英国卫报:走向失控的博姿药妆(11)

This is not an academic point, but a matter for public interest.

这不是一个学术观点，而是一个公共利益问题。

To pocket Boots, Pessina and KKR had to outbid another private-equity¹ baron², Guy Hands.

为了收购博姿，佩西纳和科克罗公司不得不以高于另一位私募股权巨头盖伊·汉兹的出价。

His outfit³, Terra Firma, went on to buy Four Seasons Health Care, the biggest care home operator in the UK.

他的集团泰丰资本随后收购了英国最大的护理院运营商四季保健。

It shares certain similarities with Boots: both private-sector providers of public services;

它与博姿有某些相似之处：都是提供公共服务的私营部门；

both weighed down by the expense of running old-fashioned bricks and mortar⁴, both controlled by tax exiles (Hands uses Guernsey as his base).

两家公司都被经营老式实体店的费用所拖累，都受到逃税者的控制（汉兹以根西岛为基地）。

Four Seasons, too, was landed with outsize debt – and over the last few months, the group has gone into meltdown:

四季保健也背负了巨额债务——在过去几个月里，该集团陷入了崩溃：

struggling to pay the interest on its loans, castigated⁵ by government inspectors⁶ for providing “inadequate” care in 125 of its homes, forced to sell some properties and overhaul⁷ others.

由于难以支付贷款利息，政府检查人员严厉指责其对125套住房提供“不充分”的护理，迫使其出售部分房产并对其他房产进行翻修。

Four Seasons is now a prime example of what happens when private equity – big borrowing, hard charging – goes wrong,

如今，当私人股本——大笔借款、硬收费——出问题时，四季保健就是一个典型例子。

with results that may be paid for by its residents and families and even taxpayers⁸ over the coming months and years.

其结果是，欠款可能会在未来几个月或几年里由其居民和家庭甚至纳税人来偿付。

This is not likely to happen to Boots.

这种情况不太可能发生在博姿身上。

But Haslam sees the same conflict between outsize profit-seeking and public interest, claiming:

但哈斯拉姆也看到了过度追求利润与公众利益之间的矛盾，他声称：

“Boots is now about immuring⁹ tax, squeezing labour costs and taking out the dividends¹⁰ rather than reinvesting in the business.”

“博姿现在的目标是降低税收、压缩劳动力成本和提取股息，而不是对业务进行再投资。”

Whether as residents or patients, relatives or members of the public, we need our care homes and pharmacies¹¹ to be reliably dull.

无论是住院医生还是病人，无论是亲戚还是公众，我们都需要养老院和药房绝对不景气。

When financiers get excited over such sectors¹², the rest of us should worry.

当金融家对这些行业感到兴奋时，我们其他人应该感到担忧。

Yet Pessina came to Boots promising¹³ double-digit growth.

然而，佩西纳来到博姿时承诺将实现两位数的增长。

“There’s so much to do – the products are fantastic, the spirit of the people is fantastic,” he fizzed in a 2008 interview.

“要做的事情太多了——产品棒极了，人们的精神棒极了，”他在2008年的一次采访中说。

“The important thing now is to motivate them and to convince them they can succeed.”

“现在最重要的是激励他们，让他们相信他们可以成功。”

1 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

2 baron   

n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王

参考例句：

• Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
• The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。

3 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

4 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

5 castigated   

v.严厉责骂、批评或惩罚（某人）( castigate的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He castigated himself for being so stupid. 他责怪自己太笨。
• He castigated the secretaries for their sloppy job of filing. 由于秘书们档案工作搞得马虎草率，他严厉地斥责了他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

8 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

9 immuring   

v.禁闭，监禁( immure的现在分词 )

参考例句：

10 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

11 pharmacies   

药店

参考例句：

• Still, 32 percent of the pharmacies filled the prescriptions. 但仍然有32%的药剂师配发了这两张药方。 来自互联网
• Chinese herbal pharmacies, and traditional massage therapists in the Vancouver telephone book. 中药店，和传统的按摩师在温哥华的电话簿里。 来自互联网

12 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。