大学英语综合课程_大学英语综合课程_二第二单元quiz答案

The matter of choice

　　选择的问题

That reliable workhorse of capitalism———the joint-stock company looks surprisingly durable. But pressure on it is increasing.

作为资本主义可靠的劳动者——股份制公司看起来惊人的持久。但它所承受的压力越来越大。

　　1. In 1967, John Kenneth Galbraith's The New Industrial State argued that the US was run by a handful of big companies who planned the economy in the name of stability.

　　1967年，约翰·肯尼思·加尔布雷思的《新工业国家》认为，美国是由少数几家大公司经营的，他们以稳定的名义规划经济。

　　2. These were hierarchical and bureaucratic organizations making long runs of standardized products. They introduced "new and improved” varieties with predictable regularity; they provided their workers with lifetime employment and they enjoyed fairly good industrial relations with the giant trade unions.

　　这些是等级森严的官僚机构，长期生产标准化产品。它们以可预见的规律性引进"新的和改良的"品种；它们为工人提供终身就业机会，它们与大型工会享有相当良好的劳资关系。

　　3. That world is now dead. The US's giant corporations have either disappeared or been transformed by global competition. Most have shifted their production systems from high-volume to high-value, from standardized to customized. And they have flattened their management hierarchies. Few people these days expect to spend their lives moving up the ladder of a single organization. Dramatic changes are taking place. But where exactly are they taking us? Where is the modern company heading?

　　那个世界已经死了。美国的大公司不是消失了，就是被全球竞争改变了。大多数企业已经将生产系统从大批量转向高价值，从标准化转向定制化。而且他们的管理层级已经扁平化。如今，很少有人希望一辈子都在一个机构里往上爬。巨大的变化正在发生。但他们到底要带我们去哪？现代公司向何处去？

　　4. There are three standard answers to this question. The first is that a handful of giant companies are engaged in a “silent takeover” of the world. The past couple of decades have seen a record number of mergers. The survivors, it is maintained, are far more powerful than nation-states?

　　这个问题有三个标准答案。首先是少数几家巨头公司在“无声接管”世界。在过去的几十年里，并购的数量创下了记录。有人认为，幸存者比民族国家强大得多。

　　5. The second school of thought argues almost the opposite: it says that big companies are a thing of the past. For a glimpse of the future, look at the Monorail Corporation, which sells computers. Monorail owns no factories, warehouses, or any other tangible assets. It operates from a single floor that it leases in an office building in Atlanta. Freelance workers are designing the computers while demand is still low.

　　第二学派的观点几乎与之相反：他们认为大公司已经成为历史。想一窥未来，看看销售电脑的莫纳雷尔公司。莫纳雷尔不拥有工厂、仓库或任何其他有形资产。该公司在亚特兰大的一栋办公楼里租用了一层楼。自由职业者正在设计计算机尽管需求量还很低。

　　6. The third school of thought says that companies are being replaced by"networks". Groups of entrepreneurs form such a network to market an idea. They then sell it to the highest bidder and move on to produce another idea and to create another firm, with the money being supplied all the time by venture capitalists.

　　第三种观点认为，公司正在被“网络”所取代。一批批的企业家组成这样一个网络来推销一个想法。然后他们把它卖给出价最高的人，接着产生另一个想法，创建另一家公司，资金一直由风险投资资本家提供。

　　7. Another way to look at the future of the company is to focus on the environment that will determine it. That environment is dominated by one thing: choice. Technology and globalization open up ever more opportunities for individuals and firms to collect information and conduct economic activity outside traditional structures. While the age of mass production lowered the costs of products at the expense of limiting choices, modern “flexible” production systems both lower costs and increase choice. Consumers have more choice over where they spend their money. Producers have more choice over which suppliers to use. Shareholders have more choice over where to put their money. With all that choice around, future companies will have to be very flexible in order to quickly adapt to the changing environments if they are to survive.

　　另一种看待公司未来的方式是专注于将决定公司未来的环境。那个环境被一件事所支配：选择。技术和全球化为个人和公司在传统结构之外收集信息和开展经济活动提供了更多的机会。虽然大规模生产的时代降低了产品的成本，但代价是限制了选择，现代“灵活”的生产系统既降低了成本，又增加了选择。消费者在哪里消费有更多的选择。生产商有更多的选择使用哪些供应商，股东有更多选择他们的钱放在哪里有了这些选择，未来的公司要想生存下去，就必须非常灵活，以便快速适应不断变化的环境。

　　（文章选自《经济学人》，《新标准商务英语综合教程》 Book 1, Unit 1）

课文结构分析

　　主题：公司将变为未来形式。原因：全球化带来竞争加剧，过去形式已死。

　　变化方式：

　　第一变（2、3 段）：公司从等级和官僚管理、长期标准化生产、假创新、及终生雇佣员工，变为进行高质量和定制化生产、扁平制管理，并取消终身制（员工不终身同一公司爬楼梯）。第二变（4 段）：通过合并成为大公司“接管”全球。第三变（5 段）：大公司不再存在，公司业务全外包，包括包给自由职业者。第四变（6 段）：公司不再存在，未来是创业者与投资者合作的网络。第五变（7 段）：公司变得非常灵活以适应万变的环境。公司之所以变得灵活是因为机会太多。机会多则选择多，所有人都有更多选择，这一切都是科技和全球化带来的变化。旧模式下（mass production）成本低但选择少，而科技和全球化既降低成本低，又增加选择。最终造成一个万变的环境。