历史上做出的太过糟糕的十大决定(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.

有时，关于日常琐事，比如和谁约会、看什么样的电影、穿哪双鞋等，我们的决定不太美妙。现在想要重新来过早已为时已晚。但有时候，人们所做的决定实在太过糟糕

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，托马斯.奥斯丁没有考虑到把兔子引入澳大利亚的后果；他仅仅想要一顿五星级大餐罢了。虽然美国国家航空和宇航局明知挑战者号航天飞机的环形垫圈有问题，却仍然决定将其发射升空。那十二个拒绝出版J.K.罗琳的《哈利波特与魔法石》的出版公司呢？在1997年第一次出版印刷，哈利波特系列图书便打破了出版界的记录；如今该系列被视为是史上最畅销的书。下次做出糟糕决定时，请牢记：它本有可能变得更糟–你本可能会接受特洛伊木马或者试图侵图俄国。下面我们整理了史上最糟的十个决定，排名不分先后。吃甜食的一定要坚持住，因为我们要从那些连外星人都无法拒绝的小糖果开始。不，不是玛氏。

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

10.玛氏糖果拒绝电影“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.

“他是猪吗？他吃东西的时候确实很像。”第一次在在史蒂文森.斯皮尔伯格1982年的大片中看到小小的棕色外星人E.T时，格蒂如此打趣道。E.T.可能非常喜欢吃甜食，但是他吃的那些棕色、橙色和黄色的糖并非玛氏产品。那些糖本可能来自玛氏，但当斯皮尔伯格向其询问时，玛氏错过了在“E.T.,外星人”中出现的机会。然而，当机会来敲门时，好时公司明智地借此电影将里斯巧克力（好时公司的一种牛奶巧克力)推出市场。是好时运气好，关键时候决策正确吗？1982年6月，电影E.T.上映的当月，里斯巧克力销量攀升了65%。

a Records Declining to Sign the Beatles

9.迪卡唱片拒签披头士乐队

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担任迪卡唱片的执行董事，他认为吉他乐队已不受欢迎。那年元旦，披头士乐队（当时的鼓手是彼德·贝斯特Pete Best，乐队自称为Sliver Beatles）在迪卡唱片试音，当时制作人是Tony Meehan。一个月后，迪克·罗听了他们的试音带–12英寸大小,包括15首单曲，但最终丢掉了签下披头士的机会。结果迪克·罗错了。吉他乐队并没有过时，反而大受欢迎。披头士后来签约EMI（电力及音乐集团；20世纪世界五大唱片集团之一），并且通过Parlophone（EMI旗下唱片公司之一）发行了他们的前八张专辑。据估计，截止1967年夏末，披头士乐队已赚取3850万美元。1964年，华尔街日报预测他们的专辑仅在美国就有5000万的销量。1968年，他们创建了自己的唱片公司—苹果唱片。

idomide's Use as a Morning Sickness Treatment

8.沙利度胺用于治疗孕妇害喜

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世纪50年代初，沙利度胺作为一种安全的非处方止痛药被引进；20世纪50年代至60年代期间，有46个国家将沙利度胺用于治疗孕妇早期害喜。到1961年，该药物的副作用已经显而易见——新生儿先天四肢畸形。受影响的新生儿一般先天四肢短小，四肢如同鱼鳍（这种症状称作海豹肢症）；一些新生儿有其他的先天缺陷，例如畸形的眼睛，耳朵，心脏或者其他器官。截至药品制造商最终决定召回沙利度胺为止，预计已有10万名孕妇曾经服用该药物，其中大约40%的受影响婴儿死亡（或在孕期死亡或产后早夭）.尽管沙利度胺很可能导致新生儿严重的先天缺陷或死亡，但是它的确有其他作用。沙利度胺在不少疾病的治疗上获得认可，如用于多发性骨髓瘤（一种血液及骨髓癌症）或因麻风病导致的皮肤损伤。沙利度胺的潜在功能还在研究，如用于治疗其他癌症、艾滋病相关的并发症和红斑狼疮和克罗恩病等自身免疫系统疾病。

Titanic's Many Bad Choices

7.泰坦尼克号的多重错误

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，泰坦尼克号开始她横穿北太平洋的处女航。但仅仅第五天后，从英格兰驶向纽约的航程中，这艘豪华邮轮撞上了纽芬兰岛沿岸的冰山。泰坦尼克号的沉没带走了超过1500名乘客和船员的生命。

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.

多重错误导致了泰坦尼克号于1912年4月沉没的悲惨结局。首先，当时没有符合泰坦尼克号（那么大客容量的）安全标准。泰坦尼克号并没有装配足够的安全设备。例如，它只配置了16艘救生艇，仅够船上约1/3至1/2的乘客使用，并且船员也未配备望远镜和专用照明设备。此外，泰坦尼克号未经检测。当然，船上的设备是经过检修的，但游轮整体并未试航；因此，泰坦尼克号是未经检验的。船员也未能充分了解这艘邮轮，不够清楚邮轮的设备（如最先进的马可尼无线信息传递系统）及应急措施。尽管泰坦尼克号（自身）在操作上准备不足，但最终造成撞上冰山这一灾难的却是人为操作错误。2010年，调查发现，在游轮转向躲避冰山的过程中，舵手操作错误，未能及时转向。在午夜前，船员发现了冰山，到凌晨2点20分，泰坦尼克号已经破裂、沉入大海。

ing the Hindenburg With Hydrogen

6.兴登堡号的氢气气囊

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世纪30年代，人类梦想有一架商用飞行器能载着乘客在短短60小时内飞渡大西洋。后来，这个梦想实现了，齐柏林飞艇问世，搭乘飞行器来场空中旅途的热度逐日增长，而兴登堡号作为史上型号最大的齐柏林飞艇（事实上，它也是史上最大的飞行物），是现代波音747飞机的三倍长、两倍高，通身包裹有银色织物材质的保护膜。而且其奢华程度也极为少见——兴登堡号甚至同时配备有为它特别设计的轻小型钢琴和吸烟室。

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，兴登堡号在降落新泽西州莱克赫斯特海军航空站的过程中着火，短短37秒就被彻底焚毁，造成机上共97名乘客及机组人员中36人遇难。是什么酿成了这次事故？首当其冲的就是兴登堡号气囊中的氢气——一种极易燃的气体，而非更安全的替代品氦气。关于氢气被引燃的起因人们众说纷纭。是有闪电击中了飞艇？还是兴登堡号尾部的万字符和它的纳粹背景引来了敌军的炮火？抑或是其表层颜料中的铝粉引发了爆炸？今天呼声较高的解释是：一系列的因素导致了惨剧的发生，首先是阀门或线路的故障或损坏引起了氢气泄露，同时在雷暴天气下，兴登堡号的表面逐渐积蓄起静电，当机组人员将飞艇着陆的绳索放下接触到地面，静电就被释放出来与泄露的氢气相遇引发大火。

审校：郗莉红 编辑：listen 来源：前十网