外刊翻译：如何学习经济学人文章（6）

《战争迷雾》的下一部分，揭示了通用电气公司在信息管理方面暴露的一系列问题。

非常遗憾本篇经济学人的中文译文质量不佳，但毕竟它是英文杂志，不是英中翻译学习的范本。

从这个角度看来，学习经济学人对于学习英文词汇与表达法，提升英文写作能力更有帮助。

而从英中双语的角度来看，只能作为锻炼英文相对专业性内容理解能力的一类辅助资料，可以用来补充相关专业知识。

Second, GE’s seven operating divisions (power, for example, or aviation) are allowed to use aflattering definition of profit that excludes billions of dollars of supposedly one-off costs. Their total profits are almost twice as big as the firm’s. It is the corporate equivalent of China’s GDP accounting, where the claimed outputs of each province add up to more than the national figure.

第二，GE的七大业务部门（例如电力或航空）被容许使用一个会让结果比较好看的利润定义，将数十亿美元的所谓一次性成本刨除在外。这些部门的总利润几乎是公司利润的两倍。这相当于将中国的GDP统计方法运用在了企业上：中国各省声称的产值相加后高于全国数字。

经济学人向来喜欢明里暗里地嘲讽中国，这文也不例外哈哈。

Third, GE does not assess itself on a geographical basis. Does China yield solid returns on capital? Has Saudi Arabia been a good bet? No one seems to know. This is unhelpful,giventhat the firm does half its business abroad and that the long-term decline in returns has taken place as the firm has become more global.

第三，GE没有按照区域来评估自身。公司是否从中国获得了丰厚的资本回报？对沙特阿拉伯的押注对不对？答案似乎无人知晓。公司一半的业务都是在海外开展，然而随着公司全球化程度加深，回报率却长期下滑，有鉴于此，这种无知对公司实在无益**（不利）**。

Fourth, GE pays little attention to the total capital itemploys, which has**ballooned（气球膨胀，即激增）**by about 50% over the past decade (excluding its financial arm). Its managers rarely talk about it and have set no targets. It is unclear which parts of the firm soak up disproportionate resources relative to profits,dilutingreturns.

第四，GE几乎不关心自己投入的资本总量。过去十年间，这些资本已激增约50%（不包括其金融部门）。其管理者很少谈论资本问题，也未为之设立目标。无法确知公司的哪些部门耗费了与其收益不相称的资源，导致收益被稀释。

Capital在这段翻译成资金更好些。

Dilute

1.动词

If a[liquid]is diluted or dilutes, it is[added]to or[mixes]with water or another liquid, and becomes weaker.稀释

Fifth, it is hard to know if GE’s leverage is sustainable. Its net debts are 2.6 times its gross operating profits, again excluding its financial arm. That is high relative to its peers—for Siemens and Honeywell the ratio is about one. Some of those profits are paper gains. And the average level of debt during the year is much higher than the figures reported at the end of each quarter.

第五，很难说GE的杠杆水平是否可持续。其净债务是其经营毛利的2.6倍——同样不包括它的金融部门。这个比率相对同类企业来说较高：西门子和霍尼韦尔的数字大约是1。GE的部分经营毛利是账面收益。而且，这一年间的平均债务水平比每季度末公布的数字高出许多。

Sixth, the strength of GE’s financial arm is unclear. The new insurance loss will lower its tangible equityto 8% of assets. This is well below the comfort level, although regulators seem to have granted it forbearance in order gradually to rebuild its capital.

第五，GE的金融部门实力如何也无从知晓。由于新近保险业务的亏损，GE的有形股本将降至其资产的8%。这远远低于令人安心的水平，不过监管部门似乎给予了GE一些宽限，好让它逐渐重建资本。

Tangible equity恐怕翻译成有形资本更好一点。

Equity含义较多，有时可以翻译成股本，但是股本是以股份形式存在的，不存在有形股本的说法。

股本capital stock，亦作股份；股份资本，是经公司章程授权、代表公司所有权的全部股份，

“这远远低于令人安心的水平，不过监管部门似乎给予了GE一些宽限，好让它逐渐重建资本。”

这一段翻译有误，颠倒了原文的意思。

应该是尽管监管部门给了宽限期，但该状况仍然令人不安。

再次遗憾本篇的翻译水平。

Seventh, it is hard tocalibratethe risk this poses to GE shareholders. GE likes to hint that its industrial and financial arms are run separately. But they are umbilically connected bya mesh of cross-guarantees,factoring arrangementsand other transactions.

第六，很难评估这对GE的股东构成了怎样的风险。GE很喜欢暗示其工业和金融部门的运营彼此独立。但一系列交叉担保、应收账款保理协议以及其他交易将它们紧密联系在一起。

Calibrate

1.动词

If you calibrate an instrument or[tool], you mark or[adjust]it so that you can use it to measure something accurately. 校正

A mesh of = a mess of

Mesh

1.有变体名词

Mesh is material like a net made from[wire],[thread], or[plastic].

原文只是翻译成了一系列，但其实还有错综复杂，相互交织纠缠的意思。用中文的话说，就是一团乱麻。

Facotring arrangements

应收账款保理协议非常专业的一个术语

Eighth, is GE sure that its industrial balance-sheet accurately measures its capital employed and its liabilities? Some 46% of assets are intangible, which are hard to pin down financially: for example, goodwill and“contract” assets where GE has booked profits but not been paid yet. Hefty liabilities, including pensions and tax, are also tricky to calculate. Based on GE’spoor record of forecasting, it seems that large write-downs are possible. On January 24th GE said that regulators were looking into its accounting.

第七，GE是否能肯定其工业资产负债表精确记录了公司投入的资本及承担的债务？GE无形资产的占比约为46%，很难确定这类资产的价值——公司商誉及“合约资产”（GE将之登记为利润，但尚未收到付款）便属于此类。包含养老金及税**（税务）在内的高昂债务同样难以估算。GE的预测水准历来欠佳**，就这一点来看，有可能发生大规模的资产减记**（问题）**。上月24日GE表示正在接受监管部门对其财报的调查。

where GE has booked profits but not been paid yet

GE将之登记为利润，但尚未收到付款

似乎翻译成尚未支付的利润更好些。

Time for some command and control

该来些指挥与控制了（有点口语化，不符合正式文本的严肃语气）

GE’s situation is like that of the global bank conglomerates after the financial crisis. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC did not entirely trust their own numbers and lacked a framework for assessing which bits of theirsprawl created value for shareholders. Today, after much toil, the people running these firms know whether, say, loans in California or trading in India make sense.

GE的情形与金融危机后那些全球银行集团的境况相似。花旗、摩根大通和汇丰并不完全相信自己的数字，也缺乏一个框架来评估自己庞杂的业务中有哪些为股东创造了价值。下了一番苦功后，如今这些银行集团的高管们已经清楚在加州放贷或在印度开展业务的做法是否明智。

sprawl

4.不可数名词

You can use sprawl to[refer]to an area where a city has[grown][outwards]in an[uncontrolled]way.

狂乱扩张蔓延

Toii

1.动词

When people toil, they work very hard doing[unpleasant]or[tiring][tasks].

[literary]刻苦工作（不喜欢的）

This does not happen naturally. If neglected, financial reporting becomes ahostageto internal politics, with different constituencies claiming they bring in sales, while arguing that costs and capital are someone else’s problem. Mr Flannery is a numbers guy who wants to slim GE to its profitable essence. But he is trapped in a financial construct that makes it hard to pursue that mission intelligently. Until he re-engineers how GE measures itself, he will bestumblingabout in the murk.

这一切并不是自然而然发生的。如果不多加重视，财务报表就会受制于内部纷争**（成为内部纷争的导火索，被内部纷争所绑架），局面（结果）就是各方纷纷声称是自己贡献了销售额，同时辩称成本和资本是别人的问题。弗兰纳里是一个注重数字的人，他想令GE瘦身，只保留能够盈利的业务。但由于GE财务体系的牵绊（trapped in 限制,牵绊的贬义语气不够强烈)**，他要巧妙地完成这一任务困难重重。他需要改造GE衡量自身业绩的方法，否则他只能在黑暗中踉跄前行。

Hostage

1.可数名词

A hostage is someone who has been[captured]by a person or organization and who[may]be[killed]or[injured]if people do not do what that person or organization[demands].人质

Stumble

1.动词

If you stumble, you put your foot down awkwardly while you are walking or running andnearlyfall over.

英文单词/词组释义均来自柯林斯词典。柯林斯英英词典的释义说明基本采用了十分浅显、简单的英语，对初学者十分友好。