雙語達人:宜家傾城的祕密
Ikea is the retailer for the 99%.
宜家家居是面向99%人羣的大衆零售商。
Or at least that's the point Anders Dahlvig, the former CEO of the Swedish furniture and home goods giant, is trying to make in The Ikea Edge. Early on in the book he tells the reader, "Like any business, Ikea strove for professionalism and profits. But this was never an end in itself. The company has a social ambition that feels genuine: to create a better everyday life for people."
至少，這是這家瑞典傢俱和家居用品巨頭的前任CEO安德斯·達爾維格在其著作《宜家之道》（The Ikea Edge）中試圖傳達的訊息。他在書中開宗明義地告訴讀者：“宜家家居和所有企業一樣，都致力於專業和利潤。但這並不是一家的終點。宜家孜孜以求的是一個社會公益性目標：爲人們創造更好的日常生活。”
In these days of Occupy Wall Street, it's easy to scoff at that kind of message from a big company. But by the end of the book, it's hard not to believe him. In part that's because the company's objective isn't that grandiose: to improve ordinary people's lives by giving them the option of decent quality furniture at low prices. And most of us, unless you're part of the 1%, have experienced this part of the Ikea promise firsthand.
如今佔領華爾街運動正進行得如火如荼，在這樣的日子裏，我們很容易對一家大公司發出的此類訊息嗤之以鼻。但讀完這本書之後，你很難不相信他的這番話。部分原因是，宜家家居的目標稱不上好大喜功：它只是希望能讓普通百姓能夠用上價格低廉的優質家居，從而改善生活品質。我們大多數人（除非你屬於1%人羣）應該都親身體驗過宜家的這一承諾。
Much of The Ikea Edge is spent explaining how the company manages to offer ridiculously low prices that make it impossible to leave the store without a lengthy receipt. I'm sure I'm not the only person to have driven home from Ikea with a bag of 100 tea lights not because I have an extensive candle collection — I don't — but simply because the price tag was $3.99. (Each one is less than 4 cents!)
《宜家之道》這本書的相當一部分都是在詮釋，該公司具體是如何設法提供價格低得離譜的傢俱，以至於顧客不可能不揣着一條長長的收據單離開店鋪。我曾經帶着一個裝有100只茶蠟的袋子，從宜家驅車回家。這並不是因爲我正在廣泛地收集蠟燭——我沒有這個癖好——而僅僅是因爲這包茶蠟僅僅3.99 美元（每隻茶蠟還不到4美分！）。我確信有過這種經歷的絕非我一人。
