-平方公里
新视野大学英语第四册
-unit3A-Fred-Smith-
and-FedEx-The-vision-that-changed-
th
e-world
Fred Smith and
FedEx: The vision that changed the world
弗雷德
·
史密斯与联邦快递：一个改变了世界的创想
Every night several hundred
planes bearing a purple, white, and
orange design touch down at Memphis
Airport, in Tennessee. What
precedes
this landing are package pickups from locations
all over the
United States earlier in
the day. Crews unload the planes' cargo of more
than half a million parcels and
letters. The rectangular packages and
envelopes are rapidly reshuffled and
sorted according to address, then
loaded onto other aircraft, and flown
to their destinations to be dispersed
by hand - many within 24 hours of
leaving their senders. This is the
culmination of a dream of Frederick W.
Smith, the founder, president,
chief
executive officer, and chairman of the board of
the FedEx Corp. -
known originally as
Federal Express - the largest and most successful
overnight delivery service in the
world. Conceived when he was in
college
and now in its 28th year of operation, Smith's
exquisite brainchild
has become the
standard for door-to-door package delivery.
每天夜晚，在田纳西州的孟菲斯机场，都有几百架带着白、紫、桔色图案
的飞
机降落。
而在每天此前的早些时候，
这些飞机都在美国各地收集
包裹。
工作人员从飞机上卸下的包裹及信件数量超过五十万之巨。长方形的包裹
和信封又在这里依据收件地址被迅速整理分拣，然后装载上其他飞机，飞
往各自的目的地，在那儿再由人工投递
——
到这时很多邮件离开
寄件人之
手还不到
24
小时。这是弗雷德里克
·W·
史密斯的终极梦想，
他就是联邦
快递集团（最初为联邦快递）这一全球最大、最成功的隔夜送达服务企业
的创始人、总裁、首席执行官及董事会主席。如今，史密斯这一源于大学
时代的妙想已在现实中经营到了第
28
个年头，
并已成为包裹快递入户行
业的标杆。
Recognized
as
an
outstanding
entrepreneur
with
an
agreeable
and
winning personality, Smith is held in
high regard by his competitors as
well
as his employees and stockholders. Fred Smith was
just 27 when
he founded FedEx. Now, so
many years later, he's still the
ship
He
attributes
the
success
the
company
simply
to
leadership,
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新视野大学英语第四册
-unit3A-Fred-
Smith-and-FedEx-The-vision-that-changed-
th
e-world
something he
deduced from his years in the military, and from
his family.
史密斯被公认为是一位和蔼可亲、性
格迷人的杰出企业家。无论是他
的竞争者、员工，还是他公司股票的持有人，都对他十分
敬重。弗雷德
·
史
密斯创建
“
联邦快递
”
时只有
27
岁。
现在
多年过去了，
他仍然坐在
“
掌门人
”
的位置上。他将公司的成功简单地归因于领导力，而这一推论则来
自于他
的军旅生涯及其家庭的影响。
Frederick Wallace Smith was born into a
wealthy family clan on August 11, 1944
in Mississippi. His father died
when he
was just four years old. As a juvenile, Smith was
an invalid,
suffering from a disease
that left him unable to walk normally. He was
picked on by bullies, and he learned to
defend himself by swinging at
them with
his alloy walking stick. Cured of the disease by
the age of 10,
he became a star athlete
in high school, playing football, basketball, and
baseball.
弗雷德里克
·<
/p>
华莱士
·
史密斯
1944
年
8
月
11
日出生于密西西比州
一个富裕的家族。他四岁时父亲就离世了。
史密斯年少时被视为病残者，
因为他得了一种病，
使他无法正常
行走。
为此他常遭受坏孩子的侮辱捉弄，
他学会了挥舞合金拐杖
来保护自己。十岁时他的病治好了，到了高中他则
成了学校里的体育明星，足球、篮球、
棒球样样能行。
Smith's passion was
flying. At 15, he was operating a crop-duster
over the skyline of the Mississippi
Delta, a terrain so flat that there was
little need for radar navigation. As a
student at Yale University, he
helped
revive the Yale flying club; its alumni had
populated naval
aviation history,
including the famous
Smith
administrated the club's business end and ran a
small charter
operation in New Haven.
史密斯对飞行充满了激情。
15
岁时
，他就曾驾驶一架作物喷粉飞机
在密西西比三角洲的天际翱翔，三角洲的地形平坦开阔，
甚至都不需要雷
达导航。在耶鲁大学上学时，他参与重建了耶鲁飞行倶乐部，在美国海军
航空史的每个时期都有这一俱乐部出来的校友的身影，包括一战时期著名
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新视野大学英语第四册
-unit3A-Fred-
Smith-and-FedEx-The-vision-that-changed-
th
e-world
的
“
百万富翁飞行队
”
。史密斯负责管理俱乐部的事务
，同时还在纽黑文经
营一项小规模的租赁业务。
With his study time disrupted by
flying, his academic performance
suffered, but Smith never stopped
looking for his own
thought he had
found it when he wrote a term paper for an
economics
class. He drafted a prototype
for a transportation company that would
guarantee overnight delivery of small,
time-sensitive goods, such as
replacement parts and medical supplies,
to major US regions. The
professor
wasn't impressed and told Smith he couldn't
quantify the idea
and clearly it wasn't
feasible.
由于飞行打乱了学习时间，他的学业受到了影响，但史密斯从未停
止
寻找自己的
“
伟大想法
”
。在撰写一门经济学课程的学期论文时，他认为自
己已经找到了它。他设计了一份运输企业的经营草案，该运输企业可以确
保连夜递送小型
或时间紧迫的货品到达美国的主要地区，如替换零件、医
药用品等等。教授对这篇论文未
予重视，他告诉史密斯说，他无法量化他
的想法，并说这一想法明显不切合实际。
However, Smith was certain he
was onto something, even though
several
more years elapsed before he could turn his idea
into reality. In
the interim, he
graduated from Yale in 1966, just as America's
involvement in the Vietnam War was
deepening. Since he was a patriot
and
had attended officers' training classes, he joined
the Marines.
然而，史密斯确信自己已经发现了些什么，尽管又过了好几
年他才得
以把自己的想法付诸实施。在此期间，他于
1966
年从耶鲁大学毕业，那
时正
值美国在越战中越陷越深，而他是个充满爱国热情的人，又参加过士
官训练课程，所以他
加入了美国海军陆战队。
Smith completed
two tours in Vietnam, eventually flying more than
200 missions.
people to
subordinate their individual desires and ambitions
for the
achievement of organizational
goals,
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