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今天带大家精读的这篇文章选自英文外刊经济学人20190810一期中的Business板块。这篇文章讨论的是美国给员工提供生育津贴这一现象。文章较短，只有300多词，但是稍微有些难度。全文如下： Fertility benefits When Apple and Facebook began paying for employees to freeze their eggs in 2014, this generosity was met with cynicism. Critics dismissed it as another attempt at social engineering from Silicon Valley, no bastion of female-friendliness. Rather than empowering women, they feared, it would press them to delay motherhood; Apple would do better to install child-care facilities at its brand new headquarters. Such gripes have not stopped employers from embracing such schemes. Quite the opposite. More than one in four large American companies now pay for some fertility treatment, according to consultants at Mercer; one in 20 covers egg-freezing. In America Bain, a consultancy, KKR, a private-equity firm, and Tesla, a carmaker, pay for unlimited IVF cycles (which can cost $100,000), according to Fertility IQ, an educational site for fertility patients. This week Starbucks said it would raise its fertility cover to $25,000, including for baristas who work over 20 hours a week for more than six months. For part-timers on $12 an hour that can add up to twice their annual salary. Most American states still do not require insurers to cover infertility treatment. So companies use the benefits to differentiate themselves. This helps recruit and retain staff, says Jake Anderson-Bialis of Fertility IQ. It found that 62% of workers whose employer had paid in full for IVF said they were more likely to stay in their job. Firms keen to promote “diversity and inclusion” see health plans with IVF or surrogacy as a way to attract LGBT employees. Some companies insist that workers try the natural way for a year before they qualify for treatment (to the exclusion of anyone who isn’t a heterosexual in a stable relationship). Others appear to adopt fertility benefits in response to harassment scandals. Under Armour, Uber and Vice added family-friendly policies, including generous fertility perks, following such controversies. A lot of this is welcome. But advocates of gender equality are right to point out that some benefits—egg-freezing in particular—look like a distraction. And it is no substitute for eliminating the motherhood-penalty in the workplace. 下面是这篇文章的音频，建议大家看完这篇文章的讲解之后，再听一下音频，效果会更好，有助于加深对文章中这些单词和表达的记忆。 精读讲解 (注：斜体单词 是不需要掌握的单词) Fertility benefits 标题解读 fertility[fɜː(r)ˈtɪləti]( a woman's ability to have babies) 生育能力。来源于形容词fertile(富饶的，能生育的)，是一个四级词汇。fertility还可以表示土地肥沃，如measures to improve the fertility of the soil提高土壤肥沃的措施。 benefit在这里不是好处，利益的意思，而是表示公司的津贴(extra money that you get as part of your job or from insurance that you have )。除此之外，benefit还可以表示政府的补贴。比如住房补贴housing benefit 失业补贴unemployment benefit fertility benefits就是生育津贴的意思。 第一段 ①When Apple and Facebook began paying for employees to freeze their eggs in 2014,this generosity was met with cynicism. ②Critics dismissed it as another attempt at social engineering from Silicon Valley, no bastion of female-friendliness. ③Ratherthan empowering women, they feared, it would press them to delay motherhood; Apple would do better to install child-care facilities at its brand new headquarters. ①When Apple and Facebook began paying for employees to freeze their eggs in 2014,this generosity was met with cynicism. ②Critics dismissed it as another attempt at social engineering from Silicon Valley, no bastion of female-friendliness. 第②句话中的no bastion of female-friendliness很难理解。对此，我们可以先搞懂内容(意思)，再来分析形式(语法)。bastion表示支持某种观念/方式的组织或群体。很显然指的是逗号前面的Silicon Valley。no bastion of female-friendliness即对女性不友好的组织/群体，与硅谷的特征确实比较相符(硅谷男性工作者占多数)。 A be met with B在这里是固定短语，表示遭受...结果/反应。B为遭受的结果或反应。The rule was met with strong opposition from the public.这个规定遭到了公众的强烈反对。 dimiss sth as sth将某事视为某事，表示拒绝接受，含有贬低的语气。如Children's ideas should not be dismissed as unrealistic. ③Rather than empowering women, they feared, it would press them to delay motherhood; Apple would do better to install child-care facilities at its brand new headquarters. empower[ɪmˈpaʊə(r)]授权，给...权利。 【常用搭配】empower sb 前缀em-表示使处于...状态。同en-。比如endanger，enable，encourage headquarters [hedˈkwɔː(r)tə(r)z]一般表示公司总部。注意，这个单词本身就是复数形式，不能说headquarter。在外刊中表示公司位置时，还会经常出现一个词缀based。即地名-based。a London-based company位于伦敦的公司 参考译文 当苹果公司和脸书从2014年开始支付其员工冷冻卵细胞的费用时，这种慷慨的行为就遭遇了冷嘲热讽。批判者将这种行为贬低为硅谷(对女性不友好的地方)在社会改造方面的有一次尝试。他们担心，这种做法会迫使他们延迟生育，而不是给女性更多的权利；苹果公司要想做的更好，则需要在其全新的总部设立儿童保育设施。 第二段 ①Such gripes have not stopped employers from embracing such schemes. ②Quite the opposite. ③More than one in four large American companies now pay for some fertility treatment, according to consultants at Mercer; one in 20 covers egg-freezing. ④In America Bain, a consultancy, KKR, a private-equity firm, and Tesla, a carmaker, pay for unlimited IVF cycles (which can cost $100,000), according to Fertility IQ, an educational site for fertility patients. ⑤This week Starbucks said it would raise its fertility cover to $25,000, including for baristas who work over 20 hours a week for more than six months. ⑥For part-timers on $12 an hour that can add up to twice their annual salary. ①Such gripes have not stopped employers from embracing such schemes. ②Quite the opposite. ③More than one in four large American companies now pay for some fertility treatment, according to consultants at Mercer; one in 20 covers egg-freezing. embrace在这里表示接受，采纳( to completely accept something such as a new belief, idea, or way of life)。是一个非常漂亮的写作表达，当表示接受一种新思想或方式的时候，就可以用embrace来替代accept/adopt。比如写到老年人与年轻人的区别时，我们就可以说： cover在这里表示有足够的钱支付的意思。如We need £1,000 a month to cover the rent.除此之外，cover还可以表示包含的意思，如 The training covers all aspects of health and safety at work.下面待会还会出现cover一词的名词形式。 ④In America Bain, a consultancy, KKR, a private-equity firm, and Tesla, a carmaker, pay for unlimited IVF cycles (which can cost $100,000), according to Fertility IQ, an educational site for fertility patients. private-equity firm私募股权公司 IVF cycles人工授精周期 ⑤This week Starbucks said it would raise its fertility cover to $25,000, including for baristas who work over 20 hours a week for more than six months. ⑥For part-timers on $12 an hour that can add up to twice their annual salary. part-timer来源于形容词part-time，表示兼职人员。那么与之相对的就是full-timer全职人员，也可以表示全日制学生。 参考译文 这种抱怨并没有阻止雇主们采纳这类方案。事实刚好相反。据Mercer的咨询专家所说，目前1/4以上的美国公司为员工支付一些生育治疗费用；1/20之一的美国公司支付员工冷冻卵细胞的费用。根据Fertility IQ(一家为生育患者服务的教育网站)的说法，在美国，Bain(一家咨询公司)，KKR(一家私募股权公司)和Tesla(一家汽车制造商)这几家公司为无限量的人工授精(IVF)周期(会耗费100,000美元)买单。本周，星巴克称将其对生育的补贴额提高至25,000美元，包括对于那些每周工作20小时以上工作满六个月以上的员工。对于每小时工资为12美元的兼职人员来说，这个数额合计会达到年薪的两倍。 第三段 ①Most American states still do not require insurers to cover infertility treatment. ②So companies use the benefits to differentiate themselves. ③This helps recruit and retain staff, says Jake Anderson-Bialis of Fertility IQ. ④It found that 62% of workers whose employer had paid in full for IVF said they were more likely to stay in their job. ⑤Firms keen to promote “diversity and inclusion” see health plans with IVF or surrogacy as a way to attract LGBT employees. differentiate[dɪfəˈrenʃieɪt](to be the quality or fact that makes one thing different from another)使与众不同。 【常用搭配】differentiate something from something 如The ability to speak differentiates humans from other animals. differentiate还可以表示区分，如It's important to differentiate between fact and opinion.分清事实和观点很重要。differentiate between=tell the difference between differentiate的这两种意思和用法和distinguish完全相同。 ⑤Firms keen to promote “diversity and inclusion” see health plans with IVF or surrogacy as a way to attract LGBT employees. surrogacy代孕 参考译文 美国大多数的州仍未要求保险公司将不孕治疗纳入保险范文。因此，公司可以使用生育津贴来使自己与众不同。Fertility IQ的工作者Jake Anderson-Bialis说，这样做可以有助于招收和保留员工。Fertility IQ发现，那些已经全额支付IVF费用的公司的员工当中，有62%说他们更有可能留在现在的工作岗位上。那些很想推行多样性和包容性的公司将IVF或代孕的健康计划视为一种吸引LGBT员工的方式。 第四段 ①Some companies insist that workers try the natural way for a year before they qualify for treatment (to the exclusion of anyone who isn’t a heterosexual in a stable relationship). ②Others appear to adopt fertility benefits in response to harassment scandals. ③Under Armour, Uber and Vice added family-friendly policies, including generous fertility perks, following such controversies. perk相当于benefit，fertility perks就是生育津贴的意思。 参考译文 一些公司坚决让员工先尝试自然怀孕方法，尝试一年之后如果还不成功再申请治疗资格(除了任何不处于稳定恋爱关系的异性恋者)。其他公司采取生育津贴貌似是因为对骚扰丑闻的回应。Under Armour, Uber和Vice公司在这些争议发生之后就添加了家庭友好的政策，包括慷慨的生育津贴。 第五段 ①A lot of this is welcome. ②But advocates of gender equality are right to point out that some benefits—egg-freezing in particular—look like a distraction. ③And it is no substitute for eliminating the motherhood-penalty in the workplace. advocate在这里作名词，表示支持者，提倡者。同义词supporter/champion/proponent。 be right to做...是对的。主语一般是人。如He is right to think that reading is beneficial. be no substitute for something用来强调某事不如另外一件事，也就是不能够替代的意思。 来源于短语substitute for sth某事的替代品。 motherhood-penalty母职处罚，即女性因为母亲角色而遭受的求职、工作评价、薪资、晋升机会等方面的负面影响 参考译文 很多这些做法都是受欢迎的。但是性别平等的支持者们指出，一些补贴(尤其是卵细胞冷冻)像是在分散人们的关注点，他们这么认为是对的。而且这么做倒不如直接消除工作中的母职处罚。 如果你读完这篇文章后有所收获，就帮我点个'在看'吧，谢谢大家！ |
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来自： Braveheart360 > 《英语精读》
