为区区一袋坚果而大发脾气——本周为此而贻笑全球的大韩航空的一位高管赵显娥,她的情况简直是糟糕透顶。
It looked as if things could not get worse for the South Korean airline executive mocked around the world this week for throwing a tantrum over a bag of nuts.
其父——大韩航空的社长剥夺了女儿(40岁的赵显娥)在该家族集团中所有剩余的职位。在周五的直播采访中,他为女儿“愚蠢的”行为道歉。事情的经过是这样的:赵显娥上机后,发现服务人员给她的澳洲坚果不是她要的盘装,而是袋装,就大发雷霆,迫使飞机返回航站楼,并将当班乘务长“踢”下飞机。
Then her father, the chairman of the airline, stripped his 40-year-old daughter, Cho Hyun-ah, of the titles she still had in the family-run conglomerate. He apologized on live television Friday for her "foolish′′ behavior, when she forced her plane back to the gate and then kicked off the head steward after being served macadamia nuts in their bag, rather than on a plate.
“我没把她养育好,” 社长赵亮镐说。他深鞠一躬,承担责任,以传统的韩国方式表示对自己孩子行为不端的惭愧。
“I failed to raise her properly,” said the chairman, Cho Yang-ho, who bowed deeply and asked to take the blame, showing contrition in the traditional South Korean way when one′s child misbehaves.
雪上加霜的是,涉事乘务长打破数日的沉默,周五接受韩国KBS电视采访时说:事发后,社长女儿迫使他在飞机上下跪道歉,以惩罚他手下一位服务员服务头等舱的方式不当。飞机返回航站楼后,乘务长被“踢”除。
As if that was not enough, the head steward on the flight spoke up after days of silence, telling Korea′s KBS-TV on Friday that Cho′s daughter had forced him to kneel down and apologize on the plane as punishment for the way one of his stewards served the nuts to passengers in first class. The head steward was kicked off the aircraft when it returned to the gate.
乘务长朴昌镇说:“你不亲身经历,是无法想象我感受到的屈辱的。”他说,赵女士谩骂他,用文件夹打他好几次后,又将文件夹砸向那个呈送坚果的普通服务员。
“You can′t imagine the humiliation I felt unless you experienced it yourself,” the steward, Park Chang-jin, said, adding that Cho called him names, hit him several times with a folder of documents and hurled it at the junior steward.
政府相关部门对赵女士进行了调查,以判断其行为是否违反航空法。接受调查人员的质询后,赵女士面对媒体,声明自己既没有打朴昌镇,也没有强迫他下跪。如朴先生所言不虚,则该事件可能会使韩国人本来就怀有的、对家族式财团的愤怒火上浇油。财团恶名远扬的,是其高管的跋扈,视雇员为封建奴仆。
Cho later denied hitting Park or forcing him to kneel, making her statement as she emerged from questioning by government investigators looking into whether her actions violated aviation law. But if Park′s story bears out, it is likely to stoke already seething anger at the country′s family owned conglomerates - or chaebol - whose leaders have a reputation for imperious behavior and treating their employees like feudal subjects.
强迫人下跪道歉这种过去常用的惩罚方式,在当今韩国,毕竟已不合时宜。
Forcing people to kneel in apology, a once-common punishment, has, after all, fallen out of fashion in South Korea.
至少就商界而言,此事引发的好消息只有一条——来自澳洲坚果的供应商。它们对韩国媒体说,事发后,销量激增。某些供应商似乎在拿赵女士的经历取乐,其中一家告知其在线顾客:交付的坚果装于“未开口的坚果袋内”。
About the only good news, at least for business, came from macadamia nut purveyors who told local media that sales were surging. Some seemed to be having fun at Cho′s expense, with one telling customers online that the nuts would be delivered “in an unopened package.”
近年来,韩国人对财阀的愤怒有增无减,许多人将韩国经济不平等的扩大归咎于财团的快速扩张。此番赵女士的胡作非为,不仅招致众人谴责,也引发了媒体社评众口一词的讨伐。
Anger at the nation′s chaebol has risen in recent years as many people blame widening economic inequality in South Korea on the conglomerates′ rapid expansion. The latest accusations of abuse by Cho have led already to a new chorus of critical editorials.
韩国大报《中央日报》的社论指出:“我们从中看到的,不仅是违反航空法,还有家族企业的霸道。” 《京乡新闻》这家日报在其社论中,敦促检察官通过这起事件警告那些“行为好像可以凌驾于法律之上”的家族财阀。
“In this case, we see not only a violation of an aviation law but also the imperial abuse of an owner family” the mass-circulation daily JoongAng Ilbo said in an editorial. Another editorial, in the daily Kyunghyang Shinmun, urged prosecutors to use Cho′s case as a warning to chaebol families that “act as if they were above the law.”
该报也提到了家族财阀其它“可耻的行为”,包括用铝棒殴打前工会积极分子,结果只得到缓刑的惩罚,肇事者所在家族掌控着SK集团这一电信、石化财团。
The newspaper also referred to other cases of what it called “depraved conduct” by chaebol families, including one in which a member of the family that controls SK Group, a telecommunications and petrochemicals conglomerate, received a suspended prison term for beating a former union activist with an aluminum bat.
坚果事件中的乘务长朴昌镇接受KBS采访时说,他觉得自己无法直面赵女士,因为她是他“东家的女儿”。朴昌镇又说,事后,大韩航空的管理人员试图将这一丑闻悄悄平息,要他告诉调查人员:他是自愿下飞机的。
In his statements to KBS, the head steward said he had not felt able to stand up to Cho because she was “a daughter of the owner” of his company. KBS also quoted Park as claiming that Korean Air officials later tried to hush the scandal by asking him to tell investigators that he left the plane of his own will.
在这之前,大韩航空指责朴昌镇“无视机上服务的规程”,以“借口、谎言”为其手下的错误开脱。不过,该航空公司也承认:赵女士将朴昌镇从航班上踢除,这个决定“过分”了。
Korean Air had earlier accused Park of “ignoring regulations and procedures” of in-flight services and of trying to defend his crew′s mistake with “excuses and lies.” But the airline also admitted that Cho′s decision to remove him from the flight was “excessive.”
坚果事件发生于从韩国仁川飞往纽约肯尼迪机场的航班上,此事曝光后的周二,赵女士辞去了“机上服务总裁”一职,她仍保留的大韩航空副总裁一职也于周五不保。此时,其父宣布:他将剥夺长女赵显娥“副总裁”的职务以及她在其韩进集团中的其它行政职务。韩进集团涉及广泛,除了大韩航空之外,还拥有酒店、海运和物流方面的企业。
On Tuesday, after the episode on the flight bound for Incheon, South Korea, from New York′s Kennedy Airport had become public, Cho resigned as head of the airline′s in-flight services. She retained her title as vice president until Friday, however. At that point, her father said he would deprive Cho, his eldest child, of that job and her other executive posts at his sprawling conglomerate, Hanjin Group, which owns hotel, shipping and logistics businesses as well as Korean Air.
韩国航空法禁止乘客有任何可能危害飞机安全的行为——叫嚷、使用威胁性语言或其它方式的惊扰。据韩国媒体报道,12月5日的事件中,赵女士“闹得天翻地覆”,冲机组人员大喊大叫。检方也在调查:对这起事件,大韩航空是否试图掩盖。为此,检方于周二对其办公室进行了突击搜查。
South Korean aviation law bars passengers from acts that could endanger a plane′s safety, such as shouting, using threatening language or otherwise causing a disturbance. Local media has reported that Cho “raised hell” during the Dec. 5 episode, screaming at crew members. Prosecutors are also investigating whether Korean Air tried to cover up the episode and raided the airline′s offices Thursday as part of its investigation.
事发之后,网上出现了一些抵制该航空公司的呼吁。一则包含该事件模拟视频的在线广告点击量超过50万次,还在攀升。该广告称大韩航空为“‘见鬼′航空”。
There have been calls online to boycott the airline, and a parody video of a Korean Air commercial online had more than a half-million views, and counting. The commercial called the airline “Peanut Air.”
周五,这起尴尬事件之下,赵女士似乎“抖”不起来了。当她抵达韩国国土交通部,准备接受该部质询时,面对一堆记者的“咔咔”拍照和话筒逼问,她低着头,声音小得几乎听不见。她说,对那些“人们指责她粗暴对待”的机组人员,她将亲自道歉。
On Friday, Cho seemed chastened by the public embarrassment. As she arrived for questioning at the offices of South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, she spoke in a barely audible whisper with her head bowed as a scrum of journalists snapped photos and thrust microphones in her face. She then said she would apologize in person to the crew members she was accused of abusing.
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