2014年考研英语一阅读 Text 1 原文翻译及答案解析

In order to "change lives for the better" and reduce "dependency", George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the "upfront work search" scheme. Only if the jobless arrive at the jobcentre with a CV, register for online job search, and start looking for work will they be eligible for benefit - and then they should report weekly rather than fortnightly. What could be more reasonable?

为了“改变生活”和减少“依赖性”，财政大臣乔治·奥斯本推出了“前期工作寻找”计划。只有当失业者带着简历来到就业中心，注册在线求职，并开始寻找工作时，他们才有资格获得福利——而且他们应该每周而非每两周报告一次。还有什么比这更合理的呢？

More apparent reasonableness followed. There will now be a seven-day wait for the jobseeker's allowance. "Those first few days should be spent looking for work, not looking to sign on," he claimed. "We're doing these things because we know they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get into work faster." Help? Really? On first hearing, this was the socially concerned chancellor, trying to change lives for the better, complete with "reforms" to an obviously indulgent system that demands too little effort from the newly unemployed to find work, and subsidises laziness. What motivated him, we were to understand, was his zeal for "fundamental fairness" - protecting the taxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimants received their benefits.

随后出现了更多表面上的合理性。现在，求职者津贴将有一个七天的等待期。“最初几天应该花在找工作上，而不是想着去登记，”他声称。“我们做这些事情是因为我们知道它们能帮助人们远离福利，并帮助那些依赖福利的人更快地找到工作。”帮助？真的吗？乍一听，这是一位关心社会的财政大臣，试图让生活变得更好，加上对明显纵容的制度的“改革”，该制度对新失业者找工作要求太少努力，并补贴懒惰。我们了解到，激励他的是他对“基本公平”的热情——保护纳税人，控制支出，并确保只有最应得的申请者才能获得福利。

Losing a job is hurting: you don't skip down to the jobcentre with a song in your heart, delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generous state. It is financially terrifying, psychologically embarrassing and you know that support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now not wanted; you are now excluded from the work environment that offers purpose and structure in your life. Worse, the crucial income to feed yourself and your family and pay the bills has disappeared. Ask anyone newly unemployed what they want and the answer is always: a job.

失去工作是痛苦的：你不会心怀喜悦地跳着去就业中心，为慷慨国家可能使你收入翻倍的前景而高兴。它在经济上令人恐惧，在心理上令人尴尬，而且你知道支持是微乎其微且极其难以获得的。你现在不被需要了；你现在被排除在提供生活目的和结构的工作环境之外。更糟的是，养活自己和家人、支付账单的关键收入消失了。问任何新失业的人他们想要什么，答案总是：一份工作。

But in Osborneland, your first instinct is to fall into dependency - permanent dependency if you can get it - supported by a state only too ready to indulge your falsehood. It is as though 20 years of ever-tougher reforms of the job search and benefit administration system never happened. The principle of British welfare is no longer that you can insure yourself against the risk of unemployment and receive unconditional payments if the disaster happens. Even the very phrase "jobseeker's allowance" is about redefining the unemployed as a "jobseeker" who had no fundamental right to a benefit he or she has earned through making national insurance contributions. Instead, the claimant receives a time-limited "allowance," conditional on actively seeking a job; no entitlement and no insurance, at £71.70 a week, one of the least generous in the EU.

但在奥斯本的领域里，你的第一本能是陷入依赖——如果你能获得的话，是永久依赖——由一个太乐意纵容你谎言的国家支持。仿佛20年来对求职和福利管理体系的日益严格的改革从未发生过。英国福利的原则不再是你可以为失业风险投保，并在灾难发生时获得无条件支付。甚至“求职者津贴”这个短语本身，就是将失业者重新定义为“求职者”，他或她通过缴纳国民保险而获得福利的基本权利被剥夺。相反，申请者得到的是一个有时间限制的“津贴”，条件是积极寻找工作；没有权利，没有保险，每周71.70英镑，是欧盟中最不慷慨的之一。

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