VOA慢速英语 2008 0530a

Economics¹ Report - Peter Drucker, 1909-2005: The Mind of a Management Thinker
He was a voice for change and new ways of thinking about social and business relations. Transcript² of radio broadcast:
29 May 2008

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

We talked last week about Joseph Juran, an influential³ American expert in quality control. He died earlier this year at the age of one hundred and three.

Today we talk about another management expert -- or guru as people like to call them. Peter Drucker also lived a long life. He was ninety-five years old when he died in two thousand five.
　

Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker was an expert on the ways of modern organizations. He liked to share his knowledge not by answering questions but by asking them. For example, he said business people must ask themselves not "What do we want to sell?" but "What do people want to buy?"

He taught at the Claremont Graduate School of Management in California for more than thirty years. He also advised companies. And he wrote for the Wall Street Journal⁴ opinion page for twenty years, until nineteen ninety-five. He commented on many economic and management issues.

Peter Drucker was born in Austria. He worked as a reporter in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late nineteen twenties. He also studied international law.

He fled Germany as Adolf Hitler came to power in nineteen thirty-three. Peter Drucker spent four years in Britain as an adviser⁵ to investment⁶ banks. He then came to the United States.

He used his knowledge of international law to advise American businesses. He developed this advice into books on business methods and management.

In the middle of the nineteen forties, Peter Drucker argued that the desire for profit was central to business efforts. He also warned that rising wages were harming American business.

He was later invited to study General Motors. He wrote about his experiences in "The Concept⁷ of the Corporation⁸." In the book, he said workers at all levels should take part in decision-making, not just top managers.

Peter Drucker was a voice for change and new ways of thinking about social and business relations. He used terms like "knowledge workers" and "management goals." He influenced business training and politics with many of his ideas.

Some people said he often only presented information that supported his arguments. But even his critics praised his clear reasoning.

Yet as times changed, so did his thinking. In nineteen ninety-three, he warned that businesses create a market for competitors when they think too much about high profits.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Transcripts⁹, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 economics   

n.经济学，经济情况

参考例句：

• He is studying economics,which subject is very important.他正在学习经济学，该学科是很重要的。
• One can't separate politics from economics.不能把政治与经济割裂开来。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

4 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 investment   

n.投资，投资额；(时间、精力等的)投入

参考例句：

• It took two years before I recouped my investment.我用了两年时间才收回投资。
• The success of the project pivots on investment from abroad.这个工程的成功主要依靠外来投资。

7 concept   

n.概念，观念，思想

参考例句：

• A small baby has no concept of right and wrong.婴儿没有是非概念。
• He was asked to define his concept of cool.他被要求说明自己关于“酷”的定义。

8 corporation   

n.公司，企业&n.社团，团体

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation. 这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• The inflation did the corporation up. 通货膨胀使这个公司破产了。

9 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句