Ted Turner --the founder of CNN The walls of Ted Turner's international headquarters，14 floors above downtown Atlanta，are lined with Oscar statuettes．If you try to pick one up，for example，the actual best-production award for Casablanca，you will discover that they are all firmly bolted to their glass display shelves，and Turner's aides will break their frowns to laugh at you． CNN的創始人 --特德·特納 在特德·特納的位於亞特蘭大鬧市區14層樓上的國際總部，沿牆陳列着一排排奧斯卡金像。假如你想拿起一個，比如《卡薩布蘭卡》的最佳影片金像真品，你會發現它們都被用螺釘固定在玻璃陳列架上。這時，特納的助手會鬆開皺着的眉頭，衝你一笑。 Turner is the 63-year-old multibillionaire founder of CNN，former champion sailor，Rhett Butler lookalike and record－breaking philanthropist． Turner has just emerged from the worst two years of his life -- years that he has said left him feeling"suicidal"．In spring 2000，he was suddenly sidelined from the broadcasting company he had built from scratch．Then his wife of eight years，the actress Jane Fonda，came home one night and informed him that she was now a born－again Christian；they divorced last year．Two of his grandchildren developed a rare genetic disorder，and one died．Turner's friends said he was inconsolable．Then，just when he felt it could get no worse，he brought the wrath of America upon himself by a speech in Rhode Island saying that the September 11 hijackers had been"brave"． 特納是位擁有數十億家財的63歲富翁、美國有線新聞電視公司（CNN）的創始人、從前的出色水手、面容酷似白瑞德而且還是一個打破捐資記錄的慈善家。 特納剛剛從一生中最糟糕的兩年走出來。他說這兩年讓他想自殺。2000年的春天，他突然在這個自己白手起家創立的廣播公司裏靠邊站了。隨後，與他共同生活了8年的妻子、演員簡·方達一天晚上回到家，告訴他自己如今是已轉信新教的基督徒。他們於去年分手。他的兩個孫兒得了一種罕見的遺傳疾病，其中一個已經離開人世。特納的朋友說，他傷心至極。然後，就在特納覺得情況不會變得更糟時，他又讓自己成了憤怒的美國人的衆矢之的。他在羅德島一次演講中說，"9·11"事件中的劫機者很勇敢。 Then he threw himself into his charity work．Turner's UN Foundation，the biggest of his three charities，recently spent ＄22.2 in one month combating intestinal parasites in Vietnamese children，reducing China's greenhouse-gas emissions and helping women from Burkina Faso start businesses selling nut butter． 特納轉而投身慈善事業。特納的3個慈善機構中最大的聯合國基金會最近在一個月內出資2220萬美元，用於在越南兒童中消滅腸寄生蟲，減少中國的溫室氣體排放量和幫助布基納法索婦女起動銷售堅果醬的業務。 Nigel Pritchard，CNN's head of international public relations，who is sitting beside me，has prepared a memo outlining some things his boss might like to consider not saying．It politely suggests that he might steer clear of talking about AOL Time Warner，and，specifically，he might like to avoid reference to that Rhode Island speech．Turner is notorious for doing as he pleases．Early in his career，he made a pitch wearing no clothes to advertising executives；later，he went to Cuba to get Fidel Castro to tape a promotional slot for CNN． He has various worldsaving projects：from preventing the extinction of the Chiricahua leopard frog in the wilds of New Mexico to founding an influential nuclear non－proliferation institute．Turner really does seem to see himself as locked in a personal battle against apocalypse．He doesn't just give money：his staff are sometimes taken aback to see him skulking in the streets nearby，picking up litter． 坐在我身邊的CNN國際公共關係負責人奈傑爾·普里查德準備了一份備忘錄，提醒自己的老闆最好留意不要涉及的一些事情，該備忘錄委婉地提醒老闆避免談及美國在線-時代華納公司，特別是不要提及羅德島的那次演講。特納的我行我素是出了名的。在事業的早期，他曾經赤身裸體作宣傳。後來，他又跑到古巴，讓菲德爾·卡斯特羅爲CNN錄製一檔宣傳節目。 從防止新墨西哥州野外的奇裏卡瓦豹蛙滅絕，到創立一個有影響力的核不擴散協會，特納有各種各樣的拯救世界的計劃。他似乎真的認爲自己身處一場阻止大災難的個人戰鬥中。他不只是出錢，有時他的下屬會吃驚地發現他在附近的街道上偷偷摸摸地撿垃圾。 When Turner gave his first billion to the UN，he dropped 67 laces on the Forbes 500 rich list，out of the top 10 for ever．（His fortune now stands at$ 3.8 bn．） It isn't hard to see how Turner's childhood might have instilled this sense of permanent crisis，of desperate insecurity，behind the frenzied activity that is his trademark．His father，from whom he inherited an advertising business that he turned into CNN，was prone to fits of rage，and beat him with a coathanger；he committed suicide when Turner was24．Even before that，his younger sister had died from an immune disease when she was 12，and Ted was sent to a boarding school he hated．His father，he has said，not without admiration，believed that instilling insecurity in his son would help him to achieve．All in all，Turner seems to have been a well-qualified candidate for total psychic collapse．"But when everything goes wrong，"he says today，"you can either give up or you can try to fight．I tried to fight．" 特納向聯合國捐助了第一筆10億美元後，就從《福布斯》雜誌評出的全球最富有的500人排行榜上下跌了67個位置，從此永遠與前10名無緣。（他目前的財產爲38億美元。） 從特納的早年經歷可以看出，在他那些標誌性的狂熱行爲背後，隱藏着的是一種永久的危機感和極度的不安全感。特納的父親--他後來從父親那兒繼承了一個廣告公司即CNN的前身--時不時地大發脾氣，然後用衣架打他。父親在特納24歲時自殺了。在那之前，他的妹妹在12歲時死於一種免疫系統疾病。父親把特納送到一所他不喜歡的寄宿學校。特納不無欽佩地說，他的父親認爲，讓兒子有不安全感有助其成功。從各方面說，特納都似乎成了一個十分典型的精神全面崩潰的病例?quot;當一切都出了問題時，你要麼放棄，要麼努力抗爭。我努力抗爭。"特納說。 After a brief spell in the armed forces，he ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business，purchasing a radio station and using empty billboards to advertise it．His radio empire grew，and expanded to local television．By 1980，he was launching CNN，although it was not until the Gulf war that the often－derided channel came into its own．He created the Cartoon Network，and bought hundreds of old MGM films，which he recycled on another lucrative channel，Turner Classic Movies．His firm eventually merged with Time Warner．But then came AOL，and Gerald Levin，the chief executive of the new giant，decided he didn't need Turner -- or perhaps couldn't tolerate his unpredictability．Levin is gone now，and his replacement，Richard Parsons，has brought Turner back into the fold in a new vice-chairman position．The line from corporate communications is that Turner is back in the saddle．But this is not how Turner sees it． 在軍隊中短暫地呆了一段時間後，特納把精力投入到父親的廣告牌業務中。他購買了一家廣播電臺，然後利用空閒的廣告牌爲電臺做宣傳。特納的廣播王國發展壯大，後來擴展到當地的電視業。到1980年，特納創辦CNN，不過這個經常受到嘲笑的頻道在海灣戰爭後才進入全盛時期。特納創立了動畫片頻道，還購買了米高梅影片公司的數百部舊影片，在另一個贏利的頻道--特納經典影片回顧重複播放。他的公司最終與時代華納公司合併。但是隨後美國在線又加入了，而這個新巨頭的總裁傑拉爾德·萊文認爲自己不需要特納--也可能是他無法容忍特納的變幻莫測。如今萊文已經離開了，接替他的理查德·帕森斯把特納接了回來，安置在一個副董事長的新位置上。公司傳達的消息是，特納重新掌權。但是特納卻不這麼看。
