評論
打印
Reporter : How did you spend your spare time? Obviously, you were an athlete.
記者：您怎樣打發自己的空閑時間呢？很明顯，您以前是一名運動員。
Smith: I always loved to play sports and that was the biggest avocation I had as a youngster. I suspect that I was unusual in the amount of reading I did. I loved to read when I was young, I love to read today. I still spend a tremendous amount of time doing that.
史密斯：我喜歡運動，那也是我年輕的時候最大的業余愛好。我甚至懷疑自己在閱讀量方面有些不正常。我年輕的時候喜歡閱讀，我現在仍然喜歡閱讀，我仍然會花很多的時間在閱讀上。
Reporter: Are there any other useful and influential books that come to your mind from your childhood?
記者：您能想起童年的時候還讀過一些什么樣的有用的或是有影響力的書呢？
Smith: I remember reading a biography of General Lee, of course, which was obligatory for any kid from the South. Perhaps he was working for not a very good cause, but the way the man conducted his affairs and managed his life were exemplary. I think that had a very big effect on me.
史密斯：我記得我還讀過一本有關于李將軍的傳記，當然那對于南部的孩子來說是必讀的一本書。也許他的事業并非正義的，但他處理事務以及管理自己的人生的方式都是值得我們學習。我認為，那對我有很大的影響。
Reporter: How did you get along with your classmates?
記者：您怎樣與班級的同學們相處呢？
Smith: I was okay in that regard. I had a lot of buddies， and got in my share of scrapes and jams, the same way everybody does. The occasional schoolyard tussle and pulling a prank every once in a while，nothing really serious.
史密斯：我在那方面做得很好。像其他學生一樣，我有很多能夠與我同甘共苦的伙伴。偶爾也會參加一些校園的爭斗，進行一些惡作劇等，但那些都不是嚴重的事情。
Reporter: When did you know what you wanted to do with your life?
記者：您什么時候有了自己生活的目標的呢？
Smith: I didn’t really decide that until I was in the Marine Corps and decided that I wanted to go into business.
史密斯：直到我在海軍陸戰隊里的時候，我才決定了我想要進軍商業領域。
Reporter: How were you affected by your Vietnam experience? Were they positive or negative?
記者：您在越南的經歷給您的生活帶來怎樣的影響呢？那些影響是積極的還是消極的？
Smith: Profoundly, in many ways, some good, some bad. Obviously, the war was a very traumatic thing for all of us who participated in it. Clearly, one of the great historical mistakes of all times. Barbara Tuchman wrote a great book about the great historical mistakes: George III losing the colonies, the Catholic Church losing the monopoly on Christendom, and Johnson’s prosecution of the Vietnam War. For those of us who were in it，it was very traumatic, as anything like that would be, but there were some good things about it, too. I learned an awful lot in the Marine Corps—particularly about, I think, how to treat people, lead people-which has played a big role in FedEx. A big part of the employee relations systems and all that we have at our company came from my experience in the service. The Marine Corps is the best when it comes to teaching people how folks. And so, it had a profound experience bad，some good.
史密斯：它從很多方面給我帶來了很大的影響，有好的影響，也有不好的影響。當然，這場戰爭給每一個參加到其中的人帶來了精神創傷。很顯然，這是很大的一次歷史錯誤。芭芭拉·塔奇曼寫了一本有關重大歷史錯誤的偉大的書。書中提到的錯誤就有：喬治三世失去了他的殖民地，天主教堂失去了在基督教世界的壟斷權，約翰遜對于越南戰爭的訴訟。對于每一個參加到那次戰爭中的人來說，那都是一次精神上的巨大創傷，就像其他的戰爭一樣，但是其實它也有好的一面。我在海軍陸戰隊學到了很多東西，尤其是怎樣對待別人， 怎樣領導別人，后者對于聯邦快遞來說是很重要的一方面。我們公司的員工關系體系及其他的一些方面很大程度上都來自于我在海軍陸戰隊里得到的經驗。 在訓練一個人如何領導他人方面，海軍陸戰隊做的是最好的。因此我說，那次經歷給我的影響很深，有好的方面的，也有不好的方面的。
