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Globalization is sweeping aside national borders and changing relations between nations. What impact does this have on national identities and loyalties? Are they strengthened or weakened? The author investigates.

                             In Search of Davos Man[1]

Peter Gumbel

1     William Browder was born in Princeton, New  Jersey, grew up in Chicago, and studied at Stanford University in California. But don't call him an American. For the past 16 of his 40 years he has lived outside theU.S., first in London and then, from 1996, in Moscow, where he runs his own investment firm. Browder now manages $1.6 billion in assets.[2] In 1998 he gave up his American passport to become a British citizen, since his life is now centered in Europe. "National identity makes no difference for me," he says. "I feel completely international. If you have four good friends and you like what you are doing, it doesn't matter where you are. That's globalization."
2     Alex Mandl is also a fervent believer in globalization, but he views himself very differently. A former president of AT&T, Mandl, 61, was born inAustriaand now runs a French technology company, which is doing more and more business inChina. He reckons he spends about 90% of his time traveling on business. But despite all that globetrotting, Mandl who has been aU.S.citizen for 45 years still identifies himself as an American. "I see myself as American without any hesitation. The fact that I spend a lot of time in other places doesn't change that," he says.
3     Although Browder and Mandl define their nationality differently, both see their identity as a matter of personal choice, not an accident of birth[3]. And not incidentally, both are Davos Men, members of the international business élite who trek each year to the Swiss Alpine town for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, founded in 1971. This week, Browder and Mandl will join more than 2,200 executives, politicians, academics, journalists, writers and a handful of Hollywood stars for five days of networking, parties and endless earnest discussions about everything from post-election Iraq and HIV in Africa to the global supply of oil and the implications of nanotechnology. Yet this year, perhaps more than ever, a hot topic at Davos is Davos itself. Whatever their considerable differences, most Davos Men and Women share at least one belief: that globalization, the unimpeded flows of capital, labor and technology across national borders, is both welcome and unstoppable. They see the world increasingly as one vast, interconnected marketplace in which corporations search for the most advantageous locations to buy, produce and sell their goods and services.

4     As borders and national identities become less important, some find that threatening and even dangerous. In an essay entitled "Dead Souls: The Denationalization of the American Elite," Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington describes Davos Man (a phrase that first got widespread attention in the 1990s) as an emerging global superspecies and a threat. The members of this class, he writes, are people who "have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing[4], and see national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the élite's global operations." Huntington argues that Davos Man's global-citizen self-image is starkly at odds with the values of most Americans, who remain deeply committed to their nation. This disconnect, he says, creates "a major cultural fault line[5]. In a variety of ways, the American establishment, governmental and private, has become increasingly divorced from the American people."

5     Naturally, many Davos Men don't accept Huntington's terms. Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, argues that endorsing a global outlook does not mean erasing national identity. "Globalization can never provide us with cultural identity, which needs to be local and national in nature."
6     Global trade has been around for centuries; the corporations and countries that benefited from it were largely content to treat vast parts of the world as places to mine natural resources or sell finished products. Even as the globalization of capital accelerated in the 1980s, most foreign investment was between relatively wealthy countries, not from wealthy countries into poorer ones.U.S.technology, companies and money were often at the forefront of this movement.
7     However the past two decades have witnessed the rise of other significant players. The developed world is beating a path toChina's andIndia's door — and Chinese and Indian companies, in turn, have started to look overseas for some of their future growth. Beijing has even started what it calls a "Going Out" policy that encourages Chinese firms to buy assets overseas. Asian nations are creating "a remarkable environment of innovation," says John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco Systems. "ChinaandIndiaare graduating currently more than five times the number of engineers that we are here in theU.S." That means thatU.S.and European companies are now facing high-quality, low-cost competition from overseas. No wonder so many Western workers worry about losing their jobs. "If the issue is the size of the total pie, globalization has proved a good thing[6]," says Orit Gadiesh, chairman of consultants Bain & Co. "If the issue is how the pie is divided, if you're in the Western world you could question that.[7]"
8     The biggest shift may just be starting. A landmark 2003 study by Goldman Sachs predicted that four economies — Russia, Brazil, India and China — will become a much larger force in the world economy than widely expected, based on projections of demographic and economic growth, with China potentially overtaking Germany this decade. By 2050, Goldman Sachs suggested, these four newcomers will likely have displaced all but theU.S.andJapanfrom the top six economies in the world.

9     It's also entirely possible that the near future may see the pendulum of capital swing away from Davos Man-style globalization. One counterpoint is Manila Woman — low-paid migrant workers from Asia and elsewhere who are increasingly providing key services around the world. Valerie Gooding, the chief executive of British health care company BUPA, says the British andU.S.health care system would break down without immigrant nurses from thePhilippines,India,Nigeriaand elsewhere. Unlike Davos Man, she says, they're not ambivalent about being strongly patriotic.
10   Not all Davos Men seek global markets, either. Patrick Sayer runs a private equity firm inFrancecalled Eurazeo, and complains there are still too many barriers to cross-border business in Europe, let alone the world. So he's focused Eurazeo on its domestic market. "I profit from being French inFrance. It's easier for me to do deals," Sayer says. "It's the same elsewhere. If you're not Italian inItaly, you won't succeed."
11   That may sound like a narrow nationalism, yet it contains a hidden wisdom. Recall thatItalyitself was, until 1861, not a unified nation but an aggregation of city-states. Despite tension between its north and south, there's no contradiction between maintaining a regional identity and a national one. Marco Tronchetti Provera, chairman of Telecom Italia, for example, can feel both Milanese and Italian at once, even as he runs a company that is aspiring to become a bigger international presence. The question is whether it will take another 140 years for Davos Man to figure out how to strike the same balance on a global scale.

1. Difficult Sentences

Browder now manages $1.6 billion in assets.

What information can you get from the sentence?

  (=Browder is quite a rich businessman and right now there are $1.6 billion

    worth of assets under at his investment firm.)

   2. Translate the sentence into Chinese

   (=布劳德如今掌管着价值16亿美元的资产。)

"National identity makes no difference for me," he says.  

  Why does Browder say so?

  (=Because he doesn’t think he only belongs to the countries he was born,

   studied, or worked. He shares the history, culture, or language of other

   countries. He is undoubtedly international.)

Although Browder and Mandl define their nationality differently, both

  see their identity as a matter of personal choice, not an accident of

  birth.

  1. How do you understand “not an accident of birth”?

    (=not the place of their birth)

  2. Translate the sentence into Chinese

   (=虽然布劳德和曼德尔对各自的国籍界定不同，他们都将国籍视为个人选择，

     而不是由出生地决定的。)

Whatever their considerable differences, most Davos Men and Women share at least one belief: that globalization, the unimpeded flows of capital, labor and technology across national borders, is both welcome and unstoppable.

  1. Underline the main structure of the sentence.

     (=most Davos Men and Women share … one belief: that

       Globalization,…,is both welcome and unstoppable.)

  2. Translate the sentence into Chinese

   (=尽管与会男女各不相同，但他们大多数有一个共同信念：全球化，亦即资

本、劳动力和技术不受阻碍地跨国界流动，是值得欢迎和不可阻挡的。)

This disconnect, he says, creates "a major cultural fault line.

  1. What can we infer from the sentence?

   (=Years ago, people loved their country and considered national

      Identity important.)

  2. Paraphrase the sentence

   (=The disconnection forms an important line dividing a culture into two

      camps, which is likely to cause problems.)

"If the issue is how the pie is divided, if you're in the Western world

   you could question that."

  1. What does “that” refer to?

   (=It refers to globalization.)

  2. Translate the sentence into Chinese

    (=如果问题在于蛋糕怎么分，而你又是西方人，那你就会质疑全球化。)

2. Words and Expressions

globalization: n.  free flows of capital, labor, technology, and personal contact across national borders  

* Some see the spread of English as an international language as just another consequence of globalization.

 (=Thanks to globalization, the burger you buy in Moscow is exactly the same as the one you buy in New York.)

sweep aside: clear away or get rid of suddenly or   forcefully; refuse to pay attention to sth./ sb. says

* Anyway, by then she was sure that Julius would simply have swept any

 curbs aside.

他们对所有的反对意见不予理睬。

(=They swept all the objections aside.)

Pattern:

sweep away                                扫清, 迅速消灭

sweep out                                   扫掉; 清除

sweep over                                 眺望, 环视

sweep up                                    打扫干净, 收拾干净

strengthen: vt. become stronger or make sth. stronger

 We must strengthen the weak links.

(=The President's first priority was to strengthen the economy.)

asset: n.

1) (usu. pl) money or property that a person or company owns

 *Copyrights, patents, trademarks, brand names, and trade secrets are all part of a company’s intangible assets.

    目前，他们的资产有623万美元。

(=Currently, they have $6,230,000 in assets.)

2) an advantage or a resource

*The most powerful asset we have is our skilled, dedicated workforce.

 (=A sense of humor is an important asset for any teacher.)

Collocation:

capital/ fixed assets                                       资本/固定资产

cash assets                                                   现金资产

liquid/ circulating/ current assets        流动资产

net assets                                               净资产

make no / little difference: have no / little effect (on), be of no / little importance (to)  

*That does not mean it makes no difference to social welfare which rules we settle upon.

 姚明的缺席似乎对休斯顿火箭队没有太大的影响。

(=The absence of Yao Ming seemed to make little difference to the performance of the Houston Rockets.)

identify…as: recognize and correctly name someone or sth.

 *His accent identified him as a Frenchman.

 (=The policeman identified him as the thief.)

elite: n. a group of people who have a lot of power and influence because they have money, knowledge, or special skills

*Only a small elite can afford to send their children to this school.

这些人构成了有决定权的精英集团。

 (=These people form an elite who have the power to make decisions. )

Collocation:

political/social/economic elite   政治/社会/经济精英

a handful of:  a very small number of people or things:

*That place was of little interest. I only took a handful of pictures.

 (=What counts is having a handful of young that are exceptional.)

earnest: adj. marked by or showing deep sincerity or seriousness

*Friends described Jackson as an earnest, hard-working young man.

   你可以笑，但我绝对是认真的。

(=You may laugh but I’m in deadly earnest. )

Collocation:

in  earnest                 郑重地；严肃认真

CF: earnest, serious, severe

这三个形容词均有“严肃的”之意。

earnest  指严肃，认真，含诚恳和热情意味。例如:

* I could tell she was speaking in earnest. 我看得出来她的话是当真的。

serious  指具有关键、严肃或严重意义的事情。例如:

*We give serious consideration to safety recommendations. 我们认真考虑安全建议。

severe   指面孔的严肃，法律的严厉，伤病的严重。着重严厉性，无丝毫温情。

例如:

*Many people feel the punishment should have been more severe. 许多人认为惩罚本应该更加严厉些。

considerable: adj.  fairly large, especially large enough to have an effect or be important

 * Attracting tourists to the area is going to take considerable effort.

 (=A considerable amount of research was done here by our science department.)

interconnect: vi. connect to or with each other

   * Our operating system can now interconnect with other networks.

   人们的生活是如何互相联系在一起的, 真是不可思议。

(=It’s strange how people’s lives interconnect.)

advantageous: adj. helpful and likely to make you successful

 * Many bus companies provide advantageous fare tickets especially for tourists.

你会发现等几周再作答复是很有好处的。

(=You may find it advantageous to wait a few weeks before replying.)

NB: “advantageous” 的名词形式为 “advantage”。与其搭配常用的短语是：

“have the advantage of” “有优势”; “take advantage of” “（以不正当手段）利用；占便宜”

entitle: vt.

1) give a title to给…题名，给…取名

*She was reading a poem entitled Auguries of Innocence.

 (=He entitled the book The Secret Garden.)

2) give someone the official right to do or have sth.

*Full-time employees are entitled to receive health insurance.

他们有资格享有许多优惠和特权。

(=They are entitled to enjoy many advantages and privileges.)

Pattern:

be entitled                               叫做, 称为

be entitled to (do) sth.              对...享有权利/有资格

vanish: vi. disappear suddenly, especially in a way that cannot be easily explained

   *My keys were here a minute ago but now they've vanished.

 (=The plane vanished from radar screens soon after taking off.)

CF: vanish, disappear, evaporate

这三个动词均有“消失”之意。

vanish     语气强，指完全、往往是神秘而突然的消失，不留任何蛛丝马迹。

disappear  普通用词，强调从视线或脑海中消失。这消失可能是暂时的、突然的或永久的，视上下文而定。

evaporate   指像水蒸发时那样悄然逝去，也指某人悄悄地、突然退出或离去。

(Directions:) Fill in the blanks with the words above. Change the form where necessary.

1. Drugs won't make the pain _______ altogether, but they will help.

(=disappear)

2. All hopes of finding the boy alive have _____. (=vanished)

3. Hopes of achieving peace are beginning to ______. (=evaporate)

4. Before she could scream, the man had _____into the night. (=vanished)

5. 13 year-old Nicola ______ from her home on Saturday night. (=disappeared)

6. They then fan the water so that it ______ and in doing so lowers the temperature. (=evaporates)

7. By the time of the trial, the tape had mysteriously _____. (=disappeared)

facilitate: vt. make it easier for a process or activity to happen

   * Both centers are electronically linked to facilitate communication.

   学校都建在同一校区内，以便资源共享。

(=Schools were located in the same campus to facilitate the sharing of resources.)

16. (Para. 4) at odds with: in conflict with; disagreeing or quarrelling with

    *The government decision to raise taxes was at odds with their policies on inflation.

 (=Briggs found himself at odds with his colleagues.)

Collocation:

at odds                              矛盾；不一致

it makes no odds                      没有关系，无关紧要

take odds                                 占优势

odds and ends                  小事; 不要紧的东西

be committed to: promise to do (sth.); be devoted to  

  *A lot of money has been committed to this project.

   中国承诺发展低碳经济。

(=Chinais committed to pursuing a low carbon economy.)

endorse: vt. express formal support or approval for someone or sth.

*The Prime Minister is unlikely to endorse this view.

 (=I fully endorse the measures taken to improve safety standards.)

Collocation:

endorse a proposal/an idea/a candidate   赞成提议/想法/候选人

endorse a cheque                                                 背书支票

erase: vt. get rid of sth. so that it has gone completely and no longer exists

*Their dream is to erase poverty and injustice from the world.

   没有什么东西可以使他忘记那件事。

(=Nothing can erase the incident from his memory.)

CF：erase, delete

这两个动词都有“去掉，抹去”之意。

erase   指 “把写的或画的痕迹擦去或刮掉”, 用于比喻意义时, 指“从记忆中抹去”, 例如: He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one.  他擦去了错误答案, 写上了正确答案。又如：Nothing can erase the incident from his memory. 没有什么东西可以使他忘记那件事。

delete   指“去掉、擦掉(字迹等)”、“勾掉、删掉(字句等)”, 例如:

       If you delete several words, we can put the whole story on one

       page.  如果你删去几个字, 我们可把整个故事写在一页上。

accelerate: v. (cause to) move faster or happen earlier  

* Mr Henley has accelerated his sale of shares over the past year.

选手们跑过弯道时平稳地加速。 (=The runners accelerated smoothly round the bend.)

forefront: n. the foremost part or area

   *The company has always been at the forefront of science and technology.

 (=Companies compete to stay at the forefront of research and development.)

Pattern：

at/in/to the forefront (of sth)    位于最前列；成为领导力量

keep sb/sth at/in/ to                  使…保持在最前列

come into/to                                    跃居最前列

witness:

1. vt. be present and see

  * The crash was witnessed by scores of holiday weekenders along the beach.

  20世纪80年代，电子传媒得到了空前的发展。

(=The 1980s witnessed an unprecedented increase in the scope of the electronic media.)

2. n. someone who sees a crime or an accident and can describe what happened

   * Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

   (=The witness was asked to identify the defendant in the courtroom.)

beat a path to/ beat down sb’s door: if people beat a path to your door, they are interested in sth. you are selling, a service you are providing etc.

* The new design was supposed to have consumers beating a path to their door.

现在她已经成名, 她家门庭若市。 (=Now that she has become famous, all sorts of people will be beating a path to her door.)

Pattern:

beat a path to/ beat down sb’s door       门庭若市

beat a big drum for/about                        为…鼓吹;;为…大肆宣传

beat a bargain                                        还价成交

remarkable: adj. unusual or surprising and therefore deserving attention or praise

* Clark did a remarkable job setting things up for the meeting.

 (=She has made remarkable progress.)

CF: remarkable, outstanding, striking

这三个形容词均有“显著的，引人注意的”之意。

remarkable  通常指因有与众不同的特点或优越性而引起人们注意或称道。

outstanding  通常指与同行或同类的人相比显得优秀或杰出，或具有他人或别的事物所没有的特征。

striking   强调能给观察者产生强烈而深刻印象。

(Directions:) Fill in the blanks with the words above. Change the form where necessary.

1. From the outside, the most _____aspect of the building is its tall, slender tower. (=striking)

2. It's a _____ achievement for the company. (=remarkable)

3. The lowest ranks of society showed the most ______ and significant contrasts. (=striking)

4. With her mass of black hair and pale skin she looked very ____. (=striking)

5. The book is a series of interviews with ______ artists and writers. (=outstanding)

6. His drawings are _______ for their accuracy. (=remarkable)

7. She would create something special, something _____ for her.

   (=outstanding)

landmark: n.

1) sth. that is easy to recognize, such as a tall tree or building, and that

helps you know where you are

* The Washington  Monument is a popular historical landmark.

这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

(=The tower was once a landmark for ships.)

2) one of the most important events, changes, or discoveries that

 influences someone or sth.

  * The Reform and Open Door Policy has become a landmark in Chinese history.

小孩的出世是所有相关人生活中一件大事。

(=The birth of a child is an important landmark in the lives of all concerned.)

overtake (overtook, overtaken):

1) v. go past a moving vehicle or person because you are going faster

 than them and want to get in front of them

* Before you start to overtake, make sure the road is clear ahead of you.

 (=Two trucks overtaking one another brushed him to the side.)

2) vt. catch up with or pass after catching up with

*Television soon overtook the cinema as the most popular form of

entertainment.

  在工业产量方面德国迅速超过了英国。

(=Germanyrapidly overtookBritainin industrial output.)

NB: 前缀over可以放在名词，动词，形容词前边表达“too much 过分” 的含义。例如: “overpopulation” “人口过剩”; “overwork ” “过度工作”；“overweight”“超重的”。

displace: vt. take the place of; replace

* Coal has been displaced by natural gas as a major source of energy.

 (=Some of the companies that have been displaced have, in their time, displaced others.)

elsewhere: adv.  in, at, or to another place

  *He'll work as a freelance consultant, unless he finds a better job   elsewhere.

 我们最喜欢去的那家饭店客满了, 因此不得不改去别处

 (=Our favourite restaurant was full so we had to go elsewhere.)

patriotic: adj. having or expressing a great love of your country

* Relatives remembered him as a deeply patriotic man.

 (=The presidential candidate said paying higher taxes was a patriotic act.)

let alone: much less; not to mention

  * Many thousands of children had never even seen, let alone owned a pair of shoes.

  他连带领保龄球队的本事都没有，更别提领导国家了。

(=He was incapable of leading a bowling team, let alone a country.)

Pattern:

let sb /sth. be                           别打扰，不干预

let sth. drop/ fall                 无意中说出，不经意透露

let sb./sth. go                           放，释放

domestic: adj. relating to or happening in one particular country and not involving any other countries

* Security on domestic flights in theUShas been stepped up considerably.

 (=History books do not tell us much about the domestic lives of our

 ancestors.)

strike a balance: give the correct amount of importance or       attention to two separate things

*Effective organizations will strike a balance that allows them not only to accept uncertainty but to take advantage of it.

他发现平衡家庭和工作的关系是很困难的。

(=He was finding it difficult to strike a balance between his family and his work.)

[1] This text is adapted from the January 31, 2005 issue of Time.

[2] Browder now manages $1.6 billion in assets.: Right now there are $1.6 billion worth of assets under Browder’s management at his investment firm.

[3] both see their identity as a matter of personal choice, not an accident of birth: both believe it is themselves, not the place of their birth, that decides their identity

[4] view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing: regard national boundaries as obstacles that are disappearing, which is a piece of good news for them

[5] a major cultural fault line: an important line dividing a culture into two camps, which is likely to cause problems

[6] If the issue is the size of the total pie, globalization has proved a good thing: Globalization is good in that it helps make the pie bigger.

[7] If the issue is how the pie is divided, if you're in the Western world you could question that.: When it comes to the question of how the pie is divided, Westerners could worry that non-Westerners might begin to take away a bigger share of the pie.