【原版杂志阅读】Day 15：《哈佛商业评论》Why Visionary CEOs 

讲义：

Why Visionary CEOs  Never Have Visionary  Successors

Microsoft entered the 21st century as the dominant software provider for anyonewho interacted with a computing device. Sixteen years later, thatdominance is looking threadbare. The reason is failed leadership, and Apple –currently the dominant tech firm for the mobile era – is at risk of making thesame mistakes.

After running Microsoft for 25 years, Bill Gateshanded the reins of CEO to Steve Ballmer in January 2000. Ballmer went on torun Microsoft for the next 14 years. If you think the job of a CEO is toincrease sales, then Ballmer did a spectacular job. He tripled Microsoft’ssales to $78 billion and profits more than doubled from $9 billion to $22billion. The launch of the Xbox and Kinect, and the acquisitions of Skype andYammer happened on his shift. If the Microsoft board was managing forquarter-to-quarter or even year-to year-revenue growth, Ballmer was as good asit gets as a CEO.  But if the purpose of the company is its long-termsurvival, then one could make the argument that he was a failure as CEO, as heoptimized short-term gains by squandering long-term opportunities.

一、  词汇部分

1.         successor /səkˈses.ɚ/ n. 继任者

英文释义：someone or something that comes after another person orthing

l   词汇助记：

1）前缀：suc-向下
2）词根：cess-走

3）后缀：-or名词后缀

4）扩展：recession 经济衰退

2.         rein /reɪn/ n. 缰绳

英文释义：a long, thin piece of material, especially leather, that helps youto control and direct a horse.

l   词汇助记：

1）前缀：re- 往回

2）词汇：in-向内

3.         acquisition  /ˌæk.wəˈzɪʃ.ən/ n. 并购

英文释义：something such as a building, another company, or a piece of land thatis bought by a company, or the act of buying it

l   词汇助记：

1）词汇：acquire 获得（ac- +quir-／quis词根：获得）

2）后缀：ition名词后缀

4.         squander /ˈskwɑːn.dɚ/ v. 浪费

英文释义：to waste money or supplies, or to waste opportunities by not using them to your advantage:

l   词汇助记：

squander—花钱往死了花，那kua, kua的，花钱给淌水一样

5.         dominant /ˈdɑː.mə.nənt/ adj. 主导的

英文释义：more important, strong,or noticeable than anything else ofthe same type

l   词汇助记：

1）词根：dom-家；domin-家
2）后缀：-ant形容词后缀

3）扩展：domestic 本国的

二、  句子理解

But if the purpose of the company is its long-termsurvival, then one could make the argument that he was a failure as CEO, as heoptimized short-term gains by squandering long-term opportunities.

1）知识点：if引导的条件句

l  真是条件句：主将从现

l  虚拟条件句：过去、现在、将来

But if thepurpose of the company is its long-term survival,then one could make the argument

2）知识点：同位语从句

典型结构：名词＋that引导从句（并且that在从句中不做成分）

one could make the argument that he was a failure as CEO

3）知识点：as 的典型用法

as he optimized short-termgains

4）知识点：by doing sth方式状语

参考翻译：可如果公司的目标是长期的生存发展，那么人们完全可以认为他是一个失败的CEO，因为他的短期获利最大化往往都是以挥霍长远（发展）的机会来达成的。

三、  段落翻译

对于任何接触过电脑设备的人来说，微软无疑在软件供应商中是以绝对主导者的身份迈入21世纪的。16年过去了，昔日的主导地位如今看来却已岌岌可危。导致这一切的原因无非就是失败的领导力，而苹果 - 如今移动时代的领军科技公司 - 正陷入犯下（与微软）同样错误的危机中。

在执掌了微软25年后，比尔盖茨终于在2000年1月将CEO大权的缰绳交到了史提夫鲍尔默手中。鲍尔默则继续在之后的14年中运营微软。如果在你看来一个CEO的工作就是增加销量，那鲍尔默的工作真是完成的无可挑剔。他使得微软的销售额翻了两倍，达到780亿美元之多，同时使盈利从90亿美元增加到220亿美元，翻了一倍多。Xbox和Kinect的发售，对Skype和Yammer的收购都发生在他的任期内。如果微软的董事会正在达成一个季度至季度甚或年度至年度的收入增长目标，鲍尔默简直就是他们梦寐以求的CEO人选。可如果公司的目标是长期的生存发展，那么人们完全可以认为他是一个失败的CEO，因为他的短期获利最大化往往都是以挥霍长远（发展）的机会来达成的。