2019年经济学人 愚蠢至“机”(2)

愚蠢至“机”(2)

The case for flying on a private jet is that it can save time for someone, such as a chief executive, whose time is extraordinarily¹ valuable. Hence companies can offset² the cost of these flights against their corporate³-tax bills. In some countries the use of a private jet is a tax-free perk⁴ for executives. But a growing volume of research suggests that flying the boss privately⁵ is often a waste of money for shareholders⁶. One analysis, by ICF consultancy, found that the jets are often used to fly to places where corporate titans are more likely to have holiday homes than business meetings, such as fancy ski resorts. A study by David Yermack of NYU Stern School of Business found that returns to investors⁷ in firms that allow such flights are 4% lower per year than in other companies. Users of such planes are also more likely to commit fraud: a careless attitude to other people’s money sometimes shades into outright⁸ criminality, it seems.

乘坐私人飞机的理由是，可以为某些人节省时间，如首席执行官，他的时间非常宝贵。因此，公司可以用公司税来抵消这些航班的成本。在一些国家，使用私人飞机对高管来说是免税的福利。但越来越多的研究表明，让老板乘私人飞机出行往往会造成股东的浪费。ICF咨询公司的一项分析发现，私人飞机经常被用于飞往企业巨头更有可能拥有度假屋的地方，比如高档滑雪场，而非商务会议。纽约大学斯特恩商学院的戴维?耶马克进行的一项研究发现，允许这种航班的公司每年给投资者的回报率比其他公司低4%。而如此使用私人飞机的人也更有可能诈骗：对他人钱财漫不经心的态度似乎有时会演变成公然的犯罪行为。

The environmental effects of corporate jets are dire⁹. A flight from London to Paris on a half-full jet produces ten times as much in carbon emissions¹⁰ per passenger as a scheduled flight, according to Terrapass, a carbon-offset firm. New supersonic business jets under development will make that a lot worse. On one estimate, their emissions will be five to seven times higher than for today’s models. Amazingly, these emissions are largely unregulated. Aviation is not covered by the Paris agreement to limit climate change, and most private jets are excluded from corsia, a carbon-offsetting scheme involving most airlines. All in all, private planes could produce 4% of American emissions by 2050 compared with 0.9% today.

商务客机对环境的影响是可怕的。据碳补偿额零售提供商特立帕公司称，从伦敦飞往巴黎的半寿喷气式飞机每名乘客的碳排放量是定期航班的十倍。正在开发的新型超音速商务喷气机将使情况变得更糟。据估计，其排放量将比现有型号高出5至7倍。令人惊讶的是，这些排放在很大程度上是不受监管的。限制气候变化的《巴黎协定》不包括航空业，大多数私人飞机被排除在《国际航空碳抵消和减排计划》之外，《国际航空碳抵消和减排计划》是一个涉及大多数航空公司的碳抵消计划。总而言之，到2050年，私人飞机的排放量将占美国总排放量的4%，而目前这一比例仅为0.9%。

All air travel is bad for the environment. Business class is worse than economy class, because it burns more jet fuel per passenger. Private jets are more damaging by an order of magnitude. The tax breaks for cooking the planet in this way cannot be justified¹¹. They should all be scrapped¹². Carbon emissions should be taxed, not subsidised by the sleepless¹³ masses in steerage and the even less fortunate souls who never fly.

所有的航空旅行都对环境有害。商务舱比经济舱更甚，因为每位乘客消耗的航空燃油更多。私人飞机的破坏力要大上一个数量级。对于这种烹饪地球的方式实行税收优惠是不合理的。有关税收优惠都应被废除。碳排放应该征税，而不是由那些在驾驶舱内辗转难眠的大众和甚至还从未乘坐过飞机的不幸者补贴。

1 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。

2 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

3 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。

4 perk   

n.额外津贴；赏钱；小费；

参考例句：

• His perks include a car provided by the firm.他的额外津贴包括公司提供的一辆汽车。
• And the money is,of course,a perk.当然钱是额外津贴。

5 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

6 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

9 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

10 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

11 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

12 scrapped   

废弃(scrap的过去式与过去分词)； 打架

参考例句：

• This machine is so old that it will soon have to be scrapped. 这架机器太旧，快报废了。
• It had been thought that passport controls would be scrapped. 人们曾认为会放开护照管制。

13 sleepless   

adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的

参考例句：

• The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
• One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上，我听说了一个传闻，把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。