2023考研英語閱讀日本武士走向沒落
Samurai go soft
日本武士走向沒落
A SAMURAI would never write software! barked a senior executive at one of Japans biggestelectronics firms, as drinks flowed at a dinner party. His view is widely held in Japan. Monozukuri is macho. From sword-forging in feudal times to machines and microchipstoday, real men toil tirelessly to make things you can see. Services are for sissies.
一個武士絕不會去編寫軟件!一名任職于日本最大的電子企業的高級主管厲聲說道，當時他正在一個晚宴上開懷暢飲。大部分日本人認同這個觀點。人們普遍認為制造業才是真正的男子漢的行當。從鑄劍的封建時期到機械和微芯片的今天，大丈夫不辭辛苦的在各種物質生產領域工作著。而服務業則是留給那些沒出息的家伙們做的。
But like the traditional samurai hairstyle , such attitudes are lookingincreasingly out of date. Writing business software is now a growing business in Japan. Thecountrys large electronics companies are buying into the sector. Even foreign companies arecoming to Japan in search of programming talent.
但是就像傳統武士的發型一般，這種態度看起來越來越過時了。現在，在日本編寫商業軟件成了一個新興的商業活動。這個國家大型的電子公司正在進入這個領域。甚至外國公司都跑到日本去尋找程序編制人才。
Software firms typically make fatter profit margins than hardware firms. The best ones easily hit30%; electronics firms struggle to reach 5%. The software business needs fewer people andless capital; handy for a country with a shrinking population and tight-fisted banks. Jobs at bigelectronics firms are scarce, and the work is sometimes boring. Small wonder that Japansyoung, creative engineers are getting in touch with their inner sissy.
軟件公司明顯比硬件公司獲得了更高的利潤空間。最好的利潤空間達到30%;而電子公司卻掙扎在 5%的邊緣。軟件行業需要更少的人和資金;適合于人口正在減少和銀行資金嚴格控制的國家。大型電子公司的工作少，并且有時很無聊。難怪日本年輕富有創造力的工程師們變得女里女氣。
Japan has long made popular video-game softwarejust ask the Mario Brothers. Yet itscomputer makers have done little to foster independent software businesses. On thecontrary, by bundling programs free with machines, they taught customers that software wasof little value, says Kazuyuki Motohashi of the University of Tokyo. They also locked customersin, making it costly and cumbersome to switch to rivals.
日本長期制造了流行視頻游戲軟件，看看馬里奧兄弟就知道了。但是電腦制造商們卻幾乎沒有開展獨立的軟件業務。東京大學的元橋一之教授說道，正相反的，通過程序捆綁機器，電腦制造商們讓消費者認為軟件沒什么用處。他們也鎖定了消費者，使得切換到其他競爭者的游戲是昂貴且不方便的。
Samurai go soft
日本武士走向沒落
A SAMURAI would never write software! barked a senior executive at one of Japans biggestelectronics firms, as drinks flowed at a dinner party. His view is widely held in Japan. Monozukuri is macho. From sword-forging in feudal times to machines and microchipstoday, real men toil tirelessly to make things you can see. Services are for sissies.
一個武士絕不會去編寫軟件!一名任職于日本最大的電子企業的高級主管厲聲說道，當時他正在一個晚宴上開懷暢飲。大部分日本人認同這個觀點。人們普遍認為制造業才是真正的男子漢的行當。從鑄劍的封建時期到機械和微芯片的今天，大丈夫不辭辛苦的在各種物質生產領域工作著。而服務業則是留給那些沒出息的家伙們做的。
But like the traditional samurai hairstyle , such attitudes are lookingincreasingly out of date. Writing business software is now a growing business in Japan. Thecountrys large electronics companies are buying into the sector. Even foreign companies arecoming to Japan in search of programming talent.
但是就像傳統武士的發型一般，這種態度看起來越來越過時了。現在，在日本編寫商業軟件成了一個新興的商業活動。這個國家大型的電子公司正在進入這個領域。甚至外國公司都跑到日本去尋找程序編制人才。
Software firms typically make fatter profit margins than hardware firms. The best ones easily hit30%; electronics firms struggle to reach 5%. The software business needs fewer people andless capital; handy for a country with a shrinking population and tight-fisted banks. Jobs at bigelectronics firms are scarce, and the work is sometimes boring. Small wonder that Japansyoung, creative engineers are getting in touch with their inner sissy.
軟件公司明顯比硬件公司獲得了更高的利潤空間。最好的利潤空間達到30%;而電子公司卻掙扎在 5%的邊緣。軟件行業需要更少的人和資金;適合于人口正在減少和銀行資金嚴格控制的國家。大型電子公司的工作少，并且有時很無聊。難怪日本年輕富有創造力的工程師們變得女里女氣。
Japan has long made popular video-game softwarejust ask the Mario Brothers. Yet itscomputer makers have done little to foster independent software businesses. On thecontrary, by bundling programs free with machines, they taught customers that software wasof little value, says Kazuyuki Motohashi of the University of Tokyo. They also locked customersin, making it costly and cumbersome to switch to rivals.
日本長期制造了流行視頻游戲軟件，看看馬里奧兄弟就知道了。但是電腦制造商們卻幾乎沒有開展獨立的軟件業務。東京大學的元橋一之教授說道，正相反的，通過程序捆綁機器，電腦制造商們讓消費者認為軟件沒什么用處。他們也鎖定了消費者，使得切換到其他競爭者的游戲是昂貴且不方便的。
