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A Heaven of Hopeful Endeavors
/ L8 t! p5 n. A4 T( Z抱着希望的奋斗者之天堂6 ]; I1 @/ X5 l6 \1 ~! ]
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THOUGH British carmakers may face further shrinkage as General Motors abandons its Vauxhall plants at Luton and Ellesmere Port to sale or closure, there is life in the undergrowth where industrial monsters have fallen. Take Eastleigh in Hampshire, whose railway works once sustained the town. Pirelli also closed a cable factory there in 2002, and Ford has just cut 500 jobs and suspended production of vans at nearby Swaythling.% S" }, b0 |8 X5 r$ B; P
- `9 J+ W$ U1 P' L6 H! g通用汽车通过出售或者关闭的方式放弃了其在卢顿与埃尔斯米尔港的沃克斯豪尔工厂,导致英国的汽车制造厂商许将面对更进一步的萎缩,即便如此,行业巨无霸倒下之处,荆棘之中依然有生机。拿铁路工业一度是支柱产业的汉普郡伊斯特雷格来说,倍耐力在2002年关闭了在当地的一家电缆工厂,而福特刚刚裁减了500个工作岗位,推迟了在邻近斯威凌地区的小货车生产。
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Eastleigh is hardly a tourist town—a dour bronze railwayman is its main public monument—but it has a brilliant formula for incubating new businesses. Wessex House is a 40,000-square-foot redbrick building with 100 offices housing about 70 small firms. Among them are Happy’s Circus, run by Happy the Clown, Finblade, which makes mobile video games, and builders, architects and other eve isk providers of services based on clever ideas. Outstanding Results, a debt collector, has been busy chasing late payments, some of them on behalf of fellow tenants.. N! K% Z) s) e% k7 G8 v8 A
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伊斯特雷格并非一个旅游城市——一座阴郁的铁路工人青铜雕像是它主要的公共纪念雕塑——但是在培养新办企业方面,伊斯特雷格确有聪明办法。韦塞克斯大楼是一座40,000平方英尺的红砖建筑,有100间办公室,容纳着大约70家小公司。这些小公司包括由”快乐小丑“经营的”快乐马戏团”,制造手机视频游戏的Finblade,还有建筑商、建筑师以及其他凭借金点子立足的服务提供商。“outstanding results ”是一家追债公司,忙于追讨拖欠债务,有时也代表大楼里其他房客追讨债务。
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. L6 A4 D, F$ @) N# y1 bWessex House is owned and run by Eastleigh Borough Council and makes enough money to pay its way. Firms can rent anything from a one-person office to a whole floor. Some have grown, shrunk and expanded again. A former tenant—Murphx, which provides IT services—now lives next door: the Bentley and Aston Martin in the car park tell the story.
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伊斯特雷格区委会拥有并经营着韦塞克斯大楼,大楼收入足够支付各种开销。从一人办公室至整个楼层,公司都可以租赁。有些公司已经经历了成长、萎缩到再次扩张的过程。提供IT服务的公司Murphx是过去的租户,现在在隔壁大楼办公:停在汽车公园里的豪华车宾利、阿斯顿马丁说明了问题。! Q) I: S+ N* H: V
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Some of these businesses are growing in the teeth of recession. Tucasi, a eve online isk brainwave of three school governors, is selling software packages to schools, to manage the money parents pay for school dinners, outings and so on. So far Tucasi has collared 1,300 primary and secondary schools. Business has doubled in a year, says Peter Redding, a director. He could easily treble it but “that would bring its own risks,” he says.: F' x* ~8 ]% H
7 o* v: ^, K/ }# p" X部分公司在经济衰退中艰难成长。三个学校的管理层灵机一动,创立了Tucasi,卖给学校管理费用的软件套装,管理家长支付的学校餐费、出游费等费用。目前为止,Tucasi已经包办了1300家小学与初中业务。一主管彼特·瑞丁说一年之内生意增加了一倍,可以轻而易举地实现三倍增长,但他说,“这样也会带来自身风险”。
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! a0 n! B6 |& [- lRob Poole at Blacks, an estate agent, has found a niche between rivals on the internet and high-street firms. He operates from 韦塞克斯大楼, without a shop-window, and charges half the high-street fee. This is the model of the future, he says, insisting that business is “brisk”.5 E7 r' a$ h% Y# y
* G3 y7 j$ |" b* S- O房产中介公司Blacks的罗勃·波勒在网络上和繁华商业圈内的竞争对手中找到了一条生存夹缝。他在韦塞克斯大楼办公,没有明亮大窗,费用只有繁华商圈一半。这是将来的模式,他坚称,这个行业是“脆弱”的。 |
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