2019年经济学人 愚蠢至“机”(1)

 

Aviation

航空

Plane stupid

愚蠢至“机”

Private jets receive ludicrous tax breaks that hurt the environment

私人飞机破坏环境而又享受荒谬可笑的税收优惠

The blue jeans and T-shirts of the global elite¹ are no more comfortable than those worn by the middle class. They drink the same coffee, watch the same films and carry the same smartphones. But a gulf² yawns between the rich and the rest when they fly. Ordinary folk squeeze agonisingly and sleeplessly³ into cheap seats. The elite stretch out flat and slumber⁴. And the truly wealthy avoid the hassles and indignities⁵ of crowded airports entirely⁶, by taking private jets. This would be no one else’s business but for two things. First, private jets are horribly polluting. Second, they are often—and outrageously—subsidised.

世界精英的蓝色牛仔裤和T恤衫并不比中产阶级的更舒适。他们喝同样的咖啡，看同样的电影，用同样的智能手机。但富人和其余人在乘坐飞机的时候就会拉开鸿沟。普通民众痛苦而又失眠地挤在经济舱。精英平躺着安眠。而顶级富豪们则乘坐私人飞机，完全避免了拥挤机场里的争吵和不堪。这本不关别人的事，但有两点引起关注的原因。第一，私人飞机污染严重。第二，私人飞机经常会得到补贴，而且数量惊人。

Private aviation was hit hard by the global financial crisis, when both companies and individuals sought to pare expenses. But now private jets are booming again. This is partly because new booking services and shared-ownership schemes are cutting the cost of going private and luring⁷ busy executives away from first-and business-class seats on scheduled flights. But the boom is also a result of tax breaks, which are even more generous than those lavished⁸ on ordinary airlines. In Europe firms and individuals can avoid paying value-added tax on imported private jets by routing purchases through the Isle⁹ of Man. This scheme has cut tax bills by ￡790m ($1bn) for imports of at least 200 aircraft into the European Union since 2011. America’s rules are loopier still. Donald Trump’s tax reform allowed individuals and companies to write off 100% of the cost of a new or used private jet against their federal taxes. For some plutocrats this has wiped out an entire year’s tax bill. For others, it has made buying a jet extraordinarily¹⁰ cheap.

全球金融危机重创了私人航空业，私人航空公司和个人都试图削减开支。但如今私人飞机又开始蓬勃发展。一定程度上是因为新的预订服务和股权分享计划正在降低私人飞机的成本，并吸引了乘定期航班头等舱和商务舱忙碌的高管们。但这种繁荣也是税收优惠的结果，对于私人飞机的税收优惠甚至比普通航空公司还要慷慨。在欧洲，公司和个人可以在马恩岛购买进口私人飞机，从而避免缴纳增值税。自2011年以来，该计划已将至少200架飞机的进口关税削减7.9亿英镑(合10亿美元)。而美国的规则更荒唐。唐纳德·特朗普的税收改革允许个人和企业将购买一架新私人飞机或二手私人飞机的全部成本抵减联邦税收。对一些富豪来说，这已经抵消了全年的税单。而对于其他富豪，这使得购买飞机异常便宜。

1 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 sleeplessly   

adv.失眠地

参考例句：

• He was lying in bed sleeplessly. 他躺在床上，睡不着。 来自互联网

4 slumber   

n.睡眠，沉睡状态

参考例句：

• All the people in the hotels were wrapped in deep slumber.住在各旅馆里的人都已进入梦乡。
• Don't wake him from his slumber because he needs the rest.不要把他从睡眠中唤醒，因为他需要休息。

5 indignities   

n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The soldiers who were captured suffered many indignities at the hands of the enemy. 被俘的士兵在敌人手中受尽侮辱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What sort of indignities would he be forced to endure? 他会被迫忍受什么样的侮辱呢？ 来自辞典例句

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 luring   

吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap. 奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。
• Her training warned her of peril and of the wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring. 她的教养警告她：有危险，要出错儿，这是微妙、神秘而又诱人的。

8 lavished   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I lavished all the warmth of my pent-up passion. 我把憋在心里那一股热烈的情感尽量地倾吐出来。 来自辞典例句
• An enormous amount of attention has been lavished on these problems. 在这些问题上，我们已经花费了大量的注意力。 来自辞典例句

9 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

10 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。