I heard an apocryphal story about a Japanese firm that installed a turbine which needed electric power to keep it turning to save the face of its would-be-green owners.

我听说过一个杜撰的故事，一个日本公司安装了一台涡轮机，但却需要用电力来保持它运转来保护其“环保”的面子。

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Two of its Japanese life-insurance units are reportedly about to be sold to Prudential Financial, an American firm.

据报道，其两个日本寿险部门将要出售给一家美国公司保诚金融。

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For this, the team must explore the benefits and costs of the project so that a firm decision can be made about whether to proceed.

对于这一点，团队必须探究这个项目的利益和成本以至于可以制定一个可靠的计划，无论项目是否进行下去。

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The combined firm will be about 10 million customers behind the third-biggest firm, Sprint.

BBC: T-Mobile USA to merge with MetroPCS

But whatever else that can be said about the firm, its managers certainly know how to make a splash.

ECONOMIST: To clone or not to clone, is that the question? | The

Such considerations may explain why next week Mr Brown will not be making any firm announcements about changes in the tax system.

ECONOMIST: His next trick