全通翻譯/翻譯社

Question Protocol for Interviewees

You are coming to the end of a stellar job interview. You don't want to get ahead of yourselfor anything, but you're pretty sure you've aced or anything, but you're pretty sure you've aced it, handling everything they've thrown at you. Then, the interviewer hits you with it: "Now, do you have any questions?" What? You hadn't thought about that. You rack your brains for anything vaguely relevant to ask, but you're stumped.

Zurich: A Destination You Can Bank On

Nestling on the northwestern tip of the lake that bears its name, Zurich is one of Europe's most affluent cities. It consistently ranks at the top of livability ratings, and although it may not be Switzerland’s capital, it is certainly its most important city.

Zurich has long been associated with finance and not always in a positive light. Provisions to a Swiss banking law passed in 1934 gave rise to a culture of secrecy that prevails to this day. The city's bankers have been branded the “Gnomes of Zurich,” an epithet that was originally pejorative but is now worn by many financiers as a badge of pride. The privacy laws, combined with various tax exemptions and reductions, and Switzerland's history of neutrality and stability have made it a de facto tax haven for foreign depositors. With a third of the world's offshore funds sitting in Swiss accounts — a large proportion of them in Zurich — it is little wonder that banking has been dubbed “a state religion.” In recent years, however, EU demands for greater transparency and accountability have seen pretenders to Zurich's throne emerge — Singapore being among the most noteworthy.

Rise of the RMB

Late last year, with the Bo Xilai scandal dominating Chinese politics and uncertainty remaining over the PRC's leadership transition, many analysts expected significant depreciation of the Chinese yuan. This was a no-brainer because the trend has been for the RMB to drop in these situations. There was also the added pressure on Chinese exporters who were struggling in the face of a global slowdown.

But then something funny happened. Bo's disgrace was completed with his ejection from the National People's Congress, and Xi Jinping's ascent to the presidency was given the thumbs up. Suddenly there was a climate of stability, and the Chinese yuan soared to a 19-year high of 6.238 to the U.S. dollar. The resolution of the political uncertainties was cited as the prime mover.

Taking Stock of Google─The Evolution of an Internet Giant

It's a testament to the company's pervasiveness that imagining a world without Google is hard. In 1999, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin offered to sell their fledgling company for US$1 million to Excite, which was then a major online presence. In what must rank as one of the worst business decisions ever, Excite CEO George Bell rejected even a revised offer of US$750,000.

Less than 15 years later, Google is worth over US$300 billion and Excite is an Internet irrelevance. Since its 2004 IPO, Google shares have rocketed by more than 700 percent. In May, they closed above US$900 for the first time. Meanwhile, although its search-engine market share has slipped by 0.6 of a percentage point, it is still way out in front with 66.5 percent. It's a similar story for mobile devices, where Q1 figures for 2013 showed Android occupying 75 percent of the market space. 

Formosan Adventures - Taiwan: Past and Present

IN 1544, Portuguese sailors passed a leafshaped island southeast of China. Espying lush,green forests, they recorded in their ship log the words “Ilha Formosa” — the Beautiful Island.

Things have changed dramatically in the half millennium that has passed. The island has gone through Dutch and Japanese colonial rule, half a century of martial law, and rapid industrialization. Taiwan is now famous for its tech know-how, with gigantic science parks producing most of the world's semiconductors. Meanwhile, companies like HTC, Asus and Acer have achieved global status. The cities are crowded and hectic, but there's always something going on, whether it's a colorful and clamorous religious procession or a chance to sample delicious snacks at one of the hundreds of night markets around the island. With the beautiful, rugged interior largely intact, Taiwan remains a relatively untapped treat for nature lovers. Beware, though, this tropical paradise can be ravaged by typhoons from summer to fall.

Acquire or Die: Can Yahoo Buy Its Way Back to the Big Time?

These are interesting times for Yahoo. It has been a year since CEO Marissa Mayer took the reins, and the company's share price is back to levels not seen since 2008. However, analysts remain guarded over whether Mayer can restore former glories.

Yahoo started life in 1994 under cofounders Jerry Yang and David Filo as a directory of other Web sites. It soon became one of the most identifiable online presences through partnerships with leading telecommunications brands and high-profile acquisitions. Amid shareholder discontent, Taiwan-born Yang became CEO in 2007. His tenure was marred by a struggle against a hostile takeover bid by Microsoft, a talent drain and wavering disillusionment on the part of investors.

Office Immobility: A Potential Killer

Remaining immobile for long periods of time has long been associated with various health complaints. These can range from lower back pains to increased chances of a stroke or heart attack, according to some research.

In recent years, a great deal of credence has been given to the notion of Economy Class Syndrome. The idea is that sitting in the cheaper, less spacious sections of an aircraft heightens the risks of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), the formation of a blood clot, primarily in the veins of the leg. In actual fact, despite the cramped conditions, budget travelers appear to be at no more risk than other long-haul passengers. This is not to suggest that there is no threat whatsoever. As Dr. Mark Crowther, author of a 2012 study on thrombosis pointed out, “Traveling in economy class does not increase your risk for developing a blood clot, even during long-distance travel; however, remaining immobile for long periods of time will.”

Sao Paulo: A Latin American Giant

It may lack the beautiful natural backdrop of Rio, but Sao Paulo is undoubtedly the cultural and economic heart of Brazil. Although it was founded by proselytizing Jesuits in 1554, Sampa — as it's affectionately known — remained an isolated backwater until the 19th century. Now the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, Sao Paulo is a powerhouse in Latin America, with an economy roughly the size of New Zealand.

The state of Sao Paulo accounts for about a third of Brazil's GDP, much of this coming in the form of a formidable2 service sector. Major corporations have set up shop here, and the city's stock exchange is one of the world's largest. The International Congress and Convention Association rates the city as the most important event host in the Americas, with more than 200 events held daily. Sao Paulo's industrial output is similarly huge. Around 10 percent of the population works in one of the city's thousands of factories, producing everything from textiles and electronics to pharmaceutical products and furniture. 

Taiwanese Cuisine:Simple, Yet Lip-smackinglyh Delicious

BACK in 2011, CNN drew the scorn of Taiwanese netizens with a series of articles that appeared to rag on Taiwanese culinaryculture. First there was a piece ranking Taipei as the most gluttonous city in Asia. Then came a list of the world’s most revolting foods, which featured a local specialty — century eggs. Finally, the icing on the cake was a rating of the world’s top tastes that had the temerity not to include even one Taiwanese dish. Well, it did. But insult was added to injury when stinky tofu was listed as a Southeast Asian snack.

Although night markets are a great place to start for a slice of authentic local cuisine, there's a lot more to Taiwan than roadside stalls. Beef noodles, for example, are treated as a fine art, with top-end, gourmetbowls costing up to NT$10,000 a pop. If you're looking for killer Xiaolongbao, Din Tai Fung is the place. The restaurant chain has earned Michelin stars and now runs branches in 10 countries. Perhaps the best thing about many Taiwanese staples,though, is their simplicity. It often seems like there is nothing to dishes such as sesame noodles, fatty braised-pork rice and egg-drop soup, but therein lies their charm. Find yourself away from Taiwan for any period of time, and you’ll soon be pining for these tasty, addictive comfort foods. 

And Then There Was One: Is Microsoft Being Left in the Dust?

Microsoft Windows was not the first operating system to provide a graphical user interface. Although Bill Gates demonstrated a betaversion of Windows version 1.0 to IBM execs in 1983, it was two years before the OS hit shelves. Their lukewarm response was in stark contrast to the way they had embraced MS-DOS two years earlier. Part of IBM’s reluctancecame from the fact that they were working on their own OS.

By the time version 1.0 was released, two competing GUI systems were already on the market. They failed to attract interest, primarily because of a lack of support from third-party developers. For a while, it looked like Windows would go the same way. Despite major improvements in version 2.0, it wasn’t until the release of 3.0 in 1990 that the OS got the en masse developer support required for critical and commercial acceptance. With the release of Windows 95 — the company’s first OS not to require the installation of MS-DOS — Microsoft cornered the market. Since that time, there has been only one superpower in the desktop OS market. As of June 2013, Windows 7 accounted for 44.37 percent of the market, with the ever-popular Windows XP occupying a further 37.17 percent.

Land of Opportunity . . .　and Risk

Empire in Burma conjures up images of the Raj in the twilight of its glory years. But for centuries, the country now known officially as Myanmar was the one wielding the imperial yoke, as it presided over a series of powerful empires that intermittently dominated Southeast Asia. At the height of its glory, under the 16th century monarch Bayinnaung, the Taungoo Dynasty ruled a tranche of land that ran from Tibet to southern Thailand — the largest empire the region has ever seen.

Although the city of Yangon sprung up in tandem with Burmese expansionism, it wasn't until British rule that it came into its own. Indeed, the city retains more colonial architecture than any other location in Southeast Asia, though what hasn't fallen into disrepair has often been tarnished by insensitive face-lifts. Myanmar's authoritarian military junta has been accused of attempting to expunge all traces of the colonial era, but, paradoxically, the fact these crumbling edifices still exist may well be down to years of economic misrule. Simply put, there was no money to build anything else. Perhaps the most visible sign of decay is the abandonment of the gigantic Secretariat Building with the relocation of the capital to Naypyidaw in 2005. 

When East Meets West: Blending Leadership Styles

What makes a good leader? This is the conundrum that international companies have been struggling with ever since globalization became an economic reality in the late 20th century. Asian managers and their Western counterparts often have differing managerial styles, and the debate has raged for decades about which approach is best.

Ray Kroc, the legendary first chairman of the McDonald's Corporation, exemplifies the Western style of leadership. He bought a small restaurant business in 1954 and then created the “McDonald's Bible,” a book containing rules that all McDonald's restaurants must follow. It details how wide pickles and French fries should be, and how you will be greeted whenever you walk into a McDonald's establishment.

Rides, Roads and Rails

If there's one adjective that sums up tranportation in Taiwan, it's convenient. There are just so many ways to get around, the majority of which are extremely reasonably priced.

Taipei has a world-class metro, which is continually expanding, and Kaoshiung's MRT has been ranked among the world's top 50 most beautiful subway systems. These two cities, Taiwan's largest, form the northern and southern ends of the Taiwan High Speed Rail line, a 345-kilometer-stretch of track that can be traversed in a mere 96 minutes. A trip down the island's west coast on this bullet train was chosen as one of the best winter trips for 2013 by National Geographic.

Marvelous Marvel

Think superheroes, and you're almost certainly thinking of Marvel. While other comic book publishers might have given Marvel a run for its money over the years, few have created as many characters with such mass appeal.

The company dates back to 1939 when it was founded under the name of Timely Publications. It wasn't until 1961 that the name Marvel first began to be used, and that same year, the publisher introduced its first superhero team, the Fantastic Four. The following year saw the first comic to feature perhaps the most iconic of Marvel’s crime-fighters, Spider-Man. This character immediately resonated with young people as it was the first teenager in a leading role. Previous to this, youngsters had always been relegated to sidekick status. 

From Salt of the Earth to Shopping Extravaganza: Iquique Reinvents Itself

Founded in the late 16th century, Iquique remained something of an outpost on the fringe of the world's driest region — the Atacama Desert. Visiting the region in 1835, when it was part of Peru, Charles Darwin noted that the town, as it was then, was “very much in want of everyday necessities” due to its remoteness.

Darwin also stopped by the Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, 48 kilometers east of the city. It was on these vital sodium nitrate deposits that Iquique was nurtured into a genuine city as immigrants flocked in to take advantage of the burgeoning trade in the valuable mineral. However, these formative years were marked by a series of tragedies and disasters. Two deadly earthquakes in 1868 and 1877 were followed by the Battle of Iquique. This naval engagement in the city's harbor on May 21, 1879 ended with the city being ceded to Chile, and the date is now celebrated as a national holiday.

Iron Man, Eat Your Heart Out

The media have dubbed him the real life Tony Stark, and indeed, like the man behind the iron mask, Elon Musk seems almost invincible. The South African-born innovator made a cameo appearance in “Iron Man 2,” where he advised Robert Downey, Jr.'s character that he had “an idea for an electric jet.” Uttered by anyone else, such a comment would be straying into the realm of comic-book hyperbole, but with Musk, it appears the sky is no limit. In fact, he is already toying with the idea of electric air travel, though he admits it might not be feasible.

A self-taught coding whiz, Musk had already developed and sold a video game by the age of 12. After dropping out of a Ph.D program at Harvard after two days, Musk founded Zip2 with his brother. The company produced online publishing software for news organizations and was sold to AltaVista for US$307 million cash and US$34 million in stock in 1999. 

The State of Real Estate

A common complaint of foreigners living in Taiwan is the characterless, monolithic nature of much of the architecture. However, there is a lot more variety than first meets the eye. Japanese takes on Victorian architecture, which fuse neo-Renaissance elements with Greek colonnades, sit quietly in the shadows of glistening skyscrapers. Nearby, red-brick Sanheyuan courtyard buildings bespeak the Fujianese origins of much of Taiwan's population. Communities of ramshackle tenements are a testament to the cheap, makeshift solutions that were required to house the influx of soldiers and their families from China in the late 1940s onward.

Many of the older structures –– the single-story sanheyuan and the veteran's villages –– are becoming increasingly rare as they give way to modern housing. Although invariably less attractive, these modern dwellings address spatial and seismic considerations. From the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, four-story duplexes using reinforced concrete became the norm. Construction of toutian-type housing began in the late ‘70s. These types of row houses are generally three stories with overhanging balconies and an arcade below. Designed with Taiwan's climate in mind, they afford pedestrians protection from the elements. However, many of these were found wanting during the 921 earthquake and improved steel-reinforcement was introduced in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Exit Strategy?

WHEN Deng Xiaoping began opening China up to free-market economics and foreign trade in the 1980s, foreign companies were quick to take advantage of the opportunities that the PRC offered. The establishment of Special Economic Zones, beginning with Shenzhen in 1980, was the first of several incentives to demonstrate that China was now open for business. It all boded well for the future.

In many ways, much of that promise has been realized. From 2000-2010, around 20 percent of all foreign direct investment (FDI) was in China, accounting for roughly 2.5 percent of the country's GDP from 2005-2010. During the same period, foreign-invested enterprises were responsible for more than half of PRC imports and exports. As of 2010, they provided a third of China's industrial output and over a fifth of its industrial profits while employing just 10 percent of its workforce –– a demonstration of their high productivity.