2023考研英語閱讀雇傭兵
Private military contractors
雇傭兵
Beyond Blackwater
黑水公司之后
An industry reinvents itself after the demise of itsmost controversial firm
有爭議公司倒閉后重新興起的一種產(chǎn)業(yè)
WE WERE selling 1m a year in merchandise with the company logo on it, says Erik Princewith a mixture of nostalgia and defiance.
帶著緬懷又不屑情緒的Erik Prince說:過去我們一年能賣掉100萬美元帶公司商標(biāo)的產(chǎn)品。
Blackwater, the company in question, rose to worldwide prominence as an outsourcedbranch of the American army during the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
尚存爭議的黑水公司因參與了伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭和阿富汗戰(zhàn)爭作了美國的分支而引起世界范圍的關(guān)注。
It had plenty of admirers for the way it had pioneered a new branch of the defence industry,earning a total of around 2 billion from Uncle Sam for providing armed personnel to thePentagon, the State Department and, secretly, the CIA.
它因秘密給美國五角大樓、國務(wù)院和中情局提供武裝保鏢年入20億美元而成為國防行業(yè)的新分支,引來了無數(shù)的追隨者。
But the firm was overwhelmed by itsmore numerous critics, who said it was an undisciplined, unaccountable bunch ofmercenaries.
然而它卻受不起更多數(shù)量抨擊者的轟擊,說他們是一群無組織無紀(jì)律無責(zé)任感的雇傭兵。
In 2010 Mr Prince gave up the fight.
2010年普林斯先生放棄了這場爭斗。
He sold the firm, which he had founded in 1997 and which got its first big break by teachingpolice to handle school shootings after the 1999 Columbine massacre.
他賣掉了自己1997年創(chuàng)立的公司,該公司因1999年科侖拜校園事件后教授警察處理校園槍擊事件而迎來首次重大突破。
It is smaller now and mostly does less controversial work such as guarding diplomats andproviding training.
現(xiàn)在它的規(guī)模變小了,通常做諸如保護(hù)外交官和提供培訓(xùn)這些較少有爭議的事宜。
Its new name, Academi, could scarcely sound less aggressive.
它的新名字Academi聽起來也不那么富有攻擊性。
Mr Prince has started talking, after a long silence, to promote his book, Civilian Warriors, inwhich he mounts a defence of his firm as unyielding as a Blackwater contractor underenemy fire.
一段時(shí)間的沉默之后,普林斯先生已經(jīng)開始發(fā)話了,來促銷他的書作《Civilian Warriors》。在書中他給自己的公司套上了不屈的盾牌,就像敵軍戰(zhàn)火下的黑水公司。
Mr Prince says he never intended to build a new sort of defence firm.
普林斯先生說他從沒有想過要建立一個(gè)新型的防衛(wèi)公司。
But he stumbled on a huge opportunity to fill gaps in military capacity cost-effectively.
但是他偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)巨大的機(jī)遇,來填補(bǔ)軍事規(guī)模成本問題上的空缺。
Blackwater provided security to government officials such as Paul Bremer, the head of thetransitional authority after the invasion of Iraq, and after that, senior State Departmentemployees in Iraq and Afghanistan.
黑水公司在伊拉克遭侵略后為過渡政府首領(lǐng)Paul Bremer這樣的政府官員提供庇佑,在這之后為在伊拉克和阿富汗的美國國務(wù)院高級雇員提供庇佑。
He says he got his entrepreneurial instinct from his father, who built a successfulmotor-industry supplier and taught him that the best way to win and keep a customer isalways to say yes, then overdelivera formula that worked spectacularly well forBlackwater until the deadly nature of its overdelivery became so controversial.
他說他從他的父親那里得到了企業(yè)家的天性,他的父親是個(gè)成功的汽車工業(yè)供應(yīng)商,教會(huì)他贏得和保持一位客戶的最有效的方法就是常說yes,然后為之付出。這也是黑水公司因這種付出遭來非議而自然死亡前一直運(yùn)行異常順利的準(zhǔn)則。
Now he is glad to be out of the industry he helped build. With the winding down ofAmerica s military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has become a very crowded field;too many firms competing for a shrinking pie. But Blackwater s demise created space for tworivals: DynCorp International, a 60-year-old firm that diversified into military security, andTriple Canopy, founded in 2003 with a similar business model to Blackwater s.
現(xiàn)在他很高興自己不在自己幫助創(chuàng)立的產(chǎn)業(yè)里。借著美國入侵伊拉克和阿富汗的東風(fēng),它成為非常擁擠的領(lǐng)域;太多的公司去爭一塊正在萎縮的餡餅。但是黑水公司的倒閉創(chuàng)造了兩個(gè)競爭對手:有著60多年歷史的在軍事安全方面多樣化的DynCorp International和2003年建立的與黑水公司有著類似貿(mào)易的TripleCanopy。
Groups such as Human Rights First campaign against governments use of private militarycontractors, and Barack Obama attacked Blackwater in his first presidential campaign.
類似于人權(quán)至上的組織游行抗議政府雇傭私人雇傭兵,巴拉克奧巴馬在他的第一次總統(tǒng)大選中就抨擊了黑水公司。
George Bush responded by modestly tightening the rules on its deployment.
喬治布什的回應(yīng)則更謹(jǐn)慎些,就是扣緊了調(diào)度的規(guī)章制度。
But there has been no change of course since Mr Obama took office.
但是顯然在奧巴馬上任后情況沒有任何變化。
There is no going back, we just need to figure out the new rules for when private militaryfirms should be used and when they should not, says Sean McFate, an academic atGeorgetown University who previously worked for DynCorp.
喬治城大學(xué)的一位曾替DynCorp 工作過的學(xué)者Sean McFate 表示:事情沒有任何好轉(zhuǎn),我們得出臺(tái)新的條例,規(guī)定私人雇傭兵何時(shí)可用,何時(shí)不可。
Post-Blackwater, two trends have dominated the new industry, says Mr McFate: globalisationand indigenisation.
在黑水公司之后,這個(gè)全新的產(chǎn)業(yè)被兩種趨勢所左右,McFate先生說:那就是全球化和本土化。
On the supply side, there are a growing number of private military firms, and not all of thenew ones were formed by former special forces from Western powers, such as Aegis and BlueMountain, two British firms.
在供給方,私人軍事公司數(shù)量日漸增多,而且不是所有的新公司都是由像英國Aegis和Blue Mountain這樣的西方強(qiáng)者的前特種部隊(duì)組成的。
Warlords in places such as Afghanistan and Somalia are creating contracting firms that theystaff with local talent.
阿富汗和索馬里這樣的軍閥正創(chuàng)立提供本地人才的合同公司。
Their embattled national governments are seeing the merits in contracting out security.
各國政府都嚴(yán)陣以待,觀察合同外包安保的優(yōu)勢。
So America is no longer the only big buyer of private force, notes Mr McFate.
McFate先生表示因此美國不再是唯一的私人雇傭兵的大買家了。
One thing that would greatly improve the industry s prospects is if the United Nations beganusing private contractors for peacekeeping missions, as it is said to be considering.
但是有件事可以大大改善該產(chǎn)業(yè)前景,那就是如果聯(lián)合國為維護(hù)和平開始雇傭私人軍隊(duì),當(dāng)然只是如果。
Today, such missions are staffed by soldiers from poorer countries, who are often badlytrained.
如今,這樣的任務(wù)交給了相對貧困國家經(jīng)過刻苦訓(xùn)練的士兵去完成。
Mr Prince thinks that private contracting would make the UN more effective, but he has nointention of going after that business.
普林斯先生認(rèn)為私人雇傭兵可以使聯(lián)合國辦事效率更高,但是他并不打算追求那樣的生意。
For him, the new promised land is Africa, where he is investing in firms providing services tothe oil and gas industry, in places where he thinks his expertise in providing logistics andsecurity can give him a competitive edge.
對他來說,新的樂土在非洲,在他認(rèn)為他提供后勤和安保的專門技術(shù)有相當(dāng)競爭優(yōu)勢的地方,為石油和天然氣產(chǎn)業(yè)提供服務(wù)。
詞語解釋
1.rise to 上升到
In 2008, global consumers squealed when chinesedemand caused commodity prices to rise to recordlevels.
在2008年,當(dāng)中國需求推動(dòng)大宗商品價(jià)格升至歷史高位時(shí),全球消費(fèi)者叫苦不迭。
The imf has said that the fiscal deficit could rise toabout 9% of gdp this year.
國際貨幣基金組織說,印度今年的財(cái)政赤字可能會(huì)升至gdp的9%。
2.provide to 為...提供
What help file do you want to provide to your users?
您想給您的用戶提供什么幫助文件?
What kind of information do production managers and foremen provide to their boss.
生產(chǎn)經(jīng)理和領(lǐng)班向他們的老板提供何種信息。
3.such as 像,例如;譬如;諸如
What about future steps such as euro bonds?
諸如歐元聯(lián)盟之類的未來計(jì)劃怎樣?
Imaginary problems such as these are usually hiding real ones.
像這樣的臆想的問題通常隱藏真實(shí)性的。
4.wind down 接下
Use the last hours of the evening to wind down.
使用晚上最后幾個(gè)小時(shí)的時(shí)間來放松。
As the wars in afghanistan and iraq wind down, more veterans will be looking for secondcareers.
隨著阿富汗和伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭的結(jié)束,更多士兵將會(huì)退役再就業(yè)。
Private military contractors
雇傭兵
Beyond Blackwater
黑水公司之后
An industry reinvents itself after the demise of itsmost controversial firm
有爭議公司倒閉后重新興起的一種產(chǎn)業(yè)
WE WERE selling 1m a year in merchandise with the company logo on it, says Erik Princewith a mixture of nostalgia and defiance.
帶著緬懷又不屑情緒的Erik Prince說:過去我們一年能賣掉100萬美元帶公司商標(biāo)的產(chǎn)品。
Blackwater, the company in question, rose to worldwide prominence as an outsourcedbranch of the American army during the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
尚存爭議的黑水公司因參與了伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭和阿富汗戰(zhàn)爭作了美國的分支而引起世界范圍的關(guān)注。
It had plenty of admirers for the way it had pioneered a new branch of the defence industry,earning a total of around 2 billion from Uncle Sam for providing armed personnel to thePentagon, the State Department and, secretly, the CIA.
它因秘密給美國五角大樓、國務(wù)院和中情局提供武裝保鏢年入20億美元而成為國防行業(yè)的新分支,引來了無數(shù)的追隨者。
But the firm was overwhelmed by itsmore numerous critics, who said it was an undisciplined, unaccountable bunch ofmercenaries.
然而它卻受不起更多數(shù)量抨擊者的轟擊,說他們是一群無組織無紀(jì)律無責(zé)任感的雇傭兵。
In 2010 Mr Prince gave up the fight.
2010年普林斯先生放棄了這場爭斗。
He sold the firm, which he had founded in 1997 and which got its first big break by teachingpolice to handle school shootings after the 1999 Columbine massacre.
他賣掉了自己1997年創(chuàng)立的公司,該公司因1999年科侖拜校園事件后教授警察處理校園槍擊事件而迎來首次重大突破。
It is smaller now and mostly does less controversial work such as guarding diplomats andproviding training.
現(xiàn)在它的規(guī)模變小了,通常做諸如保護(hù)外交官和提供培訓(xùn)這些較少有爭議的事宜。
Its new name, Academi, could scarcely sound less aggressive.
它的新名字Academi聽起來也不那么富有攻擊性。
Mr Prince has started talking, after a long silence, to promote his book, Civilian Warriors, inwhich he mounts a defence of his firm as unyielding as a Blackwater contractor underenemy fire.
一段時(shí)間的沉默之后,普林斯先生已經(jīng)開始發(fā)話了,來促銷他的書作《Civilian Warriors》。在書中他給自己的公司套上了不屈的盾牌,就像敵軍戰(zhàn)火下的黑水公司。
Mr Prince says he never intended to build a new sort of defence firm.
普林斯先生說他從沒有想過要建立一個(gè)新型的防衛(wèi)公司。
But he stumbled on a huge opportunity to fill gaps in military capacity cost-effectively.
但是他偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)巨大的機(jī)遇,來填補(bǔ)軍事規(guī)模成本問題上的空缺。
Blackwater provided security to government officials such as Paul Bremer, the head of thetransitional authority after the invasion of Iraq, and after that, senior State Departmentemployees in Iraq and Afghanistan.
黑水公司在伊拉克遭侵略后為過渡政府首領(lǐng)Paul Bremer這樣的政府官員提供庇佑,在這之后為在伊拉克和阿富汗的美國國務(wù)院高級雇員提供庇佑。
He says he got his entrepreneurial instinct from his father, who built a successfulmotor-industry supplier and taught him that the best way to win and keep a customer isalways to say yes, then overdelivera formula that worked spectacularly well forBlackwater until the deadly nature of its overdelivery became so controversial.
他說他從他的父親那里得到了企業(yè)家的天性,他的父親是個(gè)成功的汽車工業(yè)供應(yīng)商,教會(huì)他贏得和保持一位客戶的最有效的方法就是常說yes,然后為之付出。這也是黑水公司因這種付出遭來非議而自然死亡前一直運(yùn)行異常順利的準(zhǔn)則。
Now he is glad to be out of the industry he helped build. With the winding down ofAmerica s military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has become a very crowded field;too many firms competing for a shrinking pie. But Blackwater s demise created space for tworivals: DynCorp International, a 60-year-old firm that diversified into military security, andTriple Canopy, founded in 2003 with a similar business model to Blackwater s.
現(xiàn)在他很高興自己不在自己幫助創(chuàng)立的產(chǎn)業(yè)里。借著美國入侵伊拉克和阿富汗的東風(fēng),它成為非常擁擠的領(lǐng)域;太多的公司去爭一塊正在萎縮的餡餅。但是黑水公司的倒閉創(chuàng)造了兩個(gè)競爭對手:有著60多年歷史的在軍事安全方面多樣化的DynCorp International和2003年建立的與黑水公司有著類似貿(mào)易的TripleCanopy。
Groups such as Human Rights First campaign against governments use of private militarycontractors, and Barack Obama attacked Blackwater in his first presidential campaign.
類似于人權(quán)至上的組織游行抗議政府雇傭私人雇傭兵,巴拉克奧巴馬在他的第一次總統(tǒng)大選中就抨擊了黑水公司。
George Bush responded by modestly tightening the rules on its deployment.
喬治布什的回應(yīng)則更謹(jǐn)慎些,就是扣緊了調(diào)度的規(guī)章制度。
But there has been no change of course since Mr Obama took office.
但是顯然在奧巴馬上任后情況沒有任何變化。
There is no going back, we just need to figure out the new rules for when private militaryfirms should be used and when they should not, says Sean McFate, an academic atGeorgetown University who previously worked for DynCorp.
喬治城大學(xué)的一位曾替DynCorp 工作過的學(xué)者Sean McFate 表示:事情沒有任何好轉(zhuǎn),我們得出臺(tái)新的條例,規(guī)定私人雇傭兵何時(shí)可用,何時(shí)不可。
Post-Blackwater, two trends have dominated the new industry, says Mr McFate: globalisationand indigenisation.
在黑水公司之后,這個(gè)全新的產(chǎn)業(yè)被兩種趨勢所左右,McFate先生說:那就是全球化和本土化。
On the supply side, there are a growing number of private military firms, and not all of thenew ones were formed by former special forces from Western powers, such as Aegis and BlueMountain, two British firms.
在供給方,私人軍事公司數(shù)量日漸增多,而且不是所有的新公司都是由像英國Aegis和Blue Mountain這樣的西方強(qiáng)者的前特種部隊(duì)組成的。
Warlords in places such as Afghanistan and Somalia are creating contracting firms that theystaff with local talent.
阿富汗和索馬里這樣的軍閥正創(chuàng)立提供本地人才的合同公司。
Their embattled national governments are seeing the merits in contracting out security.
各國政府都嚴(yán)陣以待,觀察合同外包安保的優(yōu)勢。
So America is no longer the only big buyer of private force, notes Mr McFate.
McFate先生表示因此美國不再是唯一的私人雇傭兵的大買家了。
One thing that would greatly improve the industry s prospects is if the United Nations beganusing private contractors for peacekeeping missions, as it is said to be considering.
但是有件事可以大大改善該產(chǎn)業(yè)前景,那就是如果聯(lián)合國為維護(hù)和平開始雇傭私人軍隊(duì),當(dāng)然只是如果。
Today, such missions are staffed by soldiers from poorer countries, who are often badlytrained.
如今,這樣的任務(wù)交給了相對貧困國家經(jīng)過刻苦訓(xùn)練的士兵去完成。
Mr Prince thinks that private contracting would make the UN more effective, but he has nointention of going after that business.
普林斯先生認(rèn)為私人雇傭兵可以使聯(lián)合國辦事效率更高,但是他并不打算追求那樣的生意。
For him, the new promised land is Africa, where he is investing in firms providing services tothe oil and gas industry, in places where he thinks his expertise in providing logistics andsecurity can give him a competitive edge.
對他來說,新的樂土在非洲,在他認(rèn)為他提供后勤和安保的專門技術(shù)有相當(dāng)競爭優(yōu)勢的地方,為石油和天然氣產(chǎn)業(yè)提供服務(wù)。
詞語解釋
1.rise to 上升到
In 2008, global consumers squealed when chinesedemand caused commodity prices to rise to recordlevels.
在2008年,當(dāng)中國需求推動(dòng)大宗商品價(jià)格升至歷史高位時(shí),全球消費(fèi)者叫苦不迭。
The imf has said that the fiscal deficit could rise toabout 9% of gdp this year.
國際貨幣基金組織說,印度今年的財(cái)政赤字可能會(huì)升至gdp的9%。
2.provide to 為...提供
What help file do you want to provide to your users?
您想給您的用戶提供什么幫助文件?
What kind of information do production managers and foremen provide to their boss.
生產(chǎn)經(jīng)理和領(lǐng)班向他們的老板提供何種信息。
3.such as 像,例如;譬如;諸如
What about future steps such as euro bonds?
諸如歐元聯(lián)盟之類的未來計(jì)劃怎樣?
Imaginary problems such as these are usually hiding real ones.
像這樣的臆想的問題通常隱藏真實(shí)性的。
4.wind down 接下
Use the last hours of the evening to wind down.
使用晚上最后幾個(gè)小時(shí)的時(shí)間來放松。
As the wars in afghanistan and iraq wind down, more veterans will be looking for secondcareers.
隨著阿富汗和伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭的結(jié)束,更多士兵將會(huì)退役再就業(yè)。