异类之不一样的成功启示录 第83期:做自己擅长的

 The winner of a proxy¹ contest was determined² in the snake pit. (Officially, it was called the counting room.)

理权竞争人的赢家一般在“龙潭虎穴”中（正式的称呼是财务室）投票决定。

Lawyers for each side met with inspectors³ of elections, whose job it was approve or eliminate questionable⁴ proxies⁵.

双方的律师会与选举监察员一起会面。监察员的工作是批准或否决有疑问的投票权。

The event was often informal, contentious⁶ and unruly.

人们在那样的场合经常不拘小节，常争吵不休。

Adversaries⁷ were sometimes in T-shirts, eating watermelon or sharing a bottle of scotch⁸.

互为对手的人们有时穿着T恤衫，吃着西瓜或者共享一瓶苏格兰酒，

In rare cases, the results of the snake pit could swing the outcome of a contest and turn on the single ballot⁹.

在“龙潭虎穴”中争论的结果，常常很难达成共识。

Lawyers occasionally tried to fix an election by engineering the appointment of inspectors who were beholden to them; inspectors commonly smoked cigars provided by each side.

律师们偶尔会试着通过任命一个对他们心存谢意的监察员来决定一次选举。通常，监察员抽着双方提供的雪茄。

Management's lawyer would contest the proxies of the insurgents¹⁰ ("I challenge this!") and vice¹¹ versa....

管理层的律师要从叛变者的手中争夺投票权（“我抗议！”）及不道德的……

Lawyers who prevailed in the snake pid excelled at winging it.

处于“龙潭虎穴”中的律师长于此道。

There were lawyers who knew more about the rules of proxy contests, but no one was better in a fight than Joe Flom.

很多律师知道关于投票权的竞争规则，但没有人能比弗洛姆更擅长此道。

Caplan goes on. Flom was fat (a hundred pounds overweight then, one lawyer said...), physically¹² unattractive (to a partner, he resembled a frog), and indifferent to social niceties (he would fart in public or jab a cigar close to the face of someone he was talking to, without apology).

弗洛姆很胖（那时他至少超重100磅，一位律师回忆说……），体形上一点也不具有吸引力（对于合伙人来说他就像一只青蛙），不注意社交礼节（他会当众放屁，或者把手上的雪茄戳到那个跟他谈话的人的脸上，而不表示一丝歉意）。

But in the judgement of colleagues and of some adversaries, his will to win was unsurpassed and he was often mastful.

但在与同道者或者竞争者进行法庭辩护时，他的气势总咄咄逼人，结果总是他占上风。

The white-shoe law firms would call in Flom as well when some corporate¹³ raider make a run at one of their establishment clients.

那些“白鞋”层次的法律公司一旦发现有人合伙攻击他们固有的客户时，他们就会来找弗洛姆，

They wouldn't touch the case, but they were happy to outsource it to Skadden, Arps.

这些“白鞋”法律公司不喜欢这种案子，但他们很高兴把这些业务转让给世达律师事务所。

"Flom's early specialty¹⁴ was proxy fights, and that was not what we did, just like we don't do matrimonial work," said Robert Rifkind, a longtime partner at Cravath, Swaine and Moore.

“弗洛姆最初擅长的是代理人竞争的案子，而那不是我们做的领域，就像我们不做婚姻方面的一样。”罗伯特·瑞弗凯德（RobertRifkind），美国凯威律师事务所的一个长期合伙人这样说。

"And therefore we purported¹⁵ not to know about it.

“我们因此就对外宣称不了解这方面的情况，

I remember once we had an issue involving a proxy fight, and one of my senor corporate partners said, Well, let's get Joe in.

我记得我们曾经有一件案子牵涉到代理劝斗争，我的一位高级合伙人说，干脆就让乔·弗洛姆来做吧。

And he came to a conference room, and we all sat around and described the problem and he told us what to do and he left.

他来到我们的一个会议室，我们围成一团坐着，向他解释这个案子，他听完后，告诉我们应该怎样去做，然后便离开了。

And I said, 'We can do that too, you know.'

我说，‘大家知道，我们也可以这样做。’

And the partner said, 'No, no, no, you can't. We're not going to do that.'

但我的合伙人对我说，‘不，不，不，你不能这样做，我们不想做那些事。’

It was just that we didn't do it."

就这样，我们没有做成这些业务。”

1 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

2 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

3 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

5 proxies   

n.代表权( proxy的名词复数 )；（测算用的）代替物；（对代理人的）委托书；（英国国教教区献给主教等的）巡游费

参考例句：

• SOCKS and proxies are unavailable. Try connecting to XX again? socks和代理不可用。尝试重新连接到XX吗？ 来自互联网
• All proxies are still down. Continue with direct connections? 所有的代理仍然有故障。继续直接连接吗？ 来自互联网

6 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

7 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

8 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

9 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

10 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

13 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

14 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

15 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》