In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when his fellow teenagers were going to rock festivals and protesting against the war in Vietnam, Rex Tillerson spent his summers with the Boy Scouts of America as aquatics director at Camp Strake, about 35 miles north of Houston.

上世纪60年代末和70年代初，当同龄人都去参加摇滚音乐节并反对越南战争时，十几岁的雷克斯.蒂勒森(Rex Tillerson)却利用暑期，在休斯顿以北约35英里的Strake营地担任美国童子军(Boy Scouts of America)的游泳指导。

Today he is one of America’s most powerful business leaders as chief executive of ExxonMobil,

如今，他担任埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)首席执行官，是美国最有权势的企业领导人之一。

and says he owes it all to scouting.

他表示，这一切要完全归因于他在童子军得到的锻炼。

All of the leadership training I got, I got in the Boy Scouts of America, he told a meeting of the organisation in October.

他在今年10月该公司的一次会议上表示：我的全部领导力培训都是从美国童子军获得的。

Now he is about to find out whether the lessons he learnt splashing around five decades ago will hold good in the swamps of Washington.

如今，他即将确定大约50年前他在水里扑腾时学到的本领是否在华盛顿也能派上用处。

Until he was chosen this week by Donald Trump to be his nominee for secretary of state, Mr Tillerson had been heading for a comfortable retirement next year.

在最近被唐纳德.特朗普(Donald Trump)提名为美国国务卿之前，蒂勒森已准备明年退休安度晚年了。

He could have been spending more time with his second wife Renda and his four children, and on his interests including scouting, the church and golf.

他本可以与他的第二任妻子(Renda)和他的4个子女度过更多时光，去做自己喜欢做的事情例如童子军活动、教堂活动和高尔夫。

Instead, he has walked into a firestorm.

然而他却走入了一场风暴。

His selection to be the top US diplomat has been denounced across the political spectrum.

他被提名为美国最高外交官一事受到了美国政界的普遍谴责。

Environmentalists have been furious that the oil industry is apparently taking the reins in Washington, while hawkish Republicans such as Marco Rubio, the senator for Florida, have raised concerns about Mr Tillerson’s ties to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

环境保护主义者对于石油行业显然将要在华盛顿当家作主感到愤怒，而共和党鹰派人士，如佛罗里达州参议员马可.鲁比奥(Marco Rubio)对于蒂勒森与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔.普京(Vladimir Putin)的关系提出担忧。

Meanwhile his strengths, including the experience that comes from leading a $380bn global company, are largely being ignored.

与此同时，蒂勒森的优点基本上被忽视，比如他领导一家市值3800亿美元的全球企业的经验。

His path to confirmation is looking rocky.

他的提名被国会确认的道路看似困难重重。

Solidly built, with a slow Texan drawl and a mane of silver hair, Mr Tillerson certainly looks the part for Mr Trump’s testosterone-heavy top team.

蒂勒森身材魁梧，说话时拖着德克萨斯州人特有的慢吞吞的语调，一头银发，他看上去肯定像是特朗普散发出阳刚之气的最高团队的合适成员。

He knows something about projecting an image in the world of American strength and competence,

布鲁金斯学会(Brookings Institution)的苏珊妮.马洛尼(Suzanne Maloney)表示：他懂得如何将美国实力和竞争力的形象投射到全球。

says Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution, who worked as an adviser to Exxon in the early 2000s.

马洛尼曾在本世纪初担任埃克森美孚的顾问。

There was not much in his childhood to suggest he was destined for high office.

蒂勒森在少年时期并未显示出他注定会跻身高层的迹象。

Born in Wichita Falls in north Texas, he was the son of a mobile baker who took a pay cut to become a professional scout leader.

他生在德克萨斯州北部的威奇托福尔斯(Wichita Falls)，他的父亲是一位流动面包师，后来接受减薪成为一名职业童子军领导人。

He had his first job at eight, helping his mother mow lawns, and at 16 worked as a janitor at Oklahoma State University, while at the weekends picking cotton and beans.

蒂勒森在8岁时得到了第一份工作，帮助他妈妈修剪草坪，16岁时，他在俄克拉荷马州立大学(Oklahoma State University)当清洁工，周末则摘棉花和豆子。

The scouts were responsible for enthusing him about engineering, putting up televisions at a jamboree so the boys could watch the moon landing in 1969.

童子军经历让他对工程产生兴趣，1969年，他曾在童子军大会上摆上电视机，让男孩子们观看阿波罗登月。

The other institution that has moulded him is Exxon, where he has worked for 41 years since joining in 1975 immediately after graduating from the University of Texas.

另一个塑造蒂勒森性格的组织是埃克森美孚，1975年从德克萨斯大学(University of Texas)毕业后，他立刻加入埃克森美孚，在那里工作了41年。

In the oil industry Exxon is universally admired for its engineering excellence, but sometimes resented for the arrogance and inflexibility of its managers.

在石油行业，埃克森美孚因其工程卓越而受到普遍赞誉，但有时又因其管理者的傲慢和刻板而受到厌恶。

As one observer puts it, it is high IQ but low EQ.

正如一位观察人士所言，该公司属于高智商低情商。

Mr Tillerson fitted in well.

蒂勒森非常适应这种环境。

He is a product of the Exxon culture, which is extremely process-driven, says the former chief executive of another large oil company.

另一家大型石油公司的前首席执行官表示：他是埃克森美孚文化的产物，那里极度程序化。

He has been a solid leader at Exxon, not quite matching the impact of his acclaimed predecessor Lee Raymond.

蒂勒森在埃克森美孚是一位稳健型领导者，在产生的影响上与受人尊敬的前任李.雷蒙德(Lee Raymond)不在一个水平上。

He was slow to grasp the potential of the shale revolution that transformed the US oil and gas industry in the 2000s.

他在意识到页岩革命的潜力方面行动缓慢，这场革命在本世纪头10年彻底改变了美国油气行业。

One former rival at a large oil company praises him as very careful, and very thorough, and very conservative.

某大型石油公司的前竞争对手称赞他非常谨慎，非常周全，而且非常保守。

He is also a tough negotiator.

蒂勒森还是一位强硬的谈判对手。

That quality was vital in Russia, after he took responsibility for Exxon’s operations there in 1998.

在他1998年接掌埃克森美孚俄罗斯业务后，这种特质在俄罗斯非常重要。

He played a key role in driving forward the big Sakhalin 1 oil development off the country’s far eastern coast, while the government dragged its feet and tried to apply pressure to secure a better deal.

他在推动俄罗斯远东海岸的萨哈林一号(Sakhalin 1)大型石油开发项目上发挥了重要作用，与此同时俄罗斯政府故意拖延，试图施压以寻求更有利的交易。

Then, after he had taken over as chief executive in 2006, Exxon was able to fight off competition from US and European rivals to sign a series of potentially lucrative deals in 2011-13 with the state-controlled oil company Rosneft.

然后，在他于2006年担任埃克森美孚首席执行官以后，该公司得以击败美欧竞争对手，在2011年至2013年与俄罗斯国有控股的俄罗斯石油公司(Rosneft)签订了一系列潜在盈利可观的协议。

Those relationships worry many US politicians.

这些关系让很多美国政治人士感到担忧。

Mr Tillerson was awarded Russia’s Order of Friendship in 2013.

2013年，蒂勒森被俄罗斯授予友谊勋章(Order of Friendship)。

John McCain, the Republican senator, observed this week that he would never accept an award from Mr Putin.

共和党参议员约翰.麦凯恩(John McCain)最近表示，他永远不会接受普京颁发的任何奖励。

But some say the concerns are misplaced.

但一些人表示这些担忧是错位的。

I don’t think the ‘friendship’ with Putin is anything more than a working relationship, says one former chief executive You have to go where the oil is, even if you don’t like it.

我不认为与普京的‘友谊’具有超越工作关系的任何内涵，一位前首席执行官表示，哪里有石油，你就必须到哪里去，即便你不喜欢。

On climate change, Mr Tillerson’s critics have more of a case.

在气候变化问题上，蒂勒森的批评者们拥有更多的口实。

At a conference in London in October, he said: We share the view that the risks of climate change are real and require serious action.

在今年10月伦敦的一个会议上，他曾表示：我们都认为，气候变化的风险是切实的，需要认真的行动。

But when he discusses the issue, he does not sound like an enthusiast for action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and rejects the idea that oil companies must go beyond fossil fuels.

但在他讨论这个问题时，他听上去不像是一位热衷于减排行动的人，并且拒绝有关石油公司必须超越化石燃料的观点。

While Russia and climate change seem likely to be the key issues for his confirmation, other questions may turn out to be more contentious if Mr Tillerson makes it to the state department.

尽管俄罗斯和气候变化可能会成为蒂勒森的提名得到国会确认的关键问题，但如果他成功出任国务卿，其他问题可能更具争议。

He is a pragmatist, and has not expressed many strong opinions about the world, but unlike Mr Trump he has been a public supporter of free trade.

他是一位务实主义者，从未就世界问题表达过很多强有力的观点，但与特朗普不同，他一直公开支持自由贸易。

On that issue he may have to fight in the cabinet, or else set his principles aside.

在这个问题上，他可能要在特朗普内阁争斗一番，否则他就要放弃自己的原则。

Speaking about the scouts’ duties, Mr Tillerson said: Whatever direction we take, whether we like it [and] agree with it or not, we have a duty to this country as citizens, to participate in this government.

在谈到童子军的责任时，蒂勒森表示：不管我们走哪个方向，不管我们是否喜欢以及是否认同，作为公民，我们都对这个国家负有责任，要参与到政府中来。

It is a fine ideal, and now he is trying to live by it.

这是一种很好的理想，如今他正试图践行这种理念。

But the reality of government may turn out to be rather more messy.

但政府的现实可能被证明更加混乱。