自考英语综合二上册课文 lesson 15

　　[00:00.00]Lesson Fifteen Text

[00:04.88]Bribery 2 — An Inevitable 3 Evil?  David Cotton

[00:12.75]Students taking business courses

[00:17.48]are sometimes a little surprised to find that lectures on business ethics 4

[00:25.84]have been included in their syllabuses 5 of study.

[00:31.11]They often do not realize that,later in their careers,

[00:37.28]they may be tempted 6 to bend their principles to get what they want;

[00:44.04]perhaps also they are not fully 7 aware that bribery in various forms

[00:51.98]is on the increase in many countries,

[00:56.56]and in some,this type of corruption 8 has been a way of life for centuries.

[01:05.31]In dealing 9 with the topic of business ethics,

[01:10.06]some lecturers ask students how they would act in the following situation:

[01:18.11]suppose you were head of a major soft-drinks company

[01:24.35]and you want to break into a certain overseas market

[01:29.99]where the growth potential for your company is likely to be very great indeed.

[01:38.77]During negotiations 10 with government officials of this country,

[01:45.01]the Minister of Trade makes it clear to you

[01:50.47]that if you offer him a substantial bribe 1,

[01:55.51]you will find it much easier to get an import licence for your goods,

[02:02.46]and you are also likely to avoid "bureaucratic 11 delays",as he puts it.

[02:10.51]Now, the question is:do you pay up or stand by your principles?

[02:18.37]It is easy to talk about having high moral standards

[02:24.14]but in practice,what would one really do in such a situation?

[02:32.29]Some time ago the British car manufacturer,

[02:37.47]British Leyland,was accused of operating a "slush fund",

[02:44.91]and of other questionable 12 practices such as paying agents and purchasers

[02:53.09]with padded commission,offering additional discounts

[02:59.93]and making payments to numbered bank accounts in Switzerland.

[03:06.31]The company rejected these allegations and they were later withdrawn 13.

[03:12.84]Nevertheless,at this time,there were people in the motor industry in Britain

[03:20.78]who were prepared to say in private:

[03:25.32]"Look,we're in a wheeling-dealing business.

[03:31.80]Every year we're selling more than a ￡ 1,000 million worth of cars abroad.

[03:41.83]If we spend a few million greasing the palms of some of the buyers,who's hurt?

[03:49.77]If we didn't do it,someone else would. "

[03:55.02]It is difficult to resist the impression

[03:59.88]that bribery and other questionable payments are on the increase.

[04:07.35]Indeed,they seem to have become a  fact of commercial life.

[04:13.81]To take just one example,

[04:17.36]the Chrysler Corporation,third largest of the U.S.motor manufacturers,

[04:25.90]disclosed that it made questionable payments

[04:32.27]of more than $2.5 million between 1971 and 1976.

[04:45.13]By making this revelation,it joined more than 300 U.S.companies

[04:55.00]that had admitted to the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission

[05:03.46]that they had made dubious 14 payments of one kindor another

[05:10.41]— bribes 15,facilitating payments,extra discounts,etc.

[05:18.59]in recent years.

[05:21.75]For discussion purposes,

[05:25.41]we can divide these payments into three broad categories

[05:33.35]The first category consists of substantial payments

[05:40.01]made for political purposes or to secure major contracts.

[05:47.09]For example, the U. S. conglomerate 16 ITT

[05:54.46](International Telephoneand Telegraph Corporation)

[05:59.81]offered a large sum of money in support of a U.S. presidential candidate

[06:07.96]at a time when it was under investigation 17

[06:12.82]for possible violations 18 of the U. S.anti-trust law.

[06:19.48]This same company, it was revealed ,

[06:23.74]was ready to finance efforts to overthrow 19 the Marxist government of Chilewhose

[06:32.28]President was Salvadore Allende.

[06:37.32]In this category,we may also include large payments made to ruling families

[06:45.58]or their close advisers 20 in order to secure arms sales

[06:52.42]or major petrochemical and construction contracts.

[06:58.77]In a court case involving an arms deal with Iran,

　　[07:04.54]a witness claimed that $1 million

[07:10.00]had been paid by a British company to a "go-between"

[07:16.45]who helped clinch 21 a deal for supply of tanks to that country.

[07:22.49]Other countries have also been known to put pressure on foreign companies

[07:29.72]to make donations to party funds.

[07:34.27]The second category covers payments made

[07:39.13]to obtain quicker official approval of some project,

[07:44.69]to speed up the wheels of bureaucracy.

[07:48.85]An interesting example of this kind of payment

[07:53.89]is provided by the story of a sales manager

[07:59.45]who had been trying for some months to sell road machinery 22

[08:05.38]to the Minister of Works of a Caribbean country.

[08:10.42]Finally,he hit upon the answer.

[08:14.58]Discovering that the minister was a bibliophile 23,

[08:19.44]he bought a rare edition of a book,

[08:23.69]slipped $ 20,000 within its pages,

[08:30.04]then presented it to the minister.

[08:33.88]This man examined its contents, then said:

[08:38.84]"I understand there is a two-volume edition of this work."

[08:45.19]The sales manager,who was quick-witted,replied:

[08:50.36]"My company cannot afford a two-volume edition, sir,

[08:56.11]but we could offer you a copy with an appendix!"

[09:01.68]A short time later,the deal was approved.

[09:07.03]The third category involves payments made in countries where it is traditional

[09:14.68]to pay people to facilitate the passage of a business deal.

[09:20.93]Some Middle East countries would be included on this list,

[09:26.80]as well as certain Far Eastern countries.

[09:32.08]The payment may be made by a foreign company

[09:37.41]to ensure that a tender is put on a selective contract list

[09:44.54]or the company may pay

[09:48.30]so that an import licence for essential equipment is approved.

[09:55.15]Sometimes an expensive gift may be necessary

[10:00.71]to soften 24 up a government official.

[10:04.79]A common type in this category is the "facilitating payment"

[10:11.45]usually a smaller sum of money

[10:15.89]— made to certain customs officials to clear cargoes 25.

[10:21.77]One businessman has told the story of a delivery of 10,000 bottles

[10:30.10]of sterile 26 penicillin 27 at the airport of a Far Eastern country.

[10:37.65]It was apparently 28 customary to pay customs officials about

[10:44.31]$ 250 upon arrivalof each shipment to "get them out of the sun".

[10:54.16]In this case,the company was not prepared to make such a payment,

[11:01.00]so no money changed hands.

[11:05.26]The Minister of Health of that nation

[11:09.70]then ordered that each phial be opened for inspection 29,

[11:16.36]thereby destroying the whole shipment.

[11:21.12]Is it possible to formulate 30 a code of rules for companies

[11:27.28]which would outlaw 31 bribery in all its forms?

[11:32.85]The International Chambers 32 of Commerce (ICC) favours a code of conduct

[11:41.62]which would ban the giving and seeking of bribes.

[11:47.58]This code would try to distinguish between commissions

[11:54.53]paid for real services and padded fees.

[12:00.69]A council has been proposed to administer the code.

[12:06.57]Unfortunately, opinions differ among members of the ICC

[12:12.94]concerning how to enforce the code.

[12:17.38]The British members,led by Lord Shawcross,

[12:22.74]would like the system to have enough legal teeth

[12:28.59]to make companies behave themselves.

[12:32.82]"It's no use having a dog without teeth," they argue.

[12:38.67]However, the French delegates think

[12:43.64]it is the business of governments to makeand impose law;

[12:49.59]the job of a business community like the ICC

[12:54.95]is to say what is right and wrong, but not to impose anything.

[13:02.89]In a well-known British newspaper, a writer argued recently

[13:09.73]that "industry is caught in a web of bribery"

[13:16.37]and that everyone is "on the take".

[13:21.20]This is probably an exaggeration.

[13:25.25]However, today's businessman, selling in overseas markets,

[13:32.62]will frequently meet situations where it is difficult

[13:39.17]to square his business interests with his moral conscience.