大学英语精读1(第三版)英汉互译Unit06

Sam set out to improve efficiency at the shirt factory but, as we find out later in this unit, his plans turned out not quite as he had expected.

萨姆着手提高衬衫厂的效率了，但正如我们将在本单元后半部分发现的，他的计划实施结果跟他原先预料的并不完全一样。

Sam Adams, Industrial Engineer

If you ask my mother how I happened to become an industrial engineer, she'll tell you that I have always been one.

如果你问我母亲，我怎么偏偏会成为一名工业管理工程师的，她就会告诉你，我一直就是这样一个人。

She means that I have always wanted everything to be well organized and neat. When I was still in elementary school, I liked to keep my socks in the upper left-hand drawer of my bureau, my underwear in the upper right drawer, shirts in the middle drawer, and pants, neatly folded, in the bottom drawer.

她的意思是说，我一贯希望把样样东西都安排得井井有条，整整齐齐。还在上小学时，我就喜欢把袜子放在衣柜左上方的抽屉里，内衣放在右上方的抽屉里，衬衫放在当中的抽屉里，折得齐齐整整的裤子放在最下面的抽屉里。

In fact, I was the efficiency expert for the whole family. I used to organize my father's tools, my mother's kitchen utensils, my sister's boyfriends.

事实上，我那时一直是全家人的效率专家。父亲的工具、母亲的厨房用具以及姐姐的男朋友全由我统一安排。

I needed to be efficient. I wanted to be well organized. For me, there was a place for everything and everything was always in its place. These qualities gave me a good foundation for a career in industrial engineering.

我需要讲究效率。我希望有条不紊。对我来说，样样东西都有个固定的地方，样样东西总是放在适当的地方。这些素质为我日后从事工业管理打下了良好的基础。

Unfortunately, I was also a bit bossy and I wasn't a very good listener. You'll see what I mean when I tell you about the first project I ever did after I finished my bachelor's degree at the university.

遗憾的是，我这个人也有一点专横，不太善于听取别人的意见。等我把在大学取得学士学位后承办第一项工程的情况告诉你以后，你就会明白我这话是什么意思了。

After graduation I returned home to my small town in Indiana. I didn't have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a friend of my father's, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he asked me to come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.

毕业后我回到家乡——印第安纳州的一个小镇上。当时我还没有找到工作。我父亲的一位朋友霍布斯先生在镇上有

一家小型衬衫厂。在过去五年里，厂里的工人从二十名增加到了八十名。霍布斯先生担心他的工厂规模变得太大了，效率变得太低了，便请我进厂当了个短期顾问。

I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really amazed at what I saw.

我来到厂里，花了一个星期左右的时间一边到处查看，一边做些笔记。说真的，我对看到的情况不胜惊讶。

Most curious of all, there was no quality control whatsoever. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, even a sleeve sometimes!

最为奇怪的是，厂里竟然没有任何质量控制。没有人检验工厂生产的成品。结果，有些装箱待运的衬衫不是缺了一两粒钮扣，就是少了衣领，有时甚至还会短只袖子。

The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breaks in the day to relieve the boring work. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the workers hadn't gone on strike.

工厂的生产条件很差。工作台很高，工人坐在旁边很不舒服。除了吃中饭的半小时外，全天没有别的休息时间来调剂一下令人厌倦的工作。厂里也不播放音乐。工场间的墙壁全是一片暗灰色。使我感到惊奇的是，工人们竟然没有罢工。

Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the assembly line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized him as "Big Jim," who used to sit behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shirts were held up at his position. Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked. All week I wondered why he wasn't fired.

此外，厂里的生产流程也时断时续。在装配线上有个缝钮扣的年轻人特别心不在焉。没有多久，我便认出了他，原来他就是在中学上数学课时坐在我后面的“大个子吉姆”。他动作很慢，所有的衬衫到了他这儿都被耽搁下来。装配线上他后面的同班工人只好等在那儿无事可干；因此，在“大个子吉姆”一边工作一边胡思乱想的时候，大量时间便白白流逝了，劳动效率大受损失。整个礼拜我都在纳闷，为什么他没有被解雇。

After I made observations for a week, Mr. Hobbs asked me for an oral report of my findings. I covered my major points by telling him the following:

我观察了一个星期后，霍布斯先生便要我就调查结果作一个口头汇报。我把要点概括了一

下向他汇报如下：

"If you have a quality control inspection, you will greatly improve your finished product."

“如果实行质量检验，你们就会大大改进成品。”

"If the assembly line is redesigned, a smooth work flow can be achieved and time and energy can be saved."

“如果把装配线重新设计一下，生产流程就会达到平稳，并能节省时间和精力。”

"If you decrease the height of the worktables, the machine operators will work more comfortably."

“如果降低工作台的高度，机器操作工作业时就会舒服一些。”

"If the management provides pleasant background music and beautifies the dull setting, the factory will be much more productive."

“如果厂方播放悦耳的背景音乐，美化一下单调的环境，工厂的生产率就可以大大提高。”

"If the workers have a fifteen-minute coffee break in the morning and afternoon, they will be more efficient."

“如果工人们在上、下午各有一次十五分钟的休息时间喝咖啡，他们的效率就会更高。”

"If excellent work results in frequent pay increases or promotions, the workers will have greater incentive to produce."

“如果工作出色能经常得到加薪提拔，工人们就会有更大的生产积极性。”

Mr. Hobbs thanked me for this report and told me he would talk over my suggestions with his brother, the co-owner and manager of the factory. "We're interested in progress here," he said. "We want to keep up with the times."

霍布斯先生对我的汇报表示感谢，并告诉我说他将和他的兄弟——该厂的另一位厂主兼经理——讨论我的建议。“我们关心工厂的发展，”他说。“我们要跟上时代的步伐。”

He also gave me a check for $100 and a box of shirts with his compliments.

他还送给我一张一百美元的支票并赠送给我一盒衬衫。

编辑：Sky诗昂0228　QQ：85035268