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祸从口出:BP董事长访灾区称漏油受害者是小人物 |
| www.sinoca.com 2010-06-17 路透 |
BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg: BP cares about the small people.
路透华盛顿6月16日电---英国石油(BP)董事长思文凯(Carl-Henric Svanberg)周二为自己的“拙言”道歉，此前他曾称那些受到公司石油泄漏事故影响的人是“小人物”。
思文凯说：“我今天下午口出拙言，我对此感到十分抱歉。” 他周三早些时候在白宫与美国总统奥巴马会面，会面後他发表的言论引发广泛批评。
思文凯说：“我当时想说的是，英国石油公司知道，生活在墨西哥湾附近、并且在这里谋生的人们生活受到了多么严重的影响。英国石油公司会用实际行动，而不是言辞，来为受到伤害的家庭和企业而努力。”
思文凯与奥巴马会面後为石油泄漏事故道歉，并试图表达他的关心之意。
他向记者表示：“我听到有人说，大型石油公司很贪婪，不在乎这些事。但英国石油公司不是这样。我们关心小人物。”
VENICE, La. The "small people" of the Gulf Coast have a humongous message for oil giant BP: They're tired of the company's big-time executives making insensitive comments.
On Wednesday, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told reporters in Washington: "I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case with BP. We care about the small people."
Orange Beach, Ala., Mayor Tony Kennon laughed when he heard Svanberg's remark.
"They can call me small, miniature, they can call me anything they want. Just write the check and send it to us," he said.
But Justin Taffinder of New Orleans was not amused.
"We're not small people. We're human beings. They're no greater than us. We don't bow down to them. We don't pray to them," Taffinder said.
Svanberg is Swedish, and his comments ― in English ― may have been an unintentional slight. He uttered the remark to reporters following a joint press conference with President Barack Obama ― who had spoke of the small business owners, the fishermen and the shrimpers affected by the spill.
But coastal residents already were angry over the oil spill disaster and at BP CEO Tony Hayward's earlier comments that he "wants his life back."
Asked about the chairman's remark, BP spokesman Toby Odone told The Associated Press in an e-mail that "it is clear that what he means is that he cares about local businesses and local people. This was a slip in translation."
Lyn Ridge, 47, ferried reporters to see oil clean up operations Wednesday in a bay at Plaquemines Parish. He just shook his head when told about the "small people" comment.
Ridge describes himself as "commercial contractor that can't find work and driving boat trying to make a living." To make matters worse, Ridge figures his house on the water in Myrtle Grove has lost half it's value due to the oil spill.
"They can say he didn't mean it that way, but that's how they think of us," Ridge said. "They can't keep their foot out of their mouth," he added referring to another BP executive's desire to have his life back.
In Alabama, Terry Hanners, who owns a small construction company in Gulf Shores, said the chairman's remark revealed something about BP's frame of mind.
"These BP people I've met are good folks. I've got a good rapport with them," said Hanners, 74. "But BP does not care about us. They are so far above us. We are the nickel-and-dime folks of this world."
Kennon said he is relieved that BP agreed to put $20 billion in an escrow fund, and joked, "They better be lucky I called off the invasion of 10,000 rednecks with their rifles headed toward England anyway."加拿大华人网 http://www.sinoca.com/
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