纽约英语口语网新版
金融世界
第 19 讲: 生产规模的扩大

在上一讲中我们谈的话题是:globalisation-经济的全球化。

澳大利亚墨尔本莫纳什大学的市场学系主任菲茨罗伊教授介绍说,通讯和交通运输费用的降低是促进经济全球化进程的两个因素。

接下来菲茨罗伊教授介绍说,生产规模的扩大和顾客品味趋于一致也是推动经济全球化的原因。他在谈话中使用了这样一些词汇:

1 economies of scale 规模经济
2 homogeneity 同种,同一
3 cater to the need of 迎合...的需要
4 barrier 障碍
5 GATT 关税及贸易总协定 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 的缩写
6 World Trade Organisation 世界贸易组织,简称WTO
7 trade liberalisation 贸易自由化

现在我们听一遍菲茨罗伊教授的这段谈话:

It is true in lots of industries, large plants can make goods much cheaper than small plants. And in some industries we can see a movement towards increasing economies of scale. In other words, the minimum size of plant or the most economic size of plant is getting larger and larger. 的确在很多行业中,大工厂能够以比小工厂低得多的成本生产产品。在有些行业中我们可以看到“规 模 经 济”不断增加的趋势。换句话说,就是工厂的最小规模或者说工厂的最经济的规模变得越来越大。

Another necessary condition for globalisation is the increasing homogeneity of consumer tastes. There are an increasing number of consumers in Brazil; who have almost precisely the same set of needs and requirements as consumers in Germany. So consequently it becomes easier for a producer to try to cater to the needs of both markets, because the market differences have now really diminished to a point where they virtually don't exist. 全球化的另一必要条件是顾客的品味日益趋于一致。在巴西有越来多的顾客,他们的需要和要求与德国顾客的几乎完全一样。这种趋势使生产者能更容易地迎合两个市场的需要,因为市场的差别现在实际上已缩小到几乎不存在的程度。

Another explanation for globalisation is the behaviour of governments. Historically, there have been barriers to trade that have been put up by governments. Particularly since the Second World War, inter-government bodies such as the GATT and the World Trade Organisation have really encouraged governments to liberalise trade, which means to remove political barriers, so that trade liberalisation has been again an important necessary condition for globalisation. 促进全球化的另一原因是政府的行为。历史上各国政府曾设置贸易障碍。但是从二次大战以来,各种政府间的组织如关税及贸易总协定和世界贸易组织实际上一直鼓励各国政府允许贸易自由化,也就是消除政治障碍。因此贸易自由化也是经济全球化的一个必要的条件。

在上一讲和这一讲中,澳大利亚墨尔本莫纳什大学市场学系主任菲茨罗伊教授介绍说,促进经济全球化的因素有:
1 the fall in the cost of communications and transportation,通讯和交通费用的降低;
2 the increasing economies of scale,生产规模的扩大;
3 the homogeneity of consumer tastes,顾客品味的趋于一致;
4 the governments' efforts in pursuing trade liberalisation,政府作出的贸易自由化努力等等。

莫纳什大学经济学副教授特雷西补充说,multinational corporations,跨国公司的发展也是经济全球化的因素之一。

First of all, by multinational enterprises I mean those firms that produce and market their products in two or more countries. Now those sort of companies dominate in the more capital intensive industries such as automobiles, consumer electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and so on. 跨国公司指的是在两个或两个以上国家生产和销售它们产品的公司。现在这类公司在资本密集产业中占了统治地位,如汽车、民用电子、化工和制药行业等等。

I see multinationals as one of the main agents through which globalisation takes place. They certainly play a major role in the movement of capital world-wide. We see that foreign direct investment has been growing roughly three times as fast as total investment. 我认为跨国公司是形成全球化进程的主要中介之一。它们在资本全球流动方面扮演着重要角色。我们看到外国直接投资的增长速度大约是总投资额增长速度的三倍。

Having said that, few firms are really truly global. Most firms still remain firmly rooted in their domestic economies, although the number of those truly global firms is certainly increasing. 不过,尽管真正全球性公司的数目在不断增加,并没有多少公司是真正的全球性跨国公司。大多数的公司还都深深扎根于自己国家的经济中。

特雷西副教授的谈话中出现了这样一些词汇:

1 multinational enterprises 跨国公司,多国企业
2 dominate 支配,控制
3 capital intensive industries 资本密集产业
4 agent 中介,媒介
5 movement of capital 资本流动