英国卫报:走向失控的博姿药妆(6)

A near-unknown from the continent had just snapped up a high-street stalwart – and City newsrooms were agog¹.

一个来自欧洲大陆的几乎不为人知的人刚刚抢购了一个商业街中坚品牌——城市的新闻编辑室对此兴奋不已。

The guy even sounded exotic. He came from Italy, but had moved to Monaco, the principality famous for not levying² income tax.

这家伙甚至听起来很有异国情调。他从意大利来到摩纳哥，这个公国以不征收所得税而闻名。

He collected yachts and Italian old masters.

他收集游艇和意大利早期绘画大师的作品。

Separated from his wife, he had got together with girlfriend Ornella Barra after buying her family’s business – then made her head of his wholesale³ operations.

与妻子分居后，他与女友奥内拉·巴拉相识，买下了她的家族企业，然后让她担任他的批发业务主管。

With his white hair and rimless⁴ glasses,

佩西纳白发苍苍，戴着无框眼镜，

Pessina looked less like a typical FTSE bureaucrat⁵ and more like a continental⁶ football manager, here to save the ailing⁷ local side.

他看起来不像典型的富时官僚，而更像欧洲大陆的足球经理，他来这里是为了拯救境况不佳的当地球队。

“He confesses to living a peripatetic⁸ lifestyle, jetting between his home in Monaco,

《每日电讯报》2007年报道，“他承认自己过着一种四处游荡的生活，经常乘飞机往返于摩纳哥的家中，

where he has to spend at least 90 nights a year to qualify for its low-tax regime,

他每年至少要在那里住90个晚上，才有资格享受那里的低税收制度，

and his offices in Italy and in London,” reported the Telegraph in 2007.

以及他在意大利和伦敦的办公室。”

“The two mobiles and a BlackBerry laid in front of him are clearly more important than any office.”

“摆在他面前的两部手机和一部黑莓手机显然比任何办公室都重要。”

After all, offices are not necessary when hunting for deals – and Pessina has a genius for making deals.

毕竟，在寻找交易时，办公室不是必要的，而佩西纳有做交易的天赋。

By 2005, when he invited Boots executives for merger⁹ talks on his yacht off Sardinia, he had already bought more than 500 firms.

到2005年，当他在撒丁岛附近的游艇上邀请博姿公司的高管参加并购谈判时，他已经收购了500多家公司。

Yet the press gave little consideration to the precise nature of this latest deal – and how that might change a business delivering a vital public service.

然而，媒体几乎没有考虑这宗最新交易的确切性质，以及这将如何改变一家提供重要公共服务的企业。

One man who was worried about Britain’s new king of medicine was Bill Scott.

一个担心英国新的药物之王的人是比尔·斯科特。

Until March 2015, Scott had been Scotland’s chief pharmaceutical¹⁰ officer for 22 years, leading policy-making on pharmacy¹¹.

在2015年3月之前，斯科特担任苏格兰首席制药官22年，领导制药政策制定。

It was from that vantage point that he watched the takeover.

他就是从那个有利的位置见证了这次接管。

“The feeling was that it would fundamentally change the ethos of Boots,” Scott told me.

斯科特告诉我：“我感觉这将从根本上改变博姿药妆的风格。”

He and his colleagues had always regarded the company as “ethical” – because it was “very much driven by pharmacists themselves”.

他和他的同事一直认为该公司是“有道德的”——因为它“在很大程度上是由药剂师自己推动的”。

Now, with the money men in charge, it seemed the future was less certain.

现在，有了财阀掌控公司，未来似乎不那么确定了。

1 agog   

adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地

参考例句：

• The children were all agog to hear the story.孩子们都渴望着要听这个故事。
• The city was agog with rumors last night that the two had been executed.那两人已被处决的传言昨晚搞得全城沸沸扬扬。

2 levying   

征（兵）( levy的现在分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税

参考例句：

• The high tax will be given levying to the foreign country car. 对外国汽车要予以征收高税。
• Levying estate income tax are considered to be goods tax. 遗产税是在财产所有者死亡后所征收的税。

3 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

4 rimless   

adj.无边的

参考例句：

• Among the guests was a quiet, agreeable man with rimless glasses locking like a college professor. 宾客中有一个沉静和蔼的人戴着无边眼镜，看起来象大学教授。 来自辞典例句
• Heyward's aquiline, austere face showed concentration; behind rimless glasses his grey eyes were cool. 海沃德那长着鹰钩鼻子的严峻的脸上露出十分专注的神情，无框眼镜的后面，一双褐色的眼睛闪着寒光。 来自辞典例句

5 bureaucrat   

n. 官僚作风的人，官僚，官僚政治论者

参考例句：

• He was just another faceless bureaucrat.他只不过是一个典型呆板的官员。
• The economy is still controlled by bureaucrats.经济依然被官僚们所掌控。

6 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

7 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

8 peripatetic   

adj.漫游的，逍遥派的，巡回的

参考例句：

• Her father was in the army and the family led a peripatetic existence.她父亲是军人，所以全家人随军过着一种流动的生活。
• Peripatetic music teachers visit the school regularly.兼职音乐教师定期到校授课。

9 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

10 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

11 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。