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  Course 3 > Unit 3 > Passage B
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Haier Seeks Cool U.S. Image
 全文朗读

　NEW YORK, Aug 2 (Reuters) - For most American shoppers, "Made in China" may still suggest cheap toys, but China's largest household appliance maker has ambitious plans to change that with its sales of a growing range of sleek minibars.纽约，8月2日（路透社）--对大多数美国消费者来说，“中国造”可能仍意味着廉价的玩具。可是中国最大的家电制造商却雄心勃勃地力图通过销售其品种日益增多的闪亮微型冰箱来改变这一观念。

　Haier Group Co., which according to some industry estimates is the world's second-biggest maker of refrigerators, is seeking to outflank America's three major appliance makers by competing on image rather than price, and by targeting students in the hope that they will remain loyal as they get older.　依据工业界的某些估计，海尔集团公司是世界第二大冰箱制造商。目前它正力辟蹊径，以自己的形象而非价格，去击败美国三家主要家电制造商。同时海尔还瞄准学生市场，期望他们在离开学校后还会一直钟爱海尔品牌。

　And so far the strategy, which may signal the way for future campaign in the U.S. market by other Chinese consumer products companies, may be working - at least according to two arms of the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 海尔的策略可能成为中国其它消费品制造商进军美国市场的一个信号。到目前为止，这一策略算是奏效的--至少全球最大的零售商沃尔玛公司的两个核心人物是这样认为的。

　"It's not about whether they're made in China," said Melissa Berryhill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart's Sam's Club, whose last holiday season catalog featured a black Haier cooler with smoked glass doors that is big enough to chill 30 bottles of wine.　“是不是中国制造的并不重要，”沃尔玛公司萨姆会员俱乐部的发言人梅丽沙·贝瑞希尔这样说道。萨姆会员俱乐部在上一假日销售季节商品目录上重点推出了一款黑色的海尔冰箱。这个带有茶色玻璃门的冰箱可以冷藏30瓶酒。

　"They're an exceptional value," she said of the $300 luxury machine, sold along with the more ordinary Haier chest freezer that costs about $160.　梅丽沙·贝瑞希尔认为与标价160美元的更加普通的海尔冰柜比较，这款标价300美元的豪华型冰柜“确实是物超所值。”

　Wal-Mart's main discount operation in April began selling the chest freezers in half of its 2,600 stores, while most of its stores sell at least one of two versions of compact refrigerators made by Haier.　沃尔玛公司在四月举行的重要打折销售活动中，其2600家分店有一半都推出了冰柜，而大多数分店里都至少销售海尔制造的两款小型冰柜中的一种。

　"They're popular and beating our expectations on sales," said Wal-Mart spokesman Rob Phillips, who added that the Haier 4.6 cubic feet and 5 cubic feet freezers cost about the same as General Electric Co.'s comparable products, selling for around $169.沃尔玛公司的发言人罗布·菲利普斯说：“海尔冰柜很受欢迎，销售量好得出乎我们预料。”他补充说，海尔的4.6立方英尺和5立方英尺的冰柜与通用电器的同类产品价格一样，售价169美元左右。

　COLLEGE TOEHOLD
GE, Whirlpool Corp. and Maytag Corp. currently dominate the U.S. marketplace for household appliances but they tend to focus most of their attention on mainstream areas such as large refrigerators and freezers.　以大学为“据点” 通用电器公司、惠而浦公司和梅塔公司目前雄据美国家电市场之首，不过这些公司只注重大型冰箱和冷柜等主流消费领域。

　Haier, which says it currently sells $200 million worth of appliances in the U.S. annually, now claims more than a 35 percent share of the U.S. market for refrigerators 4 cubic feet and smaller - the minibars found in hotels and college dormitories.　海尔说它目前在美国的家用电器年销售额是2亿美元，宣称已在美国4立方英尺以下的小型冰箱市场占据了35%以上的份额，这些冰箱已用于宾馆和大学生寝室里。

　"When those college kids using our little refrigerators grow up and marry, we want them to be thinking of us for their first fridge," said Michael Jemal, Haier America's president, who was Haier's first U.S. distributor before setting up the unit in 1999.　海尔美国公司总裁迈克尔·杰穆说：“希望使用我们微型冰箱的大学生今后长大成家时，把海尔冰箱作为他们的首选。”早在1999年海尔美国公司成立之前，这位现任总裁就已经率先在美国销售海尔冰箱。

　Haier may need to depend less on the Chinese market because it is likely to face an increasing challenge on its own turf. China's entry into the World Trade Organization will open up Chinese manufacturers to greater foreign competition at home.海尔要减少对中国市场的依赖，因为国内市场的竞争很可能会加剧。中国加入WTO后，厂家在国内市场将面临更加激烈的外来竞争。

　Haier, which had global revenues of $5 billion last year, spent $30 million setting up a plant late last year in Camden, South Carolina that will make large Haier brand refrigerators. Company officials say they hope initiatives like that will grow U.S. sales to $1 billion by 2004.　海尔去年的全球总收为50亿美元。年底公司在南卡罗莱纳州的康登市投资3千万美元建厂生产大型海尔冰箱。公司官员称，类似的创举可望在2004年将其在美国的销售额提高到10亿美元。

　"They're building up their learning curve in the U.S., and then picking up niche markets," said Ming-Jer Chen, a professor at the Darden School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and the author of a new book, Inside Chinese Business.　弗吉尼亚大学达顿工商管理学院教授和新出版的《中国工商内情》的作者陈明哲说，海尔在“积累在美国经营的经验，然后确定市场定位。”

　BROADWAY HEADQUARTERS
The company, whose Chief Executive Zhang Ruimin is famous in China for being filmed smashing sub-standard products with a hammer, last week bought a historical bank building on Broadway in Manhattan for $14 million.　百老汇的总部 海尔公司首席执行官张瑞敏用铁锤砸烂不合格产品的电视镜头使他在中国名声大噪。上周他的公司出资1400万美元在曼哈顿区的百老汇买下了一幢历史悠久的银行大楼。

　"Buying a New York building for $14 million is not what's going to make us," said Jemal. "It's about offering the customers the products the competition doesn't have."　“用1400万在纽约买一幢大楼并不等于我们会成功，”杰穆说，“而是为了向消费者提供竞争对手缺乏的东西。”

　In the third quarter of 2002, for example, the company plans to launch stainless steel Internet-linked appliances with Flash Gordon stylings, such as a home clothes washing machine that can be started via the Internet, he said.　比如说，海尔公司计划在2002年第3季度推出联网的弗兰氏·戈登型不锈钢电器，如通过因特网就能启动的家用洗衣机等。

　To grow its brand in the U.S., the company has taken out ad space on a case-by-case basis on trolley cars at JFK International Airport in New York and on billboards in Miami and Chicago, but has not yet contracted with any of the big advertising firms. And Haier America is not only battling rival appliance makers in the U.S. - it is also manufacturing for some of them. As OEM，Haier America does about 20 to 25 percent of its manufacturing on a contract basis for other companies, including big U.S. competitors, who sell its products under their own brand names.　　　为了提高在美国的品牌知名度，海尔已着手在纽约肯尼迪国际机场的手推车上及迈阿密、芝加哥的广告牌上打广告。<br> 　　但是公司目前并未和任何一家大型广告公司签约。海尔美国公司不仅与美国的家用电器制造商竞争，同时也为其中一些对手制造产品。<br> 　　海尔美国公司制造的产品有20%至25%是为其它公司签约生产的，其中不乏海尔的主要竞争对手，它们以自己品牌销售海尔生产的产品。

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