贝索斯发员工邮件 为亚马逊管理风格辩驳

 　　Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, has mounted a rapid defence of the online retailer¹ he founded after a stinging attack on its management style.

　　在亚马逊(Amazon)的管理风格遭到尖锐批评之后，这家网上零售商的首席执行官杰夫贝索斯(Jeff Bezos)迅速进行了辩驳。

　　Facing a damaging threat to the company’s reputation, Mr Bezos sent an email to staff saying he would not tolerate “the shockingly callous² management practices” depicted³ in an article on its workplace culture.

　　面对公司声望可能受到的严重威胁，贝索斯向员工发了一封邮件称，他不会容忍一篇记述其工作场所文化的文章所描述的“无情得令人震惊的管理实践”。

　　He wrote to all “Amazonians” after the New York Times described the group as a place where employees regularly weep, colleagues compete to criticise⁴ each other and serious health and family issues are ignored.

　　贝索斯给全体“亚马逊人”写这封邮件之前，《纽约时报》(New York Times)将该集团描述为一个员工时常哭泣、同事间彼此竞相批评、员工面临的严重健康问题及家庭问题被忽视的工作场所。

　　In the email, Mr Bezos encouraged employees to read the article, published over the weekend, but said: “It doesn’t describe the Amazon I know or the caring Amazonians I work with every day”. He added employees should tell HR — or email him personally — if they had experienced anything like the examples in the article.

　　邮件中，贝索斯鼓励员工去阅读这篇于上周末发表的文章，但是他称：“它所描述的并非我了解的亚马逊，亦非每天与我一起工作的有爱心的亚马逊人”。他补充道，如果员工曾体验过与文中所述的例子相似的经历，应该向人力资源部门反映，或者直接给他发邮件。

　　“I strongly believe that anyone working in a company that really is like the one described in the NYT would be crazy to stay. I know I would leave such a company,” he said in the email. “But hopefully, you don’t recognise the company described. Hopefully, you’re having fun working with a bunch of brilliant teammates, helping⁵ invent the future, and laughing along the way.”

　　“我坚信，任何在一家确实像《纽约时报》的文章中所描述的公司工作的人，只有疯了才会留下来。我知道自己会离开这种公司，”他在邮件中写道，“但希望你不觉得这种公司似曾相识。希望你在与一群优秀的队友共事、帮助创造未来时感到乐趣，一路走来充满欢笑。”

　　Amazon has previously⁶ been criticised for how it treats warehouse⁷ staff whose movements are carefully tracked by computers and who are often on temporary contracts with few benefits. It has also been embroiled⁸ in conflicts with book publishers and small businesses over its market power. The New York Times story described how white-collar staff were affected⁹ by Amazon’s obsession¹⁰ with data and said it had a commitment to fire the lowest performers in each team every year.

　　亚马逊之前曾被指责其对待仓库员工的方式，这些员工的行踪被电脑严密跟踪，他们签订的常常是临时合同，没有什么福利。它也曾因自己的市场实力而卷入与图书出版社和小企业的冲突。《纽约时报》的文章描述了白领员工如何受到亚马逊对数据的痴迷的影响，并称亚马逊每年会炒掉每个团队中表现最差的人。

　　Mr Bezos pointed¹¹ staff to a blogpost on LinkedIn by Amazon.com’s head of infrastructure¹² for search, criticising the New York Times article. Nick Ciubotariu called it “horribly misinformed”, arguing that his team “works hard and has fun”, that he had never seen anyone crying and that it was not true that the company culled¹³ staff each year.

　　贝索斯建议员工看一看亚马逊网站(Amazon.com)搜索结构主管在领英(LinkedIn)发表的批评《纽约时报》文章的博文。尼克丘博塔留(Nick Ciubotariu)在博文中称该文受到“可怕的误导”，辩称他的团队“工作努力而且充满乐趣”，称自己从未见过有人哭，而且文中所称的公司每年炒掉员工的说法是不属实的。

1 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

2 callous   

adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的

参考例句：

• He is callous about the safety of his workers.他对他工人的安全毫不关心。
• She was selfish,arrogant and often callous.她自私傲慢，而且往往冷酷无情。

3 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

4 criticise   

v.批评，评论；非难

参考例句：

• Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
• It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任！

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

7 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

8 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

11 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

12 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

13 culled   

v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The herd must be culled. 必须有选择地杀掉部分牧畜。 来自辞典例句
• The facts were culled from various sources. 这些事实是从各方收集到的。 来自辞典例句