評論
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Business.
商業。
Business ethics.
經營道德。
Going bananas.
購買香蕉。
Chiquita has tried hard to be good—and got no credit for it.
奇基塔一直努力作為一個好企業，但一直得不到信任。
SOMETIMES you bend over backwards to please, but still get nowhere. That is what appears to have happened to Chiquita Brands, an American firm which is one of the world's biggest suppliers of bananas and other fruit. Despite accommodating eco-warriors, social activists and unions, it has found little reward.
有時你使出渾身解數來取悅對方，但仍毫無結果。這就像是在奇基塔身上發生的一樣，美國奇基塔公司是世界上一個大的香蕉及其他水果供應商。盡管幫助于生態保護斗士，社會積極分子及其組織，但是奇基塔公司沒得到什么好處。
After a campaign by a green group called ForestEthics, Chiquita agree d in November to avoid fuel from Canadian tar sands. Extracting this oil is a dirty process. Environmentalists have worked furiously to block a pipeline, called Keystone XL, which would carry it from Canada to America. Chiquita told ForestEthics that it does not use such fuel in its ships and agreed to avoid its use in lorries.
環保組織"森林倫理"(ForestEthics)發起環保運動后，奇基塔公司11月承諾不再從加拿大焦油砂中提取燃油。提取這種燃油是一個污染環境的過程。環保人士竭力阻止加拿大通往美國的Keystone XL輸油管道的修建。奇基塔公司告訴環保組織"森林倫理"(ForestEthics)，在其船運中他們不再使用這種燃油，同時也避免將這種燃油使用于陸運。
This may have pleased environmentalists, but it infuriated Canadians who depend on the oil industry. A pro-business lobby called EthicalOil.org is urging a boycott of Chiquita's products that is said to be costing the company a fortune. Chiquita would not quantify its losses.
這樣的舉動或許能討好環保人士，但是激怒了依賴于這種燃油產業的加拿大人。一個稱為EthicalOil.org的商業主義游說團體呼吁抵制奇基塔公司的產品，據稱這將損失公司一大筆錢。奇基塔公司不會量化其損失。
Chiquita traces its origins to the late 1890s and the United Fruit Company, which treated some of the Central American countries it operated in as banana republics. In recent years, however, the firm has made huge efforts to promote social responsibility and sustainability, working with activist groups such as the Rainforest Alliance. "We can do good and do well at the same time," Fernando Aguirre, the firm's chief executive, wrote in the company's latest social responsibility report, issued in 2008.
追溯奇基塔公司的起源可到19世紀90年代末，當時還是聯合果品公司，把操控著一些的中美洲國家戲稱為"香蕉共和國"。然而，近幾年，該公司同像雨林聯盟這樣的激進分子組織在促進社會責任和提升可持續發展能力上作出了巨大的努力。該公司總裁兼首席執行官費爾南多.阿格里在公司最新社會責任報告中寫到，"我們能做好事同時也能做好"，該報告發行于2008年。
Chiquita has signed and largely upheld a global agreement with local and international food unions. It has embraced sustainable farming techniques and allows products to be certified for environmental and other standards. Last year it promised to promote more women and to ensure there is no sexual harassment on the plantations it owns and buys from. But that has not provided protection from big retailers buying bananas direct from plantations and bypassing Chiquita and its main rivals, Dole and Fresh Del Monte Produce.
奇基塔同當地和國際食品組織已簽署了并很大程度上支持的一份全球協議。該協議囊括了可持續農業技術，給予產品環保認證以及其他標準。去年，該公司承諾將提升更多的女性同時確保在其擁有和購買的種植園內不存在性騷擾。但是，對于那些避開奇基塔和其主要競爭對手的杜爾和德爾蒙食品公司直接在種植園從大零售商那里購買香蕉并不能夠提供相應的保障。
Many firms in conflict zones face extortion. In 2003 Chiquita became the only American company voluntarily to admit to the Department of Justice that it had paid protection money to Colombian paramilitary forces surrounding its plantations. Now it is facing a raft of American and Colombian lawsuits.
沖突地區的許多公司都面臨著勒索敲詐。2003年，奇基塔就是美國唯一家公司主動承認他們向駐扎在種植園附近的哥倫比亞軍事部隊交過保護費。現在正面臨著一系列美國和哥倫比亞的訴訟。
Chiquita's conspicuous lack of reward is beginning to worry some veteran campaigners. Neither Dole nor Del Monte has been interested in following Chiquita in signing a global union agreement, says Ron Oswald, head of IUF, the international foodworkers' union."It's not sustainable for any company in a competitive sector to make progress and gain no recognition for it," he grumbles.
奇基塔顯著的不討好開始有點讓一些資深活動家感到擔心。國際食品勞聯首領羅恩?奧斯瓦德講到，在奇基塔同全球聯盟簽訂一份協議后杜爾和德爾蒙食品公司對此都不會感興趣。并抱怨到這對于在一個競爭激烈的行業中取得發展和得到認可都是不可持續的。
