每日一篇:《经济学人》读译参考 Day183

英语阅读能力依靠什么？必然是词汇的积累，但，仅仅是词汇的积累是不够了，更应该了解英语句式，不同句型所表达意义。如何培养自己的阅读语感呢？那么就跟着聚英聚创考研信息网小编每天学一点英语，一起为考研筑起坚实的地基。阅读是需要积累的，就像我们需要经常和人沟通才会促进我们的表达能力一样~小伙伴跟着小编一起，每天坚持打卡，培养英语阅读能力及语感，了解文章一些经典词汇的用法。

  经济学人:21世纪各国税制:推陈出新适逢其会(1)
  
       Stuck in the past
  故步自封

  Countries must overhaul their tax systems to make them fit for the 21st century.
  为适应21世纪新环境，各国须彻底改革税制。

  If you are a high earner in a rich country and you lack a good accountant,you probably spend about half the year working for the state.If you are an average earner, not even an accountant can spare you taxes on your payroll and spending.
  译文
  如果你在富裕国家，收入很高，却还没有一名优秀的会计师，你可能要花半年的时间为国家工作。如果你的收入处在平均水平，那么即使会计师也不能为你免去在收入和花费缴的税。

  Most of the fuss about taxation is over how much the government takes and how often it is wasted.Too little is about how taxes are raised.Today’s tax systems are not only marred by the bewildering complexity and loopholes that have always afflicted taxation;they are also outdated.That makes them less efficient, more unfair and more likely to conflict with a government’s priorities.The world needs to remake tax systems so that they are fit for the 21st century.
  译文
  关于税收大部分的议论是政府收了多少税，而又多么频繁地浪费这些税。而关于如何提高税收的议论则凤毛麟角。如今的税制不但混乱复杂，其漏洞一直影响税收；而且确已成为明日黄花。这使得税制更低效、更不公平，而且更可能和政府的优先级发生矛盾。世界各国需要重制适合21世纪的税制。

  Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the finance minister of Louis XIV of France, famously compared the art of raising tax to “plucking the goose so as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”.Tax systems vary from one economy to another-Europe imposes value-added taxes, America does not.Yet in most countries three flaws show how the art of plucking has failed.
  译文
  法国路易十四时代财政部长让-巴普蒂斯特·柯尔贝尔，曾将增税的艺术比作“从鹅身上最大限度拔毛，而只让它发出最低限度的嘶嘶声”。不同的经济体税收制度各不相同--欧洲征收增值税，美国则不征税。但是在大多数国家，有三个欠缺足以表明这种拔毛的艺术是如何失败的。

  One is missed opportunities.Expensive housing, often the result of a shortage of land, has yielded windfall gains to homeowners in big, global cities.House prices there are 34% higher, on average, than five years ago, freezing young people out of home ownership.Windfall gains should be an obvious source of revenue,yet property taxes have stayed roughly constant at 6% of government revenues in rich countries,the same as before the boom.
  译文
  一个不足是错失机会。土地资源短缺导致房价昂贵，全球大城市的户主因此发了意外之财。现在的房价平均比五年前高34%，越来越多的年轻人买不起房。意外之财应该是显而易见的收入来源，但在富裕国家，财产税大约还保持在政府税收的6%，和房价上涨前并无二致。

  Another flaw is that tax sometimes works against other priorities.Policymakers in the rich world worry about growing inequality, which is at its highest level in half a century.In the OECD, a group of mostly developed countries, the richest 10% of the population earn, on average, nine times more than the poorest 10%.Yet over this period, most economies (though not America’s) have shifted the composition of labour taxation slightly toward regressive payroll and social-security levies and away from progressive income taxes.
  译文
  另一个不足是税收有时会和其他优先事项冲突。在富裕国家，政策制定者担心不平等会逐渐加深，半世纪以来，这种担忧已达到最高程度。经济合作与发展组织的大部分国家是发达国家，在这个组织中，最富裕的10%人口的收入平均为最贫穷的10%人口的9倍。但在此期间，大部分经济体（不包括美国）将劳动税收的组成部分略微向递减的工资税和社会保障税转移，而不是累进所得税。

  注释
  1.stick in 经久留驻
  The incident stuck in my mind because it was the first example I had seen of racism in that country.
  那个事件令我难以忘怀，因为那是我看到的那个国家的第一例种族歧视事件。

  2.spare someone 使免遭
  I wanted to spare Frances the embarrassment of discussing this subject.
  我想使弗朗西丝免遭讨论这个话题的尴尬。

  3.make a fuss about 大发牢骚
  I don't know why everybody makes such a fuss about a few mosquitoes.
  我不知道为什么所有人都为几只蚊子发这么大的牢骚。

  4.conflict with (观点、信念、陈述等)相冲突
  He held firm opinions which usually conflicted with mine.
  他持有坚定的、通常跟我的相冲突的观点。

  5.fit for 适合
  Of the seven bicycles we had, only two were fit for the road.
  我们的七辆自行车中，只有两辆适合这种路。

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