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启程前往澳洲参加橄榄球世界杯赛之前，南非队队员都必须参加一个为时三天的训练营。在那里，训练者要求队员脱得一丝不挂，跳进冰冷的湖中，在水下给橄榄球打气。有些运动员熬不住想出来，其中包括队长考恩•克瑞奇（Corne
Krige），但训练者用枪逼着他们下水。
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Before
leaving for the Rugby World Cup in Australia, the South African team were
ordered to attend a three-day training camp. There they were told to strip
naked, jumpsintosa freezing lake and pump up rugby balls underwater.
Players who tried to climb out, including Corne Krige, the captain, were
forced back at gunpoint.
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根据《约翰内斯堡星期日时报》（Johannesburg Sunday Times）的报道，训练者还让队员裸体挤进一个洞里，用“天佑吾皇”的歌声，用新西兰赛前的战斗口号“哈卡”来捉弄他们。最后，他们总算获准去睡觉了。但每隔15分钟，就有枪声把他们惊醒。
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The
players, the Johannesburg Sunday Times reported, were also crammed naked
sintosa hole,swheresthey were taunted with renditions of "God Save the
Queen" and the Haka, the New Zealand pre-match war cry. When they
were finally permitted to sleep, they were woken every 15 minutes by
gunfire.
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商业领袖们质问，一流运动员的收入太高了，为什么没有人站出来反对？他们忘了，没有几个企业会在拓展训练课程中要求学员赤身裸体。还有，别看报上常有“舆论枪口下的首席执行官之类的标题，其实还是比喻，南非的运动员被枪指着训练，那才是货真价实。
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Business
leaders who ask why no one objects to how much top athletes earn should
remember that few company Outward Bound courses require participants to
strip, and that the headline "Chief executive under fire" is
usually metaphorical.
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过去，英国的首席执行官总是对体育明星、流行歌手、电视名人的收入口诛笔伐。大概在15年前，顶尖的企业执行官们年薪开始上百万的时候，如有不平者，他们则以商业歧视、妒忌文化这样的说法来解释。他们说，运动员踢几脚球，演员在舞台上蹦蹦跳跳，就能大把挣钱，生意人负责成千上万的工作岗位，为什么就不能拿高薪？他们还说，美国人就不对首席执行官们的收入说三道四。
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Moaning
about sports stars' earnings, as well as those of pop singers and
television celebrities, was once the preserve of British chief executives.
When, about 15 years ago, top UK executives starting earning more than
£1m a year, many of them ascribed the resulting outcry to Britain's
anti-business bias and its culture of envy. Why shouldn't business people,
responsible for tens of thousands of jobs, earn as much as someone who
kicked a ball or pranced around a stage for a living? Americans, they
pointed out, did not whine about their chief executives' pay.
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但美国人现在也开始说三道四了。最近沃顿商学院的一篇评论中写道：“奥普拉•温弗莉（Oprah
Winfrey）, 迈克尔•乔丹，理查德•格拉索（Richard
Grasso）：三人有何共同点？他们的收入都是天价，但是只有其中一人为此遭到公开的批评和挖苦。”
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They
do now, as a recent commentary from Wharton business school noted.
"Oprah Winfrey. Michael Jordan. Richard Grasso. What do these three
have in common? All have been paid astounding amounts of money, yet only
one has been openly criticised and ridiculed because of it," the
commentary said.
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格拉索先生因接受总价值达1.875亿美元的高薪，被迫辞去纽约政交所主席一职。杰克•韦尔奇在任通用电器董事长期间其成绩大受褒奖，但最后却因退休金过高而遭人非议。
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Mr
Grasso was forced out of office for accepting a pay package worth .5m
as head of the New York Stock Exchange. Jack Welch, much admired for his
achievements as chairman of General Electric, was later derided for his
retirement perks.
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沃顿商学院在评论中接着问：“那么，为什么企业总裁薪水过高会遭到猛烈攻击，而迈克尔•乔丹这样的运动员和奥普拉•温弗莉这些娱乐界人士同样拿着天价报酬，却并未招人嫉恨？”
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"Why
is it, then, that corporate executives are coming under fire for excessive
pay when athletes like Michael Jordan and entertainers like Oprah Winfrey
seem to stir no such feelings of resentment?" the Wharton school
asked.
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沃顿表示，其中一个原因就是运动员和娱乐人士谋生之术在“崇拜者的眼中一揽无余。”首席执行官却常常不见首尾，他们不是在自己的办公室，就是在会议室或者飞机上。即使人们能亲眼看到他们，也弄不明白他们究竟在做什么。30多年前，加拿大管理学教授亨利•明兹伯格（Henry
Mintzberg）就对首席执行官所做的事进行过研究，结论是首席执行官们什么事都干不长，总是隔几分钟就从一件事跳到另一件事上。
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One
reason, Wharton said, was that what athletes and entertainers did for a
living was "clearly evident to their fans". Chief executives are
mostly out of sight, in their offices, in meetings, or on aircraft. Even
those who see them up close struggle to work out what they do. More than
30 years ago, Henry Mintzberg, the Canadian management professor, studied
what chief executives did and concluded that they did not do anything for
very long, hopping from one task to another every few minutes.
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体育娱乐界人士成功就是成功，失败就是失败，一目了然。这是人们比较容易接受明星高薪的另一层原因。南非运动员被枪指着裸体下水也没有多大益处。小组赛就被英国队打败，在四分之一决赛中又被新西兰淘汰出局。而新西兰最后又在半决赛中被澳大利亚打败。
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A
second reason people find it easier to accept athletes' and entertainers'
financial rewards is that their success or failure is so clear-cut.
Skinny-dipping at gunpoint did not do the South Africans much good. They
lost to England in the preliminary rounds and were knocked out by New
Zealand in the quarter-finals. The New Zealanders were, in turn, beaten by
Australia in the semi-finals.
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运动员一旦失败，是没有什么借口可讲的。他们不同于首席执行官们，不能去归咎于不利的市场形势、货币走向、非典、伊战、夏季多雨，或是冬季暖冬。在另一场半决赛中，英国队打败了法国队，法国队并未怪罪倾盆大雨。法国教练伯纳德•拉波特（Bernard
Laporte）说：“不错，下雨对比赛有非常大影响，但是我们毕竟是一流球队。”英国队适应了当时的环境，而法国却没有。
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For
losing athletes, there are no excuses. Unlike chief executives, they
cannot blame adverse market conditions, currency movements, Sars, the Iraq
war, the wet summer or the mild winter. When England defeated France in
the other semi-final, the French did not complain about the swirling rain.
Bernard Laporte, the French coach, said: "It is true the rain had a
massive impact on the game, but we are a top team." England adapted
to the conditions; France did not.
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运动爱好者都知道，他们的崇拜者运动寿命都短得要命。一旦出现失败，或是重大伤病，他们或许会就此马放南山。有点文化的可以改行当记者、做播音，有些可以找支队伍当教练（但这一行也同样不易）。其余的，就只剩下奖牌和回忆。首席执行官的职业寿命也不能算长，但是他们升上高位之前就有了不菲收入，一旦被炒鱿鱼，补偿更多。在体育中，失败者是没有什么补偿可言的。
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Sports
fans know their heroes' careers can be brutally short. Defeat can spell
the end; so can a catastrophic injury. The more literate may find careers
in sports journalism or broadcasting. Others may opt for the equally
unforgiving world of team management. The rest have to be content with
their medals and memories. Chief executives do not last long either, but
they earn plenty before they achieve high office, and even more when they
are sacked. In sport, there are no rewards for failure.
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体育和娱乐界人士和首席执行官的另外一个差别是，前者的薪水不是由同僚来决定的。企业里或许会设有薪酬委员会，委员中也不乏独立董事。但在外面的人看来，他们仍像是首席执行官的朋友。
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Another
difference is that, unlike those of chief executives, athletes and
entertainers' salaries are not decided by their peers. Corporate
compensation committees might be staffed by independent directors. To the
outside world, they still look like the chief executives' friends.
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运动员的薪酬市场并非十全十美。美国的体育队伍也不完全是按商业方式运作。他们的拥有者能够接受企业所无法容忍的失败。欧洲的体育队伍更趋商业化，足球运动员的薪水要求已经让很多俱乐部到了破产边缘。
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The
market for athletes' pay does not work perfectly. Not all US sports teams
are run on a commercial basis. Their owners accept losses that no company
could tolerate. While European sports teams are more business-like,
football players' pay demands have forced many clubs to the point of ruin.
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娱乐市场直截了当。出唱片如果能卖出去，办音乐会如果满座，你就能几百万几百万地赚。要是没什么反响那就等着喝西北风吧。
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The
entertainment market is straightforward. Make recordings that sell, fill
stadiums for your concerts, and you earn millions. Fail to make an impact
and you earn nothing.
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我们能认同体育娱乐人士的财富，最重要的原因是我们观看他们的表演，而且边看边思考，自己身临其境。对大多数人来说，这只是幻觉。但是“流行偶像”(Pop
Idol)之类节目正是靠这种幻觉发达的。无数儿童幻想自己有朝一日能出一张高踞排行榜榜首的唱片。不能否认，也有儿童幻想自己成为通用电器、联合利华之类企业的首席执行官，但是对这些儿童，同学们总是侧目而视。（想当比尔•盖茨是另外一回事，这样的话，就去自己当老板吧，想挣多少挣多少，没人来烦你。）
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But
the biggest reason we accept athletes and entertainers' riches is that we
watch them and think: that could be me. For most, it is an illusion, but
television programmes such as Pop Idol thrive on it. Millions of children
dream of recording a No 1 hit, scoring a last-minute goal or hitting a
winning home run. There are, no doubt, kids who dream of becoming chief
executive of GE or of Unilever, but their schoolmates regard them as
deeply peculiar. (Wanting to be the next Bill Gates is another matter, but
then those who build their own businesses can earn as much as they want
without anyone bothering them.)
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运动员和娱乐明星载着我们的梦想，而没有哪个首席执行官能同样地载这些梦想。在与法国队交锋之前，英国队的外侧前卫明星强尼•威尔金森（Jonny
Wilkinson）似乎失去了往日风采。而到了星期天，他的风采又重现了，在英国队24:7的大比分胜利的比赛中，每一分都有他的份。为什么能这样？因为几百万的人在鼓励着他，这些人都真心支持《伦敦标准晚报》（London
Evening Standard）的一则赛前报道标题：“强尼,
这不是橄榄球，而是生活本身。”没有人会对英国石油公司第三季度的业绩说同样的话。
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Athletes
and pop stars carry our dreams in a way that no chief executive ever
could. Before the game against France, Jonny Wilkinson, England's star
fly-half, appeared to have lost his touch. He found it on Sunday, kicking
every point in England's 24-7 victory. He did so with the urging of
millions who heartily endorsed the headline in a pre-match report in the
London Evening Standard that said: "This is not just rugby, Jonny -
this is life itself." They never say that about BP's third-quarter
results. xref michael.skapinker@ft.com
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作者邮箱：michael.skapinker@ft.com
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译者/柏林
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