- 相關(guān)推薦
高級(jí)口譯翻譯資格考試全真預(yù)測(cè)題
翻譯資格考試是在每年的五月份和十月份舉行,以下是小編yjbys為您整理的一些關(guān)于高級(jí)口譯翻譯資格考試全真預(yù)測(cè)題,歡迎閱讀參考!
City watchdog blames bonus culture for corrupting bank services says incentive schemes are likely to drive staff to mis-sell, after finding 'serious failings' in study of 22 financial institutions
The City watchdog has ordered banks to put anend to their bonus culture, in a report that blamesstaff incentives for corrupting the services theyprovide and leading to millions of consumers beingmissold investments and insurance policies.
Many if not all of the recent mis-selling scandals over products including paymentprotection insurance (PPI), endowments and pensions had come about because of the waycompanies rewarded sales rather than service, the FSA said.
The watchdog investigated the incentive and bonus schemes at 22 financial firms, anduncovered a range of "serious failings".
It is understood that the worst were at Lloyds Banking Group, which has been referred tothe FSA's enforcement division. This could result in the group, which is 40% owned by thegovernment, facing a fine of billions of pounds. Lloyds has already set aside more than 3.5bnto cover compensation payments.
Martin Wheatley, the FSA's managing director, said banks used to be a place "where youwould go in, stand in a queue and have a pleasant chat with the clerk", but some time agofinancial institutions had changed their view of consumers "from someone to serve to someoneto sell to".
The FSA has ordered firms to drop such sales tactics in favour of schemes that put thecustomer first, and said bank bosses should "take a real interest in fixing this". If firms failed tocomply, the watchdog said, it was prepared to introduce new rules cracking down on bonusschemes that prioritise sales.
"What we found is not pretty," Wheatley said. "Most of the incentive schemes we looked atwere likely to drive people to mis-sell in order to meet targets and receive a bonus, and theserisks were not being properly managed."
He said he had ruled out getting rid of incentive schemes altogether, but banks would beexpected to properly consider whether their incentive schemes increased the risk of mis-selling.
"I want to draw a line in the sand and use the report we are publishing today to set out ourexpectations," he said. "CEO's are ultimately accountable for the way their staff areincentivised, so we expect them to take a real interest in fixing this."
Where a recurring problem was identified, banks would be expected to investigate, takeaction and pay compensation, the FSA said. In the past, incidents of misselling have oftenbeen left to the watchdog and consumer bodies to identify and act upon.
Firms have until the end of October to submit their views on the guidance, and Wheatleysaid he expected them to start to clean up their act immediately.
Lloyds would not confirm whether it had been referred to the FSA's enforcement division,but said in a statement that it had made "significant changes" to its incentive schemes sincethe beginning of the year. It said it had been " working closely with [the FSA], keeping themupdated on our progress and to ensure the changes we have made to the schemes areappropriate."
Richard Lloyd, the Which? executive director, said that the FSA's findings supported hisorganisation's view that most banks had incentive schemes that prioritised sales.
"This must change. It is clear that the light touch regulation of the past has not worked.We want to see the FSA rigorously enforcing the rules and taking tough action against thosebanks that continue to let their customers down," he said.
Figures released by the banks last week showed that customer complaints soared in thefirst half of this year, due to increasing numbers of cases relating to the mis-selling of PPI.Lloyds received around 860,000 complaints in the first six months, a 145% increase on a yearago. Complaints to NatWest doubled year-on-year, while those to Barclays rose by 80%.
Incentive schemes
The FSA found that firms were using a wide range of sales incentive schemes toencourage their staff to part consumers from their cash. These included:
A "first past the post" system whereby the first 21 sales staff to reach a target could earna "super bonus" of 10,000.
Basic salaries for sales staff could move up or down by more than 10,000 a yeardepending on how much they sold.
Sales staff could earn a bonus of 100% of their basic salary for the sale of loans and PPI– if they sold PPI to at least half of their customers.
Advisers were paid commission on products sold over the course of the year. If theyreached a series of targets, they could lock in an enhanced commission of up to 35% for thewhole of the next year.
One firm excessively incentivised sales of one product type over another, where thatproduct was more profitable. Staff could therefore earn bigger bonuses by selling oneparticular product, even if it was wrong for the customer.
Section 5 第一篇
該文選自2012年9月5日英國(guó)《衛(wèi)報(bào)》的文章,主要講述的是英國(guó)金融服務(wù)監(jiān)管局(FSA)出重拳整頓英國(guó)retailbanking行業(yè)。監(jiān)管局在調(diào)查中發(fā)現(xiàn),英國(guó)金融機(jī)構(gòu)普遍存在“重銷售,輕服務(wù)”的現(xiàn)象。銀行業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)的銷售激勵(lì)機(jī)制讓銷售員賺的彭滿缽滿,導(dǎo)致了銀行理財(cái)產(chǎn)品丑聞?lì)l現(xiàn)。因此,監(jiān)管局導(dǎo)致下令銀行整改,要求銀行必須重拾過去“以服務(wù)客戶為中心”的服務(wù)理念,否則將面臨嚴(yán)厲的處罰。其中英國(guó)著名的勞埃德銀行集團(tuán)被證實(shí)由于問題嚴(yán)重,被移交監(jiān)管局的執(zhí)法部門,如調(diào)查屬實(shí),那么集團(tuán)將面臨數(shù)十億的罰款,以達(dá)殺雞儆猴之效。金融監(jiān)管局的命令下發(fā)后,銀行紛紛表示擁護(hù),并開始自我內(nèi)部審查。
主要詞匯:
l bonus/incentives scheme 激勵(lì)機(jī)制
l payment protection insurance, endowments, pensions 這些都是銀行業(yè)的理財(cái)產(chǎn)品針對(duì)的方向。
l prioritise 優(yōu)先考慮
l enforcement division 執(zhí)法部門
這篇文章沿襲了高口閱讀部分針砭時(shí)弊、緊跟趨勢(shì)的特點(diǎn)。由于援引新聞報(bào)道,因此文章的脈絡(luò)采用”倒金字塔”結(jié)構(gòu),即,文章一開始開門見山,概括主要思想,然后逐層展開,將故事來(lái)龍去脈娓娓道來(lái)。
附: 全文供參考
A Right to Choose Single-Sex Public Education
By KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON And BARBARA MIKULSKI
Education proponents across the political spectrum were dismayed by recent attempts toeradicate the single-gender options in public schools in Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama,Mississippi, Maine and Florida. We were particularly troubled at efforts to thwart educationchoice for American students and their families because it is a cause we have worked hard toadvance.
Studies have shown that some students learn better in a single-gender environment,particularly in math and science. But federal regulations used to prevent public schools fromoffering that option. So in 2001 we joined with then-Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Susan Collinsto author legislation that allowed public schools to offer single-sex education. It was an epicbipartisan battle against entrenched bureaucracy, but well worth the fight.
Since our amendment passed, thousands of American children have benefited. Now,though, some civil libertarians are claiming that single-sex public-school programs arediscriminatory and thus illegal.
To be clear: The 2001 law did not require that children be educated in single-genderprograms or schools. It simply allowed schools and districts to offer the choice of single-sexschools or classrooms, as long as opportunities were equally available to boys and girls. In thevast and growing realm of education research, one central tenet has been confirmedrepeatedly: Children learn in different ways. For some, single-sex classrooms make all thedifference.
Critics argue that these programs promote harmful gender stereotypes. Ironically, it isexactly these stereotypes that the single-sex programs seek to eradicate.
As studies have confirmed - and as any parent can tell you - negative gender roles areoften sharpened in coeducational environments. Boys are more likely, for instance, to buy intothe notion that reading isn't masculine when they're surrounded by (and showing off for) girls.
Girls, meanwhile, have made so much progress in educational achievement that women areoverrepresented in postgraduate education. But they still lag in the acquisition of bachelor'sand graduate degrees in math and the sciences. It has been demonstrated time and again thatyoung girls are more willing to ask and answer questions in classrooms without boys.
A 2008 Department of Education study found that "both principals and teachers believedthat the main benefits of single-sex schooling are decreasing distractions to learning andimproving student achievement." The gender slant - the math-is-for-boys, home-EC-is-for-girls trope - is eliminated.
In a three-year study in the mid-2000s, researchers at Florida's Stetson Universitycompared the performance of single-gender and mixed-gender classes at an elementaryschool, controlling for the likes of class sizes, demographics and teacher training. When thechildren took the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (which measures achievement inmath and literacy, for instance), the results were striking: Only 59% of girls in mixed classeswere scored as proficient, while 75% of girls in single-sex ones achieved proficiency. Similarly, 37% of boys in coeducational classes scored proficient, compared with 86% of boys in the all-boys classes.
Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tenn., the winner of the 2011 Race to theTop High School Commencement Challenge, went to a 81.6% graduation rate in 2010 from agraduation rate of 55% in 2007. Among the changes at the school? Implementing all-girls andall-boys freshman academies.
In Dallas, the all-boys Barack Obama Leadership Academy opened its doors last year. Thereis every reason to believe it will follow the success of the first all-girls public school, Irma RangelYoung Women's Leadership School, which started in 2004. Irma Rangel, which has been aTexas Education Agency Exemplary School since 2006, also took sixth place at the DallasIndependent School District's 30th Annual Mathematics Olympiad that year.
No one is arguing that single-sex education is the best option for every student. But it ispreferable for some students and families, and no one has the right to deny them an optionthat may work best for a particular child. Attempts to eliminate single-sex education areequivalent to taking away students' and parents' choice about one of the most fundamentallyimportant aspects of childhood and future indicators of success - a child's education.
America once dominated educational attainment among developed countries, but we havefallen disastrously in international rankings. As we seek ways to offer the best education for allour children, in ways that are better tailored to their needs, it seems not justcounterproductive but damaging to reduce the options. single-sex education in public schoolswill continue to be a voluntary choice for students and their families. To limit or eliminatesingle-sex education is irresponsible. To take single-sex education away from students whostand to benefit is unforgivable.
Ms. Hutchison, a Republican, is the senior senator from Texas. Ms. Mikulski, a Democrat, isthe senior senator from Maryland.
第二篇選自2012年10月17日《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》, 與本次高口聽力Passage Translation部分應(yīng)該出自同一作者手筆。 這篇文章中規(guī)中矩的高口閱讀,這樣的文章一般都沿襲以下的套路:
開頭部分:文章會(huì)告訴我們發(fā)生在歐美國(guó)家的某個(gè)社會(huì)爭(zhēng)議,在本文中,爭(zhēng)議內(nèi)容是,美國(guó)部分州取消了2001年的的一項(xiàng)議案,即學(xué)生有權(quán)利選擇單一性別學(xué)校。 該爭(zhēng)議又落俗套地涉及美國(guó)兩黨執(zhí)政理念的爭(zhēng)論。
第二步:再次強(qiáng)調(diào)爭(zhēng)議兩方的觀點(diǎn)和立場(chǎng)。本文中,反對(duì)單一性別學(xué)校的觀點(diǎn)是,這樣的教育將強(qiáng)化了人們對(duì)不同性別刻板印象:男生數(shù)學(xué)好,女生要加強(qiáng)家政學(xué)習(xí),與此同時(shí),這樣的教育方式帶歧視性,因而違法。支持方用對(duì)比試驗(yàn)結(jié)果為證據(jù),證明單一性別教育成績(jī)顯赫,男生女生們都揚(yáng)長(zhǎng)避短。
文章結(jié)論部分:?jiǎn)我恍詣e學(xué)校作為教育選擇,將繼續(xù)進(jìn)行。因?yàn)檫@關(guān)系到美國(guó)教育質(zhì)量問題。
全文幾乎沒有新單詞。高口同學(xué)應(yīng)該能順利閱讀全文。
順便提醒,正如杰叔上課反復(fù)強(qiáng)調(diào), 由于中高口考試出題者為在校老師,而考試者以在校學(xué)生為主,因此,涉及教育的話題理所當(dāng)然的為考試重點(diǎn)。
第三篇選自2012年9月23日的《獨(dú)立人報(bào)》 The Independent
雖話題并不高深,但文章難詞比較多,思維方式跳躍。
Where’s the ‘freedom’ in the freedom to abuse?
Freedom of expression in the West is hokum, I say. It’s hypocrisy dressed up as highvirtue. Worse still, it is now used as a missile aimed mainly at Muslims. Freedoms are sacredand easily snatched by the powerful and Authoritarian states like Saudi Arabia and China andmany others remain unenlightened because they suppress the human voice. But I also believethat freedom without responsibility and sensitivity amounts to anarchy. 文章開明宗義,告訴我們沒有責(zé)任心的言論自由是虛偽的,這與無(wú)政府主義無(wú)異。
很好的一句句子:
it is a blessing to live in a country where prime ministers and princes are berated withimpunity.
(如果)生活在一個(gè)能夠謾罵首相和皇室成員,卻不受懲罰的國(guó)度,真是一件神賜予的好事。
As do those European nations which have collectively agreed that Holocaust denial is anoffence, that minorities should be protected from hate speech, that individuals have the right toprivacy and legal protection against libel, that big businesses must be allowed to keepinformation confidential, as can governments, defence companies and Nato. There are also theconstraints that have crept in over the decades: Muslims thinking evil thoughts or readingabout them are now tried and some are jailed; influential folk can buy silence about theiraffairs and journalists self-censor for an easy life. The Chief Whip, who allegedly called a policeofficer a “ pleb”, is finding out he wasn’t really free to do that. Quite a list of limitations eh?
文章先從談?wù)摿艘匝哉撟杂蔀橛,很多不能做的事情,暗示穆斯林卻被設(shè)定了雙重標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。
這一段運(yùn)用了排比,長(zhǎng)短句相交替,語(yǔ)氣迫切。 其中 Pleb 這樣的詞,可以判斷是一個(gè)侮辱性語(yǔ)言,無(wú)需搞清楚具體是什么。
Libertarians proclaiming freedom of expressionas an ABSOLUTE, NON-NEGOTIABLE, BEAUTIFULWestern value say nothing or little on any of thoserestrictions. If that manifesto was real, KateMiddleton would have to put up and shut aboutthose pictures, David Irving, the anti-Semitichistorian, would be allowed to publish his revoltingspiel and not be imprisoned as he was in 2006 inAustria, and we would have no libel or defamationlaws. Racist landlords would put “No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs” notices on their windows.Disabled and gay people would be liberally abused on trains and buses, and paedophilicmaterial would be sold in corner shops.
順延了這樣無(wú)責(zé)任心的自由言論,會(huì)帶來(lái)社會(huì)無(wú)序。其中的一些生詞考生可以無(wú)視,都是在說(shuō)社會(huì)無(wú)序現(xiàn)象的具體表現(xiàn)形式。
其中anti-semitic 反猶太主義。這樣的詞可能在中國(guó)并不常用,但在美國(guó)卻是一大禁忌,與之相關(guān)的是Zionist 猶太復(fù)國(guó)者,也是高口閱讀常見詞匯。
Paedophilic material 孌童內(nèi)容
None of that is permitted because in good societies there have to be formal and unofficialcurbs on what can be said, published or broadcast and sometimes freedom has to give way. Iagree with the DPP that senders of silly tweets and tasteless jokes should not be prosecutedbut surely we still need to take care when communicating with the world.
這一段說(shuō),政府應(yīng)該針對(duì)無(wú)責(zé)任心的自由言論采取行動(dòng)。 Tweets 推文,為下文中internet freedom 做了鋪墊。
With Muslims, there is no restraint or even fairness. Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazinein France which printed demeaning cartoons of Prophet Mohamed, wanted trouble, so its editorcould appear a really big man. And because many Muslims are instantly and irrationally arousedto extreme frenzy ( as I wrote last week) he expected it all to go off and the rag to makemoney and martyrs.
這一段譴責(zé)政府的雙重標(biāo)準(zhǔn),針對(duì)穆斯林的不負(fù)責(zé)言論,難道就可以免受處罰嗎?
extreme frenzy 極端瘋狂
They don’t provoke Jews, Hindus, or Christians to test the muscles of their liberalism andactually are pretty rubbish at accepting criticism themselves
Well, it didn’t happen. French Muslims were banned from demonstrating, denied thatdemocratic right. The anti-Islam internet film made by some dodgy Americans (we think) gotthe fire and fury it wanted. Throngs came out, people died, for no good reason, on either side.Now we find that some Libyans have come out against the murderous mobs and for theAmerican Ambassador and other victims, even for America itself. Not what was expected, aterrible disappointment for the Westerners who feel especially good about themselves whenthey can get many of my brethren to behave madly or very, very badly, which they do, toooften.
這一段提到的是法國(guó)穆斯林被公開侮辱,但是卻不能上街游行抗議,赤裸裸的歧視。
Muslims need to calm down, grow up, learn to debate and become more self-aware.Western liberals who feel they have a duty to incite Muslims need self-awareness too and a bitof honesty. They don’t provoke Jews, Hindus, or Christians to test the muscles of theirliberalism and actually are pretty rubbish at accepting criticism themselves.
We have recently had a lot of Salman Rushdie, too much, like three plates of biryani. Amemoir, hagiographic TV programme, a film of Midnight’s Children, luvvie tributes have affirmedhis eminence. This novelist of exceptional talent and imagination spent the best years of his lifeliving with fear and trauma. He is entitled to be angry for ever. But as he stands for freedomof expression, he should live by it. Mr Rushdie finds that very hard.
In his book he turns on anyone with nuanced views of the Satanic Verses crisis or, like JohnMajor and civil servants, didn’t give in to his many demands. Sarcastically dismissed is thisnewspaper, apparently a “house journal for British Muslims”, while serious writers who werecritical of him – Arundhati Roy, Louis de Bernières, John le Carré – are roundly trashed.Rushdie, a god of liberalism, proves that words and images hurt.
這三段都是呼吁穆斯林理性抗議,不要落人口舌。第二段中,有很多生僻詞,biryani, luvvie,都是虛晃一槍,虛張聲勢(shì),直接無(wú)視。 Three plates of biryani,可以判斷肯定是一道菜。Luvvie tributes 可以跳過,直接理解a film of midnight children have affirmed his eminence. 這里的his肯定就是指SalmanRushdie. 用他做例子,肯定是反面教育,信號(hào)是:too much.
They do, which is why we tell our children to watch what they say. The internet is almostabsolutely free and look how ugly and frightening that space is becoming. Imagine all thatpoison coursing through the real world. It may well happen, and then maybe the mostfanatical libertarians will think about the consequences of feral, uncontained, goading freedom.But by that time it will be too late.
最后一段,呼吁政府監(jiān)管不負(fù)責(zé)任的網(wǎng)絡(luò)言論,教育孩子應(yīng)該如何言談舉止,不要等到為時(shí)已晚,懊悔不已。