英国卫报:绑架为何成了一门生意(3)

To his South American clients, Milne was as quintessentially British as James Bond.

对米尔恩的南美客户来说，他是一个像詹姆斯·邦德般典型的英国人。

He attended boarding school in Scotland, and dresses in tailored suits with a perfectly¹ positioned pocket square.

他在苏格兰的寄宿学校上学，身穿剪裁整齐的西装，口袋里有一个完美的方形口袋。

He enjoys a stiff drink, sometimes two. “When I went to Colombia, everyone wanted to see me,” Milne told me.

他喜欢来上一杯烈性酒，有时两杯。“我去哥伦比亚的时候，每个人都想见我，”米尔恩告诉我。

“I started with a few contacts, but it grew like Topsy. All their friends at the golf club wanted to meet.

“一开始我只接触了一些人，但后来就像社交网络一样越来越多。他们在高尔夫俱乐部的所有朋友都想见他。

It suddenly became a viable² business.”

它突然变成了一项可行的业务。”

Some grumble³ that in an industry that values discretion⁴, Milne is a bit of self-promoter.

有些人抱怨说，在一个重视谨慎的行业里，米尔恩有点自吹自擂。

But no one denies his success. By the time he wrapped up his stint⁵ in Latin America in the 1990s,

但没有人否认他的成功。90年代，当他结束在拉丁美洲的工作时，

he had sold hundreds of new policies, recruited a specialised team in London focusing on the Latin America market,

他已卖出了数百份新保单，在伦敦招募了一支专门研究拉美市场的团队，

and developed a new service to provide risk mitigation – a “preventative training” programme

并开发了一种新的减少风险的服务——一个“预防培训”计划，

that educated clients on how to reduce the risk of kidnap and how to respond if it does happen.

该计划会教客户如何降低被绑架的风险，以及一旦被绑架时该如何应对。

He then convinced insurance companies that they should foot the bill.

然后，他说服保险公司来买单。

(After all, both insurance companies and their clients have an interest in reducing the likelihood of a kidnapping.)

(毕竟，降低绑架的可能性对保险公司和他们的客户都有好处。)

Over the past few decades, the K&R insurance business has grown.

在过去的几十年里，绑架和赎金保险生意有所增长。

More than 75% of Fortune 500 companies have K&R insurance policies.

超过75%的世界500强公司都有绑架和赎金保险业务。

Today two insurers – Hiscox in the UK and AIG in the US – dominate the market,

如今，两家保险商，英国的希斯科斯公司和美国的美国国际集团统治了整个市场，

and there are also many security firms that specialise in kidnap response.

还有许多专门从事绑架应对费用的安全公司。

Hostage negotiation⁶ has become something of an industry, with conferences, conventions and shared strategies.

人质谈判已经成为一个行业，有联合会、惯例和共享策略。

More than 97% of kidnappings handled by professional negotiators are successfully resolved through the payment of ransom⁷,

根据几个不同的掌握内部行业数据的安全顾问的说法，

according to several different security consultants⁸ with access to internal industry data.

超过97%的由专业谈判者参与的绑架案都通过支付赎金成功解决。

A small percentage of hostages escape, and a very few are rescued through high-risk operations. Less than 1% are killed.

只有一小部分人质逃脱，极少数人质通过高风险行动获救。只有不到1%的人被杀。

1 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

2 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

3 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

4 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

5 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。

6 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

7 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

8 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。