英语阅读沃尔玛发迹妙诀(双语).docVIP

美联英语提供：英语阅读： 沃尔玛发迹妙诀（双语） 两分钟做个小测试，看看你的英语水平 /test/kuaisu.aspx?tid=16-73675-0 A Knack of Wal-Marts Success 沃尔玛发迹妙诀 How did a peddler of cheap shirts and fishing rods become the mightiest corporation in America? The short version of Wal-Marts rise to glory goes something like this: In 1979 it racked up a billion dollars in sales. By 1993 it did that much business in a week; by 2001 it could do it in a day. 一个出售廉价衬衣和钓鱼竿的商贩是如何成为美国实力最强的公司的？沃尔玛百货公司的发迹史可以浓缩为以下三个阶段:1979年它全年的销售额为10亿美元；到1993年，一周就能达到这个数额;在2001年仅需一天之功。 Its a stunning tale - one that propelled Wal-Mart from rural Arkansas, where it was founded in 1962, to the top of the Fortune 500 this year. Sam Walton, Wal-Marts founder, pushed sales growth relentlessly while squeezing costs with sophisticated information technology. He exhorted employees to sell better with the ten foot rule (greet customers if they are that close). He was, in other words, an early evangelist for the first commandment of todays economy: Service rules. Wal-Mart, in fact, is the first service company to rise to the top of the Fortune 500. When Fortune first published its list of the largest companies in America in 1955, Wal-Mart didnt even exist. That year General Motors was Americas biggest company, and in every year that followed, either GM or another mighty industrial, Exxon, was NO. 1. 这是一个惊人的传奇故亊——这家1962年始创于阿肯色州乡村地区的沃尔玛百货公司在今年一跃登上了〈财寓500强的榜首。公司创始人萨姆·沃尔顿一面千方百计提高销售额，—面以先进的信息技术降低成本。他以严格的“10英尺规则”(向在这距离之内的顾客致意）鼓励员工提高销售业绩。换句话说，他是当今经济戒律——服务规则——的第一位传道者。事实上，沃尔玛百货公司是第一个跃居〈财富500强榜首的服务业公司。1955年，当〈财富〉杂志第一次公布美国最大公司的排名时，沃尔玛甚至尚未问世。那一年，通用汽车公司是美国最大的公司，此后不是通用汽车公司就是另一个大公司——埃克森公司独占鳌头。 Wal-Marts achievement caps a bigger economic shift - from producing goods to providing services. Manufacturings share of U.S. employment peaked in 1953, at 35%. It has been declining steadily since. In the decade that will end in 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures that goods producing industries will create 1.3 million new jobs, compared to 20 million for service industr