VOA标准英语2012--Italian Entrepreneurs Turn to Chinese for Help
时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(九月)
Italian Entrepreneurs Turn to Chinese for Help
When Renato Bianchi founded the company in the late 1960s the Italian economy was booming. Over the next four decades his company grew from a handful to about 160 employees.
But when the global economic crisis hit, in the mid-2000s, orders began to decrease and Bianchi said he started losing more than a million dollars of business a year.
“I thought we had to change businesses, because we could not make it," he said. "Either we started doing something else, or we sell the company. Our competitors, Swiss, German and Italian companies, were all very interested in buying. We started having talks with all of them, and the amount of money they were willing to spend was considerable.”
But instead Bianchi chose to sell to a Chinese company. For less money, he said, but with one important guarantee.
“The best thing about the deal was that they would leave the company as it were. The Chinese company was okay with keeping the managers and the workers. And that for me was very important, it meant that I was not betraying my workers, my people," Bianchi said.
CB Ferrari produces automated 2 precision machines that make turbines for the auto 1, aeronautical 3 and energy industries.
The Chinese state-owned company that purchased Bianchi’s company makes similar, but much less sophisticated, machines. Chinese companies are looking for an upgrade in Europe, said economist 4 Roberta Rabellotti.
“Just like Marco Polo went to China and brought back technological 5 innovation, in this case it’s the Chinese who are coming to Europe, to Italy, and need to acquire intangible assets, like knowledge, managerial skills," she said. "But in this case it’s the other way around, which we call the reverse Marco Polo effect.”
Although it is advanced in its industries, Italy has a highly bureaucratic 6 business environment which often works against foreign investment. It ranked lower than many developing countries in a World Bank survey that assessed the ease of doing business globally.
This is why Italy has traditionally attracted less investment from China than other European neighbors, Rabellotti said. But the economic crisis is changing that.
“In Italy there are a lot of companies in crisis," she said. "Capital is needed and China has that capital. Many entrepreneurs here are in extreme difficulties, and do not see an alternative solution to selling.”
But Rabellotti said fear of what she called “robbery investment” remains 7 high in Italy.
“There is negative rhetoric 8 around Chinese, and that is precisely 9 because there are many examples of purchases that end up with transfer of technology and closed operation, so the fear is legitimate 10.”
The best way to fight that fear, Rabellotti said, is to show that there are positive examples, where Chinese investment helped develop the local economy.
Bianchi believes his company is one such example.
- Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
- The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。
- The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
- Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS),作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。
- Many of the pilots were to achieve eminence in the aeronautical world. 这些飞行员中很多人将会在航空界声名显赫。 来自辞典例句
- The advent of aircraft brought with it aeronautical engineering. 宇宙飞船的问世导致了航天工程的出现。 来自辞典例句
- He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
- He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家,自以为什么都懂。
- A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
- Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今, 随着科技进步,生活节奏不断增快。
- The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
- In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔,也必须通过繁琐的手续。
- He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
- The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
- Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗?
- Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后,他和军队的关系岌岌可危。
- It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
- The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
- Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
- That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。