英语听力—环球英语 646 World Business Leaders: Jamsetji Tata

　　Voice 1
Hello and welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Steve Myersco,
Voice 2
And I’m Marina Santee. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
“When you must be a leader in actions and ideas... When you must lead in a direction that does not fit with common opinion... That takes true courage. It is this kind of courage and imagination that Jamsetji Tata showed.”
Voice 1
This is the way Pandit Nehru described Jamsejji Tata. Nehru was the was the first prime² minister of India. And he was talking about a man who changed the history of India. Jamsetji Tata started the great Indian industrial group that still has his name, Tata. The company is huge today with many different kinds of business. By building this company, Jamsetji Tata helped to make India a strong industrial nation.
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is all about the man that people called “the father of Indian industry”. It is one of a short series of Spotlight programmes about world business leaders.
Voice 1
Jamsetji Tata was born in 1839. He was born in the town of Navsari in Gujurat. Jamsetji’s father was a wealthy man. He was a merchant banker, lending money for trade. The young Jamsetji studied at Elphinstone College in Bombay. He was a very good student. When he reached the age of twenty, he was ready to work in his father’s bank.
Voice 2
Tata learned³ fast. He travelled to Hong Kong and China. He helped his father to set up trade deals in England. At the age of twenty-nine he set up his own trading company. The profits from this company were the start of his success in industry.
Voice 1
At this time India was part of the British Empire. The Empire was ruled by Queen Victoria. The British enjoyed the riches of India. Tata felt strongly that this was wrong. But he did not believe in fighting wars for independence. He believed that India had to build up its own industry or it would never be truly independent. He used to say, ‘Let the Indian learn to do things for himself.’
Voice 2
The first business he was involved with was cotton. He learned about the cotton mills⁵ in England. These factories were making cloth. He thought that workers in India could do the same job at a lower cost. So he started a cotton mill⁴ in Bombay. Then he started a much larger one, the Empress Mills, in Nagpur. In 1886, he opened a factory in Bombay called the Svadeshi Mill. The name means ‘local products for local people.’ In India, the name represented the desire of Indians to have their own industries.
Voice 1
Tata believed that India needed to become strong in three main areas. These areas were scientific knowledge, electric power and steel making. He devoted⁶ the rest of his life to these three things. He travelled to the United States, Germany and Japan. He learned about the progress of industry in these countries. He established the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. This was a place for teaching⁷ the newest methods in science and engineering⁸. It was the first of many similar places of learning⁹ that opened in India in the twentieth century.
Voice 2
One of the things that was different about Tata’s companies was the way he managed them. He did not like the traditional idea of a family business. At the Empress Mills in Nagpur, he tried a new management structure. He had a managing director. He also had a board of directors. This group of people were responsible for the managing director. The idea of spreading power down an organisation¹⁰ is known as delegation¹¹. Delegation helps good managers to develop and improve.
Voice 1
Like many rich businessmen, Tata spent time thinking about what it means to have great wealth. He did not feel any shame about his wealth. He supported and encouraged the rights of people who create wealth. But he also believed that serving the community was the main purpose of a business. He gave money to many projects to help the poor. Once, there was a terrible sickness in Bombay. It was the bubonic plague¹². Tata supported the work of a Russian doctor in making vaccines¹³. These vaccines protected people from infection. And Tata gave money to a Christian¹⁴ group, the Salvation¹⁵ Army. They worked with poor women and prisoners in Bombay.
Voice 2
Tata did not favour one religion over another. For example he wrote to his son giving some rules for the building of a town for his workers. That town is Jamshedpur. It still stands today. Tata wrote that the town should be a beautiful place for people of all religions to share.
Voice 4
“Plant every kind of quick-growing trees. Be sure that there is plenty of space for grass and flowers. Set aside large areas for sport, such as football and hockey. And give land for the building of mosques¹⁶, Hindu temples and Christian churches.”
Voice 1
Some of Tata’s dreams did not come true until after his death in 1904. In 1910 the Tata company built a large electricity generator¹⁷ near Bombay. It used water power to supply electricity to the cotton mills of Bombay. And soon after his death, Jamsetji’s sons set up the Tata Iron and Steel company. By the time of the Second World War it had become the largest steel company in the British Commonwealth¹⁸.
Voice 2
Today Tata is a huge international group of companies. It contains many different businesses. These include a steel company, a car company, a tea company, and many more. The Tata Group is now worth about 60 billion dollars. It employs over 300,000 people.
Voice 1
However Jamsetji Tata’s influence remains¹⁹ in the Tata company today. The company says that it spends about thirty percent of its profit each year on community projects. And Tata still supports teaching and research. We will end this Spotlight programme with the words of JRD Tata. JRD Tata led the business for over fifty years from 1938. He said:
Voice 5
“The wealth gathered by Jamsetji Tata and his sons is only a small part of the amount by which they enriched²⁰ the nation. The whole of that wealth is held in trust for the people. The wealth is used only to help the people. The circle is therefore complete; what came from the people has gone back to the people many times over.”
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 prime   

adj.首要的，主要的；最好的，第一流的

参考例句：

• The prime minister spoke of the general insecurity in the country.总理谈到了全国普遍存在的不安全。
• He met with the Prime Minister of Japan for an hour.他和日本首相会见了一个小时。

3 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

4 mill   

n.磨坊，碾磨机；制造厂，工厂；vt.磨，碾

参考例句：

• The rice mill was wrecked by the enemy bombing.碾米厂遭到了敌机的轰炸。
• The farmer took his grain to the mill.这个农民把谷子送到磨房。

5 mills   

n.磨坊( mill的名词复数 )；磨粉机；作坊；工厂

参考例句：

• He was tall, dark and handsome, like a Mills and Boon hero. 他个头高大、皮肤黝黑、相貌堂堂，像通俗爱情小说的男主角。
• The captain wants to play Mills as defence in our next game. 队长想让密尔斯在下次比赛中打后卫。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

7 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

8 engineering   

n.工程，工程学，管理，操纵

参考例句：

• The science of engineering began as soon as man learned to use tools. 人类一学会使用工具,工程科学就开始了。
• It was the first great engineering works in the world. 这是世界上第一家大型的工程工厂。

9 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

10 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

11 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

12 plague   

n.瘟疫，鼠疫，祸患，灾难；v.烦扰，使痛苦

参考例句：

• Plague was then prevailing in that city.当时瘟疫正在该城流行。
• The plague once could wipe out a village.鼠疫曾一度可以夺走整个村庄村民的生命。

13 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

14 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

15 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

16 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

17 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

18 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

19 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

20 enriched   

使富有( enrich的过去式和过去分词 )； 使富裕； 充实； 使丰富

参考例句：

• The study of science has enriched all our lives. 科学研究丰富了我们的整个生活。
• breakfast cereals enriched with vitamins 增加了维生素的早餐谷物食品