2019考研英语阅读原文
PATIENCE AS A CORPORATE VIRTUE
选自Christian Science Sentinel 《基督教科学箴言报》
Financial regulations in Britain have imposed a rather unusual rule on the bosses of big banks. Starting next year, any guaranteed bonus of top executives could be delayed 10 years if their banks are under investigation for wrongdoing. The main purpose of this “claw back” rule is to hold bankers accountable for harmful risk-taking and to restore public trust in financial institution.Yet officials also hope for a much larger benefit: more long term decision-making not only by banks but also by all corporations, to build a stronger economy for future generations.
英国突如其来的出台新的金融监管法案, 要求从明年开始的未来十年内, 凡涉及诚信调查的银行经理的保证红利一律推迟十年发放, 对于银行老板们, 这无异于晴天霹雳(这两句混在一起翻, 因为分开会导致句子不通顺. 第一句直译为英国金融法规给大银行老板们施加了异乎寻常的规则. Financial regulations金融法案；第二句是未来十年内, 董事长的保证红利搁置十年发放如果他们所在的银行涉及诚信调查. Starting next year固定搭配, 从明年开始, guaranteed bonus保证红利, 金融术语, 即无论效益如何, 红利发放不受影响, top executive经理, 董事长, wrongdoing错误, 刑事犯罪, 显然对于银行, 还是发钱的问题, 不会涉及到刑事犯罪, 转译为诚信, 下文的"对银行的信心"也说明了这个. )这个紧箍咒的用意是希望银行老总们在风险(投资, 补句)前好好想想, 并设法重建公众对于银行的信心. 而且英国政府的用意更为长远：长线投资不能仅由银行, 而是应该由所有(相关, 补句)公司共同决定, 这样才能打造经济的美好未来.
“Short-termism” or the desire for quick profits, has worsened in publicly traded companies,says the Bank of England’s top economist.Andrew Haldane. He quotes a giant of classical economies,Alfred Marshall, in describing this financial impatience as acting like “Children who pick the plums out of their pudding to eat them at once” rather than putting them aside to be eaten last.
英格兰银行首席经济分析师(字面译为首席经济学家)安德鲁·霍尔丹表示, 短期效益主义或者说希望快点返现这种想法会削弱上市公司(的竞争力, 补句). 他引用古典经济学大师阿尔佛雷德马歇尔(经济学大师, 代表著作《经济学原理》, 此书为经济学方面的必读书, 译注)的话, 这种急于求成就好比"把要做布丁的葡萄直接吃了", 而没有等布丁做好了再吃(意译, 直译为就像一个小孩把葡萄从布丁里掏出来立刻吃了, 而不是放在一边等最后再吃. 意思是蛋糕还没做就先把水果吃了而不是等蛋糕做好了再吃蛋糕, 相当于不懂得放长线钓大鱼).
The average time for holding a stock in both the United States and Britain, he notes, has dropped from seven years to seven months in recent decades.Transient investors, who demand high quarterly profits from companies, can hinder a firm’s efforts to invest in long-term research or to build up customer loyalty.This has been dubbed “quarterly capitalism”.
霍尔丹指出, 近十年内, 无论美国或英国, 平均持股时间(金融术语, 即股票从购入到脱手的周期)已经从七年降到了七个月. 如此短的时间意味着投资人期待快速(注意high译为高字面上没问题, 但语义有点不通, 能快速挣钱即可, 短期投资期待高收益显然不现实, 转译为快速)获利, 这会妨碍相关公司关注长线投资和回头客(因为短期投资意味着必须在最短时间内挣钱, 谁管顾客能否再来, 过一年说不准这个公司都关门了呢, 能挣一笔是一笔, 这两句略难理解). 这也被戏称为"季度资本主义"(金融术语, 因为美国公司一般一季度公布一次收支状况, 很多人根据这个决定是否买入卖出).
In addition, new digital technologies have allowed more rapid trading of equities, quicker use of information, and thus shortens attention spans in financial markers.“There seems to be a predominance of short-term thinking at the expense of long-term investing,” said Commissioner Daniel Gallagher of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in speech this week.
另外, 数字技术的发展使得炒股更容易(equity有个意思就是股票), 信息获取更快, 这也导致市场不愿意在一个项目上投入过多(意译, 直译为减少关注时间在投资风险方面, 这个地方有点绕弯, 投资既然有风险, 说明投资需要较多的时间进行评估, 现在不花那么多时间, 说明在有风险的投资领域希望尽快脱出. financial marker很冷僻的一个词组, 一般字典上估计查不到, 投资风险, 如果倒过来就是风险投资). 美国证监会委员丹尼尔加拉赫也在本周的一次访谈中表示(US Securities andExchange Commission美国证券交易监督委员会, securities可不是安全, 是有价证券的意思), "现在的主流就是短线投资(意译, 直译为看来占多数的是短期思维在长线投资方面, short-term thinking短期思维, long-term investing长期投资). "
In the US, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has pushed most public companies to defer performance bonuses for senior executives by about a year,slightly helping reduce “short-termism.” In its latest survey of CEO pay, TheWall Street Journal finds that " a substantial part" of executive pay is now tied to performance. - 美国(也意识到了短期投资的问题, 补句), 2002年, 美国通过萨班斯-奥克斯利法案(著名的SOA法案, 在安然公司破产后美国迅速通过了这部法案以加强对大公司监管力度), 要求上市公司对公司高层的绩效工资延迟一年左右发放(performance bonuses绩效工资), 这在一定程度上遏制了"短期效益主义". 根据华尔街日报最新的CEO薪酬调查显示, 公司高管们收入的"相当一部分"现在和公司绩效直接挂钩(a substantial part固定搭配, 相当一部分).
Much more could be done to encourage “long-termism,” such as changes in the tax code and quicker disclosure of stock acquisitions. In France,shareholders who hold onto a company investment for at least two years can sometimes earn more voting rights in a company. - 不过(补句), 想要推动市场关注长期投资还需要做很多事情, 比如税收减免(tax code税务代码, 就是交税时用的公司对应编码, 英式英语指免税)、股票交易更便捷透明(stock acquisition 股票购置), 等等. 像法国(这方面就需要改进, 补句), 股东需持股两年以上才能有更多的话语权.
Within companies, the right compensation design can provide incentives for executives to think beyond their own time at the company and on behalf of all stakeholders. Britain’s new rule is a reminder to bankers that society has an interest in their performance, not just for the short term but for the long term. - 对于一家公司而言, 合理的薪酬有助于激励公司高管别总是盯着自己的一亩三分地(注意beyond, 超越自己的时间), 而是要更多为全体股东谋划. 英国这项法律对银行家们是个警示, 说明公众一直在关注着他们的表现, 不仅在短期投资方面, 还有长期的.
'FRIENDS' IS TURNING 25. HERE'S WHY WE CAN'T STOP WATCHING IT.
选自New York Times 《纽约时报》
Once upon a time, we made do with less television.Three broadcast networks dominated everything. (Channels weren’t flipped so much as triangulated.)We had a local public station and whatever oldies a UHF signal could tune in. Now? Now, we romanticize our cable-assisted, internet-borne so-called golden age and carp about the galactic girth of the streaming era. Somebody even lent the girth a fretful name:“peak TV” — the “money can’t buy happiness” of screen life.
曾几何时, 我们就将就着看那一丁点电视节目. 彼时是三个广播电视网的天下. (所谓换台无非就是一个三角形轮转. )我们有当地的公共台, 还有UHF天线可以收到些老旧内容. 现在？现在, 我们把这个有线电视为辅、互联网传播的所谓黄金时代浪漫化, 对流媒体时代的海量内容吹毛求疵. 有人甚至给这些内容起了个烦人的名字：“巅峰电视”——堪称观视生活中的"金钱买不到幸福".
In retrospect, less television has come to imply lesser — by volume, by value, by verisimilitude. But what was “Friends” lesser than? There are 236 episodes of it, merely one fewer than a combined tally of “Game of Thrones,” “House of Cards,” and “Orange Is the New Black.” Most of those episodes are perfect as tidy comedies. Maybe it’s hard to think of “Friends” as perfect, let alone as great, because it looked easy.
如今看来, 贫乏年代的电视, 就是从数量、品质和真实程度来说都要差一些. 但是《老友记》又比谁差呢？该剧共有236集, 仅比《权力的游戏》、《纸牌屋》和《女子监狱》总和加起来少一集. 其中大部分作为干干净净的喜剧都是完美的. 你可能很难把《老友记》想成一个完美的剧, 伟大就更别提了, 因为它看上去难度并不大.
Most “old TV” looked easy — even when characters broke up, bled and died.That’s because, even when they did, they were obviously not in a movie.TV now is the movies,so we love it more.We believe it more. For its entire existence, the American sitcom was anti-cinematic, beholden to the demands of advertisers.
大多数"老电视"看起来都不难拍——即便里面的人物会分手、流血、死亡. 这是因为, 即使他们出了这种事, 他们显然也不是置身电影之中. 而现在, 电视就是电影, 所以我们更喜欢电视了. 我们更相信电视. 美国情景喜剧从头到尾都是反电影的, 这要归功于广告商的要求.
Before there was too muchTV, there was simply a lot, including a lot of NBC’s "Friends."Think about the effort required to make about 24 episodes in a nine-month season (certain scripted shows somehow made more).This was impossible work that we at home took for granted.A network like NBC could turn “granted” into “mandatory” with maximal FOMO threat.“Let’s all be there,” it demanded in the 1980s.A decade later, we had to be there for "Must SeeTV."Technologically, it was an uncertain age. If you missed an episode, who knew when you’d be able to catch it again?
在电视节目变得过多之前, 其实也有不少节目, 就包括NBC的《老友记》. 想想在9个月的一季里制作24集需要做多少工作(某些有剧本的剧居然比这还要多). 这是一项难以置信的工作, 我们这些看客却当成理所当然. 像NBC这样的电视网可能会把"当然"变成"必须", 让你觉得错过它就是天大的事. 1980年代, 它要求"大家都来看". 10年后, 我们不得不看那些"必看不可的电视". 从技术上讲, 那是一个不确定的年代. 如果你错过了一集, 谁知道什么时候还能再看一遍？
“Friends” was easy TV at an elite level. So many jokes,so much body comedy,so many surprises and awwws, and squeals of live-studio audience excitement. Hairdressers were doing — and not infrequently botching — the Rachel. Coffee shops became people’s second homes.Tens of millions of Americans watched all of that writing and directing and acting, all of that seemingly effortless effort, for all 10 of its years.That work and a country’s devotion to it feels like proof of a golden age of something.
《老友记》是精英级别的"简单电视". 那么多的笑话, 那么多的肢体喜剧, 那么多的意外和感动, 还有现场观众的兴奋尖叫. 美发师们都在做瑞秋的发型——能做成的并不多. 咖啡馆成了人们的第二家园. 在过去的10年里, 数以千万计的美国人观赏了所有这些编剧、导演和表演, 这一切看上去都是毫不费力的. 这项工作和一个国家对它的投入, 感觉像是某种东西的黄金时代的证明.
“Friends” debuted on NBC in the fall of 1994,ran for an entire decade, typically had around 25 to 30 million viewers a week (sometimes many more) and now airs in Nickelodeon’s Nick @ Nite block, which my cable conglomerate has stationed near the top of the channel pyramid.That means if you’re a chronologist like me, the five-channel trip from NY1 — past the local news,TNT and “The Simpsons” — always terminates at Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross. Laziness is a factor. (Do you use the number keys on your remote? I’ll bet you don’t even have a remote at this point.)
《老友记》于1994年秋季在NBC首播, 播出了整整10年, 每周通常有大约2500万到3000万观众(有时更多), 现在, 它在Nickelodeon的Nick @ Nite版块播出, 这个台在我家的有线台列表上位于前列. 这意味着, 如果你和我一样喜欢挨着次序换台, 从NY1出发, 往下看五个台——经过当地新闻、TNT和《辛普森一家》——最后总是停在钱德勒、乔伊、莫妮卡、菲比、瑞秋和罗斯上. 懒惰是原因之一.(你还用遥控器上的数字键吗？我敢打赌你现在连遥控器都没有了. )
But,really, it’s simplicity.“Friends” actually is enormously easy to watch."The genius of “Seinfeld” (and “The Simpsons,” too) has everything to do with the “com” arising from the "sit."What trouble will Jerry and the gang instigate?Whether you’re watching an episode for the first time or the 27th, the inciting premise is a major element of the pleasure.The premise of “Friends” is the friends.
但真正的原因就是易看. 《老友记》是一个极其易看的剧. 《宋飞正传》(Seinfeld)——还有《辛普森一家》——的天才之处和"情景"中产生的"喜剧"息息相关. 杰里和那伙人会惹什么麻烦呢？不管你是第一次看还是第27次某