奥巴马与英国石油之战.docVIP

Obama v BP奥巴马与英国石油之战America’s justifiable fury with BP is degenerating into a broader attack on business 美国对英国石油（BP）表示愤慨在情理之中，但对其他商业行为一并打击，则是一种退步Jun 17th 2010From The Economist print editionFOR over a month, Barack Obama watched the oil spill spread over the Gulf of Mexico with the same powerless horror as other Americans. Finally, lampooned by his countrymen for his impotence, he was spurred into action. He attacked the only available target—BP—and, to underline the seriousness with which he takes this problem, he gave his first Oval Office address on the subject.一个多月了，巴拉克.奥巴马（Barack Obama）眼看着泄漏的原油在墨西哥湾（Gulf of Mexico）肆意扩散，心里却同其他美国公民一样，无奈而忧心。在饱受了同胞对他无能的指摘后，他终于行动了。向着唯一可攻击的目标—英国石油（BP）—他动手了，同时为了表示事关重大，他选择白宫椭圆办公室（Oval Office）就这一事件发表意见，而这也是他就职以来首次在白宫椭圆办公室（Oval Office）发表讲话。The address got poor reviews; the attack on BP better ones. This week the firm bowed to pressure, and announced that it was, in effect, handing over $20 billion to the government to pay for compensation and clean-up, as well as cancelling the payment of any dividends this year and setting up a fund—of a mere $100m—to compensate unemployed oil workers.??外界对演讲的效果评价很低，唯其中责难英国石油（BP）的部分稍得民心。本周，迫于强大压力，英国石油（BP）宣布，将支付美国政府200亿美元并已开始付诸行动，用于诸方补偿及油污治理，同时取消本年度所有分红计划，并另设一笔款项（仅1亿美金），用于赔偿失业石油工人。This may do Mr Obama some good. Whether it will benefit America is more doubtful. Businessmen are already gloomy, depressed by the economy and nervous of their president’s attitude towards them. This episode will not encourage them.这对奥巴马（Obama）总统个人可能有些好处，但是否会对整个美国都有利，就很难说了。经济不景气，总统态度难测，让美国商人早已忧心忡忡，而此事一出，他们就更沮丧了。Booted and spurred 穷追猛打There is good reason for Americans to be furious with BP. The authorities reckon that the oil may be flowing at a rate of 60,000 barrels a day—far more than the company estimated, and the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez every four days. Efforts to stem the toxic plume have met with only modest success.美国人对英国石油（BP）愤怒不已，的确是无可厚非的。据可信数据，每天泄露的原油可能达到60,000桶，远远高出英国石油（BP）的预计，相当于每