歷史上做出的太過糟糕的十大決定(上)

Sometimes we make bad decisions about who we date or what movie to see -- and those shoes? Too late to return them now. But sometimes, we make really bad decisions.

有時，關於日常瑣事，比如和誰約會、看什麼樣的電影、穿哪雙鞋等，我們的決定不太美妙。現在想要重新來過早已爲時已晚。但有時候，人們所做的決定實在太過糟糕

For example, Thomas Austin didn't consider the consequence of introducing rabbits to Australia; he just wanted a five-star meal. And NASA knew the Challenger had O-ring problems, but decided to launch the space shuttle anyway. And all 12 of the publishing firms that rejected J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"? Since their first printing in 1997, the Harry Potter books have broken publishing records; they are now considered the fastest-selling books ever. The next time you make a bad decision, remember: It probably could have been worse -- you could have accepted the Trojan Horse or tried to invade Russia. In no particular order, we've collected 10 of the worst decisions ever made. Hold on to your sweet tooth because we're starting with those little candies aliens just can't resist. No, not M&Ms.

例如，托馬斯.奧斯丁沒有考慮到把兔子引入澳大利亞的後果；他僅僅想要一頓五星級大餐罷了。雖然美國國家航空和宇航局明知挑戰者號航天飛機的環形墊圈有問題，卻仍然決定將其發射升空。那十二個拒絕出版J.K.羅琳的《哈利波特與魔法石》的出版公司呢？在1997年第一次出版印刷，哈利波特系列圖書便打破了出版界的記錄；如今該系列被視爲是史上最暢銷的書。下次做出糟糕決定時，請牢記：它本有可能變得更糟–你本可能會接受特洛伊木馬或者試圖侵圖俄國。下面我們整理了史上最糟的十個決定，排名不分先後。吃甜食的一定要堅持住，因爲我們要從那些連外星人都無法拒絕的小糖果開始。不，不是瑪氏。

Turning Down the Chance to be in 'E.T.'

10.瑪氏糖果拒絕電影“E.T”

"Is he a pig? He sure eats like one," quipped Gertie when she first laid eyes on the small brown alien, E.T., in Steven Spielberg's 1982 blockbuster movie. E.T. may have had a sweet tooth, but those brown, orange and yellow candies he was snacking on weren't M&Ms. It could have been M&Ms, but Mars passed on the chance to use their candy in "E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial" when Spielberg asked. Instead, Hershey smartly stepped in with Reese's Pieces when opportunity knocked. The good fortune for knowing when to say yes? Sales of Reese's Pieces jumped 65 percent in June 1982, the same month E.T. was released.

“他是豬嗎？他吃東西的時候確實很像。”第一次在在史蒂文森.斯皮爾伯格1982年的大片中看到小小的棕色外星人E.T時，格蒂如此打趣道。E.T.可能非常喜歡吃甜食，但是他吃的那些棕色、橙色和黃色的糖並非瑪氏產品。那些糖本可能來自瑪氏，但當斯皮爾伯格向其詢問時，瑪氏錯過了在“E.T.,外星人”中出現的機會。然而，當機會來敲門時，好時公司明智地藉此電影將里斯巧克力（好時公司的一種牛奶巧克力)推出市場。是好時運氣好，關鍵時候決策正確嗎？1982年6月，電影E.T.上映的當月，里斯巧克力銷量攀升了65%。

a Records Declining to Sign the Beatles

9.迪卡唱片拒籤披頭士樂隊

In 1962, Dick Rowe, an executive at Decca Records, thought guitar groups were falling out of favor. On New Year's Day that year, The Beatles – though at that time Pete Best was their drummer and they called themselves the Silver Beatles -- auditioned for Decca Records producer Tony Meehan. One month later, when Dick Rowe heard their audition tape -- 15 tracks on a 12-inch audio tape -- he passed on signing the band. As it turns out, Dick Rowe was mistaken. Guitar bands weren't cold, they were hot. The Beatles went on to sign with EMI, and released their first 8 albums through the Parlophone label. It's estimated that the band earned $38.5 million by the end of the summer of 1967. The Wall Street Journal estimated $50 million in record sales in the U.S. alone in 1964. In 1968 they launched their own record label, Apple Records.

1962年，Dick Rowe擔任迪卡唱片的執行董事，他認爲吉他樂隊已不受歡迎。那年元旦，披頭士樂隊（當時的鼓手是彼德·貝斯特Pete Best，樂隊自稱爲Sliver Beatles）在迪卡唱片試音，當時製作人是Tony Meehan。一個月後，迪克·羅聽了他們的試音帶–12英寸大小,包括15首單曲，但最終丟掉了簽下披頭士的機會。結果迪克·羅錯了。吉他樂隊並沒有過時，反而大受歡迎。披頭士後來簽約EMI（電力及音樂集團；20世紀世界五大唱片集團之一），並且通過Parlophone（EMI旗下唱片公司之一）發行了他們的前八張專輯。據估計，截止1967年夏末，披頭士樂隊已賺取3850萬美元。1964年，華爾街日報預測他們的專輯僅在美國就有5000萬的銷量。1968年，他們創建了自己的唱片公司—蘋果唱片。

idomide's Use as a Morning Sickness Treatment

8.沙利度胺用於治療孕婦害喜

Thalidomide was introduced in the early 1950s as a safe over-the-counter sedative, and went on to be prescribed to pregnant women as a morning sickness treatment during the 1950s and 1960s across 46 countries. By 1961, though, negative effects of the drug were becoming evident -- babies were born with severe deformities. Affected babies were often born with shortened arms or legs and with flipper-like hands and feet (a condition called phocomelia); some babies were born with other defects such as malformed eyes, ears, hearts and other organs. By the time the manufacturer finally pulled the drug, an estimated 100,000 pregnant women had taken it, and an estimated 40 percent of babies exposed to the drug died (either during the pregnancy or shortly after birth). Thalidomide does have its uses, although always with the risk of severe birth defects or infant mortality. It's approved for use as a treatment for multiple myeloma, which is a blood and bone marrow cancer, as well as treatment for skin lesions associated with leprosy, and research is underway on its potential treatment for other cancers, HIV-related complications, and autoimmune conditions such as lupus and Crohn's disease.

20世紀50年代初，沙利度胺作爲一種安全的非處方止痛藥被引進；20世紀50年代至60年代期間，有46個國家將沙利度胺用於治療孕婦早期害喜。到1961年，該藥物的副作用已經顯而易見——新生兒先天四肢畸形。受影響的新生兒一般先天四肢短小，四肢如同魚鰭（這種症狀稱作海豹肢症）；一些新生兒有其他的先天缺陷，例如畸形的眼睛，耳朵，心臟或者其他器官。截至藥品製造商最終決定召回沙利度胺爲止，預計已有10萬名孕婦曾經服用該藥物，其中大約40%的受影響嬰兒死亡（或在孕期死亡或產後早夭）.儘管沙利度胺很可能導致新生兒嚴重的先天缺陷或死亡，但是它的確有其他作用。沙利度胺在不少疾病的治療上獲得認可，如用於多發性骨髓瘤（一種血液及骨髓癌症）或因麻風病導致的皮膚損傷。沙利度胺的潛在功能還在研究，如用於治療其他癌症、艾滋病相關的併發症和紅斑狼瘡和克羅恩病等自身免疫系統疾病。

Titanic's Many Bad Choices

7.泰坦尼克號的多重錯誤

More than a century ago, the RMS Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage across the North Atlantic. But just five days into the trip from England to New York City, the luxury liner collided with an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland; consumed by damage she sank, killing more than 1,500 passengers and crew.

一百多年前，泰坦尼克號開始她橫穿北太平洋的處女航。但僅僅第五天後，從英格蘭駛向紐約的航程中，這艘豪華郵輪撞上了紐芬蘭島沿岸的冰山。泰坦尼克號的沉沒帶走了超過1500名乘客和船員的生命。

Multiple mistakes were made that collectively sent the Titanic to its tragic end in April 1912. First, there were no safety regulations in place for a ship as large as the Titanic. It didn't carry adequate safety equipment. For example, there were only 16 lifeboats, enough for only about one-third to one-half of the passengers on board, and crew members weren't prepared with binoculars or proper lighting. Additionally, the Titanic was untested. Sure, they'd reviewed the ship's equipment, but it was never test driven; it was unproven. The crew was not fully up to speed on the liner, its equipment (such as the state-of-the-art Marconi wireless messaging system) and its emergency procedures. Despite how unprepared the Titanic was operationally, it may have been a simple human error that ultimately caused the iceberg disaster. In 2010 it was revealed that the helmsman may have made a steering error when diverting the ship around the iceberg, and the turn wasn't corrected in time to avoid disaster. The iceberg was spotted just before midnight, and by 2:20 a.m. the Titanic had split and sunk.

多重錯誤導致了泰坦尼克號於1912年4月沉沒的悲慘結局。首先，當時沒有符合泰坦尼克號（那麼大客容量的）安全標準。泰坦尼克號並沒有裝配足夠的安全設備。例如，它只配置了16艘救生艇，僅夠船上約1/3至1/2的乘客使用，並且船員也未配備望遠鏡和專用照明設備。此外，泰坦尼克號未經檢測。當然，船上的設備是經過檢修的，但遊輪整體並未試航；因此，泰坦尼克號是未經檢驗的。船員也未能充分了解這艘郵輪，不夠清楚郵輪的設備（如最先進的馬可尼無線信息傳遞系統）及應急措施。儘管泰坦尼克號（自身）在操作上準備不足，但最終造成撞上冰山這一災難的卻是人爲操作錯誤。2010年，調查發現，在遊輪轉向躲避冰山的過程中，舵手操作錯誤，未能及時轉向。在午夜前，船員發現了冰山，到凌晨2點20分，泰坦尼克號已經破裂、沉入大海。

ing the Hindenburg With Hydrogen

6.興登堡號的氫氣氣囊

In the 1930s, there was a dream of commercial airships ferrying passengers across the Atlantic in no time at all, just 60 hours. Commercial airship travel was gaining popularity, and the Hindenburg was the largest zeppelin ever built (in fact, it was the largest thing ever to fly). The airship was three times as long and double the height of a Boeing 747 of today, all wrapped up in a silver-painted fabric membrane. It was just as luxurious as it was enormous -- it even had a specially designed lightweight baby grand piano on board, and, paradoxically, a smoking lounge.

20世紀30年代，人類夢想有一架商用飛行器能載着乘客在短短60小時內飛渡大西洋。後來，這個夢想實現了，齊柏林飛艇問世，搭乘飛行器來場空中旅途的熱度逐日增長，而興登堡號作爲史上型號最大的齊柏林飛艇（事實上，它也是史上最大的飛行物），是現代波音747飛機的三倍長、兩倍高，通身包裹有銀色織物材質的保護膜。而且其奢華程度也極爲少見——興登堡號甚至同時配備有爲它特別設計的輕小型鋼琴和吸菸室。

In May 1937, during its attempt to dock, the luxury liner burst into flames above Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. In 37 seconds the Hindenburg was destroyed by fire; 36 of the 97 passengers and crew died. What went wrong? A few things. First and foremost, the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen, a highly flammable gas, instead of a less-combustible alternative such as helium. There have been differing theories about what caused the hydrogen to combust. Could the zeppelin have been struck by lightning? Or was the German Hindenburg -- Nazi-funded, with swastikas on its tail -- a political target, destroyed by a bomb, gun or sabotage? Or maybe, others thought, the powdered aluminum in the paint contributed to the explosion? Today's leading theory suggests the combination of leaking hydrogen gas, such as from a broken or malfunctioning valve or wire, and a build-up of electrostatic resulting from a thunderstorm may have sparked the fire when the crew dropped the ship's landing ropes, which may have grounded the zeppelin and discharged the electrostatic.

1937年5月，興登堡號在降落新澤西州萊克赫斯特海軍航空站的過程中着火，短短37秒就被徹底焚燬，造成機上共97名乘客及機組人員中36人遇難。是什麼釀成了這次事故？首當其衝的就是興登堡號氣囊中的氫氣——一種極易燃的氣體，而非更安全的替代品氦氣。關於氫氣被引燃的起因人們衆說紛紜。是有閃電擊中了飛艇？還是興登堡號尾部的萬字符和它的納粹背景引來了敵軍的炮火？抑或是其表層顏料中的鋁粉引發了爆炸？今天呼聲較高的解釋是：一系列的因素導致了慘劇的發生，首先是閥門或線路的故障或損壞引起了氫氣泄露，同時在雷暴天氣下，興登堡號的表面逐漸積蓄起靜電，當機組人員將飛艇着陸的繩索放下接觸到地面，靜電就被釋放出來與泄露的氫氣相遇引發大火。

審校：郗莉紅 編輯：listen 來源：前十網