篇一：2014完整版《经济学人》英文原版
经济学人完整整理版
Digest Of The. Economist. 2006(8-9)
The mismeasure of woman
Men and women think differently. But not that differently
IN THE 1970s there was a fad for giving dolls to baby boys and fire-engines to baby girls. The idea was that differences in behaviour between the sexes were solely the result of upbringing: culture turned women into ironers, knitters and chatterboxes, and men into hammerers, drillers and silent types. Switching toys would put an end to sexual sorting. Today, it is clear why it did not. When boys and girls are born, they are already different, and they favour different toys from the beginning.
That boys and girls—and men and women—are programmed by evolution to behave differently from one another is now widely accepted. Surely, no one today would think of doing what John Money, of Johns Hopkins University, did in 1967:
amputating the genitalia of a boy who had suffered a botched circumcision, and advising the parents to bring him up as a girl. The experiment didn't work, and the consequences were tragic. But which of the differences between the sexes are “biological”, in the sense that they have been honed by evolution, and which are “cultural” or “environmental” and might more easily be altered by changed circumstances, is still fiercely debated.
The sensitivity of the question was shown last year by a furore at Harvard University. Larry Summers, then Harvard's
president, caused a storm when he suggested that innate ability could be an important reason why there were so few women in the top positions in mathematics, engineering and the physical sciences.
Even as a proposition for discussion, this is unacceptable to some. But biological explanations of human behaviour are making a comeback as the generation of academics that feared them as a covert way of justifying eugenics, or of thwarting Marxist utopianism, is retiring. The success of neo-Darwinism has provided an intellectual underpinning for discussion about why some differences between the sexes might be innate. And new scanning techniques have enabled researchers to examine the brain's interior while it is working, showing that male and female brains do, at one level, operate differently. The results, however, do not always support past clichés about what the differences in question actually are.
Differences in behaviour between the sexes must, in some way, be reflections of systematic differences between the brains of males and females. Such differences certainly exist, but drawing inferences from them is not as easy as it may appear.
For a start, men's brains are about 9% larger than those of women. That used to be cited as evidence of men's supposedly greater intelligence. Actually, the difference is largely (and probably completely) explained by the fact that men are bigger than women. In recent years, more detailed examination has refined the picture. Female brains have a higher percentage of grey matter (the manifestation, en bloc, of the central bodies of nerve cells), and thus a lower percentage of white matter (the manifestation of the long, thin filaments that connect nerve cells together), than male brains. That, plus the fact that in some regions of the female brain, nerve cells are packed more densely than in men, means that the number of nerve cells in male and female brains may be similar.
Oddly, though, the main connection between the two hemispheres of the brain, which is known as the corpus callosum and is made of white matter, is proportionately smaller in men than women. This may explain why men use only one side of the brain to process some problems for which women employ both sides.
These differences in structure and wiring do not appear to have any influence on intelligence as measured by IQ tests. It does, however, seem that the sexes carry out these tests in different ways. In one example, where men and women perform equally well in a test that asks them to work out whether nonsense words rhyme, brain scanning shows that women use areas on both the right and the left sides of the brain to accomplish the task. Men, by contrast, use only areas on the left side. There is also a correlation between mathematical reasoning and temporal-lobe activity in men—but none in women. More generally, men seem to rely more on their grey matter for their IQ, whereas women rely more on their white matter.
American exceptionalism
The world's biggest insurance market is too splintered
KANSAS CITY, Missouri, is known more for its historical role as a cattle town than as a financial hub. But it is to this midwestern city, America's 26th largest, that regulators and insurance executives from around the globe head when they want to make sense of the world's largest—and one of its weirdest—insurance markets.
For it is in Kansas City that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is housed. It oversees a market
accounting for one-third of premiums written worldwide. Outside Kansas City, the market becomes a regulatory free-for-all. Each of America's 50 states, plus the District of Colombia, governs its insurance industry in its own way.
In an increasingly global insurance market, America's state-based system is coming under strong pressure to reform. Insurance has changed dramatically since the NAIC was set up in 1871, with growing sophistication in underwriting and risk management. Premiums in America have ballooned to $1.1 trillion and market power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of big players (some of them foreign-owned) that are pushing for an overhaul of the state-based system. “It's an extremely expensive and Byzantine process,” says Bob Hartwig, an economist with the Insurance Information Institute, a research group.
Though a fiercely political issue, congressional support for simplifying the system is gaining ground. Both houses of Congress are looking at proposals to change the state-based system. Big insurers favour a version that would implement an optional federal charter allowing them to bypass the state-bystate regulatory process if they choose. A similar system already exists for banks.
Proponents of the changes see more efficiency, an ability to roll out products more quickly nationally and, ultimately, better offerings for consumers as a result. Yet some consumer groups favour state-based regulation. They believe it keeps premiums lower than they otherwise would be. Premiums as a percentage of gross output are lower in America than in several other countries.
The political headwinds are strong: insurance commissioners are elected officials in some states (California, for instance) and appointed by the governor in others. The industry is also split: most of the country's 4,500 insurers are small, and many of them have close ties with state-based regulators, whose survival they support. But even these forces may eventually be overcome.
Elsewhere in the industry in America, there are other calls for reform. In a backdoor form of protectionism, American
reinsurance firms have long benefited from a regulation that requires foreign reinsurers writing cross-border business into America to post more collateral than they do. “If you operate outside the borders of the US, they don't trust you one inch,” laments Julian James, head of international business at Lloyd's of London, which writes 38% of its business in America.
The collateral requirement was established because of worries about regulatory standards abroad, and the financial strength of global reinsurers. Today regulatory standards have been tightened in many foreign markets. A majority of America's reinsurance cover now comes from firms based abroad, including many that have set up offshore in Bermuda (for tax reasons) primarily to serve America.
Too hot to handle
Dell's battery recall reveals the technology industry's vulnerabilities
THERE is the nail test, in which a team of engineers drives a large metal nail through a battery cell to see if it explodes. In another trial, laboratory technicians bake the batteries in an oven to simulate the effects of a digital device left in a closed car on a sweltering day—to check the reaction of the chemicals inside. On production runs, random batches of batteries are tested for temperature, efficiency, energy density and output.
But the rigorous processes that go into making sophisticated, rechargeable batteries—the heart of billions of electronic gadgets around the world—were not enough. On August 14th Dell, a computer company, said it would replace 4.1m lithium-ion batteries made by Sony, a consumer-electronics firm, in laptop computers sold between 2004 and last month. A handful of customers had reported the batteries overheating, catching fire and even exploding—including one celebrated case at a conference this year in Japan, which was captured on film and passed around the internet. The cost to the two companies is expected to be between $200m and $400m.
In some ways, Dell is a victim of its success. The company was a pioneer in turning the personal computer into a commodity, which meant squeezing suppliers to the last penny, using economies of scale by placing huge orders, and running efficient supply chains with little room for error. It all created a volatile environment in which mistakes can have grave effects.
Since lithium-ion batteries were introduced in 1991, their capacity to overheat and burst into flame has been well known. Indeed, in 2004 America banned them as cargo on passenger planes, as a fire hazard. But the latest problems seem to have arisen because of the manufacturing process, which demands perfection. “If there is even a nano-sized particle of dust, a small metal shard or water condensation that gets into the battery cell, it can overheat and explode,” says Sara Bradford of Frost & Sullivan, a consultancy. As the energy needs of devices have grown rapidly, so have the demands on batteries.
The computing industry's culture is also partly to blame. Firms have long tried to ship products as fast as they possibly can, and they may have set less store by quality. They used to mock the telecoms industry's ethos of “five-nines”—99.999%
reliability—because it meant long product cycles. But now they are gradually accepting it as a benchmark. That is partly why Microsoft has taken so long to perfect its new operating system, Windows Vista.
Compared with other product crises, from contaminated Coca-Cola in 1999 to Firestone's faulty tyres in 2000, Dell can be
complimented for quickly taking charge of a hot situation. The firm says there were only six incidents of laptops overheating in America since December 2005—but the internet created a conflagration.
Keeping the faith
Mixing religion and development raises soul-searching questions
WORLD Bank projects are usually free of words like “faith” and “soul.” Most of its missions speak the jargon of development: poverty reduction, aggregate growth and structural adjustments. But a small unit within the bank has been currying favour with religious groups, working to ease their suspicions and use their influence to further the bank's goals. In many developing countries, such groups have the best access to the people the bank is trying to help. The programme has existed for eight years, but this brainchild of the bank's previous president, James Wolfensohn, has spent the past year largely in limbo as his successor, Paul Wolfowitz, decides its future. Now, some religious leaders in the developing world are worried that the progress they have made with the bank may stall.
That progress has not always been easy. The programme, named the Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics, faced controversy from the start. Just as religious groups have struggled to work with the bank, many people on the inside doubted if the bank should be delving into the divine. Critics argued that religion could be divisive and political. Some said religion clashes with the secular goals of modernisation.
Although the bank does not lend directly to religious groups, it works with them to provide health, educational and other benefits, and receives direct input from those on the ground in poor countries. Katherine Marshall, director of the bank's faith unit, argues that such groups are in an ideal position to educate people, move resources and keep an eye on corruption. They are organised distribution systems in otherwise chaotic places. The programme has had success getting evangelical groups to fight
malaria in Mozambique, improve microcredit and water distribution in India, and educate people about AIDS in Africa. “We started from very different viewpoints. The World Bank is looking at the survival of a country, we look at the survival of a patient,” says Leonardo Palombi, of the Community of Sant'Egidio, an Italian church group that works in Africa.
Although the work continues, those involved in Mr Wolfensohn's former pet project now fret over its future. Some expect the faith unit to be transferred to an independent organisation also set up by Mr Wolfensohn, the World Faiths Development Dialogue, which will still maintain a link with the bank. Religious groups are hoping their voices will still be heard. “If we are going to make progress, faith institutions need to be involved. We believe religion has the ability to bring stability. It will be important for the bank to follow through,” says Agnes Abuom, of the World Council of Churches for Africa, based in Kenya.
Like religious groups, large institutions such as the bank can resist change. Economists and development experts are
sometimes slow to believe in new ideas. One positive by-product of the initiative is that religious groups once wary of the bank's intentions are less suspicious. Ultimately, as long as both economists and evangelists aim to help the poor attain a better life on earth, differences in opinion about the life hereafter do not matter much.
Stand and deliver
For the first time since the epidemic began, money to fight AIDS is in plentiful supply. It is
now time to convert words into action
KEVIN DE COCK, the World Health Organisation's AIDS supremo, is not a man to mince his words. He reckons that he and his colleagues in the global AIDS establishment have between five and seven years to make a real dent in the problem. If they fail, the world's attention span will be exhausted, charitable donors and governments will turn to other matters and AIDS will be
relegated in the public consciousness to being yet another intractable problem of the poor world about which little or nothing can be done.
For now, though, the money is flowing. About $8.9 billion is expected to be available this year. And, regardless of Dr De Cock's long-term worries, that sum should rise over the next few years. Not surprisingly, a lot of people are eager to spend it.
Many of those people—some 24,000 of them—have been meeting in Toronto at the 16th International AIDS Conference. An AIDS conference is unlike any other scientific meeting. In part, it is a jamboree in which people try to out-do each other in displays of cultural inclusiveness: the music of six continents resonates around the convention centre. In part, it is a lightning conductor that allows AIDS activists to make their discontent known to the world in a series of semi-official protests. It is also what other
scientific meetings are, a forum for the presentation of papers with titles such as “Differing lymphocyte cytokine responses in HIV and Leishmania co-infection”. But mostly, it is a giant council of war. And at this one, the generals are trying to impose a complete change of military strategy.
When AIDS was discovered, there was no treatment. Existing anti-viral drugs were tried but at best they delayed the inevitable,
and at worst they failed completely. Prevention, then, was not merely better than cure, it was the only thing to talk about. Condoms were distributed. Posters were posted exhorting the advantages of safe sex. Television adverts were run that showed the
consequences of carelessness.
Ten years ago, though, a new class of drugs known as protease inhibitors was developed. In combination with some of the older drugs, they produced what is now known as highly active anti-retroviral therapy or HAART. In most cases, HAART can prolong life indefinitely.
That completely changed the picture. Once the AIDS activists had treated themselves, they began to lobby for the poor world to be treated, too. And, with much foot-dragging, that is now happening. About 1.6m people in low- and middle-income countries, 1m of them in sub-Saharan Africa, are now receiving anti-AIDS drugs routinely. The intention, announced at last year's G8 meeting in Scotland, is that the drugs should be available by 2010 to all who would benefit from them.
However, those on drugs remain infected and require treatment indefinitely. To stop the epidemic requires a re-emphasis of prevention, and it is that which the organisers have been trying to do.
Man, deconstructed
The DNA that may have driven the evolution of the human brain
ONE of the benefits of knowing the complete genetic sequences of humans and other animals is that it becomes possible to compare these blueprints. You can then work out what separates man from beast—genetically speaking, at least.
The human brain sets man apart. About 2m years ago it began to grow in size, and today it is about three times larger than that of chimpanzees, man's closest relative. Human intelligence and behavioural complexity have far outstripped those of its simian cousins, so the human brain seems to have got more complex, as well as bigger. Yet no study has pinpointed the genetic changes that cause these differences between man and chimp.
Now a group of scientists believe they have located some interesting stretches of DNA that may have been crucial in the evolution of the human brain. A team led by David Haussler of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in California, compared the human genome with that of mammals including other primates. They reported the results in Nature.
The researchers looked at the non-human genomes first, seeking regions that had not changed much throughout evolutionary history. Regions that are untouched by normal random changes typically are important ones, and thus are conserved by evolution. Next the researchers found the equivalent regions in the human genome to see if any were very different between humans and chimps. Such a sudden change is a hallmark of a functional evolutionary shift.
They found 49 regions they dubbed “human accelerated regions” (HARs) that have shown a rapid, recent evolution. Most of these regions are not genes as commonly understood. This is because they code for something other than the proteins that are expressed in human cells and that regulate biological processes. A number of the HARs are portions of DNA that are responsible for turning genes on and off.
Intriguingly, the most rapidly changing region was HAR1, which has accumulated 18 genetic changes when only one would be expected to occur by chance. It codes for a bit of RNA (a molecule that usually acts as a template for translating DNA into protein) that, it is speculated, has some direct function in neuronal development.
HAR1 is expressed before birth in the developing neocortex—the outer layer of the brain that seems to be involved in higher functions such as language, conscious thought and sensory perception. HAR1 is expressed in cells that are thought to have a vital role in directing migrating nerve cells in the developing brain. This happens at seven to 19 weeks of gestation, a crucial time when many of the nerve cells are establishing their functions.
Without more research, the function of HAR1 remains mere speculation. But an intriguing facet of this work is that, until now, most researchers had focused their hunt for differences on the protein-coding stretches of the genome. That such a discovery has been made in what was regarded as the less interesting parts of the human genome is a presage of where exciting genomic finds may lie in the future.
Keeping it real
How to make digital photography more trustworthy
PHOTOGRAPHY often blurs the distinction between art and reality. Modern technology has made that blurring easier. In the digital darkroom photographers can manipulate images and threaten the integrity of endeavours that rely on them. Several
journalists have been fired for such activity in recent months, including one from Reuters for faking pictures in Lebanon. Earlier this year, the investigation into Hwang Woo-suk showed the South Korean scientist had changed images purporting to show
cloning. In an effort to reel in photography, camera-makers are making it more obvious when images have been altered.
One way of doing this is to use image-authentication systems to reveal if someone has tampered with a picture. These use
computer programs to generate a code from the very data that comprise the image. As the picture is captured, the code is attached to it. When the image is viewed, software determines the code for the image and compares it with the attached code. If the image has been altered, the codes will not match, revealing the doctoring.
Another way favoured by manufacturers is to take a piece of data from the image and assign it a secret code. Once the image file is transferred to a computer, it is given the same code, which will change if it is edited. The codes will match if the image is authentic but will be inconsistent if tampering occurred.
The algorithm is the weapon of choice for Hany Farid, a computer scientist at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Digital images have natural statistical patterns in the intensity and texture of their pixels. These patterns change when the picture is manipulated. Dr Farid's algorithms detect these changes, and can tell if pixels have been duplicated or removed. They also try to detect if noise—the overexposed pixels within the image that create a grainy effect—was present at the time the photograph was taken or has been added later.
However, forgers have become adept at printing and rescanning images, thus creating a new original. In such cases, analysing how three-dimensional elements interact is key. Long shadows at midday are a giveaway. Even the tiny reflections in the centre of a person's pupil tell you about the surrounding light source. So Dr Farid analyses shadows and lighting to see if subjects and surroundings are consistent.
For its part, Adobe, the maker of Photoshop software, has improved its ability to record the changes made to an image by logging how and when each tool or filter was used. Photoshop was the program used by the journalist fired by Reuters; his
handiwork left a pattern in the smoke he had added that was spotted by bloggers. Thus far the internet has proven an effective check on digital forgery. Although it allows potentially fake images to be disseminated widely, it also casts many more critical eyes upon them. Sometimes the best scrutiny is simply more people looking.
Collateral damage
Why the war in Iraq is surprisingly bad news for America's defence firms
WHEN Boeing announced on August 18th that it planned to shut down production of the C-17, a huge military cargo plane, the news sent a shiver through the American defence industry. As it winds down its production line at Long Beach, California, over the next two years, Boeing will soon begin to notify suppliers that their services will no longer be needed. It had to call a halt, because orders from America's Defence Department had dried up and a trickle of export deals could not take their place. The company would not support the cost of running the production line for the C-17 (once one of its biggest-selling aircraft) on the off-chance that the Pentagon might change its mind and place further orders.
The wider worry for the defence industry is that this could be the first of many big programmes to be shut down. A big part of the problem is that America is at war. The need to find an extra $100 billion a year to pay for operations in Iraq means there is pressure to make cuts in the defence budget, which has been provisionally set at $441 billion for the fiscal year beginning in October. American defence budgets involve a complicated dance starting with what the Pentagon wants, what the White House thinks it should get and, finally, what Congress allows it to get away with. Although the armed forces' extra spending on
ammunition, fuel, provisions, medicines and accommodation in Iraq does not strictly come out of the same budget as new weapons, the heavy bill for fighting eventually leads to calls to save money on shiny new equipment.
Earlier this month, for example, the Congressional Budget Office expressed “major concerns” about Future Combat Systems, a $165 billion project to upgrade all of the army's vehicles and communications networks. The scheme is the Pentagon's
second-biggest development programme and is intended to give the soldiers on the ground access to real-time battlefield
information from sources such as satellites and unmanned aircraft. But the programme was initially expected to cost about $82 billion, half the latest estimate, and critics are also worried about how well it will work and whether it will be delivered on time.
Last week the army issued a glowing progress report on the project and insisted that Boeing and Science Applications
International Corporation, the lead contractors, are on schedule. This was welcome news to defence contractors worried that the grandiose project might fall victim to pressure for budget cuts. Even so, the prospects for many other big weapons programmes are less rosy.
The problem is not just the cost of the fighting in Iraq, but also its nature. The shift in the style of warfare, towards such
“asymmetric” conflicts, means that there is now less demand for big-ticket weapons systems. Things were simpler in the cold war, when the Pentagon spent about $150 billion a year on new weapons. That fell to around $50 billion after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
篇二：经济学人双语版
经济学人双语版:动物行为 狡猾的冷血动物
Science and technology科学技术
Animal behaviour动物行为
Cold-blooded cunning狡猾的冷血动物
Reptiles are more intelligent than previously thought
爬行动物的智商比人们之前想象的要高
IT IS no compliment to call someone lizard-brained. The reptilian mind is usually equated in the human one with traits like aggression, dominance and sexual appetite.
如果某人被称为蜥蜴脑，那可不是什么恭维的说话。爬行动物的头脑通常情况下与人脑相同，也具有侵略、支配和性欲的特性。
That analysis was given currency in the 1960s when Paul MacLean theorised that the human brain has three levels, the most basic—both functionally and literally—being the “reptilian” part, composed of structures called basal ganglia.
这种分析在20世纪60年代得到流行，当时保罗?麦克莱恩从理论上推断人脑具有三个层次， 人脑最基本的层次—从功能和字面上理解与"爬行"动物相同，它由基底神经节结构组成。 MacLean's analysis is not much believed now by neuroscientists, but it has stuck in the popular imagination. And it has also, subliminally, affected research. For, until recently, no one had actually thought to ask by experimentation just how intelligent reptiles really are.
麦克莱恩的分析并不为现在的神经学家所认同，但它始终存在于大众的意识中，并一直对科学研究有着潜在的影响。直到最近，人们都没有真正想过要通过实验测得爬行动物的智商到底如何。
That omission has just been corrected by Manuel Leal and Brian Powell of Duke University, in North Carolina—and the result is intriguing. In a paper published in Biology Letters Dr Leal and Dr Powell suggest that lizards are at least as intelligent as tits, a group of birds that has been well examined in this respect.
北卡罗莱纳州杜克大学的Manuel Leal和Brian Powell对这一疏忽进行了纠正—其研究结果激发了人们浓厚的兴趣。Leal博士和Powell博士发表在生物学快报上的论文表明蜥蜴的智商绝对不比山雀低，研究人员在此方面曾对这组鸟类有过很好的研究。
In their study, the two researchers put a species called Anolis evermanni through a triathlon of cognitive tests of the sort used on tits.
在他们的实验中，两名研究人员让一个叫热带树蜥的动物成功通过一个三项全能的认知测试，这种实验曾用于山雀。
First, the reptiles had to learn how to extract a tasty grub from a container. Then, they were taught to associate the grub with a particular colour.
首先，爬行动物必须学会如何从容器中获取甜美的食物。然后教它们如何将食物与一种特定颜色相关联。
Finally, they were taught to dissociate it from that colour and learn that a different colour was the giveaway.
最后教它们将食物与那种颜色脱离联系并学会一种不同颜色代表的是免费美食。
The lizards were able to manage all three tasks with ease—matching the performance of tits in similar tests.
蜥蜴能轻松地完成三项任务—在相同测试中与山雀的表现不分伯仲。
Indeed, in getting at the grubs several of them worked out a form of behaviour never seen in
nature, employing their snouts as levers to lift an obstacle. Having established that lizards are at least as clever as birds at such simple tasks, Dr Leal hopes to go on and explore the evolutionary forces behind lizard intelligence.
实际上，在获取食物之时，有几只蜥蜴表现出的行为方式是在自然界中没出现过的，它们用鼻子作为手段将障碍物移走。在确定了蜥蜴完成简单任务时至少和鸟类同等聪明之后，Leal博士希望将实验进行下去并探索蜥蜴智力背后的进化力量。
He does, however, have a problem—and it is one that might help to explain why, besides phylogenetic prejudice, the lizard mind has not been properly investigated before.
而他的确有一个疑问，这个疑问也许对解释以下问题有所裨益，那就是除去对物种的偏见之外，还有什么原因使得人们之前未展开适当的研究来测定爬行动物的智商。
Tits, being warm-blooded, have to eat a lot and thus have a strong incentive to collaborate with researchers in such experiments. The average lizard, by contrast, is happy to consume a single grub a day. It may therefore be some time before the next paper appears on the subject.
山雀属于温血动物，它必须吃大量的食物以维持身体的能量，这就使它们具有强烈的动机与研究人员配合进行这种实验。相比之下，平均每只蜥蜴一天中只乐意享受一次美食。因此，下一篇与此主题相关的论文可能需要很长时间才能发表。
1.cunning a.狡猾的；有眼光的；精巧的
Many politicians are cunning sophists.
许多政客都是狡猾的诡辩家。
2.compliment n.称赞；恭维
I was embarrassed by their compliment.
对他们的称赞我感到很不安。
3.trait n.特征；特点
They suddenly exhibit a striking new trait.
它们突然呈现出一种新的显著特征。
4.reptilian a.爬虫类的；卑鄙的
The reptilian brain is much like a baby's brain.
爬行动物的脑袋很像婴儿的大脑。
5.subliminally a.下意识的；潜意识的
These little eye movements may also help expose a person's subliminal thoughts.
这种小幅的眼球运动也可能揭露了我们下意识的想法。
篇三：经济学人中英文版
Taking its medicine.自尝苦果。
A drug giant coughs up to settle bribery charges.
一个制药巨头被迫出钱就撤销行贿指控与司法部达成和解。
IN AMERICA, it was once common for drug firms to offer doctors "perks" to encourage them to prescribe theirpills. Regulators now frown on such iffy sales techniques, and drug firms have more or less stopped using them.But in emerging markets, it is a different story, as a settlement on August 7th between America's Department ofJustice and Pfizer, a big American drug firm, made clear.
在美国，制药公司给医生"回扣"鼓励他们开处方时使用该公司生产的药物曾是很常见的事。 现在相关管理部门开始禁止这样不规范的销售技巧，因此一些制药公司也或多或少不再使用这种技巧。 8月7日，美国大型制药公司辉瑞就海外贿赂行为与美国司法部达成了和解，此事正好表明新兴市场的情况与美国的有所不同。
In China Pfizer established a "club" that provided "high-prescribing" doctors with all kinds of entertainmentunder the guise of attending conferences. In Kazakhstan Pfizer awarded an exclusive distribution deal to a local firmafter it was told there was no other way to secure government approval for a Pfizer product.
辉瑞公司在中国成立了一个"俱乐部"，该俱乐部以开会的名义邀请那些"开药量较大"的医生参加各种娱乐活动。 辉瑞公司还与哈萨克斯坦一家当地公司签订了独家经销协议，因为此前辉瑞得知，除此之外没有其他的办法可以获得哈萨克斯坦政府对辉瑞制药的批准。
Unfortunately for Pfizer, such acts violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), an American law thatcriminalises bribery abroad. Doctors in many of the countries in question are state employees, making the giftsbribes to government officials. This week Pfizer agreed to pay a fine to settle corruption charges and to disgorgerelated illegally earned profits to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement, which will cost it $60mor so, covers similar offences committed by Wyeth, another drug firm, before it was acquired by Pfizer in 2009.
不幸的是，辉瑞的这些行为违反了美国专门用来定罪海外行贿的《反海外腐败法》(FCPA)。 受到质疑的多国医生都是国家机关的工作人员，于是这些礼物也就成了贿赂政府官员的赃物。 本周，辉瑞公司为了了结腐败指控同意支付罚款，并愿意向美国证券交易委员会上缴相关非法所得利润。 辉瑞公司进行此次和解将需要花费六千万美元左右，这笔费用还包括了对惠氏公司贿赂行为的罚款，惠氏制药公司于2009年被辉瑞公司收购，此前它也曾涉嫌海外贿赂。
Johnson & Johnson, another big drugmaker, paid $70m last year to settle civil and criminal bribery charges. OnAugust 6th Teva, an Israeli firm that is the world's largest generic drugmaker, said it was co-operating with SECinvestigators. Indeed, eight of the world's ten biggest drug firms have warned of potential costs related to chargesof corruption in markets abroad, according to Reuters. So Pfizer's behaviour seems to have been normal for theindustry, not an aberration.
去年，另一家大型制药公司强生因民事和刑事行贿受到指控，并为达成和解花费了七千万美元。 今年8月6日，世界上最大的学名药（通用名药）生产公司以色列梯瓦制药工业有限公司称，它正在协助美国证券交易委员会调查员的调查工作。 据路透社报道，事实上，世界上十大制药公司中有八家公司都在警惕因受控海外贪污可能造成的潜在开支。 所以这样看来，辉瑞公司的行为在这个行业里并非异常。 Citing the settlement, regulators will crow that the FCPA is being enforced more vigorously than at any timesince it became law in 1977. They will also hope that it is evidence that their new carrot-and-stick approach isstarting to work. Most successful prosecutions in the past have been the result of whistle-blowing or a lucky break;regulators have long suspected that many companies have publicly supported the law while privately turning ablind eye to dodgy activities abroad, doubtless assuming that the
y would never be caught. The new approach isdesigned to encourage companies to police themselves, by punishing them only lightly when they turn themselvesin.
相关管理人员拿此次和解做文章，自鸣得意地称这是自1977年《反海外腐败法》(FCPA)颁布以来实施最有力的一次。 同时，他们还希望此次事件能证明他们采取的软硬兼施的措施已经开始生效。 以往一些控诉成功的案件不是有人揭发就是运气使然，监管者一直怀疑许多公司虽然在公开场合坚决拥护法律，但私底下却对那些海外不法行为视而不见，还相信自己永远不会被绳之以法。 现在新的监管方法目的在于鼓励那些公司进行自我监督，并对他们采取坦白从宽的政策。
The relatively small fine imposed on Pfizer was the Justice Department's way of showing that firms that co-operate will be treated leniently, says Ben Heineman of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Pfizer has goneout of its way to placate prosecutors: it has been co-operating on the case since 2004, helping to identify illegalpractices throughout its industry. It also oversaw the process that uncovered the misbehaviour at Wyeth.
哈佛肯尼迪政治学院的Ben Heineman称，此次美国司法部门对辉瑞公司罚款力度相对较轻就是为了表明会对那些协助调查的公司宽大处理。 辉瑞公司早就开始煞费苦心地讨好检察官：从2004年起辉瑞就开始协助调查员调查此案，帮助其调查全行业的非法行为。 辉瑞还监督了一项揭发惠氏不法行为的调查。 The regulators have accepted Pfizer's claim that the offences were committed by local staff acting without theknowledge of head office in America. This follows April's decision by the SEC to charge a senior executive atMorgan Stanley, a bank, with corrupt activity in Shanghai, but not to impose legal penalties on the bank, whichtipped off regulators about its rogue employee. A few more examples of such regulatory forbearance and perhapsbusiness will get the message.
辉瑞公司称，这些不法行为都是当地一些员工在美国总公司不知情的情况下做出的，监管者也接受了这一说法。 在此前的四月，美国证券交易委员会控告摩根史坦利投资银行的一位高管在上海涉嫌贪污。 但由于该银行主动向监管者揭发了员工的不法行为，因此美国证券交易委员会并未对该银行做出处罚。 或许这样宽恕处理的例子再多一些，企业就能更好地领会监管者的意图了。
ooks and Arts; Book Review;
文艺；书评；
The political waning of America;
美国在衰落吗？？？
Unconvincing;
不足为信；
Every Nation For Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World. By Ian Bremmer.
《独自为战：G零世界的赢家与败者》，作者伊恩·布雷默
Brazil and Turkey, once reliable backers of America's geostrategic goals, conspicuously went their own way in2010 when they sought to broker a deal with Iran over its nuclear programme, even as America pushed for newsanctions. Their new-found assertiveness was a product of both their growing economic weight and America'sdiminished clout.
巴西和土耳其都曾经是美国地缘政治中可靠的盟友，但是2010年在美国已经对伊朗推行新的制裁政策时，这两个国家却追求以仲裁和和谈的形式让伊朗走出核危机，这标志着它们开始奉行相对独立的外交政策。 这种新的魄力是它们经济增长的结果，也是美国影响力下降的结果。
This is an example of what is in store for the world, predicts Ian Bremmer in “Every Nation For Itself”. Countrieslike Brazil and Turkey want the status of a bigger global role. But they “balk at assuming the risks and burdens”that global leadership entails. Ideally a web of multilateral institutions and laws would impose order and holdwayward countries in line. But with America unable to afford, or unwilling
to exercise, global leadership, and Chinastill not ready to assume its responsibilities, there is no one to enforce these rules.
这就是伊恩·布雷默在他新著《各自为战》中所预言的世界。 像巴西和土耳其这样的国家想要在全球政治中扮演更重要的角色。 但是“他们想要避免领导全球所必须承担的风险和负担”。 理想主义的观念认为，一个多元化的组织网络和法律可以带来秩序，让那些不驯服的国家服从。 但是随着美国没有能力或者不愿意承担全球领导的角色，而中国目前还没有做好准备承担责任，没有一个国家可以来强制执行这些规则。
In the 1960s President Lyndon Johnson could divert a fifth of America's wheat crop to alleviate starvation inIndia. That could not happen now, when biofuels are aggravating food shortages and exporters hoard supplies fortheir own people. Global warming, nuclear proliferation and internet regulation are all harder to address, with the G7and G20 supplanted by what the author calls the “G-Zero”.
20世纪60年代，总统林登·约翰逊可以将美国小麦产量的五分之一用于缓解印度的饥荒。 现在这根本不可能发生，因为生物燃料的发展正在造成并加剧粮食短缺现象，而且出口商们正为了他们自己的人民储存粮食。 随着G7和G20被被作者称为G-0的世界所代替，全球变暖、核扩散以及网络管理等都将是更难处理的问题。
Mr Bremmer, founder of Eurasia Group, a political-risk consultancy, specialises in big thoughts. His previousbooks tackled the path that developing countries travel from autocracy to democracy, and the growth of state-sponsored capitalism. “Every Nation For Itself” enters a more crowded field. Innumerable books and essays havealready plumbed the consequences of America's loss, or possible loss, of global leadership, with the best providingeither fresh insight or original reporting. Unfortunately, “Every Nation For Itself” does neither. It devotes endlesspages to describing disparate arenas of global conflict, from cyberspace to water shortages, but these are largely arehash of headlines and conventional wisdom. Their only purpose is to provide Mr Bremmer with repeatedopportunities to assert that “in a G-Zero world” such conflicts can no longer be solved from above.
布雷默是一家政治风险咨询机构欧亚集团的创始人，该机构专门从事大的战略思想研究。 他的前一本书主要追述了发展中国家从专制独裁到民主的转变以及国有资本主义的增长。 而这本《各自为战》进入了一个更加拥挤的领域。 已经有无数本专著和论文在探究美国衰落或者可能衰落可能会带来的结果，其中好的著作要么有创新的视角要么在原始材料方面比较突出。 但是很不幸，《各自为战》这两方面都没有做到。 作者花了大量的篇幅描述全球问题的冲突，从网络空间到水资源短缺，但是这些论述大部分只是对已经报道过的文章和传统观点进行了重新处理。 它们唯一的用处只是给布雷默机会让他重复了一个观点，即在G零世界中这些冲突都不可能自上而下得到解决。
Mr Bremmer is certainly right that a world without America's global leadership is a more dangerous place, but heoverstates his case. Even when it stood alone as the world's superpower, America struggled to impose its will. In1993 it pulled its troops out of Somalia when murderous warlords foiled its attempts to deliver food relief to thestarving country. The global groups that Mr Bremmer imagines once ran the world were seldom that effective. TheG7 occasionally influenced the direction of the dollar or the relations between rich countries and the emergingmarkets, but more often it issued anodyne, forgettable communiqués.
当然，布雷默认为一个失去美国领导的世界将会更加危险，在这一点上他是正确的，但是关于这一点他却有所夸大了。 即使美国独霸世界，美国也很难强制执行它的意志。 1993年，当时残忍的军阀阻止美国将粮食救援输送到饥饿的国家时，美国将军队撤出了索马里。 可见布雷默所认为的曾经掌控全球的各个团体事实上并没有那么有效。 G7峰会偶尔会影响美元的方向或者富裕国家与新兴市场之间的关系，但是更多情况下，它只是发布一些类似于止痛剂一样的公告，那些公告也很快就被会被人们抛诸脑后。
Neither America nor the multilateral institutions are as impotent today as Mr Bremmer claims. Brazil and Turkeyfailed in their negotiation over Iran's nuclear programme. The fact that Iran has been dragged back to thenegotiating table and Myanmar is veering back towards democracy contradict Mr Bremmer's thesis that sanctionsare becoming ever less effective. He is right that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have beenweakened by China's growing power. But the opposite is true for the World Trade Organisation, whose clout hasbeen enhanced significantly by the fact that both America and China abide by its rulings. “Every Nation For Itself”is a useful summary of current events. But as a guide to a complex world, it falls short.
其实目前不管是美国还是多国体系都不像布雷默所认为的那样虚弱无力。 巴西和土耳其在他们的伊朗科项目问题的谈判中失败了。 事实上， 伊朗已经从谈判桌上撤退，缅甸正在向民主的方向转变，这些事实都驳斥了布雷默认为制裁变得无效的观点。 他认为世界银行和国际货币基金组织由于中国力量的崛起受到了削弱，这一点是正确的。 但是另一方面由于美国和中国都支持世界贸易组织的裁决，所以世贸组织的影响力显著地加强了。 《各自为战》对当前重大事务做了很好的总结， 但是并没有对当前复杂世界形势提出有益的分析和指导。
IN DENVER four years ago, an inspiring presidential candidate announced that he would change America. Barack Obama promised to put aside partisan differences, restore hope to those without jobs, begin the process of saving the planet from global warming, and make America proud again.
四年前，在丹佛市，一位意气风发的总统候选人宣布他将改变美国。当时，巴拉克?奥巴马承诺：他将放下党派分歧、让失业人员重获希望、开始应对全球变暖并再次为美国带来荣耀。
Next week Mr Obama will address his fellow Democrats at their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, with little of this hopeful agenda completed. Three million more Americans are out of work than four years ago, and the national debt is $5 trillion bigger. Partisan gridlock is worse than ever: health-care reform, a genuinely impressive achievement, has become a prime source of rancour. Businessfolk are split over whether he dislikes capitalism or is merely indifferent to it. His global-warming efforts have evaporated. America?s standing in the Muslim world is no higher than it was under George W. Bush, Iran remains dangerous, Russia and China are still prickly despite the promised resets, and the prison in Guantánamo remains open.
下周，民主党将在北卡罗来纳州的夏洛特市召开全国代表大会，届时奥巴马将向党内同僚致辞，但他的这番雄心壮志却并未实现多少。相比四年前，美国失业人数增加了300万人，国家债务也上升了5万亿美元。党派之间的僵局更甚以往：医疗改革实际上是一项杰出的成就，但却成了两党敌意的主要来源。商界之中有些人认为奥巴马厌恶资本主义，有些人认为他对资本主义简直漠不关心。奥巴马针对全球变暖做出的努力也化为乌有。相比乔治?W?布什当政时期，美国在穆斯林世界的地位并没有提高多少。伊朗仍然很危险。尽管奥巴马许诺重新调整与俄中两国的外交关系，但这两个国家对于美国来说依然棘手。恐怖主义阴云未散，仍然不断有囚犯被送进关塔那摩监狱。
So far, so underwhelming
目前看来政绩平平
The defence of Mr Obama?s record comes down to one phrase: it could all have been a lot worse. He inherited an economy in free fall thanks to the banking crash and the fiscal profligacy that occurred under his predecessor; his stimulus measures and his saving of Detroit carmakers helped avert a
Confronted by obstructionist Republicans in Congress, he did well to get anything through at all. Abroad he has sensibly recalibrated American foreign policy. And there have been individual triumphs, such as the killing of Osama bin Laden.
若要为奥巴马的履历进行辩护，尽可一言以蔽之：如果没有他的话，情况可能会更糟糕。布什执掌白宫时，银行业崩溃、政府肆意挥霍财政开支。拜这位前任总统所赐，奥巴马接手政权时美国经济正在直线下滑。他推出了刺激措施，拯救了底特律的汽车制造商，从而帮助美国避免了第二次大萧条。如果要在经济方面进行打分的话，尽管奥巴马有得有失，但总体来说表现尚可。在国会里，奥巴马受到了共和党的蓄意阻扰，但他还是成功地通过了一些议案。在国际上，奥巴马明智地重新调整了美国的外交政策。他还取得了一些非同寻常的成就，比如击毙了奥萨马?本?拉登。
But this does not amount to a compelling case for re-election, in the view of either this paper or the American people. More than 60% of voters believe their country to be on the wrong track. Mr Obama?s approval ratings are well under 50%; almost two-thirds of voters are unimpressed (however harshly) by how he has handled the economy. Worn down by the difficulties of office, the great reformer has
become a cautious man, surrounded by an insular group of advisers. The candidate who promised bold solutions to the country?s gravest problems turned into the president who failed even to back his own commission?s plans for cutting the deficit.
但想要进行连任，仅有这些还不够令人信服——这不仅是本报的观点，也是美国人民的观点。有60%以上的选民认为美国已经偏离了正确的轨道。奥巴马目前的支持率远低于50%；有近三分之二的选民认为他处理经济的方式不尽如人意（尽管这样说有些苛刻）。由于政途坎坷，这位伟大的改革者被拖垮了，变成了一个谨小慎微的人，周围则是一群保守狭隘的顾问。当年的那位候选人曾承诺，要果敢地解决美国最为严重的一些问题；可当他成为总统之后，甚至无法为自己的委员会削减赤字的方案提供支持。
Were he facing a more charismatic candidate than Mitt Romney or a less extremist bunch than the Republicans, Mr Obama would already be staring at defeat. The fact that the president has had to “go negative” so early and so relentlessly shows how badly he needs the election to be about Mr Romney?s weaknesses rather than his own achievements. A man who four years ago epitomised hope will arrive in Charlotte with a campaign that thus far has been about invoking fear.
作为总统候选人，米特?罗姆尼没有多少个人魅力；作为政治群体，共和党较为极端。若非如此，奥巴马的败局可能早就注定了。奥巴马被迫这么早、这么决绝地“采取了消极策略”——这说明他急需让民众在这场竞选中去关注罗姆尼的弱点，而不是去关注他本人的政绩。四年前，奥巴马曾是希望的化身；如今他将抵达夏洛特市，当下的竞选之路却只能让人焦虑不安。
Mr Obama must offer more than this, for three reasons. First, a negative campaign may well fail. The Republicans are a rum bunch with a wooden leader; but Mr Romney?s record as an executive and
governor is impressive, and his running-mate, Paul Ryan, is a fount of bold ideas. Mr Obama?s strategy of blaming everything on Republican obstructionism will strike many voters as demeaning.
奥巴马要做的还有很多，原因有三。其一，消极参选很可能会失败。共和党是个古怪的群体，其领导人也有几分木讷；但罗姆尼曾任商界高管及马萨诸塞州州长，他的履历可圈可点——而且他的竞选搭档保
《经济学人中英文版》出自：百味书屋
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