日本電子企業

　　2023復習正是強化復習階段，在考研英語中占了40分，所以考研英語閱讀是英語科目中重要的一項。名師老師曾建議過考研生需要堅持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強烈推薦了雜志《經濟學人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語的主要材料來源.希望考研考生認真閱讀，快速提高考研英語閱讀水平。 　　Japanese electronics firms 　　日本電子企業 　　Eclipsed by Apple 　　蘋果，你擋住了我的陽光 　　Electronics companies in Japan are starting to turnthemselves around, but they are a shadow of theirformer selves 　　日本的電子公司的處境已經開始得到改善，但還是被舊模式所束縛 　　FOR Sony it was a bittersweet moment. On July 1st the firm bid a final farewell to its Vaiopersonal computers, a global brand which won such a devoted following after its launch in1996 that the late Steve Jobs, a fan of Sony in its glory days, once asked to equip it with hisApple Mac operating system. Cut off from its parent, Vaio is floundering. Since Sonyannounced its sale to a Japanese private-equity fund, in February, it has suffered a slumpin its market share in Japan to just 2%, down from 10% at the start of 2023. 　　對于索尼來說，這可謂是百味陳雜的一刻。7月1日，索尼正式告別它旗下的VAIO電腦。VAIO在1996年上市以來就廣受歡迎，當年索尼的鐵桿粉絲喬布斯曾經希望在VAIO上安裝蘋果的運行系統。如今獨立經營的VAID正在苦苦掙扎：自從今年二月份索尼宣布將它出售給一家日本的私募基金后，它的市場份額從年初的10%暴跌至碩果僅存的2%。 　　The vertiginous drop will have dismayed Sony, which had kept a tiny stake in the business.However, investors have put Sony s bosses under pressure to do something about thecompany s chronically poor performance. It has lost money in five of the past six years andis forecasting a further loss in the year to March 2023. 　　由于索尼在此業務中仍持有少量股份，這種暴跌的確教人頭疼。不過，投資者們已經開始督促索尼的高官們對該公司的長期疲軟有所作為。在過去六年中就有長達五年的虧損，這樣的情形預計還會持續到2023年三月。 　　Vaio is the most significant business Sony has quit in recent times. Cutting it adrift may be thestart of a far-reaching reorganisation. On the same day the firm shifted its loss-makingtelevisions arm, once the core of its profits and brand image, into a separate legal entity.For now, Sony s chief executive, Kazuo Hirai, rules out an outright sale, and many peoplecriticise him for not acting more drastically. Yet the firm admits that an alliance with anothertelevision-maker could be an option. 　　VAID應當是近年來索尼所放棄的最為重要的業務了。這種放棄可能是長期機構調整的開始。就在同一天，索尼把曾經帶來主要利潤和品牌形象，最近卻虧損連連的電視機業務轉變成了獨立的法人。目前，索尼公司的首席執行官平井一夫決定不采取直接出售的做法，因此而受到了行動不夠徹底的批評。不過，索尼也承認還可能和其他電視制造商結成聯盟。 　　After years of denial that surgery was needed, optimism is rising that Japan sconsumer-electronics firms are facing up to their steady loss of global market share . In 1982 we published a briefing on how The giants in Japanese electronics were setto keep conquering the world with all manner of exciting new gadgets: Video cameras! Faxmachines! CD players! And they did, for a while. But now they all struggle to compete in themost important categories of consumer electronics against rivals such as Samsung of SouthKorea and especially Apple of the United States. 　　在多年的諱疾忌醫之后，越來越多的人們認為日本的消費電子公司終于開始面對它們全球市場份額日漸萎靡的現實。在1982年，我們曾經發表了一份簡訊，說的是日本電子巨頭將如何通過它們的全新電子工具來征服世界：攝像機!傳真機!CD播放機!它們確實做到了，不過這成為歷史。目前在重要的電子消費品方面，南韓的三星和美國的蘋果勢頭強勁，日本公司的對抗之路走得艱難。 　　Even at home in Japan s thriving consumer-electronics marketonly Americans have moredevices per person than the tech-obsessed Japaneseformer champions, including Hitachi,Panasonic and Sharp as well as Sony, have lost much ground. Local firms have largely cededthe PC market, and they are losing out quickly in mobile phones. They never really madetheir mark in smartphones, today s most-desired gadgets. Sony s Trinitron TVs andWalkmans once helped build a fearsomely large Japanese trade surplus, but nowadays thecountry suffers a deficit, and foreign smartphones account for about a fifth of it. 　　日本人癡迷技術產品，人均電子設備持有量緊隨美國，居世界第二。但即使是在日本，過去那些電子消費品市場的領頭羊包括日立，松下和夏普以及索尼，都風光不再。日本本土公司已經基本放棄了電腦市場，而在手機方面也形勢不妙。在當今最受歡迎的智能手機方面，它們表現平平。索尼的Trinitron電視和隨身聽曾經為日本實現了令人羨妒的貿易順差，可如今日本卻赤字不斷，而來自日本的智能手機大概造成赤字的五分之一。 　　One consolation is that consumer electronics is an impossible business for nearly all firms,says Eiichi Katayama of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, so competitive has itbecome. A strong brand is no longer enough to justify a sharply higher price. This weekSamsung said its operating profits were down, for a third quarter in a row, in the threemonths to June, as it was pressed from below by cut-price rivals like Xiaomi, a three-year-oldupstart from China, and squeezed from above by Apple. 　　東京美國美林銀行的片山榮一稱，電子消費品領域競爭激烈，幾乎對所有的公司來說都是極為難做的業務，這對日本公司來說算是小小的寬慰。要想設立高價，只有優秀的品牌已經遠遠不夠了。本周三星透露自己的營銷利潤在四到六月期間持續走低，而這樣的低迷狀態已經持續了三個季度原因在于手機的高低端市場分別被蘋果和小米機占據。 　　That said, the Japanese firms have blundered for the past decade. They continued to obsessabout fancy hardware, neglecting fast-growing software and services and failing to spot consumers changing tastes. They were slow to recognise the developingworld as a fast-growing market and not just a low-cost manufacturing base, says PeterKenevan, a consultant at McKinsey in Tokyo. 　　話雖如此，日本企業在過去十年的處境都頗為艱難，源于它們過分沉迷于花哨的硬件，卻忽視了飛速成長的軟件和服務領域，也沒能及時發現消費者悄然變化的喜好。麥肯錫東京分部的顧問皮特科內宛稱，這些企業一向把發展中國家當做低成本的制造基地，對于這些快速增長的市場的巨大潛力卻反應遲鈍。 　　The Japanese firms now have some hard decisions to make, about which existing productsthey should give up on and which new ones to pursue. Sony s bosses are reportedly studyingreforms made by Philips, a Dutch firm which has quit a number of poorly performingbusinesses. Last year it got out of making televisions, and a chunk of its lighting division isnext out of the door. 　　日本眾企業現在需要痛定思痛，辨別哪些現存產品應當毅然地放棄，哪些新產品又應當不舍地追求。據說索尼的高官們現在正在向荷蘭公司飛利浦的一系列變革學習該公司目前已經放棄了幾項表現不佳的業務：去年停止了電視機的生產，接下來要精簡的就是一系列照明業務了。 　　Panasonic is already making an abrupt change of direction. Under Kazuhiro Tsuga, its newishchief executive, it is exiting both plasma televisions and consumer smartphones. Its newfocus is on making equipment for energy-efficient homes. Car parts, including battery cellsfor electric and hybrid vehicles, are another strong area of growth. Mr Tsuga is also seekingways to serve emerging Asian markets better. He recently shocked his fellow managers bysaying Panasonic would set up a product-development headquarters in India, staffed chieflyby locals. 　　松下已經做出了大幅度的政策調整。在新上任的首席執行官鐵杉和弘的帶領下，松下正在淡出等離子電視和消費者智能手機領域，轉而聚焦于節能住宅設備制造。此外汽車零件也是成長勢頭猛烈的領域之一，其中包括用于電動和混合動力汽車的電池。和弘先生同時也在探索如何更好的服務欣欣向榮的亞洲市場。最近，和弘先生就聲稱有意在主要聘用當地人的印度建立松下的產品發展總部。此番言論在高管中激起了不小的波瀾。 　　Other firms, such as Toshiba and Hitachi, which were already less reliant on consumerelectronics, are paying new attention to their heavy industrial businesses. All these movesshould help solve a common structural problem in Japanese industry, which is that too manyfirms all make similar products. Some electronics giants are moving into a surprising newfield: high-tech farming. Fujitsu, Hitachi, Panasonic and Sharp are converting disused factoryspace and opening high-tech greenhouses to grow vegetables, which are expensive in Japan. 　　其他對于消費者電器依賴較少的日企，例如東芝和日立，則開始更多的關注它們的重工業業務。這些變動將有利于改善日本工業普遍存在的結構性問題，那就是企業的產品相似度太高。還有一些電子巨頭則開始挺進全新的領域：高科技農業。富士通，日立，松下和夏普都在把廢棄不用的工廠改造成為高科技溫室，以種植在日本賣價頗高的蔬菜。 　　The financial results of the changes have started to emerge. Aided also by a recent fall in thevalue of the yen, Fujitsu, Panasonic and Sharp all returned to profit in 2023. The other bigelectronics firms all improved their bottom lines, with the exceptions of Sony and NEC. Sonypromises that 2023-16 will be the year in which it returns to profit. Its smartphones andtablets are at last gaining some traction, with the help of one simple, customer-centredinnovationmaking them waterproof. It will take little short of a miracle for it to make upthe ground lost to Apple but such hints that the worst may soon be over have helped Sony, sofar, to fend off calls by Daniel Loeb, an American activist investor, for a radical break-up ofthe company. 　　這些改變已經在經濟上面初見成效。在日元貶值的天時地利之際，富士通、松下和夏普都在2023年重新盈利。除了索尼和NEC以外的大型電子公司也都有所進步。索尼承諾自己將會在2023-16開始盈利。現在索尼的智能手機和平板電腦越來越受歡迎，這還要歸功于一項簡單而頗有人情味的創新防水設計。當然，要想從蘋果手里收復失地可謂天方夜譚;不過，這些轉機還是能夠暫時幫助索尼抵御丹尼爾勒布要求分化該公司的激烈言論。此人是一位來自美國的激進投資者。 　　Seeking a path to growth 　　尋求成長道路 　　For the foreseeable future, Panasonic, Sharp and Sony will continue to rely on consumerelectronics for much of their sales and profits. Although Mr Tsuga has done a lot ofrestructuring and redirection at Panasonic, say executives in the industry, he has not yetfound a reliable path towards growth. Films, music, television and financial services are solidbusinesses for Sony, but consumer electronics still accounts for 60% of its revenues. 　　在可預見的未來，松下、夏普和索尼還是會繼續依賴消費者電子產品來拉動銷售額和利潤。業內管理人士稱，盡管松下的和弘先生已經在結構和策略上做出了不小的調整，他依舊還未找到一條持續成長的道路;盡管索尼的主要業務涵蓋電影，音樂，電視，以及金融服務，消費者電子依舊占據銷售量的六成。 　　If their chief executives were visionary leaders willing to take risks, Japanese electronicsfirms could do much to regain their lost lustre, says Roderick Lappin, who heads theJapanese operations of China s fast-rising Lenovo. Their unrivalled engineering, though oftenin excess of customers needs, is still an advantage, he says. They sit on a trove ofintellectual property in the form of patents. Much of this could prove invaluable in thefield of wearable technology or in the much-hyped internet of things, in which appliances,equipment and even pets may in future be wirelessly web-connected. 　　羅德克拉賓是中國新興品牌聯想在日本業務的負責人。他認為，只要這些日企的執行者們富有遠見，甘愿冒險，回復往日榮耀不在話下。日本人的工程技術高超，雖然與客戶的需求相比可能過猶不及，其數一數二的地位依舊是一項競爭優勢。日本人擁有大量受專利保護的知識產權，這些在可消耗技術和炒的火熱的物聯網領域都非常寶貴。物聯網可能在將來能把電器、設備甚至寵物通過無線網絡連接起來。 　　However, the Japanese firms will find themselves hindered by their old-fashioned corporatecultures. With a few exceptions such as Mr Tsuga, Japanese bosses, with an average age of60, are extremely cautious. Years of losses and restructuring make it still harder for themto place bold bets on future technologies. 　　可惜的是，日本企業受其傳統企業文化掣肘不小。日企老板的平均年齡高達花甲，行事謹小慎微和弘先生算是為數不多的特例之一。再加上連年虧損和結構調整，讓這些老板們放手投資未來高科技可謂難上加難。 　　In particular, they are still too attached to Japan s culture of lifetime employment. At mostlarge Japanese firms, around a third of permanent staff are surplus to requirements, yetcannot be fired due to the country s unclear labour rules. 　　最為突出的是，老板們依舊非常留戀日本文化特有的終身聘用制度。在大多數日本公司里面，大概三分之一的正式員工都是多余的，可是由于日本勞動法曖昧不輕，裁員基本沒有可能。 　　There is some hope that Shinzo Abe s reforming government may take steps to make thelabour market more flexible, which would help electronics more than any other industry.Had lay-offs been easier, Panasonic, Sony and others would have had far greater financialflexibility to cope with changing market conditions. Instead, their limited voluntaryseverance packages, typically offering two to three years pay, are cripplingly expensive.Those who accept them are often the most talented. 　　安倍晉三的政府改革有望使勞動市場變得更為靈活，而電子產業將是其中最大的受益者。如果裁員能變得更容易的話，松下、索尼和其他公司都能從財務方面更好的適應千變萬化的市場。現實情況卻是，對企業來說，數量有限的資源遣散費變得越來越昂貴，而愿意接受這些遣散費離職的往往還是企業中最有才華的員工。 　　Since the firms are no longer run by their high-powered founders but by employees who rosethrough the same lifetime system, says Hidemi Moue, boss of Japan Industrial Partners, theprivate-equity buyer of Vaio, there is too little willingness to tackle these problems. In all,it will take a lot more than a few whizzy new gadgets to fix the Japanese electronics firms. 　　接手VAIO的私募企業是日本產業合作伙伴。它的老板秀美馬上稱，由于這些日企的運營者已不再是那些效率奇高的創始人，而是跟企業共同成長起來的員工，所以解決這方面問題的決心自然而然就比較小了。總而言之，日本電子企業的問題可不是發明幾個新式電子小工具就能解決的。 　　詞語解釋 　　1.start to 開始 　　When you do not answer ?I do not know? , but instead start to lie topeople around you AND to yourself. 　　當你不回答?我不知道?，而是開始向周圍的人 和 你自己撒謊。 　　Through some discussions, we succeeded inshowing that they would have significant insight into the progress of the project from start tofinish. 　　通過一些討論，我們成功的顯示了客戶從項目的開始到結束都應該對項目的進展有足夠的了解。 　　2.ask to 邀請參加 　　She asked us to the dancing party. 　　她邀請我們參加舞會。 　　I was asked to a wedding party. 　　我被邀請參加婚禮。 　　3.rule out 排除;取消 　　In no sense does belief in divine sovereignty rule out the love of God for all humanity. 　　對上帝無上主權的信仰絕不會將上帝對所有人的愛排除在外。 　　But the only way to declare the world inhabited would be to rule out all possible abiologicalexplanations. 　　但是唯一可以宣告這個世界有生物的途徑是把所有的非生物的解釋都排除掉。 　　4.such as 比如;諸如 　　Heroes such as Huang Jiguang will always live in the hearts of the people. 　　像黃繼光這樣的英雄人物， 將永遠活在人民的心里。 　　But what if you have a lot of audio material to listen to, such as audio books or podcasts? 　　但是如果你有很多像有聲書或播客這樣的音頻材料要聽，那該怎么辦呢?

　　2023復習正是強化復習階段，在考研英語中占了40分，所以考研英語閱讀是英語科目中重要的一項。名師老師曾建議過考研生需要堅持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強烈推薦了雜志《經濟學人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語的主要材料來源.希望考研考生認真閱讀，快速提高考研英語閱讀水平。 　　Japanese electronics firms 　　日本電子企業 　　Eclipsed by Apple 　　蘋果，你擋住了我的陽光 　　Electronics companies in Japan are starting to turnthemselves around, but they are a shadow of theirformer selves 　　日本的電子公司的處境已經開始得到改善，但還是被舊模式所束縛 　　FOR Sony it was a bittersweet moment. On July 1st the firm bid a final farewell to its Vaiopersonal computers, a global brand which won such a devoted following after its launch in1996 that the late Steve Jobs, a fan of Sony in its glory days, once asked to equip it with hisApple Mac operating system. Cut off from its parent, Vaio is floundering. Since Sonyannounced its sale to a Japanese private-equity fund, in February, it has suffered a slumpin its market share in Japan to just 2%, down from 10% at the start of 2023. 　　對于索尼來說，這可謂是百味陳雜的一刻。7月1日，索尼正式告別它旗下的VAIO電腦。VAIO在1996年上市以來就廣受歡迎，當年索尼的鐵桿粉絲喬布斯曾經希望在VAIO上安裝蘋果的運行系統。如今獨立經營的VAID正在苦苦掙扎：自從今年二月份索尼宣布將它出售給一家日本的私募基金后，它的市場份額從年初的10%暴跌至碩果僅存的2%。 　　The vertiginous drop will have dismayed Sony, which had kept a tiny stake in the business.However, investors have put Sony s bosses under pressure to do something about thecompany s chronically poor performance. It has lost money in five of the past six years andis forecasting a further loss in the year to March 2023. 　　由于索尼在此業務中仍持有少量股份，這種暴跌的確教人頭疼。不過，投資者們已經開始督促索尼的高官們對該公司的長期疲軟有所作為。在過去六年中就有長達五年的虧損，這樣的情形預計還會持續到2023年三月。 　　Vaio is the most significant business Sony has quit in recent times. Cutting it adrift may be thestart of a far-reaching reorganisation. On the same day the firm shifted its loss-makingtelevisions arm, once the core of its profits and brand image, into a separate legal entity.For now, Sony s chief executive, Kazuo Hirai, rules out an outright sale, and many peoplecriticise him for not acting more drastically. Yet the firm admits that an alliance with anothertelevision-maker could be an option. 　　VAID應當是近年來索尼所放棄的最為重要的業務了。這種放棄可能是長期機構調整的開始。就在同一天，索尼把曾經帶來主要利潤和品牌形象，最近卻虧損連連的電視機業務轉變成了獨立的法人。目前，索尼公司的首席執行官平井一夫決定不采取直接出售的做法，因此而受到了行動不夠徹底的批評。不過，索尼也承認還可能和其他電視制造商結成聯盟。 　　After years of denial that surgery was needed, optimism is rising that Japan sconsumer-electronics firms are facing up to their steady loss of global market share . In 1982 we published a briefing on how The giants in Japanese electronics were setto keep conquering the world with all manner of exciting new gadgets: Video cameras! Faxmachines! CD players! And they did, for a while. But now they all struggle to compete in themost important categories of consumer electronics against rivals such as Samsung of SouthKorea and especially Apple of the United States. 　　在多年的諱疾忌醫之后，越來越多的人們認為日本的消費電子公司終于開始面對它們全球市場份額日漸萎靡的現實。在1982年，我們曾經發表了一份簡訊，說的是日本電子巨頭將如何通過它們的全新電子工具來征服世界：攝像機!傳真機!CD播放機!它們確實做到了，不過這成為歷史。目前在重要的電子消費品方面，南韓的三星和美國的蘋果勢頭強勁，日本公司的對抗之路走得艱難。 　　Even at home in Japan s thriving consumer-electronics marketonly Americans have moredevices per person than the tech-obsessed Japaneseformer champions, including Hitachi,Panasonic and Sharp as well as Sony, have lost much ground. Local firms have largely cededthe PC market, and they are losing out quickly in mobile phones. They never really madetheir mark in smartphones, today s most-desired gadgets. Sony s Trinitron TVs andWalkmans once helped build a fearsomely large Japanese trade surplus, but nowadays thecountry suffers a deficit, and foreign smartphones account for about a fifth of it. 　　日本人癡迷技術產品，人均電子設備持有量緊隨美國，居世界第二。但即使是在日本，過去那些電子消費品市場的領頭羊包括日立，松下和夏普以及索尼，都風光不再。日本本土公司已經基本放棄了電腦市場，而在手機方面也形勢不妙。在當今最受歡迎的智能手機方面，它們表現平平。索尼的Trinitron電視和隨身聽曾經為日本實現了令人羨妒的貿易順差，可如今日本卻赤字不斷，而來自日本的智能手機大概造成赤字的五分之一。 　　One consolation is that consumer electronics is an impossible business for nearly all firms,says Eiichi Katayama of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, so competitive has itbecome. A strong brand is no longer enough to justify a sharply higher price. This weekSamsung said its operating profits were down, for a third quarter in a row, in the threemonths to June, as it was pressed from below by cut-price rivals like Xiaomi, a three-year-oldupstart from China, and squeezed from above by Apple. 　　東京美國美林銀行的片山榮一稱，電子消費品領域競爭激烈，幾乎對所有的公司來說都是極為難做的業務，這對日本公司來說算是小小的寬慰。要想設立高價，只有優秀的品牌已經遠遠不夠了。本周三星透露自己的營銷利潤在四到六月期間持續走低，而這樣的低迷狀態已經持續了三個季度原因在于手機的高低端市場分別被蘋果和小米機占據。 　　That said, the Japanese firms have blundered for the past decade. They continued to obsessabout fancy hardware, neglecting fast-growing software and services and failing to spot consumers changing tastes. They were slow to recognise the developingworld as a fast-growing market and not just a low-cost manufacturing base, says PeterKenevan, a consultant at McKinsey in Tokyo. 　　話雖如此，日本企業在過去十年的處境都頗為艱難，源于它們過分沉迷于花哨的硬件，卻忽視了飛速成長的軟件和服務領域，也沒能及時發現消費者悄然變化的喜好。麥肯錫東京分部的顧問皮特科內宛稱，這些企業一向把發展中國家當做低成本的制造基地，對于這些快速增長的市場的巨大潛力卻反應遲鈍。 　　The Japanese firms now have some hard decisions to make, about which existing productsthey should give up on and which new ones to pursue. Sony s bosses are reportedly studyingreforms made by Philips, a Dutch firm which has quit a number of poorly performingbusinesses. Last year it got out of making televisions, and a chunk of its lighting division isnext out of the door. 　　日本眾企業現在需要痛定思痛，辨別哪些現存產品應當毅然地放棄，哪些新產品又應當不舍地追求。據說索尼的高官們現在正在向荷蘭公司飛利浦的一系列變革學習該公司目前已經放棄了幾項表現不佳的業務：去年停止了電視機的生產，接下來要精簡的就是一系列照明業務了。 　　Panasonic is already making an abrupt change of direction. Under Kazuhiro Tsuga, its newishchief executive, it is exiting both plasma televisions and consumer smartphones. Its newfocus is on making equipment for energy-efficient homes. Car parts, including battery cellsfor electric and hybrid vehicles, are another strong area of growth. Mr Tsuga is also seekingways to serve emerging Asian markets better. He recently shocked his fellow managers bysaying Panasonic would set up a product-development headquarters in India, staffed chieflyby locals. 　　松下已經做出了大幅度的政策調整。在新上任的首席執行官鐵杉和弘的帶領下，松下正在淡出等離子電視和消費者智能手機領域，轉而聚焦于節能住宅設備制造。此外汽車零件也是成長勢頭猛烈的領域之一，其中包括用于電動和混合動力汽車的電池。和弘先生同時也在探索如何更好的服務欣欣向榮的亞洲市場。最近，和弘先生就聲稱有意在主要聘用當地人的印度建立松下的產品發展總部。此番言論在高管中激起了不小的波瀾。 　　Other firms, such as Toshiba and Hitachi, which were already less reliant on consumerelectronics, are paying new attention to their heavy industrial businesses. All these movesshould help solve a common structural problem in Japanese industry, which is that too manyfirms all make similar products. Some electronics giants are moving into a surprising newfield: high-tech farming. Fujitsu, Hitachi, Panasonic and Sharp are converting disused factoryspace and opening high-tech greenhouses to grow vegetables, which are expensive in Japan. 　　其他對于消費者電器依賴較少的日企，例如東芝和日立，則開始更多的關注它們的重工業業務。這些變動將有利于改善日本工業普遍存在的結構性問題，那就是企業的產品相似度太高。還有一些電子巨頭則開始挺進全新的領域：高科技農業。富士通，日立，松下和夏普都在把廢棄不用的工廠改造成為高科技溫室，以種植在日本賣價頗高的蔬菜。 　　The financial results of the changes have started to emerge. Aided also by a recent fall in thevalue of the yen, Fujitsu, Panasonic and Sharp all returned to profit in 2023. The other bigelectronics firms all improved their bottom lines, with the exceptions of Sony and NEC. Sonypromises that 2023-16 will be the year in which it returns to profit. Its smartphones andtablets are at last gaining some traction, with the help of one simple, customer-centredinnovationmaking them waterproof. It will take little short of a miracle for it to make upthe ground lost to Apple but such hints that the worst may soon be over have helped Sony, sofar, to fend off calls by Daniel Loeb, an American activist investor, for a radical break-up ofthe company. 　　這些改變已經在經濟上面初見成效。在日元貶值的天時地利之際，富士通、松下和夏普都在2023年重新盈利。除了索尼和NEC以外的大型電子公司也都有所進步。索尼承諾自己將會在2023-16開始盈利。現在索尼的智能手機和平板電腦越來越受歡迎，這還要歸功于一項簡單而頗有人情味的創新防水設計。當然，要想從蘋果手里收復失地可謂天方夜譚;不過，這些轉機還是能夠暫時幫助索尼抵御丹尼爾勒布要求分化該公司的激烈言論。此人是一位來自美國的激進投資者。 　　Seeking a path to growth 　　尋求成長道路 　　For the foreseeable future, Panasonic, Sharp and Sony will continue to rely on consumerelectronics for much of their sales and profits. Although Mr Tsuga has done a lot ofrestructuring and redirection at Panasonic, say executives in the industry, he has not yetfound a reliable path towards growth. Films, music, television and financial services are solidbusinesses for Sony, but consumer electronics still accounts for 60% of its revenues. 　　在可預見的未來，松下、夏普和索尼還是會繼續依賴消費者電子產品來拉動銷售額和利潤。業內管理人士稱，盡管松下的和弘先生已經在結構和策略上做出了不小的調整，他依舊還未找到一條持續成長的道路;盡管索尼的主要業務涵蓋電影，音樂，電視，以及金融服務，消費者電子依舊占據銷售量的六成。 　　If their chief executives were visionary leaders willing to take risks, Japanese electronicsfirms could do much to regain their lost lustre, says Roderick Lappin, who heads theJapanese operations of China s fast-rising Lenovo. Their unrivalled engineering, though oftenin excess of customers needs, is still an advantage, he says. They sit on a trove ofintellectual property in the form of patents. Much of this could prove invaluable in thefield of wearable technology or in the much-hyped internet of things, in which appliances,equipment and even pets may in future be wirelessly web-connected. 　　羅德克拉賓是中國新興品牌聯想在日本業務的負責人。他認為，只要這些日企的執行者們富有遠見，甘愿冒險，回復往日榮耀不在話下。日本人的工程技術高超，雖然與客戶的需求相比可能過猶不及，其數一數二的地位依舊是一項競爭優勢。日本人擁有大量受專利保護的知識產權，這些在可消耗技術和炒的火熱的物聯網領域都非常寶貴。物聯網可能在將來能把電器、設備甚至寵物通過無線網絡連接起來。 　　However, the Japanese firms will find themselves hindered by their old-fashioned corporatecultures. With a few exceptions such as Mr Tsuga, Japanese bosses, with an average age of60, are extremely cautious. Years of losses and restructuring make it still harder for themto place bold bets on future technologies. 　　可惜的是，日本企業受其傳統企業文化掣肘不小。日企老板的平均年齡高達花甲，行事謹小慎微和弘先生算是為數不多的特例之一。再加上連年虧損和結構調整，讓這些老板們放手投資未來高科技可謂難上加難。 　　In particular, they are still too attached to Japan s culture of lifetime employment. At mostlarge Japanese firms, around a third of permanent staff are surplus to requirements, yetcannot be fired due to the country s unclear labour rules. 　　最為突出的是，老板們依舊非常留戀日本文化特有的終身聘用制度。在大多數日本公司里面，大概三分之一的正式員工都是多余的，可是由于日本勞動法曖昧不輕，裁員基本沒有可能。 　　There is some hope that Shinzo Abe s reforming government may take steps to make thelabour market more flexible, which would help electronics more than any other industry.Had lay-offs been easier, Panasonic, Sony and others would have had far greater financialflexibility to cope with changing market conditions. Instead, their limited voluntaryseverance packages, typically offering two to three years pay, are cripplingly expensive.Those who accept them are often the most talented. 　　安倍晉三的政府改革有望使勞動市場變得更為靈活，而電子產業將是其中最大的受益者。如果裁員能變得更容易的話，松下、索尼和其他公司都能從財務方面更好的適應千變萬化的市場。現實情況卻是，對企業來說，數量有限的資源遣散費變得越來越昂貴，而愿意接受這些遣散費離職的往往還是企業中最有才華的員工。 　　Since the firms are no longer run by their high-powered founders but by employees who rosethrough the same lifetime system, says Hidemi Moue, boss of Japan Industrial Partners, theprivate-equity buyer of Vaio, there is too little willingness to tackle these problems. In all,it will take a lot more than a few whizzy new gadgets to fix the Japanese electronics firms. 　　接手VAIO的私募企業是日本產業合作伙伴。它的老板秀美馬上稱，由于這些日企的運營者已不再是那些效率奇高的創始人，而是跟企業共同成長起來的員工，所以解決這方面問題的決心自然而然就比較小了。總而言之，日本電子企業的問題可不是發明幾個新式電子小工具就能解決的。 　　詞語解釋 　　1.start to 開始 　　When you do not answer ?I do not know? , but instead start to lie topeople around you AND to yourself. 　　當你不回答?我不知道?，而是開始向周圍的人 和 你自己撒謊。 　　Through some discussions, we succeeded inshowing that they would have significant insight into the progress of the project from start tofinish. 　　通過一些討論，我們成功的顯示了客戶從項目的開始到結束都應該對項目的進展有足夠的了解。 　　2.ask to 邀請參加 　　She asked us to the dancing party. 　　她邀請我們參加舞會。 　　I was asked to a wedding party. 　　我被邀請參加婚禮。 　　3.rule out 排除;取消 　　In no sense does belief in divine sovereignty rule out the love of God for all humanity. 　　對上帝無上主權的信仰絕不會將上帝對所有人的愛排除在外。 　　But the only way to declare the world inhabited would be to rule out all possible abiologicalexplanations. 　　但是唯一可以宣告這個世界有生物的途徑是把所有的非生物的解釋都排除掉。 　　4.such as 比如;諸如 　　Heroes such as Huang Jiguang will always live in the hearts of the people. 　　像黃繼光這樣的英雄人物， 將永遠活在人民的心里。 　　But what if you have a lot of audio material to listen to, such as audio books or podcasts? 　　但是如果你有很多像有聲書或播客這樣的音頻材料要聽，那該怎么辦呢?