前CEO讲述诺基亚的盛衰往事

 　　It is hard to overstate just how dominant¹ Nokia was in the pre-iPhone era.

　　很难高估诺基亚(Nokia)在iPhone问世之前占据过多么主导的地位。

　　The company gave Finland its first global brand beyond the Moomins and Marimekko.

　　该公司让芬兰拥有了除姆明一族(Moomins)和Marimekko（芬兰家居用品企业——译者注）以外的首个全球品牌。

　　Jorma Ollila was the unlikely hero of Nokia’s rise from a failing conglomerate² making everything from toilet paper and rubber boots to cables for the Soviet³ Union.

　　约玛?奥利拉(Jorma Ollila)是诺基亚崛起过程中一位不可思议的英雄，当初诺基亚是一家濒临倒闭的综合企业，生产多种日用品，包括卫生纸、胶鞋，以及出口到苏联的电缆。

　　前CEO讲述诺基亚的盛衰往事

　　He spent 25 years at the helm of one of the most curious success stories in the history of the technology sector⁴.

　　他用25年时间谱写出了科技行业史上最不寻常的成功故事之一。

　　Yet Against All Odds⁵ proves to be a more cautionary tale than one that revels⁶ in how the Finns beat the world.

　　然而，《排除万难》(Against All Odds)更像是一个警示故事，而非陶醉于芬兰人如何傲居世界首位。

　　The book begins with the phrase no one was happy, which sets the tone for the rest of his story detailing the pitfalls⁷ and financial crises that almost subsumed the business.

　　该书开头写道：那时没有人高兴，这为整个故事奠定了基调，书中详细描述了几乎葬送了这家企业的失误和财务危机。

　　He rarely dwells on its periods of rampant⁸ success.

　　他很少把笔触放在诺基亚大获成功的时期。

　　I was captain of a vessel⁹ where only the bridge remained above the waterline: the hull¹⁰ was already submerged and the water was coming in the engine room, he says of his first days as chief executive.

　　他在说到他担任首席执行官最初的日子时写道：我是一艘大船的船长，该船只有驾驶室在吃水线上方：船体已没入水中，水正流入发动机舱。

　　References to the company haemorrhaging cash and being ripe for plucking by larger rivals become so numerous, it is almost easy to forget he is detailing one of the biggest success stories of the 1990s.

　　他多次提到该公司资金严重流失以及被较大规模竞争对手收入囊中的时机成熟，以至于读者几乎很容易忘记他在叙述上世纪90年代最成功的故事之一。

　　When Nokia’s workforce¹¹ doubled, its revenue grew tenfold and its profit rose a hundredfold.

　　当时诺基亚的员工数量翻了一番，收入增长了10倍，利润扩大了100倍。

　　This is an unlikely tale of how a group of provincial¹² Finns changed communications and the world.

　　这是一个不可思议的故事，讲述的是一群土生土长的芬兰人如何改变电信行业乃至世界。

　　Ollila is from Ostrobothnia which is so rural that studying in the Welsh town of Bridgend as a youth makes him feel worldly.

　　奥利拉来自奥斯托波斯尼亚(Ostrobothnia)，那里的乡村气息如此浓厚，以至于他年轻时在威尔士布里真德镇(Bridgend)学习时，竟有见了大世面的感觉。

　　The Nokia 101, the Ford¹³ Model T of mobile phones, was developed by Pertti Korhonen who hailed from Meltaus within the Arctic Circle, about as far away from Silicon¹⁴ Valley as you can imagine.

　　诺基亚101被称为手机中的福特T型车(Ford Model T)，其开发者佩尔蒂?科尔霍宁(Pertti Korhonen)来自北极圈以内的Meltaus，那里距离硅谷远的不能再远了。

　　Ollila spends much of the book describing how he unpicked the old Nokia by selling off the sacred paper division as well as the large television division that had become a millstone.

　　奥利拉用了很多的笔墨描写他是如何通过出售神圣的造纸业务和已成为沉重负担的大规模电视业务来告别旧诺基亚的。

　　Apart from a few crayfish parties, there is no wild excess on show.

　　除了一些小龙虾聚会，书中没有展示过度的铺张。

　　That may reflect his early days working under the Nokia chairman Kari Kairamo, who would hang out of helicopters and was obsessed¹⁵ with his public image.

　　这可能反映出他早年在诺基亚董事长卡瑞?凯雷莫(Kari Kairamo)手下工作的经历，凯雷莫常常在直升机上探身出来炫耀，念念不忘自己的公共形象。

　　Kairamo committed suicide in the role and his eventual¹⁶ successor describes feeling powerless and a little betrayed as he poses for a photo shoot with a French magazine in the hours after the news was broken to him.

　　凯雷莫在任上自杀，他最终的继任者在他去世消息传来几小时后接受一家法国杂志的拍照时感到无能为力和些许的背叛。

　　A Finnish sense of humour is apparent in his writing.

　　文中明显流露出芬兰式幽默感。

　　Ollila describes skiing in the Alps to get away from Nokia when his phone starts ringing, which is a problem he helped to impart to the world.

　　奥利拉写道，为了清静，他跑到阿尔卑斯山上滑雪，结果他的手机响起，而这个问题正是他参与带给世界的。

　　An anecdote¹⁷ about receiving a phone call in his car from Bill Gates that was so furious he had to pull over — only to discover later that the billionaire had meant to call his counterpart at Ericsson — is hilarious¹⁸.

　　有一件轶事很好笑，他在车中接到比尔?盖茨(Bill Gates)的电话，对方非常生气，以至于他不得不在路边停车，结果发现这位亿万富翁打电话找的是爱立信(Ericsson)的掌门人的。

　　The revelation that the word geek translates to n?rtti in Finnish is also a lovely fact.

　　极客这个词在芬兰语中被翻译为n?rtti，这也是一个有趣的事实。

　　Ollila’s turn of phrase chimes with Finnish director Aki Kaurism?ki’s deadpan¹⁹ school of humour.

　　奥利拉的措辞与芬兰导演阿基?郭利马斯基(Aki Kaurism?ki)的冷幽默不谋而合。

　　He describes delivering a rather long and gloomy monologue²⁰, straight from my heart in one board meeting.

　　他曾在一次董事会会议上说出一段长长的忧郁的独白，发自我的内心。

　　The view of a church out of the window at another crucial meeting is described thus: The tombstones of the old plague victims buried there appeared as dark shadows against the ground, while the trees seemed even darker and more threatening.

　　在另一次重要会议上，他这样描写窗外的一座教堂：当年瘟疫受害者的墓碑好像是投在地面上的阴影，而树木似乎更阴暗更吓人。

　　The impression was radiant in a way only a deep Finnish winter could be.

　　这幅景象给人以光芒四射的印象，只有芬兰的严冬才会这样。

　　Ollila pulls no punches on how and why Nokia fell from grace although he keeps his powder dry on Stephen Elop, whom he hired, and the eventual sale to Microsoft of its famed handset business.

　　奥利拉毫不留情地讲述了诺基亚是如何以及为何跌落神坛的，不过他没有评论他聘用的史蒂芬?埃洛普(Stephen Elop)以及最终将诺基亚著名的手机业务出售给微软(Microsoft)的交易。

　　Against All Odds is a unique tale and Ollila’s way of telling it is equally left field.

　　《Against All Odds》是一个独特的故事，奥利拉的叙事方法也同样别具一格。

1 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

2 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

6 revels   

n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉

参考例句：

• Christmas revels with feasting and dancing were common in England. 圣诞节的狂欢歌舞在英国是很常见的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Dickens openly revels in the book's rich physical detail and high-hearted conflict. 狄更斯对该书中丰富多彩的具体细节描写和勇敢的争斗公开表示欣赏。 来自辞典例句

7 pitfalls   

（捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误

参考例句：

• the potential pitfalls of buying a house 购买房屋可能遇到的圈套
• Several pitfalls remain in the way of an agreement. 在达成协议的进程中还有几个隐藏的困难。

8 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

9 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

10 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

11 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

12 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

13 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

14 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

15 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

16 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

17 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

18 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

19 deadpan   

n. 无表情的

参考例句：

• Some people don't catch his deadpan humor,that makes it even funnier.有些人不能了解他那种无表情的幽默，因此更有趣。
• She put the letter on the desk in front of me,her face deadpan,not a flicker of a smile.她把那封信放在我面前的桌子上，故意一 脸严肃，没有一丝的笑容。

20 monologue   

n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白

参考例句：

• The comedian gave a long monologue of jokes.喜剧演员讲了一长段由笑话组成的独白。
• He went into a long monologue.他一个人滔滔不绝地讲话。