赠信息而产生的公司网页点击量及信息的详细程度。

　　News Corp is one of 28 companies rated "opaque", along with popular bogeymen such as Halliburton and Walmart—and fashionable firms such as Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Google, Nike and Walt Disney.

　　新闻集团是28家被评为不透明的公司之一，这些公司还包括诸如哈利伯顿和沃尔玛这样受人欢迎的怪物公司，以及亚马逊、伯克希尔?哈撒韦公司、谷歌、耐克和迪斯尼这样的新贵公司。

　　Only a handful of firms were deemed "transparent⁷", including Colgate-Palmolive, IBM, Pfizer and Goldman Sachs (an investment bank once nicknamed "Government Sachs" because of its political connections).

　　仅有部分公司被该指数认为是透明的，这包括高露洁、国际商业机器有限公司，瑞辉制药有限公司和高盛银行（一家因其政治关系而曾被冠以"Government Sachs"绰号的投资银行）。

　　Finance is, surprisingly, the third-most-transparent industry, behind drugs and oil. Mining, manufacturing and utilities are the most opaque.

　　令人惊奇的是，金融业位列透明度第三的产业，居于制药业和石油行业之后。采矿业、制造业及公用事业是最不透明的行业。

　　As firms donate more to politicians, they tend to disclose more.

　　鉴于公司对政客的捐赠行为越来越多，他们倾向于披露更多的信息。

　　Yet the very biggest donors⁸ are not the most transparent, says Donald Schepers, one of the creators of the index, which they aim to expand next year to cover the entire S&P 500.

　　作为该指数创始人之一唐纳德?施皮尔斯说，尽管最大的献主是那些最不透明的公司，但他们打算明年将该指数拓展到囊括所有的标准普尔500公司。

　　That said, several firms have "made big improvements in their disclosure since we wrote to tell them that we were doing the index," says Mr Schepers.

　　施皮尔斯说，由于被告知他们正在编排该指数，一些公司改善了政治捐赠项目的信息披露状况。

　　That alone suggests that measuring transparency is worthwhile.

　　仅此就表明对透明度的衡量是值得的。

1 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。

2 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

6 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

7 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》