BEC阅读练习：瑞士公投支持限制高管薪资

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　　原文阅读：瑞士公投支持限制高管薪资

　　European executive pay has come under attack for the second time in less than a week after Swiss voters overwhelmingly backed curbs on corporate wages that snatch the power away from company boards.

　　The move comes on the heels of European-wide steps last Thursday to address top management pay, which has been a lightning rod for public anger across the world since the financial crisis.

　　EU proposals to cap bankers’ bonuses at twice their salary have stunned the City of London, with senior bankers warning that the cap will drive top staff to Asia or New York and eventually prompt a shift in operations from London. “This will have consequences,” said one high-ranking executive at a leading investment bank in London.

　　The referendum in Switzerland has introduced an even broader set of curbs after 68 per cent of voters approved rules that include giving shareholders a binding say on executive pay; banning golden hellos and goodbyes; requiring annual re-elections for directors; and threatening criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

　　Brigitta Moser-Harder, an activist shareholder who spearheaded the yes-campaign together with entrepreneur Thomas Minder, said that the result, one of the most emphatic yes-votes ever in a Swiss referendum, sent a clear signal to companies both within and beyond Switzerland’s borders.

　　“The EU is already capping bankers’ bonuses and now the Swiss people has spoken very clearly as well. The message to company boards and managers is: you have to rein in executive pay,” she said.

　　Britain plans to mount a last-ditch attempt to revise the EU bonus cap at a meeting of finance ministers on Tuesday with chancellor George Osborne trying to gather opposition to the proposal. But while Mr Osborne is fighting to change some details, the prospects of a big reversal are slim. An overwhelming majority of EU member states is willing to sign up to the political deal reached with the European parliament, which is part of legislation to enact a sweeping overhaul of bank capital rules.

　　学习指南：

　　1.Word of the day

　　snatch: If something is snatched from you, it is stolen, usually using force.If a person issnatched, they are taken away by force. 强抢;夺走

　　ex:If your bag is snatched, let it go.

　　例句：要是有人抢你的包，就让他拿走。

　　小编注：不知你是否看过一部名叫《Snatch》的电影，在电影中，小偷、劫匪、黑帮以及布拉德皮特扮演的骗子为了一颗价值连城的钻石上演了一场无厘头的大乱斗，该片中文名被翻译成了《偷拐抢骗》，真是把snatch这个单词的含义发挥得淋漓尽致。snatch一词主要有“用暴力手段强抢”的意思，例句中介绍了“抢包”的说法，此外我们也可以说somebody snatches victory from the jaws of defeat，“从失败的嘴里夺回了胜利”，那就意味着“反败为胜”。在本文中snatch的含义也是“夺走”，然而文中“夺走”的就不是什么钻石了，而是比钻石更值钱的董事会的权力。

　　2.Phrase of the day

　　last-ditch attempt: a last-ditch action is done only because there are no other ways left to achieve something or to prevent something happening.It is often done without much hope that it will succeed. 孤注一掷;最后一搏

　　ex:a last-ditch attempt to prevent civil war.

　　例句：阻止内战发生的最后努力。

　　3.Sentence of the day

　　The move comes on the heels of European-wide steps last Thursday to address top management pay, which has been a lightning rod for public anger across the world since the financial crisis.

　　此前欧盟(EU)在上周四采取措施，解决公司最高管理层薪资问题，自金融危机以来，管理层薪资成为引起全球公众愤怒的众矢之的。

　　小编注：heel的意思是脚后跟，come on the heels of 按字面意思很容易能联想到“紧接着”这个含义，有点类似中文成语“接踵而至”但含义并不相同，可以翻译成“紧随其后”，此处译文简练地用“此前”带出了两件事的前后关系，是新闻的常见译法。address一词在此句中的意思与我们常用的“地址”、“发表演说”等意思不同，而是解释为“对付;处理;设法了解并解决”，这是需要关注的一点。同样的用法例如：

　　ex1:Mr King sought to address those fears when he spoke at the meeting.

　　例句1：金先生在会上讲话时试图消除那些恐惧。

　　ex2:Throughout the book we have addressed ourselves to the problem of ethics.

　　例句2：整本书中我们都在探讨伦理观的问题。

　　4.Cultural point of the day

　　cap与hat的区别: cap和hat中文里都解释为帽子，cap一般没有帽檐，但会有帽舌(就像棒球帽或警察制服的帽子)，而hat是指有檐的帽，如女孩夏天用来遮阳的帽子，或是英国绅士戴的那种礼帽。文中cap的用法类似篮球迷熟悉的“NBA工资帽”——"salary cap",属于cap的引申义。而足球迷熟悉的“帽子戏法”则叫做"hat-trick"，最早来自板球术语。

　　5.Translation of the day

　　The referendum in Switzerland has introduced an even broader set of curbs after 68 per cent of voters approved rules that include giving shareholders a binding say on executive pay; banning golden hellos and goodbyes; requiring annual re-elections for directors; and threatening criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

　　瑞士公投提出了更为广泛的限制，68%的投票者支持下列规定：赋予股东对高管薪资具有约束力的发言权;禁止向高管发放高额入职奖金和离职补偿金;要求公司董事每年改选;对不合规行为可能采取刑事处罚。

　　小编注：原文中出现了一个以that引导的同位语从句，用来表明其前面的名词rules的具体内容，由于rules的内容有四条，使得这个同位语从句很长，所以不能用“……的”来翻译，而可以借鉴如译文中的“下列”这样的译法。

　　European executive pay has come under attack for the second time in less than a week after Swiss voters overwhelmingly backed curbs on corporate wages that snatch the power away from company boards.

　　绝大多数瑞士投票者支持对企业薪资实施限制，这一限制将剥夺公司董事会的权力，这是欧洲高管薪资在不到一周的时间内第二次遭到抨击。

　　The move comes on the heels of European-wide steps last Thursday to address top management pay, which has been a lightning rod for public anger across the world since the financial crisis.

　　此前欧盟(EU)在上周四采取措施，解决公司最高管理层薪资问题，自金融危机以来，管理层薪资成为引起全球公众愤怒的众矢之的。

　　EU proposals to cap bankers’ bonuses at twice their salary have stunned the City of London, with senior bankers warning that the cap will drive top staff to Asia or New York and eventually prompt a shift in operations from London. “This will have consequences,” said one high-ranking executive at a leading investment bank in London.

　　欧盟提议将银行家奖金限制在两倍薪资的水平，这令伦敦金融城(City of London)感到震惊，高级银行家警告称，这一限制将导致最优秀的员工流失到亚洲或纽约，并最终导致业务转移到伦敦以外。伦敦一家大银行的高管表示：“这将产生后果。”

　　The referendum in Switzerland has introduced an even broader set of curbs after 68 per cent of voters approved rules that include giving shareholders a binding say on executive pay; banning golden hellos and goodbyes; requiring annual re-elections for directors; and threatening criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

　　瑞士公投提出了更为广泛的限制，68%的投票者支持下列规定：赋予股东对高管薪资具有约束力的发言权;禁止向高管发放高额入职奖金和离职补偿金;要求公司董事每年改选;对不合规行为可能采取刑事处罚。

　　Brigitta Moser-Harder, an activist shareholder who spearheaded the yes-campaign together with entrepreneur Thomas Minder, said that the result, one of the most emphatic yes-votes ever in a Swiss referendum, sent a clear signal to companies both within and beyond Switzerland’s borders.

　　与企业家托马斯•民德(Thomas Minder)合作发起此次“Yes”活动的维权股东布里吉塔•莫泽-哈德尔(Brigitta Moser-Harder)表示，这一结果是瑞士公投中最为不容置疑的一次，它向瑞士国内外的企业发出了一个清晰的信号。

　　“The EU is already capping bankers’ bonuses and now the Swiss people has spoken very clearly as well. The message to company boards and managers is: you have to rein in executive pay,” she said.

　　她表示：“欧盟已在限制银行家的奖金，如今，瑞士人民也非常明确地表达了自己的意见。他们向公司董事会和管理者发出的信息是：你们必须控制高管薪酬。”

　　Britain plans to mount a last-ditch attempt to revise the EU bonus cap at a meeting of finance ministers on Tuesday with chancellor George Osborne trying to gather opposition to the proposal. But while Mr Osborne is fighting to change some details, the prospects of a big reversal are slim. An overwhelming majority of EU member states is willing to sign up to the political deal reached with the European parliament, which is part of legislation to enact a sweeping overhaul of bank capital rules.

　　英国计划在明日举行的欧盟财长会议上做出最后的抵抗，以修改欧盟的奖金限制计划，英国财政大臣乔治•奥斯本(George Osborne)将努力集结反对力量。情况出现重大逆转的可能性很小。绝大多数欧盟成员国愿意签署与欧洲议会(European parliament)达成的这一政治协议，这是改革银行资本金规定的立法的一部分。