经济学人读译Business and the Olympics奥运与商业Victors and spoils胜利者与战利品
商务英语阅读Chapter2-A-Changed-Global-Reality-世界经济格局新变化
Chapter2 A Changed Global Reality 世界经济格局新变化Say this for the young century: we live in interesting times. Not quite 2 1⁄2 years ago, the world economy tipped into the most severe downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s. World trade slowed sharply. Unemployment lines grew longer, especially in the old industrial economies. Financial institutions that had seemed as solid as granite disappeared as if they were no more substantial than a bunch of flowers in the hands of an old-style magician. 对于新世纪，我们得这样说：我们生活在一个有趣的时代。
差不多两年半之前，世界经济陷入了20世纪30年代经济大萧条时期以来最惨重的低迷状态。
世界贸易进程大幅放缓。
失业队伍也越来越快，这在旧工业经济体系表现尤为突出。
原来坚如磐石的金融机构也消失了，似乎还不如老套的魔术师变的花束看起来真实。
Given that the scale of the downturn was so epochal, it should not be surprising that the nature of the recovery would likewise be the stuff of history. And it has been. As they make their way to Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) by helicopter, bus, car or train (which is the right way to do it), the members of the global economic and political elite will find themselves coming to terms with something they have never known before. 考虑到经济衰退幅度如此的跨时代，经济复苏进程会很慢也是理所当然的，对此我们不应该感到吃惊。
经济学人文章(四六级雅思精读素材)2020-08-27
The Economist August 29th 2020 Business 55Depending on whom you ask, Califor-nia is a leader in clean energy or a cau-tionary tale. Power outages in August prompted stern critiques from Republi-cans. “In California”, D onald Trump tweeted, “D emocrats have intentionally implemented rolling blackouts—forcing Americans in the dark.” In addition to pro-voking outrage and derision, however, the episode is also likely to inspire investment.The Golden State has long been Ameri-ca’s main testing ground for green compa-nies. Californians buy half of all electric cars sold in America. Theirs is the country’s largest solar market. As California deals with heat waves, fires and a goal of carbon-free electricity by 2045, the need for a reli-able grid is becoming ever more obvious.For years firms competed to generate clean power in California. Now a growing num-ber are vying to store and manage it, too. August’s blackouts have many causes,including poor planning, an unexpected lack of capacity and sweltering heat in not just California but nearby states from which it sometimes imports power. Long before the outages, however, electricity op-erators were anxious about capacity. Cali-fornia’s solar panels become less useful in the evening, when demand peaks. In No-vember state regulators mandated that utilities procure an additional 3.3 gigawatts (gw ) of capacity, including giant batteries that charge when energy is abundant and can sell electricity back to the grid.Too few such projects have come online to cope with the surge in demand for air-conditioning in the scorching summer. But more are sprouting across the state. On Au-gust 19th ls Power, an electricity firm backed by private equity, unveiled a 250-megawatt (mw ) storage project in San Die-go, the largest of its kind in America. In July the county of Monterey said Vistra Energy,a Texan power company, could build as much as 1.2gw of storage.The rooftop solar industry stands to benefit from a new Californian mandate that requires new homes to install panels on their roofs from this year. Sunrun, the market leader, is increasingly pairing such residential installations with batteries. In July, for instance, the company said it had won contracts with energy suppliers in the Bay Area to install 13mw of residential solar and batteries. These could supply power to residents in a blackout or feed power into the grid to help meet peak demand. Sunrunis so confident in its future that it has bid $3.2bn for Vivint Solar,its main rival.Another way to stave offoutages is to curb demand.Enel,a European power company,has contracts with local utilities to work with large commercial and indus-trial clients.When demand rises,Enel pays customers to reduce energy consumption,easing demand on the grid.A company called OhmConnect offers something sim-ilar for homeowners.Even as such offerings scale up,the need for reliability means that fossil fuels will not disappear just yet.On September 1st California’s regulators will vote on whether to delay the retirement of four natural-gas plants in light of the outages.The state remains intent on decarbonising its power system over the next 25years.But progress may not move in a straight line.7NEW YO RKBusinesses compete to battle California’s blackoutsEnergy utilitiesLitMany big companies may be struggling with depressed sales, but these are busy times for bribery-busters. Mexico is abuzz over allegations by an ex-boss of Pe-mex, the state oil giant, that several senior politicians received bungs from compa-nies including Odebrecht, a Brazilian con-struction firm (see Americas section). The scandal is the latest in a string of graft cases to make headlines this year, starting with Airbus’s record $4bn settlement in January over accusations of corruption for making illegal payments in various countries.Corporate bribery is hardly new. In sur-veys, between a third and a half of compa-nies typically claim to have lost business to rivals who won contracts by paying kick-backs. But such perceptions-based re-search has obvious limitations. A new study takes a more rigorous approach, and draws some striking conclusions.Raghavendra Rau of Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, Yan-Leung Cheung of the Education University of Hong Kong and Aris Stouraitis of Hong Kong Baptist University examined nearly 200 prominent bribery cases in 60 coun-tries between 1975 and 2015. For the firms doing the bribing, they found, the short-term gains were juicy: every dollar of bribe translated into a $6-9 increase in excess re-turns, relative to the overall stockmarket. That, however, does not take account of the chances of getting caught. These have risen as enforcement of America’s 43-year-old anti-bribery law, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (fcpa ), has been stepped up and other countries have passed similar laws. The number of fcpa cases is up sharply since the financial crisis of 2007-09, according to Stanford Law School (see chart). It has dipped a bit under Presi-dent Donald Trump, who has criticised the fcpa for hobbling American firms over-seas, but remains well above historic lev-els. Total fines for fcpa violations were $14bn in 2016-19, 48 times as much as in the four years to 2007.The authors also tested 11hypotheses that emerged from past studies of bribery.They found support for some, for instance that firms pay larger bribes when they ex-pect to receive larger benefits, and that the net benefits of bribing are smaller in places with more public disclosure of politicians’sources of income.But they punctured other bits of re-ceived wisdom. Most striking, they found no link between democracy and graft. This challenges the “Tullock paradox”, which holds that firms can get away with smaller bribes in democracies because politicians and officials have less of a lock on the sys-tem than those in autocratic countries, and so cannot extract as much rent. Such find-ings will doubtless be of interest to corrup-tion investigators and unscrupulous exec-utives alike. 7Bribery pays—if you don’t get caughtBriberyA closer look at greasy palmsBrown envelopes, big chequesUnited States,Foreign Corrupt Practices ActSources:Stanford Law School;Sullivan &Cromwell*Investigations and enforcement actions †To August6543210605040302010020†10152000059095851977Enforcement actionsSanctions, $bnUtilitiesTransport Communications Basic materials Financial services Consumer goods Aerospace & defence TechnologyIndustrials Health care Oil &gas 100806040200Number of cases* by selected industry1977-2020†。
经济学人读译Business and the Olympics奥运与商业Victors and spoils胜利者与战利品
【导读】四年一度的奥运会即将如期揭幕，一场没有硝烟的商战再次打响。
商界纷繁复杂的程度不亚于赛场，在这场金钱与体育的碰撞交响中又有几人称王，几人落寇?Business and the Olympics奥运与商业Victors and spoils胜利者与战利品The Olympic games are big business. Who wins, and who loses?奥运会是一大商机。
谁是赢家，谁又是输家？012 Briefing - Business and the Olympics.mp3(5.81 MB, 下载次数: 276)Jul 21st 2012 | LONDON | from the print editionIN ANCIENT GREECE it was impossible to stitch a sponsor’s logo to an Olympic athlete’s singlet or shorts, because the competitors were all naked. In today’s London it is still impossible. Though clothing is now allowed at the Olympics—indeed it is compulsory—so is a veneer of amateurism. No advertisements are allowed in the stadium; no logos may be emblazoned on the athletes’ kit (except at the Paralympics: see article).在古希腊，人们不可能把赞助商的商标缝在一位奥运运动员的背心或是短裤上，因为当时选手们都是裸体参赛的。
在今天的伦敦，也仍然不可能。
现在的奥运会允许穿衣服——实际上，必须穿衣服——但人们必须以同样的方式对业余性加以掩饰。
国际商务英语阅读教程(第四版)
Unit 1~2 Mercantilism重商主义Trade surplus 贸易顺差Quota and tariff配额和关税Zero-sum game零和博弈Positive-sum game常和博弈The theory of absolute advantage绝对优势理论The theory of comparative advantage 比较优势理论Factor endowments要素禀赋理论Product life cycle 产品生命周期Economies of scale 规模经济First mover advantage先占优势Barrier to entry进入(市场)壁垒Porter’s diamond theory波特的钻石理论National competitive advantage国家竞争优势The department of commerce 商务部Letter of credit信用证Draft /bill of exchange 汇票bill of lading B/L 提单Sight draft即期汇票Time draft 远期汇票Banker ‘s acceptance 银行承兑Trade acceptance商业承兑汇票Countertrade 对等贸易Barter 易货贸易Switch trading 转手贸易Offset 抵消Counter purchase 互购贸易Compensation trade 补偿贸易1.波特钻石理论的主要内容①Factor endowments ②Firm strategy, structure, and rivalry③ Demand conditions ④Relating and supporting industries2.对等贸易的主要类型和优缺点①Types of countertradeCountertrade has evolved into a diverse set of activities that can be categorized as five distinct types of trading arrangements: barter, counter purchase, offset, switch trading, and compensation or buyback②The pros and cons of countertrade优：① The main attraction of countertrade is that it can give a firm a way to finance an export deal when other means are not available.② Thus if a firm is unwilling to enter into a countertrade agreement, it may lose an export opportunity to a competitor that is willing to make a countertrade agreement.缺：① Countertrade contracts may involve the exchange of unusable or poor-quality goods that the firm cannot dispose of profitably② In addition, even if the goods it receives are of high quality, the firm still needs to dispose of them profitably.Unit 3Strategic alliance 战略联盟Licensing 许可证Joint venture 合资经营Contracting 承包经营Partnership 合资人Return on investment 投资回报率Franchising 特许经营Contract manufacturing 生产承包Management contracting 管理承包1.许可贸易的优缺点优：①The basic advantage in licensing as contrasted to other approaches is theease and low cost of entering a foreign market.②Licensing is also advantageous in that it can be used to test a foreignmarket without the risk of capital loss should the market not be receptive to the manufacturer’s product.缺：①The greatest disadvantages to the licensor are that a potential competitoris set up.②There is a lack of control over production and marketing.③There may be incomplete market exploration.Unit 4Foreign direct investment 外国直接投资Small and medium-sized firms 中小企业Horizontal FDI 横向外国直接投资Vertical FDI 纵向外国直接投资Product life cycle 产品生命周期Backward vertical FDI 后移纵向外国直接投资Forward vertical FDI 前移纵向外国直接投资Transportation costs 运输成本Market impediments 市场阻碍Market power 市场力量Oligopoly 寡头垄断Specialized assets 特殊资产1.影响横向对外投资的因素①Transportation costs ②Market imperfections④Following competitors ④The product life cycle2.What are the impediments to the sale of know-how?①Licensing may result in a firm’s giving away its technological know-how to a potential foreign competitor.②Licensing does not give a firm the tight control over manufacturing, marketing, and strategy in a foreign country that may be required to profitably exploit tis advantage in know-how.③A firm’s know-how may not be amenable to licensing.Unit 5Bretton Woods System 布雷顿森林体系Fixed exchange rate 固定汇率制OPEC 石油输出国组织Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Floating exchange rate regime 浮动汇率制Plaza Accord 和平广场协议Louvre Accord 卢浮宫协议Foreign exchange market 外汇市场European Monetary System 欧洲货币体系EMSExchange Rate Mechanism 汇率机制ERMEuropean Currency Unit欧元 ECUTrade deficit贸易赤字Real interest 实际利息Balance of payment 收支平衡表Forward market 期货市场Swaps 掉期交易1. 布雷顿森林体系/固定汇率制瓦解的主要原因As the only currency that could be converted into gold, and as the currency that served as the reference point for all others①It was financed by an increase in the money supply, which, in turn, led to a rise in price inflation from less than 4percent in 1966 to dose to 9 percent by 1968②The rise in government spending had stimulated the economy③Gave rise to speculation in the foreign exchange market that the dollar would be devalued④Weakening dollars lose its credibility.2. What are the reasons for the unexpected rise in the dollar between 1980 and 1985, and what are the reasons for the rapid fall of the US dollar between 1985 and 1987?The reasons for the unexpected rise in the value of the dollar between 1980 and 1985:①Strong economic growth in the US attracted heavy inflows of capital from foreign investors seeking high returns on capital assets.②High real interest rate attracted foreign investors seeking high vellums on financial assets③Political turmoil in other parts of the world.The reasons for 1985 and 1987：The fall in the value of the dollar between 1985 and 198 was caused by a combination of government intervention and market forces.Unit 6Common law 普通法Code civil law 成文法Roman law 罗马法Industrial property right 工业产权Act of god 不可抗力Element forces of nature 天灾自然因素Arbitration 仲裁Conciliation 调节Litigation 诉讼World court at the Hague 海牙国际法庭Tribunals for arbitration 仲裁庭U.N. convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of ForeignArbitral/Awards 联合国承认和执行外国仲裁裁决公约International Chamber of commerce 国际商会1. What are the differences between two legal systems in solving commercial disputes?①Under common law, commercial disputes are subject to laws which may be applied to either civil or commercial disputes since there is no specific recognition of commercial problems as such.②Code law differs in that there is a separate code specifically designed for business2. What are the procedures used by formal arbitration organizations? The usual arbitration procedure is for the parties involved to select a disinterested and informed party or parties as referee to determine the merits of the case and make a judgment that both parties agree to honor.Unit 7Intellectual property rights 知识产权Trade mark copyright, patents, trade secrets 商标权，版权，专利权，商业秘密Intangible assets, tangible assets 无形资产，有形资产Trademark registration 商标注册Generic terms 通称Infringement 侵权GATT 关贸总协定General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade1. What does intellectual property right consist of?①It consists of the products of individual’s minds—products that result from intellectual, creative processes.②Trademarks, copyrights and patents are all forms of intellectual propertyUnit 8The TRIPS agreement 与贸易有关的知识产权协议Need Hierarchy 需求层次理论Self-reference criterion 自我参考标准The adoption process 接纳过程理论High-context cultures 高背景文化Low-context cultures 低背景文化Poly-chromic time 多元化时间观Mono-chromic time 单一性时间观Perception 观念1. What are the characteristics of culture?①It is not innate, but learned②The various facts of culture are interrelated-touch a culture in one place andeverything else is affected.③It is shared by the members of a group and defines the boundaries betweendifferent groups.2. What are the main contents of Need Hierarchy theory?①Self-actualization ②Esteem ③Social ④Safety ⑤Physiological3. What is the concept of adoption process? How many stages will a person undergo before he can finally purchase a new product?Adoption process─through which an individual passes from the time of his or her first knowledge of an innovation to the time of adopting or purchase of the innovation.These stages are as follows: ①awareness ②interest ③evaluation④trial ⑤adoption4. What are the adopter categories? What is the feature for early adopter?Adopter categories are classifications of individuals within a market on the basis of their innovativeness. They include innovators、early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and laggards.The future for early adopter: They tend to be younger, have higher social status and in a more favorable financial position than later adopter. They must be responsive to mass-media information sources and must learn about innovation form these sourcesbecause they cannot simply copy the behavior of earlier adopters.Unit 9Organizational behavior组织行为学Multinational Corporation 跨国公司Maquiladoras 马基拉朵拉工厂Parochialism 地方主义NAFTA 北美自由贸易协定North American Free Trade AgreementKluckhohn-Strudtbeck framework 克拉克洪─斯托特柏克构架Hofstede framework 霍夫斯诺德构架BRICS 金砖五国巴西俄罗斯印度中国南非APEC 亚太经合组织Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation1. Identify the sic cultural dimensions in the Kluckhohn-strodtbeck framework.①Relationship to the environment ②time orientation③nature of people ④Activity orientation⑤focus of responsibility ⑥conception of space2. Explain the dimensions of national culture in Hofstede framework.①Individualism versus collectivism②power distance③uncertainty avoidance④masculinity versus femininity。
经济学人读译The silent majority沉的大多数
The silent majority沉默的大多数A rare look inside a Chinese village中国乡村一瞥Apr 7th 2005 | BEIHE VILLAGE, SHANDONG | from the print edition2005年4月7日|山东北河村|打印版IN A country where 800m people, about 60% of the population, live in the countryside on an average income of less than a dollar a day, rural backwardness weighs heavily on the minds of China's leaders as they dream of joining the ranks of the world's leading economies. And in a country whose Communist Party came to power on the back of a peasant rebellion, distant memories of the vehemence of rural discontent arouse fears that unless something is done to make peasants happier, China will be plunged into turmoil. To assess China's future, it is crucial to understand the countryside. But it is not easy.中国总人口的60%，即8亿人口，生活在农村，日收入不足一美元。
中国的领导人希望跻身世界发达国家的行列，农村的落后问题是他们的一大心病。
广告标语 中英互译
NOKIA 科技以人为本！联想人类失去联想，世界将会怎样！李宁一切皆有可能安踏我选择，我喜欢雀巢咖啡，味道好极了钻石恒久远，一颗永流传。
（De Beers钻石）we do , we said世事无绝对，惟有真情趣。
（轩妮诗）Good to the last drop．滴滴香浓，意犹未尽。
（麦斯威尔咖啡）Obey your thirst．服从你的渴望。
（雪碧）The new digital era．数码新时代。
（索尼影碟机）s l~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Iz&gWe lead． Others copy．我们领先，他人仿效。
（理光复印机）we do , we saidImpossible made possible．使不可能变为可能。
（佳能打印机）Take time to indulge．尽情享受吧！（雀巢冰激凌）The relentless pursuit of perfection．不懈追求完美。
（凌志轿车）Just do it. 只管去做。
（耐克运动鞋）Poetry in motion， dancing close to me．动态的诗，向我舞近。
（丰田汽车）we do , we saidCome to where the flavors is． Marlboro Country．光临风韵之境——万宝路世界。
（万宝路香烟）me， the past is black and white， but the future is always color．对我而言，过去平礯无奇；而未来，却是绚烂缤纷。
（轩尼诗酒）Ask for more. 渴望无限。
（百事流行鞋）The taste is great. 味道好极了。
（雀巢咖啡）Feel the new space. 感受新境界。
《The Economist》《经济学人》中文版2009年12月
全国气候：政治搭台，科学唱戏Climate change 气候变化heated debate 激辩Nov 26th 2009From The Economist print editionWhy political orthodoxy must not silence scientific argument为何有了政治说法，还应有科学的辩论？Illustration by Claudio Munoz“WHAT is truth?” That was Pontius Pilate’s answer to Jesus’s assertion that “Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.” It sounds suspiciously like the modern argument over climate change.“真理是什么？”耶稣说完“相信真理的人都能听到我”之后，彼拉多随即如此问道。
听起来耳熟？在当代，气候变化引起的争辩就与此有相似之处。
A majority of the world’s climate sc ientists have convinced themselves, and also a lot of laymen, some of whom have political power, that the Earth’s climate is changing; that the change, from humanity’s point of view, is for the worse; and that the cause is human activity, in the form of excessive emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.国际上，大多数气候科学家不但说服了自己，也说服了很多门外汉（其中包括一些有政治影响力的人）--地球的气候正在改变；这种改变，从人道主义角度来看，是消极的；这种改变的始作俑者是人类，是他们通过排放超量的诸如二氧化碳的温室气体而造成的。
经济学人读译Over the cliff
【导读】财政悬崖面前，美国需要通过达成财务协议来实现“急刹车”America's economy美国经济Over the cliff?跌落悬崖？Barack Obama must do more than avoid an economic abyss. He has a chance to fix America’s finances对奥巴马来说，仅仅避免国家陷入经济深渊并不够；他有机会去整顿美国的财务状况Dec 15th 2012 | from the print editionBEN BERNANKE, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, is not known for his turns of phrase. But “fiscal cliff”—the term he coined to describe the tax increases and spending cuts that will hit America’s economy at the start of 2013 unless politicians agree to avert them—has inspired songs (“The fiscal cliff is a danger zone/It’s where grown men go when budgets are blown,”croons Merle Hazard, a satirical singer) and television comedy (Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” calls it “Cliffpocalypsemageddonacaust”).“财政悬崖”是美联储主席本•伯南克所创造的术语，指2013年初美国经济将面临增税和开支削减的打击（除非政界就如何规避达成协议，否则这种打击无可避免）。
- 1、下载文档前请自行甄别文档内容的完整性，平台不提供额外的编辑、内容补充、找答案等附加服务。
- 2、"仅部分预览"的文档,不可在线预览部分如存在完整性等问题,可反馈申请退款(可完整预览的文档不适用该条件!)。
- 3、如文档侵犯您的权益，请联系客服反馈,我们会尽快为您处理(人工客服工作时间：9:00-18:30)。
【导读】四年一度的奥运会即将如期揭幕，一场没有硝烟的商战再次打响。
商界纷繁复杂的程度不亚于赛场，在这场金钱与体育的碰撞交响中又有几人称王，几人落寇?Business and the Olympics奥运与商业Victors and spoils胜利者与战利品The Olympic games are big business. Who wins, and who loses?奥运会是一大商机。
谁是赢家，谁又是输家？012 Briefing - Business and the Olympics.mp3(5.81 MB, 下载次数: 276)Jul 21st 2012 | LONDON | from the print editionIN ANCIENT GREECE it was impossible to stitch a sponsor’s logo to an Olympic athlete’s singlet or shorts, because the competitors were all naked. In today’s London it is still impossible. Though clothing is now allowed at the Olympics—indeed it is compulsory—so is a veneer of amateurism. No advertisements are allowed in the stadium; no logos may be emblazoned on the athletes’ kit (except at the Paralympics: see article).在古希腊，人们不可能把赞助商的商标缝在一位奥运运动员的背心或是短裤上，因为当时选手们都是裸体参赛的。
在今天的伦敦，也仍然不可能。
现在的奥运会允许穿衣服——实际上，必须穿衣服——但人们必须以同样的方式对业余性加以掩饰。
运动场内不允许张贴广告；运动员用品上不得装饰有任何商标（残奥会是个例外，见另文）。
Behind the veneer, commercial interests are vying furiously for gold. The sums involved make Russian weightlifters look insubstantial. The British government’s budget for the games has risen to £9.3 billion ($14.5 billion) from an initial estimate of £2.4 billion. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has raised $4.87 billion in broadcast fees and sponsorship for the four-year cycle that includes the London summer games as well as the Vancouver winter Olympics of 2010. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), which is actually in charge of staging the games, has raised another £700m in sponsorship; it is raking in pots more by selling tickets and licensing souvenirs.在这种掩饰背后，商业利益为金钱展开了猛烈的争夺，所涉金额庞大得连俄罗斯举重选手都相形见绌。
英国政府的奥运会预算已经从初期估计的24亿英镑上涨到了93亿英镑（合145亿美元）。
国际奥委会（The International Olympic Committee, IOC）已经为包括伦敦夏季奥运会和2010年温哥华冬季奥运会在内的四年周期筹募了48.7亿美元的广播费用和赞助金。
实际主管奥运会举办工作的组织——伦敦奥运会和残奥会组委会（The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG）另外筹募了7亿英镑的赞助金；它正在通过销售门票和纪念品授权筹集更多款项。
Five rings to bind them自有五环来束缚它们Eleven global sponsors (known as top Olympic partners, or TOPs) pay fat sums to the IOC for the right to use the Olympic brand. Only one TOP sponsor is allowed in each commercial category: Coca-Cola for soft drinks, Panasonic for televisions and so on. This business model dates back to the 1980s. Before then, the Olympics were a commercial mess, with lots of sponsors paying small sums to borrow the Olympic brand in a few cherry-picked markets. Now, the IOC sells much bigger contracts to fewer sponsors. Top-tier deals are long-term (at least eight years) and global. The size of each deal is secret, but the total for all 11 for 2009-12 is $957m.十一家全球赞助商（称为顶级奥运合作伙伴，即TOP）向国际奥委会支付大笔金钱以获取奥运商标使用权。
在每一商业类别中只允许有一家TOP 赞助商：软饮料方面是可口可乐，电视方面是松下，等等。
这种商业模式可追溯到20世纪80年代。
在80年代之前，奥运会在商业领域一片混乱，大批的的赞助商支付小额资金来借用奥运商标，形成了小范围的择优挑选市场①。
如今，国际奥委会仅与少量赞助商合作，签订大额合同。
顶级交易具有长期性（至少八年）与全球性。
每笔交易的具体数额是保密的，但2009至2012年间与所有十一家赞助商的总交易额为9.57亿美元。
Sponsors can pay in cash, in kind, or both. For example, Atos, a French consultancy, is a top-tier sponsor. It also manages the information technology for the games. In itscommand room overlooking London’s Docklands, 450 technicians and support staff hunch over screens. Among other things Atos handles the accreditation system for all 250,000 athletes, trainers and hangers-on. This means creating a big database for personal information for people from all parts of the world. It has to hook up with the British immigration authorities, so everyone who needs a visa gets one. And it has to be secure: visiting prime ministers don’t want their private data published on WikiLeaks.赞助商可以通过现金支付或者通过服务支付，也可以两种手段并用。
比如，法国咨询公司阿托斯（Atos）是一家顶级赞助商。
它还为奥运会进行信息技术方面的管理。
该公司的指挥间俯瞰伦敦港口区，其中有450名技术人员和支持人员俯身看着监视器屏幕。
此外阿托斯还负责处理所有25万名运动员、教练员和陪同人员的认证系统。
这意味着为来自世界各地的人们建立起庞大的个人信息数据库。
该公司需要与英国移民局进行联系，为有需要的人们提供签证。
它还需要保证安全性：来访的各国政要可不希望自己的私人信息被公布在维基解密上②。
The pay-off for Atos comes from proving it can do all this. “It’s the only project of this magnitude that has a deadline you can’t change at all,” says Patrick Adiba, Atos’s man on the spot. There is also no room for serious errors, he says: “You can’t ask Usain Bolt to rerun the 100 metres because the technology didn’t work.” So every system has backups: some have four.给阿托斯的报偿取决于它如何证明所有这些它都能做到。
在场的阿托斯职员Patrick Adiba 说：“这是项重要无比的工程，你必须按期完成。
”他还表示同样不允许出现严重失误：“你也不能因为技术方面出了差错而要求Usain Bolt（一位田径运动员）再重新去跑100米。
”因此每个系统都进行了备份：部分系统甚至有四份备份。
All this is costly. But it lets Atos boast to potential customers: if we can handle both the summer and winter Olympics, we can probably handle your project. The Olympics generate hundreds of millions of euros of new business for Atos every year, reckons Mr Adiba.所有这些都代价高昂。