IBM老总：利用科技创建“后危机时代”

商业训练营 > 金融英语速读 > IBM老总：利用科技创建“后危机时代”

精品荐读

经济刺激仅仅是印钞票、大兴土木吗？有比修桥修路更省钱，更造福子孙后代的事情吗？让我们听听IBM老总Samuel Palmisano为全球政府支的招吧。

为什么要每天阅读《金融时报》？
- 对于全球的金融业从业人员来说，阅读《金融时报》是每天必须进行的修炼。要想把握金融业的趋势，提高自己的“金融智慧”，和全球的金融业者站在同一高度，《金融时报》是你的首选。
为什么要训练阅读速度？
- 在信息爆炸的今天，能够迅速地阅读和理解大量资料，已成为金融业者必不可少的技能。著名的投资家股神巴菲特曾表示，他每天都会阅读大量报刊和年报，这也是他多年来始终能做出正确的投资决策的基础。
训练阅读速度的小工具
- 自动滚屏助你提高速度。点击该按钮后，屏幕就开始滚动，迫使你改掉向回看的习惯，加快速度。默认为每分钟140字（朗读速度）。随着你的技能提升，你可以挑战更高的速度，直到达到1000。

速度：+ -

阅读以下文章

<b>Smart ways to prepare for a world beyond recession</b>

By Samuel Palmisano

Published: February 19 2009 19:15 | Last updated: February 19 2009 19:15

<img src=http://media.ft.com/cms/2a42df2a-feb5-11dd-b19a-000077b07658.gif border=0 style="float:left;margin-right:5px;">Governments around the world are grappling with some of the toughest decisions faced in generations. In severe recession, they are collectively considering as much as $4,500bn in stimulus investments.

Understandably there is a sense of urgency, sometimes verging on desperation. But while the need for immediate economic stimulus is clear, we should not and need not panic.

Let us not revert to old-world thinking about new-world challenges. Launching “public works” projects – putting people to work with shovels and jackhammers to put money into their pockets – is not the way to jump-start a 21st-century economy – or to build competitive advantage in the different world that is taking shape.

President Barack Obama and his administration understand that the US economy needs more than a relief package for troubled banks, asphalt for pot-holed streets and patches for schoolhouse roofs. They are proposing a higher-impact stimulus package that addresses future needs and national competitiveness.

We are seeing other examples of this kind of forward-looking thinking around the world. Many government and business leaders are not simply undertaking activity for activity’s sake but are seizing the opportunity to transform and innovate, in ways that create exportable skills, resources and technology. Such investments not only yield a greater long-term return, they are also more cost-effective.

For example, consider our power grids. They are the largest remaining artefact of the industrial age and they are due for an upgrade. Using broadband data streams, digital sensors and advanced analytics, utility companies can understand demand in real time and thus source and manage power more intelligently. In Europe, some utilities are working on smarter ways to integrate renewable sources of energy into the grid. Others are taking it further, building smart grid networks to enable consumers to plug in electric cars at a variety of locations. In this way, the digital grid provides incentives for growth in related industries. In many cases this growth primarily benefits smaller enterprises.

Getting smarter is possible across all our systems. The island of Malta, for example, is not only creating one of the world’s most advanced smart grids, it is also building smarter water and waste management systems. The same principles apply to all of these systems, including instrumentation with advanced sensor technology. As a result they are gaining a better understanding of demand, supply, routing and sourcing. They are able to manage the entire public services infrastructure more dynamically.

Consider the wireless explosion in India, which is forging a new business model for telecommunications services. Telecoms companies are creating radical new platforms to provide existing services at very low cost, and new ones based on real-time customer demand, in hours rather than months. This telecommunications revolution will spread to other markets as these companies grow faster and begin to export their skills.

Consider traffic congestion. Governments in Singapore, Stockholm and Brisbane, among many others, are developing new ways to monitor and manage traffic flow in city centres. This requires dynamic new systems to understand and predict vehicle patterns and encourage new behaviour. In Stockholm, congestion is down by 20 per cent and pollution by 12 per cent. Not only have these initiatives dramatically improved citizens’ quality of life, they are also spawning new thinking on related public services. In addition, many of these cities consider the projects as showcase investments, driving new forms of inward investment and future growth.

These governments and companies understand what technology is possible today and they are applying it to transform the systems through which their companies, communities and nations work.

Our planet is not just getting smaller and “flatter”, it is also becoming smarter. That is why governments, especially those gathering in April at the Group of 20 nations summit in London, need to shape stimulus investments that envision and enable a smarter future. There will be those who seize this opportunity and those who cling to old-world models. The choices they make will determine the ultimate winners as we emerge from recession.

The writer is chairman and chief executive of IBM. IBM does business with major cities around the world

选择正确答案

What is the purpose of the article?

The author mentioned all the other three. But check out the title, first, and last paragraphs.

To explain how technology can help revert the crisis.
To illustrate the difference of the current crisis from the previous ones.
To urge governments to adopt more forward-looking thinking when dealing with the current crisis.
To argue that technology sectors should have a bigger propotion in the economic stimulus package.

选择正确答案

Which of following would the author agree, according to the article?

Right.

Government shouldn't salvage troubled banks.
Obama's stimulus plan doesn't adopt enough foward-looking thinking.
Technology can and should play an important role to help solve the crisis.
IBM and other technology companies deserve more suport from the US government.

选择正确答案

The author used the example of Malta to:

Check out: "Getting smarter is possible across all our systems. The island of Malta, for example, is not only creating one of the world’s most advanced smart grids, it is also building smarter water and waste management systems. "

Urge the US government to upgrade its power grid.
Show that a lot of systems can be improved using smart technology.
Compare with the out-dated US grid system.
Prove that the European power gird system is much more advanced than that of US.

选择正确答案

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author's proposal?

For example, there's an argument: "Because A, B and C, so D. " If you want to attack it, there are two most effective ways: 1) prove that A, B or C are wrong 2) prove that A, B and C doesn't lead to D. Choice 1 and 2 are personal attacks. They may backfire. Choice 4 is indirect attack. Normally it's not very powerful.

IBM is trying to get a big contract out of the Obama stimulus package.
All the examples he mentioned are IBM projects. So he's just doing advertisement.
In the example about traffic, all the countries see increased fatal accidents. Some have abandoned the new system, causing a huge loss.
All those systems he mentioned employs much less people. That's not good for employment.

放松与总结

今天的训练暂告一段落，FT中文网还将陆续推出更多的训练项目，欢迎您来信建议。(电子邮件：customer.service@ftchinese.com)

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您的正确率太低，在目前这个阶段，对你来说最重要的是提高英文水平和金融专业水平，而不是速度。请您点击后退仔细查看您答错的题目，并和原文对照。对原文中所有不懂的句子和知识点，也请一一查明。建议您：
1. 在进行下一次训练的时候，将滚屏速度保持在100以下。
2. 您可以找一些有声读物，如《经济学人》的audio edition，帮助你提高英文水平。

看得出你是非常认真来进行这次训练的，如果你坚持的话，你会获得非常大的提高。目前你的阅读速度偏低，可能是因为英文不是你的母语。不过，请不要放慢阅读速度。研究表明，阅读速度越快的人，其理解的正确率反而越高。因此，您可以同时提高您的阅读速度和理解能力。给你一点建议：
1. 一定要改掉默念的习惯
2. 不要一个词一个词的看，要学会把一个语义群当作一个整体来看。比如“an emergency $180bn injection of dollar”这个语义群，你要学会把他当作一个整体来看。
3. 看DVD的时候，切换到英文字幕。

用正常语速来朗读一篇文章，平均速度是每分钟140词。这说明你的阅读速度比朗读还要慢。建议您：1. 每一段的第一句话往往是最重要的。
2. “速读”最忌讳的就是“读”，不要一边看一边默念。
3. 在下一个训练中将滚屏速度设为140，迫使自己不能回头去看已经读过的部分。

您的阅读速度已经超过了正常语速，说明你已经开始有些速读的感觉了。美国大学生的最低阅读速度为每分钟250词，加把劲你就可以赶上了。建议您：
1. 养成习惯，读过的部分不要回头去看，这样会影响速读。
2. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目一行”。

您的阅读速度已经达到了美国大学生的水平，可喜可贺。不过作为金融从业人员，每天需要阅读数不清的中英文研究报告、公司年报、报刊杂志等，您还需要向每分钟350字进军。建议您：
1. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目两行”。
2. 对中英文的数字，尤其是大数字(million, billion)的转换进行总结和练习。

厉害，您的阅读速度已经超过了美国大学生的水平。不过，要成为巴菲特那样的金融专家，您需要锻炼出“一目十行”的火眼金睛。建议您在每次的训练中注意三个要点：
1. 您已经学会了将文章分成语义群，而非词来阅读，现在，你需要扩大每一个语义群中的词数。
2. 加快阅读每个语义群的速度。
3. 看过的内容尽量不要回看。

这就是传说中的“一目十行”吗？难以置信！

世界纪录才每分钟416,250字，居然被你破了！无语...