精讀金融時報:倫敦城年齡歧視突出
滬江小編:對于商界精英們來說,閱讀《金融時報》(Financial Times)幾乎成了每天的必修課。FT文章以分析為主,邏輯嚴密,經(jīng)常被各類考試用作考題。非常適合學習BEC、TOEIC、GRE、GMAT的考生來閱讀、練習。滬江小編精選FT上的雙語文章,配上獨家的學習指南,從詞匯、短語、句式、文化、翻譯等多方面來解讀,長期堅持,相信會對英語學習有所幫助。
原文閱讀:倫敦金融城年齡歧視問題突出
Age discrimination is now seen as a more widespread problem in the City than sex discrimination, a survey of more than 1,600 finance sector workers has found.
While more than one-third of City employees said their employer was “very committed” to gender diversity, less than a quarter felt the company was similarly committed to fighting age discrimination.
The research also confirmed that problems over discrimination and lack of commitment to diversity were most likely to arise in areas such as trading and sales rather than within the middle or back-office functions.
“The City is getting far better at supporting and developing female staff,” said Mark Cameron, chief operating officer at Astbury Marsden, a financial services recruiter, which carried out the survey.
He added: “The huge effort that London’s financial services sector has made to broaden its workforce is clearly reflected in positive feedback we have had from employees.”
But while sex discrimination was on the decrease, negative attitudes towards co-workers on the basis of age and a lack of commitment to age diversity was seen as wider problem.
“We aren’t saying that the negative consequences of age discrimination are bigger than other forms of discrimination, just that employees see it as more prevalent. They also see age diversity as something employers are not particularly focused on,” said Mr Cameron.
The default retirement age (DFA), under which employers could force workers to retire at 65, was phased out in 2011. But Mr Cameron said that, as with racial and gender diversity, it often took years for attitudes to change, and this seemed to be the case with age discrimination.
學習指南:
1.Word of the day
discrimination: Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice:歧視,差別待遇:根據(jù)階級而不是根據(jù)個人的優(yōu)點來加以對待和考慮的;偏心或偏見:
小編注:discrimination有“區(qū)別”的意思,但更多地表示判斷、見識方面的差別,也表示待遇上的差別,因此通常用discrimination表示“歧視”。同樣有“區(qū)別”意思的distinction側(cè)重于細節(jié)上的區(qū)別而difference則更普通,可以指幾乎任何區(qū)別。
2.Phrase of the day
phase out?:?If something is phased out, people gradually stop using it. ?逐步停止;逐步撤去;逐步淘汰。
ex:Will that country phase out its oil exports?
例句:那個國家會逐步停止輸出石油嗎?
小編注:phase out的反義詞是phase in,解釋為逐步使用。
3.Sentence of the day
But Mr Cameron said that, as with racial and gender diversity, it often took years for attitudes to change, and this seemed to be the case with age discrimination.
但卡梅倫表示,就像種族和性別多樣性一樣,這通常需要數(shù)年時間來改變?nèi)藗兊膽B(tài)度,年齡歧視似乎也是如此。
小編注:as with解釋為正如,比如:
As with the birds,it's time for the youths to leave home.
正如小鳥一樣,到了年青人離開家的時候了。
寫作時如果需要打比方,可以使用這個詞。
4.Cultural point of the day
年齡歧視?隨著人類社會的發(fā)展,人們的平均壽命越來越長,退休年齡則越來越晚。原本規(guī)定的65歲法定退休年齡在歐美許多國家被取消。然而這一決定卻引發(fā)了諸多社會問題。雖然取消退休年齡后使得很多高齡職工得以繼續(xù)工作發(fā)揮余熱,但長期職工的高額薪水也令雇主們難以負擔,同時更低的退休率也帶來了更高的失業(yè)率。大量青年畢業(yè)生的就業(yè)機會被這些本該退休的老職工所擠壓。對于退休年齡和年齡歧視,你又有什么看法呢?
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5.Translation of the day
But while sex discrimination was on the decrease, negative attitudes towards co-workers on the basis of age and a lack of commitment to age diversity was seen as wider problem.
然而,盡管性別歧視問題在減輕,但對同事的年齡歧視以及對年齡多樣性重視不夠被視為一個更普遍的問題。
小編注:減少除了說on the decrease,還能說decrease in number,be cut down,be lessen,fall off等。