Dealing with disaster
Nova Marine experienced almost immediate success in the American market. By age 35, Eddy was one of the top ten young outstanding entrepreneurs in Taiwan. The company's revenue continued to grow quickly and Nova Marine was preparing to publicly list on the stock market.
But that success was not to last. On January 1, 1991, tragedy struck and the Nova Marine facility burned to the ground. The fire damaged the entire facility but completely destroyed the most important production line. Eddy rebuilt the company from scratch. Despite the magnitude of the disaster, Eddy says that the fire served as a turning point in his life. Before the fire, his personal life had taken a turn for the worse, and the experience drew him back to the Christian faith he had been introduced to as a child.
The fire had other effects, too. Even as Nova Marine struggled to bring its facility back online after the fire, orders from the United States began to slow. Fortunately, the company was able to speed its return to full capacity by reverse engineering components from boats damaged in the fire. It also developed sales opportunities in newer, more diverse international markets like Japan and Europe.
Looking forward
As the general business situation improved, Nova Marine began working on projects- such as building high-performance military patrol craft- that helped it integrate better technology and materials into its boats. That experience changed the way all Nova Marine boats are constructed- and significantly improved the quality of its products.
The company was put to the test in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis. But even in this situation, Eddy has found that when God closes a door, he often opens a big window of new opportunity. Since 2008, Nova Marine has again adapted to working with new markets as it sails toward the future.
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20140812ada9d0632338b95fdfe6e4f59a36d10694f28e728302a39f75f21409380e4aa94c3.wma
Showing posts with label People. Show all posts
Showing posts with label People. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
[Advanced] Sailing Through Life’s Storms (1)
A yacht builder shares his tale of overcoming adversity
Since its establishment in 1983, Nova Marine has become one of Taiwan’s top yacht manufacturers. The company has gained a reputation for excellence among yachters in markets as diverse as the United States, Japan, Europe and the Middle East. But success hasn’t come easily, and Nova Marine's story remains a deeply personal tale of overcoming adversity - especially for the company's founder, Eddy Tao.
A personal story
Eddy's childhood started well, but took a tragic turn when his father left the family. Eddy was just 13 years old. His mother, a migrant from Hong Kong, had no local relations she could turn to for help. As the family slid toward destitution, it became clear that Eddy needed to help. He left school and went to work to support his family. Eventually, Eddy returned to school and was trained as an officer in the merchant marine. At that time, the life of a sailor was not glamorous, but the pay was decent and more importantly, it provided Eddy with an opportunity to travel and experience life at sea.
Eddy married at age 28 and discovered that family life was difficult to reconcile with a career at sea. For the sake of his family, Eddy left the merchant marine but decided that if he couldn't be a sailor, he would do the next best thing: He would build boats.
At age 32, Eddy found a shipyard that hd recently closed down, but still had a workforce and a large inventory- including five partially completed boats. Most prospective buyers had viewed the workers and inventory as a liability, opting instead to set up their own, new shipyards. But Eddy saw these things as opportunities that would allow him to sell boats quickly. Nova Marine was born.
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20140811ada691cd97d64c2ec02e576b124c37ee1677b869638b4ade414a7895e5951f19571.wma
Since its establishment in 1983, Nova Marine has become one of Taiwan’s top yacht manufacturers. The company has gained a reputation for excellence among yachters in markets as diverse as the United States, Japan, Europe and the Middle East. But success hasn’t come easily, and Nova Marine's story remains a deeply personal tale of overcoming adversity - especially for the company's founder, Eddy Tao.
A personal story
Eddy's childhood started well, but took a tragic turn when his father left the family. Eddy was just 13 years old. His mother, a migrant from Hong Kong, had no local relations she could turn to for help. As the family slid toward destitution, it became clear that Eddy needed to help. He left school and went to work to support his family. Eventually, Eddy returned to school and was trained as an officer in the merchant marine. At that time, the life of a sailor was not glamorous, but the pay was decent and more importantly, it provided Eddy with an opportunity to travel and experience life at sea.
Eddy married at age 28 and discovered that family life was difficult to reconcile with a career at sea. For the sake of his family, Eddy left the merchant marine but decided that if he couldn't be a sailor, he would do the next best thing: He would build boats.
At age 32, Eddy found a shipyard that hd recently closed down, but still had a workforce and a large inventory- including five partially completed boats. Most prospective buyers had viewed the workers and inventory as a liability, opting instead to set up their own, new shipyards. But Eddy saw these things as opportunities that would allow him to sell boats quickly. Nova Marine was born.
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20140811ada691cd97d64c2ec02e576b124c37ee1677b869638b4ade414a7895e5951f19571.wma
Friday, July 5, 2013
[Advanced] Jennifer Lawrence Goes for Gold in Silver Linings
Away from the big screen, this emerging star keeps her life simple
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130705adaa3b19208ddb3f8aa14907f4a21dff94aa8be259736c14b8cd0c38ccd94ff9ee2.wma
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130706ada1974986888e1e9730f00a3e7789d342dfb7a661bd84b075c2ff7cd85a917b1b5.wma
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130705adaa3b19208ddb3f8aa14907f4a21dff94aa8be259736c14b8cd0c38ccd94ff9ee2.wma
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130706ada1974986888e1e9730f00a3e7789d342dfb7a661bd84b075c2ff7cd85a917b1b5.wma
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
[Advanced] The Staying Power of Susan Sarandon (2)
Rising star Brit Marling (Sound of Her Voice) plays Sarandon's character's daughter in Arbitrage, and marvels at this "force of nature" she got to share scenes with.
"The test of any scene with any actor is 'How much can you live in this imaginary reality?' Are you there 50 per cent, 60 per cent? Acting with Susan, who is so there, so present and her character is so crackling with life that if anything is distracting you in the least, just looking at her will pull you right back into the moment."
Sarandon shrugs off such praise.
"Actors should just act, do what's fun, do stage, TV, film, whatever interests you. When you see yourself as a character actor, it's easy to see yourself as Jason Segel's mum or Richard Gere's wife.
Smaller films, which she mixes in with studio productions, allow her to "push the envelope, in terms of my ego, and have the opportunity to work with people I don't know.
"Every film can be a re-boot of who you think you are, if you think of it that way. The worst thing that can happen to you is that you get complacent."
14:25
Marling says she grew up admiring Sarandon both as an actress “and as a human being.” Sarandon is still as well-known for her activism as her acting. So while this year alone, she played the frustrated mother of Ed Helms and Jason Segel in “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” mothered Adam Sandler in “That’s My Boy” and co-starred with Frank Langella in the wistful sci-fi comedy “Robot & Frank,” her passion remains her causes.
14:58
Her passion remains her causes.
“Returning veterans are my biggest concern, right now,” she says. “I always am involved in anti-poverty issues and fighting child prostitution - the Somaly Mam Foundation is what I have been supporting. I’ve been to Cambodia with my daughter, working with Somaly.
Notes and Vocabulary
Discussion Questions
- Why is it difficult for many older actresses to find good roles?
- Which do you tend to enjoy more: smaller, independent films or larger, studioproductions? Give an example.
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130326adacce15bd664d85413e75dcd6eaed67093.wma
"The test of any scene with any actor is 'How much can you live in this imaginary reality?' Are you there 50 per cent, 60 per cent? Acting with Susan, who is so there, so present and her character is so crackling with life that if anything is distracting you in the least, just looking at her will pull you right back into the moment."
Sarandon shrugs off such praise.
"Actors should just act, do what's fun, do stage, TV, film, whatever interests you. When you see yourself as a character actor, it's easy to see yourself as Jason Segel's mum or Richard Gere's wife.
Smaller films, which she mixes in with studio productions, allow her to "push the envelope, in terms of my ego, and have the opportunity to work with people I don't know.
"Every film can be a re-boot of who you think you are, if you think of it that way. The worst thing that can happen to you is that you get complacent."
14:25
Marling says she grew up admiring Sarandon both as an actress “and as a human being.” Sarandon is still as well-known for her activism as her acting. So while this year alone, she played the frustrated mother of Ed Helms and Jason Segel in “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” mothered Adam Sandler in “That’s My Boy” and co-starred with Frank Langella in the wistful sci-fi comedy “Robot & Frank,” her passion remains her causes.
14:58
Her passion remains her causes.
“Returning veterans are my biggest concern, right now,” she says. “I always am involved in anti-poverty issues and fighting child prostitution - the Somaly Mam Foundation is what I have been supporting. I’ve been to Cambodia with my daughter, working with Somaly.
Notes and Vocabulary
| push the envelope (idiom) to go further than the usual limits by doing something new or dangerous 挑戰極限 - Joe pushed the envelope when he decided to climb up Mount Everest. |
Discussion Questions
- Why is it difficult for many older actresses to find good roles?
- Which do you tend to enjoy more: smaller, independent films or larger, studioproductions? Give an example.
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130326adacce15bd664d85413e75dcd6eaed67093.wma
Monday, March 25, 2013
[Advanced] The Staying Power of Susan Sarandon (1)
Starlets and causes come and go, but this actress endures
Susan Sarandon has always made it look so easy.
Generations of actresses launch careers and then flame out. Sarandon, 65, "transitioned" - from ingenue to leading lady to strong female lead to stellar turns as mums. Others come and go, Sarandon reinvents herself and endures.
"It's just managing to get the part you need when you need it," she says. "I just survived. I don't understand how I've stuck around, and I have no idea what to say when people ask me how. I've made plenty of mistakes."
Mistakes or not, this Oscar winner has always cleverly picked, or lucked into, roles that gave her a fresh lease on movie life.
12:18 picking timely rose
"Some of those parts, thanks to the directors of the movies, have managed to become kind of iconic - important parts in the Hollywood history of women," Sarandon says. "But that has as much to do with the zeitgeist of the moment as with me.
Take Arbitrage, her latest. She plays the wife of a Wall Street hedge fund baron (Richard Gere) who has hidden vast financial wrongdoing from her.
Melodramatic touches aside, it's a movie ripped from recent headlines.
"I feel a little bit like Zelig," Sarandon says, referencing Woody Allen's 1980s film about a man with the ability to blend into disparate situations, always on the cutting edge of history. "These films, a number of them, seemed to slip right into the consciousness of that moment in time.
"When we did Thelma & Louise (1991), we had no idea it was going to be that big of a deal. But it caught a wave."And Arbitrage, she thinks, has wave-catching potential.
Notes and Vocabulary
stellar adj.
/ˈstɛlɚ/
very good: excellent
reinvent v.
/ˌri:jənˈvɛnt/
to make major changes or improvements to (something);
to present (something) in a different or new way
zeitgeist n.
/ˈzaɪtˌgaɪst/
the general beliefs, ideas, and spirit of a time and place
wrongdoing n.
behavior that is morally or legally wrong
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130325adaa421a7881ecd292432c244a05008d5b5.wm
a
Susan Sarandon has always made it look so easy.
Generations of actresses launch careers and then flame out. Sarandon, 65, "transitioned" - from ingenue to leading lady to strong female lead to stellar turns as mums. Others come and go, Sarandon reinvents herself and endures.
"It's just managing to get the part you need when you need it," she says. "I just survived. I don't understand how I've stuck around, and I have no idea what to say when people ask me how. I've made plenty of mistakes."
Mistakes or not, this Oscar winner has always cleverly picked, or lucked into, roles that gave her a fresh lease on movie life.
12:18 picking timely rose
"Some of those parts, thanks to the directors of the movies, have managed to become kind of iconic - important parts in the Hollywood history of women," Sarandon says. "But that has as much to do with the zeitgeist of the moment as with me.
Take Arbitrage, her latest. She plays the wife of a Wall Street hedge fund baron (Richard Gere) who has hidden vast financial wrongdoing from her.
Melodramatic touches aside, it's a movie ripped from recent headlines.
"I feel a little bit like Zelig," Sarandon says, referencing Woody Allen's 1980s film about a man with the ability to blend into disparate situations, always on the cutting edge of history. "These films, a number of them, seemed to slip right into the consciousness of that moment in time.
"When we did Thelma & Louise (1991), we had no idea it was going to be that big of a deal. But it caught a wave."And Arbitrage, she thinks, has wave-catching potential.
Notes and Vocabulary
stellar adj.
/ˈstɛlɚ/
very good: excellent
reinvent v.
/ˌri:jənˈvɛnt/
to make major changes or improvements to (something);
to present (something) in a different or new way
zeitgeist n.
/ˈzaɪtˌgaɪst/
the general beliefs, ideas, and spirit of a time and place
wrongdoing n.
behavior that is morally or legally wrong
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130325adaa421a7881ecd292432c244a05008d5b5.wm
a
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