Edward Snowden and the NSA leaks
合同工斯诺登踢爆美国国安局监控行动
Without question, the scandal of the year: The U.S. government still doesn't know the number of secrets Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor-gone-rogue, snuck out of the country with last June. The strands to this scandal are many: from the extent of government spying at home and abroad to the ease with which a single contractor got a security clearance, fled the country with untold amounts of sensitive data, and outran that government on a wild goose chase. And the scandal, of course, is still unfolding.
毫无疑问，这是今年最大的丑闻：美国政府至今仍不确定爱德华•斯诺登到底掌握了多少秘密。这位“潜伏”在美国国家安全局（National Security Agency，NSA）的合同工于去年六月秘密逃往国外。这起丑闻涉及多个方面，比如：政府在国内外进行暗中监控的程度，合同工竟然可以轻易获得安全许可，掌握大量敏感数据的斯诺登能够顺利逃往国外，而政府只能望洋兴叹。目前，这出闹剧仍未收场。
Bangladesh factory collapse
孟加拉服装厂塌楼致千人死亡
The deadliest accident in the history of the garment industry -- something you would have expected in 1813 rather than 2013 -- killed 1,100 workers in Bangladesh last April, after the factory in which they worked collapsed. The disaster was entirely preventable -- the owner had violated building code and failed to heed repeated warnings that it was unsafe -- and the incident prompted a rethink among Western clothing companies that rely on the cheap labor (and substandard conditions and facilities) in Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter of clothing behind China, to keep their costs low.
这是成衣行业史上最严重的一次事故。或许有人会以为这样的事故只应该发生在1813年，而不是两百年后的今天。去年四月，孟加拉一家工厂倒塌，造成1,100名工人死亡。这场灾难本来是完全可以避免的——这家工厂的老板违反了建筑规范，却对工厂不安全的持续警告置之不理。为了降低成本，许多西方服装公司依赖孟加拉的廉价劳动力（和低于标准的工作条件与设施），此次事故也促使他们对这种做法进行反思。孟加拉是仅次于中国的世界第二大服装出口国。
The disastrous debut of Healthcare.gov
美国医保网站“灾难性”上线
Where to begin? The glitches, the website crashes, the dismally low enrollment numbers. It's hard to see the Oct. 1 launch of Obamacare and its virtual face, Healthcare.gov, as anything but a disaster. In the much-awaited initiative's first month, the site was offline more than it was online. Notably, the contractors the government hired for the enormous project, including Canadian outfit CGI Federal, have emerged relatively unscathed.
从那里说起呢？故障频频、网站崩溃、极少的注册人数。无论从哪个角度来看，10月1日推出的奥巴马医改计划及其网站Healthcare.gov的上线只能用“灾难”这个词来形容。这个公众期待已久的网站在上线后的一个月里大部分时间都处于离线状态。尤其是，政府为这个重大项目所聘请的承包商，包括加拿大CGI Federal公司等，却几乎没有受到太大影响。
JP Morgan, scandal machine
摩根大通沦为丑闻制造机
The nation's biggest bank was in the news a lot this year, and rarely for something not related to one of its many past or present scandals. From the fresh investigation into the bank's questionable recruiting practices in China, targeting the children of the elite and politically powerful, to the billions of dollars it's had to shell out for its part in other scandals related to Bernie Madoff, mortgage-backed securities, manipulation of electricity markets, and the London Whale, it has not been a great year for JPMorgan (JPM,Fortune 500).
美国最大的银行今年频频登上各大媒体，而且几乎都是因为它之前或者现在的丑闻。这家银行在中国大量雇佣精英和高官子女的可疑做法正在接受调查。因涉嫌伯纳德•麦道夫抵押贷款担保证券丑闻，它不得不支付数十亿美元。此外，操纵电力市场案和“伦敦鲸”事件等更是让它雪上加霜。今年可谓摩根大通（JPMorgan）的多事之年。
GlaxoSmithKline bribery scandal
葛兰素史克爆出在华行贿丑闻
Chinese officials detained employees of the British pharmaceutical company last summer for allegedly using travel agents to bribe doctors, hospitals, and government officials to sell more expensive drugs in the country. GSK is cooperating with the investigation, but sales still fell 60% in the third quarter. Other multinational drug companies in China, believed to fall under similar suspicion, have changed their marketing practices.
去年夏天，中国官方拘留了英国制药公司葛兰素史克（GlaxoSmithKline）的员工，原因是这家公司涉嫌通过旅行社，向医生、医院和政府官员行贿，以达到扩大昂贵药物在华销量的目的。虽然葛兰素史克配合了中国政府的调查，但他第三季度的销量依然减少了60%。有类似嫌疑的其他跨国医药公司也纷纷改变了在中国的营销策略。
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