跟《经济学人》学英文：2024年07月13日这期 Once high-flying Boeing is now a corporate criminal

Once high-flying Boeing is now a corporate criminal

Its woes illustrate the excesses of a lean-and-mean era in corporate America

woe: 美 [woʊ] 痛苦；困苦；苦恼；麻烦；灾祸；

“Lean-and-mean” 形容词组合通常用于描述一种企业管理风格或策略，强调通过削减成本和提高效率来实现更高的利润。具体解释如下：

• Lean：意味着“精益”，强调通过减少浪费、简化流程和提高效率来运营企业。这通常包括裁员、削减预算、减少库存等措施。
• Mean：在这个语境中不是“刻薄”的意思，而是指“严苛”或“无情”，强调在追求效率和利润的过程中采取强硬的措施。

“Lean-and-mean” 描述的这种风格往往关注短期收益，可能会牺牲员工福利、产品质量或长远的企业发展。

在这句话中，“Its woes illustrate the excesses of a lean-and-mean era in corporate America”（它的困境说明了美国企业界一个“精益且严苛”时代的过度行为），指的是波音公司曾经的辉煌现在因为过度追求效率和利润，采取了过于苛刻的管理措施，导致了一系列问题，甚至成为了企业犯罪的典型案例。

原文：

At the turn of the century Boeing launched an advertising blitz to show what

a marvel of American manufacturing it was. Called “Forever New

Frontiers”, it highlighted its pioneering work on some of the 20th century’s

biggest breakthroughs, from passenger and fighter jets to space rockets and

satellites. Coming a few years after its merger with McDonnell Douglas, a

smaller rival, Boeing stood tall in the fast-consolidating aerospace industry.

在世纪之交，波音公司发起了一场广告闪电战，以展示它是美国制造业的一个奇迹。这部名为《永远的新边疆》的广告突出了它在20世纪一些重大突破上的开创性工作，从客机和战斗机到太空火箭和卫星。在与规模较小的竞争对手麦道公司合并几年后，波音公司在快速整合的航空业中屹立不倒。

学习：

blitz：美 [blɪts] 闪电战；闪击式行动；突袭；

aerospace：航空航天（领域）；航空与航天技术

原文：

How far it has fallen since. On July 7th the American government said

Boeing had agreed in principle to plead guilty to fraud in connection with

two deadly crashes by its 737 MAX jets in 2018 and 2019. This latest frontier,

its most disgraceful yet, makes it the corporate equivalent of a criminal.

Looking back over the decades, it becomes clear that Boeing’s embrace of

what were once the defining trends in American business have come back to

haunt it.

从那以后跌了多远。7月7日，美国政府表示，波音公司已原则上同意就其737 MAX喷气式飞机在2018年和2019年发生的两起致命事故认罪。这一最新的前沿领域，也是迄今为止最不光彩的领域，使其在企业中相当于一名罪犯。回顾过去几十年，很明显，波音公司对曾经是美国商业决定性趋势的拥抱已经回来困扰它了。

学习：
plead guilty：认罪

fraud：欺诈；诈骗；骗局；欺骗行为；不诚实；

jet：飞机

haunt：萦绕；困扰；缠绕；

原文：

First, the tie-up with McDonnell Douglas in 1997 was part of what The

Economist then approvingly called “one of the great industrial upheavals of

all time”: the hammering together of America’s fragmented defence industry

into a few global Goliaths. Since then consolidation has been the name of

the game across corporate America. The second trend was outsourcing. In

2005 Boeing joined the rush to offload capital-intensive manufacturing and

cut labour costs by selling off parts of its production line, becoming an

assembler of planes rather than a vertically integrated manufacturer. Third,

like many listed American firms, Boeing showered stockholders with cash

via share repurchases and dividends rather than investing in non-financial

innovation.

首先，1997年与麦道的结盟是《经济学人》当时赞许地称之为“有史以来最伟大的工业剧变之一”的一部分:将美国支离破碎的国防工业整合成几个全球巨人。从那时起，合并就成了美国企业界的游戏名称。第二个趋势是外包。2005年，波音加入了抛售资本密集型制造业和削减劳动力成本的热潮，出售了部分生产线，成为飞机组装商，而非垂直整合制造商。第三，像许多美国上市公司一样，波音公司通过股票回购和分红向股东提供大量现金，而不是投资于非金融创新。

学习：
tie-up：关系；关联；联系；

upheaval：美 [ʌpˈhiːvl] 剧变；激变；

hammer into：整合成

production line：生产线

shower：下阵雨；浇；大量地给予

shower stockholders with cash：给股东很多现金

原文：

All three trends delighted Wall Street. They made the American economy

more efficient and made waves around the world. They helped propel

Boeing’s market value to more than $200bn in 2019. But they have gone too

far. Boeing’s travails have torched around $100bn of that shareholder value.

这三种趋势都让华尔街欣喜不已。他们使美国经济更有效率，并在世界范围内掀起波澜。他们帮助推动波音公司的市值在2019年超过2000亿美元。但是他们已经走得太远了。波音公司的困境已经烧光了约1000亿美元的股东价值。

学习：

propel：美 [prəˈpel] 推进；推动；驱动；

travails：辛劳；阵痛；（travail的复数）

torch：纵火烧

原文：

Consider them in reverse order. The obsession with short-term shareholder

returns, which may have led Boeing to undermine the safety of the 737

MAX by cutting corners, is widely seen as dating back to its landmark deal with

McDonnell Douglas. Though Boeing was by far the stronger company, it

absorbed the smaller firm’s Wall Street-obsessed culture, particularly when

it came to generating cash from legacy planes rather than pouring cash into

creating new ones.

以相反的顺序考虑它们。对短期股东回报的痴迷可能导致波音公司通过偷工减料来破坏737 MAX的安全性，这被广泛认为可以追溯到其与麦道的里程碑式交易。虽然波音公司是目前最强大的公司，但它吸收了较小公司痴迷华尔街的文化，特别是当它从旧飞机中产生现金，而不是将现金投入到创造新飞机中时。

学习：

cut corners：抄近路

原文：

To be sure, returning cash to those who supplied it in the first place has

merits. It gives shareholders the freedom to redirect investments to where

they see better opportunities. But in Boeing’s case some of the $61bn in

dividends and buy-backs it doled out between 2014 and 2020 could have

been better invested in new models, improvements in safety to protect its

future, or both. Its last brand-new fleet-building programme, the 787

Dreamliner, dates all the way back to 2004. The 737 MAX, a short-haul

workhorse whose faulty software caused the catastrophic crashes in

Indonesia and Ethiopia, was a souped-up existing model rather than an all

new aircraft. In this narrowbody category, Boeing’s market share has

plunged from 48% to 38% in a decade, putting it far behind its European

arch-rival, Airbus.

诚然，将现金返还给最初提供资金的人是有好处的。它让股东有自由将投资转向他们认为有更好机会的地方。但就波音公司而言，它在2014年至2020年发放的610亿美元股息和回购中，有一部分本可以更好地投资于新机型、安全改进以保护其未来，或者两者兼而有之。其最后一个全新的机队建设项目，787梦想飞机，可以追溯到2004年。737 MAX是一款短途主力飞机，其故障软件导致了印度尼西亚和埃塞俄比亚的灾难性坠机事件，它是现有机型的升级版，而不是全新的飞机。在窄体机领域，波音的市场份额在十年内从48%骤降至38%，远远落后于其欧洲劲敌空客。

学习：

has merits：有好处

short-haul：短程的；短距离的；短途运输的

souped-up：加足马力的；提高效率的；加大马力的

Airbus：空客

plunge：突然向前倒下（跌落）；

原文：

These days even Wall Street would rather see Boeing prioritise safety in

order, partly, to recover market share lost to Airbus. Yet even as it struggles

to overcome safety worries, the company promises free-cashflow generation

in the years ahead that looks increasingly delusional. Boeing’s bean-counter

mentality remains.

这些天，甚至华尔街也宁愿看到波音公司优先考虑安全，部分是为了挽回被空客抢走的市场份额。然而，尽管该公司努力克服对安全的担忧，但它承诺在未来几年产生自由现金流，这看起来越来越不切实际。波音公司的财务至上的心态依然存在。

学习：

delusional：妄想的

bean-counter：财务至上

“Bean-counter” 是一个非正式的俚语，用来指那些过于关注财务细节而忽略整体战略或其他重要因素的人，通常是指企业中的会计或财务人员。这个词带有贬义，暗示这些人过于注重成本控制和数字计算，而忽略了更大、更重要的业务目标或质量标准。

在这句话中，“Boeing’s bean-counter mentality remains”（波音的“财务至上”思维仍然存在），意指尽管波音公司在努力克服安全问题，但它仍然保持着过度关注财务细节和成本削减的思维方式。这种思维方式可能会继续影响公司的决策，使其在确保安全和质量方面做出妥协。

原文：

The loss of a fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines MAX aircraft shortly after

take-off in January has drawn unflattering attention to the second trend once

embraced by Boeing—outsourcing. The panel (which sealed an unused exit)

was manufactured by lossmaking Spirit AeroSystems, which was once part

of Boeing but was sold during the outsourcing boom. As the Wall Street

Journal reported, that divestment decision was part of a trend to develop

“asset-light” firms focused on intellectual property; most notably, Boeing

outsourced most of the manufacturing of the Dreamliner. Yet distributing

production brought its own headaches. Delays, cost overruns and supply

chain snags became vividly apparent during the covid-19 pandemic. On July

1st Boeing said it would reacquire Spirit for $8.3bn, restoring safety to its

central position. The pendulum has swung back towards vertical integration.

阿拉斯加航空公司(Alaska Airlines)的一架MAX飞机在1月份起飞后不久就失去了机身面板，这引起了人们对波音公司曾经拥抱的第二种趋势——外包——的毫不客气的关注。面板(密封了一个未使用的出口)由亏损的Spirit AeroSystems制造，该公司曾是波音公司的一部分，但在外包热潮中被出售。正如《华尔街日报》报道的那样，撤资决定是发展专注于知识产权的“轻资产”公司趋势的一部分；最值得注意的是，波音外包了梦想飞机的大部分制造。然而，分销产品也带来了自己的麻烦。在covid-19 pandemic期间，延迟、成本超支和供应链障碍变得非常明显。7月1日，波音公司表示将斥资83亿美元重新收购Spirit，以恢复其核心地位。钟摆已经摆回垂直整合。

学习：
fuselage：英 [ˈfjuːzəlɑːʒ] 飞机机身；航空器主体结构

unflattering：不讨好的；不美化的；不恭维的；有损形象的；

lossmaking：老是亏损的

snag：障碍；（尤指潜在的、意外的、不严重的）问题；困难；

supply chain snag：供应链问题

cost overruns：成本超支

pendulum：美 [ˈpendʒələm] 摆；钟摆；

原文：

The megamerger trend, too, has had chequered results. Buying McDonnell

Douglas’s armsmaking prowess vaulted Boeing into the top-tier of defence

contractors. The logic appeared sound. Military budgets tend to be reliable

counterweights to the vagaries of the civil-aviation market, making earnings

more predictable. Government-backed innovations in military technology

can also benefit commercial aircraft. Yet sitting too long at the top table

appears to have made Boeing’s defence and space businesses fat and lazy. In

recent years it has haemorrhaged cash on weapons programmes. Its rocket

launches have lagged badly behind those of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. After

years of mishaps, in June its Starliner space capsule dropped off two

astronauts at the International Space Station. But it has had to delay bringing

them home.

大合并的趋势也有好坏参半的结果。购买麦道的武器制造能力使波音一跃成为顶级国防承包商。这个逻辑似乎很合理。军事预算往往是对民航市场变幻莫测的可靠制衡，使收益更具可预测性。政府支持的军事技术创新也有利于商用飞机。然而，坐在首席谈判桌上太久似乎让波音的国防和航天业务变得又肥又懒。近年来，它在武器项目上花费了大量资金。它的火箭发射远远落后于埃隆·马斯克的太空探索技术公司。在经历了多年的灾难后，6月，它的Starliner太空舱将两名宇航员送到了国际空间站。但是它不得不推迟把他们带回家。

学习：

chequered：双色方格图案的；盛衰无常的；多波折的；好坏参半的

prowess：美 [ˈpraʊəs] 卓越技能；高超本领；杰出才能；高超的技艺

armsmaking prowess：武器制造能力

vault：跳跃；跃过；用手或撑杆跳过；腾跃；

top-tier：水平最高的；质量最好的

contractor：承包商

counterweights：称锤；平衡物；（counterweight的复数）

vagaries：美 [ˈveɪɡəriz] 变幻莫测；奇特；（vagary的复数）

civil-aviation：民航

haemorrhage：美 [ˈhemərɪdʒ] 大出血；乱花

mishaps：美 [ˈmɪsˌhæps] 灾祸；（mishap的复数）

Go soon, Calhoun

原文：

What to do about all this? For a start, get cracking. Boeing’s hapless boss,

David Calhoun, has promised to step down by the end of 2024. That is not

soon enough. There are immediate decisions to make, such as how to

reinvigorate MAX production while rebuilding a safety culture, and how to deal

with unions threatening to strike when their pay contract ends in September.

More important, like all convicts, Boeing needs rehabilitation. And like all

rehabilitation, this must start with self-reflection: in Boeing’s case, realising

that efficiency is all well and good, but being too lean and too mean can

come at a grave cost. ■

这一切该怎么办？首先，开始吧。波音公司倒霉的老板大卫·卡尔霍恩已经承诺在2024年底前辞职。这还不够快。需要立即做出决定，例如如何在重建安全文化的同时重振MAX的生产，以及如何应对工会在9月份工资合同到期时威胁罢工的问题。更重要的是，像所有罪犯一样，波音需要改过自新。像所有的恢复一样，这必须从自我反思开始:在波音公司的案例中，意识到效率固然很好，但过于精简和吝啬可能会付出沉重的代价。■

学习：

get cracking：开始行动；马上开始；马上行动；

hapless：不幸的；运气差的；命运多舛的；

reinvigorate：给…以新的活力；使恢复元气

rehabilitation：英 [ˌriːəˌbɪlɪˈteɪʃn] 复兴；恢复名誉；复原；修复

后记

2024年7月18日于山东日照。