2013年考研英语二阅读 Text 4 原文翻译及答案解析

Europe is not a gender-equality heaven. In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family-friendly until women are part of senior management decisions, and Europe's top corporate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male. Indeed, women hold only 14 per cent of positions on European corporate boards.

欧洲并非性别平等的天堂。特别是，在女性参与高层管理决策之前，企业工作场所永远不会完全家庭友好，而且欧洲顶级公司治理职位仍由男性主导。事实上，女性仅占据欧洲公司董事会席位的14%。

The European Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women — up to 60 per cent. This proposed mandate was born of frustration. Last year, European Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goals of 40 per cent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up.

欧盟正在考虑立法，强制公司董事会保持一定比例的女性——高达60%。这项提议源于挫败感。去年，欧盟委员会副主席薇薇安·雷丁发出了自愿行动的呼吁。雷丁邀请企业签署性别平衡目标，即女性董事会成员比例达到40%。但她的呼吁被视为失败：只有24家公司响应。

Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate ladder fairly as they balance work and family?

我们需要配额来确保女性在平衡工作和家庭的同时，能够继续公平地攀登企业阶梯吗？

"Personally, I don't like quotas," Reding said recently. "But I like what the quotas do." Quotas get action: they "open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling," according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.

“就个人而言，我不喜欢配额，”雷丁最近说。“但我喜欢配额所起的作用。”据雷丁说，配额能促进行动：它们“开辟了通往平等的道路，并打破了玻璃天花板”，这一结果在法国和其他有法律约束力的规定将女性置于顶级商业职位的国家中可见。

I understand Reding's reluctance — and her frustration. I don't like quotas either; they run counter to my belief in meritocracy, governance by the capable. But, when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal, it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered.

我理解雷丁的犹豫——以及她的挫败感。我也不喜欢配额；它们与我对精英治理、由有能力者治理的信念相悖。但是，当考虑到实现精英治理理想的障碍时，似乎一个更公平的世界必须暂时通过指令来达成。

After all, four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as well as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top positions — no matter how much "soft pressure" is put upon them. When women do break through to the summit of corporate power — as, for example, Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook — they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule.

毕竟，四十年的证据表明，欧洲和美国的企业都在回避精英化的招聘和将女性提升到顶级职位——无论施加了多少“软压力”。当女性确实突破到企业权力的顶峰时——例如，谢丽尔·桑德伯格最近在Facebook的例子——她们之所以吸引大量关注，正是因为她们仍然是规则的例外。

If appropriate public policies were in place to help all women — whether CEOs or their children's caregivers — and all families, Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person hvmg m a more Just society.

如果适当的公共政策到位，帮助所有女性——无论是CEO还是她们孩子的照顾者——以及所有家庭，桑德伯格将不会比任何其他高度有能力的人在一个更公正的社会中更引人注目。

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