She never had a chance.
她从一开始就没有机会。
The odds were against newly deposed Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz from the very day she joined, in January 2009.
对刚被解职的雅虎首席执行长巴尔茨（Carol Bartz）来说，从2009年1月加入雅虎的第一天起，她成功的机会就十分渺茫。
In fact, this company's dismal fate was sealed back in February 2008 when the Yahoo board (the same one that hired and fired Bartz) stupidly turned down Microsoft's $45+ billionacquisition offer.
事实上，在2008年2月雅虎董事会（聘用和解雇巴尔茨都是同一个董事会）愚蠢地拒绝了微软450多亿美元的收购要约时，雅虎公司的惨淡命运就已经注定了。
Squeezed by Google and Apple, Yahoo's business was pretty far gone by 2008. Now with an ascendant Facebook, it's even more far gone, never to return.
由于受到谷歌（Google）和苹果的（Apple）的挤压，雅虎的业务在2008年就已经相当艰难。如今加上冉冉升起的Facebook，雅虎更是处于水深火热之中，踏上了不归路。
The truth is that no CEO could turn around Yahoo--and please spare me the great Steve Jobs Apple comeback story.
事实是，没有哪个CEO能拯救雅虎──乔布斯（Steve Jobs）令苹果起死回生的伟大故事就不用跟我赘述了。
Jobs is the extraordinaryexception that that proves the rule: most CEOs are more lucky than good.
乔布斯是个非同寻常的特例，而他恰恰证明了这个规律：大多数CEO更多的是靠运气而不是能力。
If you still won't let go of your 'great man theory' of corporate CEOs, then consider General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt, now finishing his first decade as the big boss of what once was America's premier blue-chip corporation.
如果你还不愿意放弃公司CEO的"伟人论"，那么就想想通用电气CEO伊梅尔特（Jeff Immelt）吧。他即将结束在通用电气的第一个十年任期，通用电气一度是美国领先的蓝筹公司。
Since Immelt took over, GE's share price is down more than 60%. Its revenues have grown at less than 2% annually. It has lost its AAA rating and cut its dividend.
自伊梅尔特掌权以来，通用电气的股价跌了60%以上，收入年增长率不到2%，失去了AAA评级并削减了股息。
But is it Chairman and CEO Immelt who is actuallyresponsible for these outcomes? The answer Immelt gave in a recent WSJ interview was 'sort of, but not really.'
但造成这些结果的真是公司董事长兼CEO伊梅尔特吗？在最近接受《华尔街日报》采访时，伊梅尔特给出的答案是"差不多，但不完全是"。
'The past 10 years have been a mess from a macro standpoint. I mean 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Fukushima. I mean, I could go down a list. Not that I want a crying towel, but the macro scene has been horrific. And in that process, we have gone from being a 40 or 50 P/E stock to - if you look at analyst projections of 2012, we trade at 10 times 2012 earnings.'
伊梅尔特说，从宏观的角度来看，过去10年可谓一团糟，我是说911、卡特里娜飓风、福岛核电站；这样的事件枚不胜举；我并不是想哭诉，但总体局势实在是太恐怖了；在这十年间，我们的市盈率曾经达到40或50倍，而如今按照分析师的预测，2012年市盈率为10倍。
Put another way, 'I know I'm the guy in charge, but don't blame me. Nobody's really in charge of what happens in today's big, scary world.'
换句话说，"我知道我是负责的那个人，但别怪我；没有人能真正掌控在如今这个庞大恐怖的世界所发生的事。"
For many of America's investors, Immelt's confession is an apostasy. After all, we insist on believing in the 'great' CEO - the chieftain who can turn losses into profits, make a bad business good and carry the world on her shoulders. But do such CEOs actually exist?
对许多美国的投资者来说，伊梅尔特的坦白是一种背信。毕竟，我们一直坚信有这样一种"伟大的"CEO，他是一位能扭亏为盈的领袖，能将糟糕的企业变得蒸蒸日上，以一己之力扛起所有重担。但这种CEO真的存在吗？
Hewlett-Packard's Mark Hurd was a 'great' CEO until suddenly he wasn't as skepticism mounts about its business. Cisco's John Chambers was once a 'great' CEO, but no more as Cisco's best days are behind it. Ford's Alan Mullaly is now hailed as a 'great' CEO. But would he have been great enough to save GM from bankruptcy? By pinning the blame for GE's lackluster performance on 'macro' factors, Immelt is merely acknowledging that timing, circumstance and good luck often matter much more than the CEO himself.
惠普（Hewlett-Packard）的赫德（Mark Hurd）是一位"伟大的"CEO，直到随着对公司的质疑之声越来越多，他突然之间不再伟大。思科（Cisco）的钱伯斯（John Chambers）曾经是一位"伟大的"CEO，但这样的称号也随着思科的辉煌时光一同逝去。福特（Ford）的穆拉利（Alan Mullaly）现在被奉为"伟大的"CEO。但如果他任职的是通用汽车(GM)，他能挽救通用汽车于破产境地吗？伊梅尔特把通用电气不景气的表现归因于"宏观"因素，这只不过就是承认时机、环境和好运气往往比CEO本身重要得多。
Certainly, it must irk Immelt that Jack Welch, his predecessor, built a reputation as America's 'greatest' corporate CEO on the back of GE Finance, the very division that in 2009 almost ended General Electric's 107 years of existence.
伊梅尔特的前任韦尔奇（Jack Welch）凭借通用金融(GE Finance)的业绩而成为美国"最伟大的"CEO。这一点肯定会令伊梅尔特很不爽。2009年通用电气107年的历史差点就因为这家金融子公司而划上句号。
Which brings us back to Carol Bartz, the now irked ex-CEO of Yahoo. (Just check out that farewell e-mail!) Over the last four years, Yahoo has churned through three CEOs and plenty of other well-paid senior execs. None of them have been able to rejuvenate Yahoo's dying business model or clean up the mess with Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba.
这种情况又让我们想起了巴尔茨，她现在已经成了恼火的雅虎前CEO。（只要看看那封告别邮件就知道了！）过去四年来，雅虎换了三届CEO和大量其他高薪高管。没有一个人能重振雅虎奄奄一息的商业模式或收拾与中国电子商务巨头阿里巴巴之间的烂摊子。
No doubt, Bartz made her fair share of mistakes in her 32-month tenure there. But undoubtedly her biggest mistake was believing any CEO could fix Yahoo, including her.
毫无疑问，巴尔茨在雅虎32个月的任期内犯了一些错误。但她最大的错误无疑是相信会有CEO能拯救雅虎，包括她自己。
Evan Newmark
- extraordinary [ik´strɔ:dinəri]
a.非常的；额外的 (初中英语单词) - exception [ik´sepʃən] n.例外；反对，异议 (初中英语单词)
- premier [´premiə] n.总理 a.首要的 (初中英语单词)
- actually [´æktʃuəli] ad.事实上；实际上 (初中英语单词)
- responsible [ri´spɔnsəbəl] a.尽责的；责任重大的 (初中英语单词)
- interview [´intəvju:] n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈 (初中英语单词)
- charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
- performance [pə´fɔ:məns] n.履行；行为；工作 (初中英语单词)
- finance [´fainæns] n.财政；金融 vt.资助 (初中英语单词)
- farewell [feə´wel] int.再见 n.&a.告别 (初中英语单词)
- undoubtedly [ʌn´dautidli] ad.无疑地，确实地 (初中英语单词)
- dismal [´dizməl] a.灰暗的；阴郁的 (高中英语单词)
- billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
- decade [´dekeid] n.十年(间) (高中英语单词)
- annually [´ænjuəli] ad.每年；按年计算 (高中英语单词)
- confession [kən´feʃən] n.招供；认错；交待 (高中英语单词)
- senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
- standpoint [´stændpɔint] n.立场；观点 (英语四级单词)
- hurricane [´hʌrikən] n.飓风 (英语四级单词)
- bankruptcy [´bæŋkrʌptsi] n.破产 (英语四级单词)
- predecessor [´pri:disesə] n.前任；前辈 (英语四级单词)
- reputation [repju´teiʃən] n.名誉；名声；信誉 (英语四级单词)
- acquisition [,ækwi´ziʃən] n.获得；获得物 (英语六级单词)
- chieftain [´tʃi:ftən] n.(强盗)首领；族长 (英语六级单词)
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