【英语趣味课堂】工资上限-Salary Caps

Todd: So Greg in the last one we were talking about minimum wage, and this is one of the topics in your book and it's about income disparity. One of the chapters is about income disparity. Now the opposite would be should there the a salary cap, which would mean that basically you could only earn so much, like let's say you can only earn five million dollars, ten million dollars. Nobody could earn more than that. What do you think about that concept?

Greg: I personally agree with a salary cap. I'm not sure how much it should be, but definitely the discrepancy¹ in wages is way to great. There's too many people who have to ... a husband and a wife work hard forty hours or more, both of them. They're barely, barely getting by, and then you got all these other people who are just buying Rolls-Royce cars and Mercedes, and country clubs and it's just not fair.

 

Todd: But, well, for one, though I mean, Mercedes and Rolls-Royce and those are products that provide jobs, so I would argue with that. Actually, as you can probably tell, I'm against the idea mainly because, you know, I think that hurts innovation. You know, you look at people like the CEO of a very powerful internet company or software company, and you know, take google for example, I'm sure that they make more than ten million, but they're service is used so much around the world, that they should get that money, and if people couldn't ... hang on ... if people couldn't get ... couldn't earn that salary then maybe they wouldn't have the same motivation and drive to be successful and that people would lose out as a result.

 

Greg: I think that there's not proof to say that these people are making these products because they're making such tremendous amounts of money. What came first: the product and then they got the money in most cases. There's ... these people could be ... society can have all sorts of wonderful products and still have a fair income system, and I have nothing against people becoming rich or making a good salary, a very good salary, but not such an incredible gap. You have executives of some major international corporations that are making more money than millions of people in the world make combined. The opposite side of not having a cap is that you have people who are making too little, and those people are also working hard. Those people deserve validation². Those people deserve a good life standard which millions of people across the world are not having.

 

Todd: Well, I think ... well, I agree with you about that. I agree with you about that. That there's people who work hard and that they're under compensated³, but ... and they're a lot of people that get grossly overpaid but I think that's just a problem of management and that in some cases so people do deserve millions and millions, perhaps billions of dollars is they have really contributed to the product or the outcome. So, basically we're gonna disagree on this one.

 

Greg: Yeah.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

The discrepancy in wages

 

The discrepancy in wages is way too great.

 

We use the phrase 'discrepancy in wages' to talk about the difference between how much money people earn. If, for example, one person makes 18,000 Euros a year and another makes 2,000,000 Euros, the discrepancy in wages is very big. Notice the following:

 

Though American women have achieved social equality with men, discrepancy in wages still exists.

The discrepancy in wages in many emerging economies is fast becoming a politically sensitive topic.

barely getting by

 

They are barely getting by.

 

When we are 'barley⁴ getting by' that means we have very little money to buy basic things like food, clothing, and shelter. Here are two samples.

 

Though South East Asian economies are growing fast, in some countries the majority of people are barley getting by.

As a kid, my family was really poor. Both mom and dad worked, but we barely got by.

hurt innovation

 

I think that hurts innovation.

 

Here, Todd thinks that limiting salaries discourages people from thinking of new ideas or ways to do things. Notice the samples.

 

Capitalists would argue that socialism hurts innovation.

Like it or not, money motivates most people. No money, no motivation, which hurts innovation.

hang on

 

 

Hang on a minute. I did not say that.

 

'Hang on' simply means wait a moment. It's very informal and a bit direct. Here are two samples.

 

Sorry, that's my phone. Hang on a minute while I take this call.

It's cold outside.  Hang on a minute while I get my coat.

lose out

 

People would lose out as a result.

 

When we 'lose' out', that means something has had a negative effect on us. Notice the sample sentences"

 

Some economists⁵ believe that when we raise corporate⁶ taxes, the cost is passed on to consumers and people lose out.

Limiting salaries hurts innovation and both people and the companies that employ them lose out.

I have nothing against

 

I have nothing against people becoming rich or making a good salary.

 

When we have nothing against something or someone, that means we do not have a problem.  Notice the following:

 

I have nothing against professional athletes, but I think their salaries are too high.

My dad says he had nothing against me studying abroad.

grossly overpaid

 

 

I think some people get grossly overpaid.

 

When someone is grossly overpaid, they are paid, in the opinion of some, way too much money. Notice the following:

 

I think it's unfair that some people are grossly overpaid, unless of course it's me!

David Beckham is a great player, but he's getting older and slower now so to be honest, I think he's grossly overpaid.

.

1 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

2 validation   

n.确认

参考例句：

• If the countdown timer ever hits zero, do your validation processing. 处理这种情况的方法是在输入的同时使用递减计时器，每次击键重新计时。如果递减计时器变为零，就开始验证。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Although the validation control is a very widespread idiom, most such controls can be improved. 虽然确认控件是非常广泛的习惯用法，但还有很多有待改进的地方。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

3 compensated   

补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）

参考例句：

• The marvelous acting compensated for the play's weak script. 本剧的精彩表演弥补了剧本的不足。
• I compensated his loss with money. 我赔偿他经济损失。

4 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

5 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。