今天真正的权力很少是继承的。君主们的度日方式是剪彩带和参加葬礼。土地贵族如果想要挥舞真正的影响力，就不得不攀爬腻的竿子（着手做困难的事儿）。这（情况）的唯一例外处在资本主义系统的核心，家族企业。资本主义的领头学生数十年来一直在宣告家族公司的死亡仪式，争辩称家族企业将会被工业资本主义的来临而边缘化。大部分国家都有这个表达的变体——富不过三代。很长一段时间以来，他们显然是正确的。
Today /the/ real power is rarely inherited. Monarchs spend their lives cutting ribbons and attending funerals. Landed aristocrats have to climb the greasy pole if they want to wield serious influence. The only[/one] exception to this lies at the heart of capitalist system, [the] family firms. Leading students of capitalism have been [pro]nouncing the death rites of family companies for decades, arguing that family firms would be marginalised by the arrival of industrial capitalism. Most countries have [a] variation of the phrase clogs to clogs in three generations. For a long time, they appear[ed] to /have been/ [be] right.
然而那种衰退貌似遭到了逆转。财富五百强公司中可以被描述为家族公司的比例从2005年的15%上升到今日的19%。那很大程度上是因为新兴市场的崛起，而其中家族企业更为常见。但是即使在富裕世界，家族公司当今也坚守住自己。为什么家族公司蔑视了他们的讣告者？他们中有许多继续遭受严重的问题，但是特别是在西方，家族企业拥有的缺点远远少于比过去，很大程度是因为他们变得更擅长处理它们明显的弱点。
But[/Yet] that decline [now] appears[/seems] to have been reversed. The proportion of Fortune 500 companies that can be described as family companies increase from 15% in 2005 to 19% today. That is largely because of the rise of emerging markets[/economies], in which family firms are more common. But even in the rich world, family companies are these days holding their own. Why have family companies defied their obituarists. Many of them continue to suffer from serious problems but particularly in the west, family firms have far fewer defects than in the past, largely because they have [got] become better at addressing their obvious weaknesses.
如今很少看到一个家族老板把他的工作转交给一个明显的废物。大部分家族公司训练未来领导人的方法是送他们去商业学校，让他们通过一连串的低级工作逐步走。在德国，特别是有一群渐增的人已经成为专家让家庭成员从行政工作转移到会议室里的监督角色。一整个咨询产业存在来帮助家庭处理他们公司的特殊关系动里。最好的家族企业的显著记录应该提醒成百万的商家拥有者，至少在企业世界，你不一定要投降家族控制才能得到繁荣。
These days it's rare to see a family boss [to] hand/s/ his job to an obvious dud. Most family companies trend /their/ future leaders by sending them to business school[s] and putting them through their paces [in] a succession of low level jobs. An increased[/growing number] /group/ in Germany /in/ particularly have become experts[masters] at transferring[/moving] family members from executive jobs to supervisory roles in the boardroom. /There is/ a[n entire] /whole/ [consulting] industry /of consultants/ [exists] to help families deal with their company's special[/peculiar] dynamics. The remarkable record of the best family firms should remind millions of business owners that at least in the corporate world, you don't have to surrender family control in order to /get/ prosper.
8.8
inherited/monarchs/landed aristocrats/
spend their lives cutting ribbons and attending funerals
funerals/death rites/obituarists
climb the greasy pole/wield serious influence
one exception to this
capitalist system/industrial
capitalism
pronouncing the death rites of/arguing....
be marginalised
a variation of the phrase clogs to clogs in three generations
appear/seems
that decline now seems to have been reversed
holding their own.
defied their obituarists
suffer from serious problems
particularly/in particular/peculiar
defects/problems/weaknesses
addressing/deal with
got better at /become masters at
hand his job on to an obvious dud.
future leaders/sending them to business schools /putting them through their paces in a succession of lower level jobs
moving family members from executive jobs to supervisory roles in the boardroom
the peculiar dynamics of their companies
surrender family control in order to prosper
