经济学人378:民主阵营的兵工厂

 　　American business in wartime

　　美国的战时经济

　　Democracy's arsenal¹

　　民主阵营的兵工厂

　　Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II. By Arthur Herman.

　　《铸就自由：美国工业如何赢得了二战》亚瑟·赫尔曼（Arthur Herman）著。

　　“WHAT is America but beauty queens, millionaires, stupid records and Hollywood?” asked Adolf Hitler in 1940. With hindsight, this ranks as just about the most foolish rhetorical question posed during the second world war. But it did not seem so at the time. As Arthur Herman shows in his wartime history, when Hitler mocked its prowess America had experienced not so much a double-dip as a double-dive depression. Yet somehow the country’s moribund² military-industrial complex was able to respond with great force to President Franklin Roosevelt’s call to arms.

　　“除了选美皇后、百万富翁、可笑的记录和好莱坞，美国还有啥？”阿道夫?希特勒1940年这样问。现在回头看，这几乎可以算二战期间人们提出的最愚蠢的问题了。但当时情况看来并非如此。正如赫尔曼在他的这本二战历史著作中告诉读者的那样，当希特勒嘲讽美国最瑰丽的光环时，美国经济刚刚经历了一次二次萧条（不是二次探底）。但这个国家濒死的军工产业却依然能以浩瀚无匹的力量回应了弗兰克林?罗斯福总统对武器的召唤。

　　The production statistics cited by Mr Herman, a think-tank scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, still astound³. Preparations for war got off to a stuttering start. But everything changed in 1941 when Germany invaded Russia and then Japan attacked the American naval⁴ base at Pearl Harbour. By the end of 1942 America’s output of war materiel already exceeded the combined production of the three Axis⁵ powers, Germany, Italy and Japan. By 1944 its factories built a plane every five minutes while its shipyards launched 50 merchant ships a day and eight aircraft carriers a month.

　　作为美国企业研究所（American Enterprise Institute）的智囊学者，赫尔曼援引的生产统计数字至今仍让人震撼不已。战争准备在仓促间蹒跚起步，但到了1941年，当德国和日本先后入侵俄罗斯与偷袭珍珠港美国海军基地时，一切都发生了变化。到1942年年底，美国的战争物资产量已经超过了德国、意大利和日本三大轴心国的总和。到1944年，美国每5分钟就能生产一架飞机，每天能让50艘商船下水，每个月能让8艘航母投入战斗。

　　As a combative⁶ anti-Keynesian, Mr Herman scorns the notion that such triumphs resulted from the dictates⁷ of an interventionist Roosevelt administration. He often cites instead the free-market ideas of Adam Smith to support his claim that it was the profit motive⁸ that inspired America’s feats⁹ of mass production.

　　有人认为这样的胜利是持干涉主义理念的罗斯福政府独裁的结果。赫尔曼是凯恩斯理论的坚定反对者，他对此嗤之以鼻。反之，他时常引用亚当?斯密（Adam Smith）的自由市场理念支持自己的看法：是逐利的动机促成了美国大规模生产的壮举。

　　The business heroes in his history are mostly immigrants or high-school dropouts and often both. Two tower above the rest: William “Big Bill” Knudsen, a General Motors executive who was once a teenage clerk in a bicycle business in Copenhagen, and Henry Kaiser, who began work at 16 as a travelling salesman for a dry-goods store in Utica, New York. Knudsen headhunted corporate¹⁰ innovators and persuaded them to give up their pay and perks¹¹ to join him as “dollar-a-year men” in Washington. Kaiser recruited a can-do team from such blue-chip American companies as Lockheed, Bechtel-McCone, Chrysler, Boeing and General Electric to produce everything from dams to tanks to ships to steel. Each executive received an annual fee of $1.

　　在他书写的历史中，创造经济奇迹的英雄多为移民或中学辍学者，而且经常是移民中的中学辍学者。其中有两位英雄的成就远超侪辈：一位是通用汽车（General Motors）高管威廉姆?“大比尔”?纳森（William “Big Bill” Knudsen），他十几岁时曾是哥本哈根一家自行车公司的职员；另一位是亨利?凯泽（Henry Kaiser），他16岁开始工作时是纽约州尤蒂卡市（Utica, New York）一家服装店的游动推销员。纳德森四出猎头，找寻企业创新者，说服他们放弃工薪与额外收入去华盛顿，跟他一样做“年薪1美元的员工”。凯瑟尔则从洛克希德、贝克特尔、克莱斯勒、波音和通用电气（Lockheed, Bechtel-McCone, Chrysler, Boeing and General Electric）这样一些声名显赫的大公司中招募人员，成立了一支万能团队。该团队生产人们需要的一切，从大坝到坦克到舰船到钢铁。两位高管的年薪都是1美元。

　　Big business did not succeed on its own. It needed the help of small business. The Boeing B-29 bomber¹², for instance, had 40,540 different parts, and 1,400 sub-contractors provided most of them. The Research Institute of America spurred them on. In a booklet entitled “Your Business Goes to War” it asked its readers to consider switching from making vacuum cleaners to gas-mask parts. Or from shoes to helmet linings¹³. Or from razors to percussion¹⁴ primers for artillery¹⁵ shells.

　　大企业光靠自身是无法成功的。它需要小企业的帮助。例如波音的B-29轰炸机的40540种部件大多由1400个分包商提供。美国研究所（The Research Institute of America）鞭策这些企业努力工作。一份题为《您的企业要投入战事》的小册子敦促读者考虑从吸尘器转产防毒面具零件，或者从鞋子转产钢盔内衬，或者从剃须刀转产炮弹起爆管。

　　Among those who gawped in wonderment was Joseph Stalin. When he met Roosevelt and Churchill in Tehran in 1943 he raised a glass to toast “American production, without which this war would have been lost.” His words were as wise as those of his rival tyrant¹⁶, Hitler, were not.

　　对此倍感惊讶的人中包括约瑟夫?斯大林。1943年在德黑兰会见罗斯福和丘吉尔时他曾提议为“美国军工生产”干杯，因为“如果没有它，我们一定已经失败了。”与他同为暴君的希特勒的言辞有多愚蠢，他的言辞就有多睿智。

1 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

2 moribund   

adj.即将结束的，垂死的

参考例句：

• The moribund Post Office Advisory Board was replaced.这个不起作用的邮局顾问委员会已被替换。
• Imperialism is monopolistic,parasitic and moribund capitalism.帝国主义是垄断的、寄生的、垂死的资本主义。

3 astound   

v.使震惊，使大吃一惊

参考例句：

• His practical grasp of affairs and his energy still astound me.他对事物的实际掌握和他充沛的精力实在使我惊异。
• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance.过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。

4 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

5 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。

6 combative   

adj.好战的；好斗的

参考例句：

• Mr. Obama has recently adopted a more combative tone.奥巴马总统近来采取了一种更有战斗性的语调。
• She believes that women are at least as combative as are.她相信女性至少和男性一样好斗。

7 dictates   

n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• Convention dictates that a minister should resign in such a situation. 依照常规部长在这种情况下应该辞职。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He always follows the dictates of common sense. 他总是按常识行事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

9 feats   

功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance. 过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。
• His heroic feats made him a legend in his own time. 他的英雄业绩使他成了他那个时代的传奇人物。

10 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。

11 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

12 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

13 linings   

n.衬里( lining的名词复数 )；里子；衬料；组织

参考例句：

• a pair of leather gloves with fur linings 一双毛皮衬里的皮手套
• Many of the garments have the customers' name tags sewn into the linings. 这些衣服有很多内衬上缝有顾客的姓名签。 来自辞典例句

14 percussion   

n.打击乐器；冲突，撞击；震动，音响

参考例句：

• In an orchestra,people who play percussion instruments sit at the back.在管弦乐队中，演奏打击乐器的人会坐在后面。
• Percussion of the abdomen is often omitted.腹部叩诊常被省略。

15 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

16 tyrant   

n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人

参考例句：

• The country was ruled by a despotic tyrant.该国处在一个专制暴君的统治之下。
• The tyrant was deaf to the entreaties of the slaves.暴君听不到奴隶们的哀鸣。