2013年年度11大商业丑闻总结
日期:2014-01-06 10:53

(单词翻译:单击)

Edward Snowden and the NSA leaks

合同工斯诺登踢爆美国国安局监控行动


Without question, the scandal of the year: The U.S. government still doesn't know the number of secrets Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor-gone-rogue, snuck out of the country with last June. The strands to this scandal are many: from the extent of government spying at home and abroad to the ease with which a single contractor got a security clearance, fled the country with untold amounts of sensitive data, and outran that government on a wild goose chase. And the scandal, of course, is still unfolding.

毫无疑问,这是今年最大的丑闻:美国政府至今仍不确定爱德华•斯诺登到底掌握了多少秘密。这位“潜伏”在美国国家安全局(National Security Agency,NSA)的合同工于去年六月秘密逃往国外。这起丑闻涉及多个方面,比如:政府在国内外进行暗中监控的程度,合同工竟然可以轻易获得安全许可,掌握大量敏感数据的斯诺登能够顺利逃往国外,而政府只能望洋兴叹。目前,这出闹剧仍未收场。

Bangladesh factory collapse

孟加拉服装厂塌楼致千人死亡

The deadliest accident in the history of the garment industry -- something you would have expected in 1813 rather than 2013 -- killed 1,100 workers in Bangladesh last April, after the factory in which they worked collapsed. The disaster was entirely preventable -- the owner had violated building code and failed to heed repeated warnings that it was unsafe -- and the incident prompted a rethink among Western clothing companies that rely on the cheap labor (and substandard conditions and facilities) in Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter of clothing behind China, to keep their costs low.

这是成衣行业史上最严重的一次事故。或许有人会以为这样的事故只应该发生在1813年,而不是两百年后的今天。去年四月,孟加拉一家工厂倒塌,造成1,100名工人死亡。这场灾难本来是完全可以避免的——这家工厂的老板违反了建筑规范,却对工厂不安全的持续警告置之不理。为了降低成本,许多西方服装公司依赖孟加拉的廉价劳动力(和低于标准的工作条件与设施),此次事故也促使他们对这种做法进行反思。孟加拉是仅次于中国的世界第二大服装出口国。

The disastrous debut of Healthcare.gov

美国医保网站“灾难性”上线


Where to begin? The glitches, the website crashes, the dismally low enrollment numbers. It's hard to see the Oct. 1 launch of Obamacare and its virtual face, Healthcare.gov, as anything but a disaster. In the much-awaited initiative's first month, the site was offline more than it was online. Notably, the contractors the government hired for the enormous project, including Canadian outfit CGI Federal, have emerged relatively unscathed.

从那里说起呢?故障频频、网站崩溃、极少的注册人数。无论从哪个角度来看,10月1日推出的奥巴马医改计划及其网站Healthcare.gov的上线只能用“灾难”这个词来形容。这个公众期待已久的网站在上线后的一个月里大部分时间都处于离线状态。尤其是,政府为这个重大项目所聘请的承包商,包括加拿大CGI Federal公司等,却几乎没有受到太大影响。

JP Morgan, scandal machine

摩根大通沦为丑闻制造机


The nation's biggest bank was in the news a lot this year, and rarely for something not related to one of its many past or present scandals. From the fresh investigation into the bank's questionable recruiting practices in China, targeting the children of the elite and politically powerful, to the billions of dollars it's had to shell out for its part in other scandals related to Bernie Madoff, mortgage-backed securities, manipulation of electricity markets, and the London Whale, it has not been a great year for JPMorgan (JPM,Fortune 500).

美国最大的银行今年频频登上各大媒体,而且几乎都是因为它之前或者现在的丑闻。这家银行在中国大量雇佣精英和高官子女的可疑做法正在接受调查。因涉嫌伯纳德•麦道夫抵押贷款担保证券丑闻,它不得不支付数十亿美元。此外,操纵电力市场案和“伦敦鲸”事件等更是让它雪上加霜。今年可谓摩根大通(JPMorgan)的多事之年。

GlaxoSmithKline bribery scandal

葛兰素史克爆出在华行贿丑闻


Chinese officials detained employees of the British pharmaceutical company last summer for allegedly using travel agents to bribe doctors, hospitals, and government officials to sell more expensive drugs in the country. GSK is cooperating with the investigation, but sales still fell 60% in the third quarter. Other multinational drug companies in China, believed to fall under similar suspicion, have changed their marketing practices.

去年夏天,中国官方拘留了英国制药公司葛兰素史克(GlaxoSmithKline)的员工,原因是这家公司涉嫌通过旅行社,向医生、医院和政府官员行贿,以达到扩大昂贵药物在华销量的目的。虽然葛兰素史克配合了中国政府的调查,但他第三季度的销量依然减少了60%。有类似嫌疑的其他跨国医药公司也纷纷改变了在中国的营销策略。

Lululemon sheer pants scandal

露露柠檬透视瑜伽裤起风波


As if the price of a pair of yoga pants ($98!) from this cultish Canadian company was not scandalous enough, the outfitter had to recall them when customers complained the pants were see-through. Lululemon (LULU) founder Chip Wilson only made matters worse when he blamed the sheerness issue on the size of women's thighs. He resigned from his chairman position in December.

如果说这家疯狂的加拿大公司推出的瑜伽裤价格(98美元!)似乎还算不上丑闻,那么,由于消费者投诉这款瑜伽裤过于透明,这家公司被迫宣布召回该款产品就真的算是丑闻了。而露露柠檬(Lululemon )创始人奇普•威尔逊却让情况进一步恶化,因为他把裤子的透明问题归咎于女顾客们的大腿太粗。他在十二月份辞去了公司董事长的职务。

European horse meat scandal

欧洲马肉产业链波及宜家


The European Union's heavily regulated food and drug industries couldn't keep horse meat, secretly substituted for beef, out of a number of foodstuffs, from lasagna to beef burgers to Ikea's meatballs. The cases of "food fraud" first detected in Ireland last January were later discovered, to much dismay, in countries across the continent. Organized crime groups are suspected to have been the fraudsters.

尽管欧盟对食品药品行业监管严格,但却未能阻止大量食物中使用马肉冒充牛肉,比如烤宽面条、牛肉汉堡,以及宜家(Ikea)的肉丸。此次“食物欺诈”案件最早于去年一月在爱尔兰曝光,之后席卷整个欧洲,令世人倍感沮丧。这起丑闻可能涉及有组织犯罪集团。

Shop-and-frisk scandal

美国零售巨头搜身丑闻引发抗议


New York retailers Barney's and Macy's (M, Fortune 500) came under fire -- and a state investigation -- last fall after reports surfaced that black shoppers including Treme actor, Rob Brown, had been detained by security at the stores after buying luxury goods. The allegations of racial profiling sparked outrage and culminated with a shopper's "Bill of Rights," which was signed by major retailers and announced at a press conference with Al Sharpton.

纽约零售商巴尼百货(Barney's)和梅西百货(Macy's ,《财富》500强)的声誉倍受打击,并正在接受调查。去年秋天,有报道称黑人购物者,包括《劫后余生》(Treme )中的演员罗伯•布朗在内,在购买奢侈品后均遭商场保安扣留。这种涉嫌种族歧视的做法激起了民愤,而一项购物者“人权法案”更是将事件推向高潮。这项法案征集了多家大型零售商的签名,并由阿尔•夏普敦在新闻发布会上公布。

The poop cruise

海上奢华之旅惨变大便漂流之旅


Four thousand cruise-goers aboard the Carnival Triumph were stranded at sea for four days in February without power or working toilets, due to a fire in one of the ship's generators. After being towed to shore in Mobile, Ala., the ill-fated sail became known famously as "the poop cruise." It's since been revealed that Carnival (CCL) knew the ship had issues. Lawsuits are pending.

二月份,由于船上的一台发电机起火,导致乘坐嘉年华凯旋号(Carnival Triumph)的4,000多名游客在海上漂泊了四天,没有电也没有厕所可用。船被拖回阿拉巴马州莫比尔的海岸后,这场不幸的航行变成了“大便漂流之旅”,进而臭名远扬。之后,有消息称嘉年华邮轮公司(Carnival )早已知道凯旋号存在问题。目前,相关诉讼仍在进行中。

Google's love triangle

谷歌高管层混乱三角恋曝光


Very few secrets can escape Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) these days, so it must have seemed like sweet justice to some when the personal and messy affairs of Google co-founder Sergey Brin became a topic of brief internet fascination last fall. The particulars of this Silicon Valley scandal: Brin separated from his wife, Anne Wojcicki, sister of Google executive Susan Wojcicki, and took up with a Google Glass marketing manager, who worked under his purview. That employee had also recently been romantically linked to another Google exec, who left Google for a phone company in China, not long before all this news involving Brin broke.

如今,很少有秘密能逃过谷歌(Google,《财富》500强)的法眼,所以对一些人来说,去年秋天谷歌联合创始人谢尔盖•布林的恋爱关系被曝光并成为网络热点,似乎才体现了人间的公正。这起硅谷丑闻的细节如下:布林与妻子安妮•伍吉西奇(谷歌高管苏珊•伍吉西奇的妹妹)分居,并开始与他的下属、谷歌眼镜营销经理交往。而这位员工之前与谷歌另一位高管有过恋爱关系。这位高管在有关布林的新闻曝光前不久,便离开谷歌加入一家中国手机公司。

Lance Armstrong

环法七冠王承认服用禁药


This one already seems like a distant memory. After years of denials and deflective finger-pointing, Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor and cycling champion, came clean in January and told us (via Oprah) what we already knew: He doped. The cyclist lost all of his major sponsors and cut his ties to the Livestrong foundation.

这件丑闻似乎早已淡出了人们的视线。经过多年的否认和转移话题的指责后,癌症幸存者、自行车冠军兰斯•阿姆斯特朗终于在一月份(通过奥普拉的节目)承认了世人已知的事实:他曾服用过违禁药物。后来,他失去了所有赞助商,并彻底退出了Livestrong抗癌基金会。

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重点单词
  • robv. 抢劫,掠夺
  • luxuryn. 奢侈,豪华,奢侈品
  • fraudn. 骗子,欺骗,诈欺
  • collapsen. 崩溃,倒塌,暴跌 v. 倒塌,崩溃,瓦解,折叠
  • relatedadj. 相关的,有亲属关系的
  • sensitiveadj. 敏感的,灵敏的,易受伤害的,感光的,善解人意的
  • manipulationn. 操纵,控制,窜改
  • disastern. 灾难
  • organizedv. 组织
  • shelln. 壳,外壳 v. 去壳,脱落,拾贝壳 n.[计