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《经济学人》双语:梦想成为非洲新加坡的国家是?

《经济学人》双语:梦想成为非洲新加坡的国家是?

文/Irene-自由英语之路

【本篇内容简述】

【Para1】引入:从卢旺达这个国家讲起,它缺乏通往财富的明显途径。首都的国际金融中心在寻找方法,鼓励投资,与摩洛哥和比利时达成合作。

【Para2】非洲城市:这些城市正试图成为金融中心,如,基加利;肯尼亚首都内罗毕与伦敦市合作;加纳的首都阿克拉。

【Para3&4】建议与好处:资本自由流动和低税收吸引外资,建议来自英国。外国人对在拥有强大金融中心的国家投资更有信心。当地人也可以学习新技能。建立专业的金融“生态系统”。

【Para5&6】困难:系统需要时间、专业知识和政治意愿。竞争激烈;低税收受泛非竞选组织抵触;之前的尝试失败,甚至国际监管机构列入黑名单。

【Para7】卢旺达的措施:公司税可以降到3%;不向股息、利息或特许权使用费征税;加强了反洗钱法。

【Para8】结尾:在税收减免的诱惑下,新中心的可能性似乎也越来越大。如果成功,将为非洲的成熟做出贡献。

(文末的补充材料对理解本文有帮助)

标题:标题:
Africa’s wannabe financial centres
Capital cities
The countries dreaming of becoming Africa’s Singapore
非洲想要的金融中心
首都
梦想成为非洲新加坡的国家

But plans for international financial centres worry tax campaigners
但建立国际金融中心的计划令税收活动家们担忧
Paragraph 1:
SMALL, landlocked and with few natural resources, Rwanda lacks an obvious route to riches.
卢旺达(见文末补充资料)面积狭小,地处内陆,自然资源稀少,缺乏通往财富的明显途径。
But a new international financial centre in Kigali, its capital, offers a clue to the government’s strategy.
但在其首都基加利的一个新的国际金融中心为政府的战略提供了线索。
It has passed new laws to encourage investment and signed agreements with financial centres as far afield as Morocco and Belgium.
它通过了鼓励投资的新法律,并与遥远的摩洛哥和比利时等地的金融中心签署了协议。
The idea is to “position Rwanda as a gateway to the rest of Africa”, says Nick Barigye, chief executive of Rwanda Finance Limited, the agency that is driving the project.
推动该项目的机构卢旺达金融有限公司,该首席执行官尼克·巴里吉表示,这个理念是“将卢旺达定位为通往非洲其他地区的门户”。

Paragraph 2:
Kigali (pictured) is one of several cities in continental Africa that are trying to become financial hubs to capture some of the business that currently flows through offshore centres such as Mauritius.
基加利(如图)是非洲大陆的几个城市之一,这些城市正试图成为金融中心,以获取目前通过毛里求斯等离岸中心流动的部分业务。
Kenyan officials signed an agreement with the City of London as part of a plan to launch a financial centre in Nairobi.
肯尼亚官员与伦敦市签署了一项协议,作为在内罗毕(肯尼亚的首都)建立金融中心计划的一部分。
Ghana is drafting laws to create one of its own; Sampson Akligoh, an adviser to the finance minister, says Accra can become a hub for everything from pension funds to private-equity firms, like a Singapore for west Africa.
加纳正在起草法律,建立自己的法律体系;财政部长顾问桑普森·阿克利戈表示,阿克拉(加纳的首都)可以成为从养老基金到私人股本公司的一切交易中心,就像西非的新加坡一样。
Paragraph 3:
Jet-setting financiers have spread the gospel of free-flowing capital and low taxes through consultancy reports and study trips.
乘坐喷气式飞机的金融家通过咨询报告和考察旅行传播了资本自由流动和低税收的福音。
Advice also comes from donors such as CDC Group, the British government’s development-finance arm.
这些建议也来自诸如英国政府发展金融部门CDC集团等捐赠者。
Colin Buckley, its head of external affairs, argues that this is good for development because foreigners are more confident about investing in countries that have strong financial centres. Locals can also learn new skills.
其对外事务主管科林·巴克利认为,这有利于发展,因为外国人对在拥有强大金融中心的国家投资更有信心。当地人也可以学习新技能。
Paragraph 4:
The architects of these would-be hubs talk of building a financial “ecosystem”, with expertise in law, accountancy and business services.
这些潜在中心的设计师们谈论建立一个金融“生态系统”,拥有法律、会计和商业服务方面的专业知识。
“We’ve tried to move away from the notion that this is just a business precinct or an iconic tower,” says Vincent Rague, the chairman of the Nairobi International Financial Centre.
内罗毕国际金融中心主席文森特·拉格表示:“我们试图摆脱这只是一个商业区或标志性建筑的观念。”
It boasts that Prudential, a British insurer, will be the first firm to set up shop in the hub.
还吹嘘说,英国保险公司保诚保险将是第一家在该中心设立办事处的公司。
A thriving local centre, he points out, would make it easier for borrowers in the region to issue bonds close to home.
他指出,一个繁荣的地方中心将使该地区的借款人更容易在家附近发行债券。
Its partnership with the City, meanwhile, would help firms listed on the Kenyan stock exchange access foreign capital by allowing them to also list their shares in London.
与此同时,它与该城市的合作将有助于在肯尼亚证券交易所上市的公司获得外资,允许它们也在伦敦上市。
Paragraph 5:
But nurturing this sort of ecosystem takes time, expertise and political will.
但培育这种生态系统需要时间、专业知识和政治意愿。
Kenya has been talking about a financial centre for nearly a decade.
近十年来,肯尼亚一直在谈论一个金融中心。
The presence of established hubs serving Africa, whether in Mauritius or Casablanca, makes it harder for new entrants to break into the market.
无论是在毛里求斯还是在卡萨布兰卡,服务于非洲的既有枢纽的存在使得新进入者更难打入市场。
“The competition is not only African,” says a partner at a private-equity fund focused on Africa. “It is global.”
一家专注于非洲的私人股本基金的合伙人表示:“竞争不仅仅局限于非洲,这是全球性的竞争。”
Paragraph 6:
One way centres compete is by slashing taxes on the companies that move into them.
中心竞争的一种方式是对进入中心的公司大幅减税。
But this can trigger “a race to the bottom”, warns Chenai Mukumba of Tax Justice Network Africa, a pan-African campaign group.
但泛非竞选组织非洲税收正义网络的切奈·穆库巴警告说,这可能引发“一场向底层的竞赛”。
It is going to court to challenge the tax breaks offered by Rwanda and is calling for a temporary halt to Kenya’s centre until its rules on tax and transparency are strengthened.
它将向法庭反对卢旺达提供的税收减免,并呼吁暂时停止肯尼亚的中心活动,直到其税收和透明度规则得到强化。
When Ghana first tried to open an “offshore” banking centre in the late 2000s the project collapsed and the country was blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force, an international money-laundering watchdog.
当加纳在21世纪末首次尝试开设“离岸”银行中心时,该项目失败,该国被国际洗钱监督机构金融行动特别工作组列入黑名单。
None of the three countries is among the 130 that recently signed up to a plan by the OECD, a club mostly of rich countries, to set a 15% floor on corporation tax.
这三个国家中没有一个国家是最近签署经合组织计划的130个国家之一。经合组织是一个主要由富裕国家组成的俱乐部,将公司税设为15%的下限。
Paragraph 7:
Each centre is offering its own package of investment incentives.
每个中心都提供自己的一揽子投资激励措施。
In Rwanda that includes a basic 15% corporate tax rate that can drop to as low as 3%.
在卢旺达,这包括15%的基本公司税率,可以降到3%。
It does not tax dividends, interest or royalty payments. Mr Barigye says that investments will be “clean and compliant [with] global standards”.
它不向股息、利息或特许权使用费征税。巴里吉表示,投资将“干净且符合全球标准”。
The government has strengthened its money-laundering laws. Investors will have to show that they are doing more than just putting up letter boxes, but are establishing a genuine presence in the country.
政府加强了反洗钱法。投资者必须表明,他们所做的不仅仅只是设立信箱,而是该国政治进行可真实有效的措施。
Paragraph 8:
Even with the lure of tax breaks, the odds seem stacked against the new centres.
在税收减免的诱惑下,新中心的可能性似乎也越来越大。
A fund manager at a European bank doubts that Africa’s new financial centres “will grow super-big”.
一家欧洲银行的基金经理怀疑非洲的新金融中心“会变得超级大”。
But Mr Rague points out that it took cities like London hundreds of years to become the global leaders in finance they are today. If these projects succeed, he says, “we’ll be contributing to Africa’s coming of age.”
但拉格指出,像伦敦这样的城市花了数百年的时间才成为今天的全球金融领袖。他说,如果这些项目成功,“我们将为非洲的成熟做出贡献。”
(恭喜读完,本篇英语词汇量765左右)
原文出自2021年10月23日《The Economist》Middle East & Africa版块。
精读笔记来源于:自由英语之路,仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】
文章中关于Rwanda.(来源于百度百科)

Rwanda:卢旺达共和国,简称卢旺达,是非洲中东部的一个主权国家。西面与刚果民主共和国(DRC)交界,东邻坦桑尼亚,北与乌干达接壤,南连布隆迪。人口约1200万。2011年,卢旺达被世界经济论坛、世界银行、非洲发展银行评为最具旅游潜力国家之一。自2018年1月1日起,各国公民均可免签赴卢,办理落地签后进行为期不超过30天的旅行。卢旺达社会长期稳定,经济持续快速增长,国际和地区影响力不断提升,给非洲乃至世界上面临发展振兴重任的国家树立了榜样。2016年10月28日,卢旺达当选联合国人权理事会成员,任期从2017年至2019年。

(卢旺达的历史)

【重点词汇】(6个)
as far afield as
遥远的
gospel/ˈɡɒspl/
n. 福音;教义,信条;绝对真理
precinct/ˈpriːsɪŋkt/
n. 选区;管理区;管辖区
pan-African/pæn’æfrikən/
adj. 泛非洲的(与所有非洲国家或非洲国家间的政治统一之拥护有关)
challenge /ˈtʃæləndʒ/
vt. 对……质疑;盘问;反对(熟词新义:常见意思是“挑战”)
coming of age
成年;成熟
【重点句子】(3个)

This is good for development because foreigners are more confident about investing in countries that have strong financial centres. Locals can also learn new skills.
这有利于发展,因为外国人对在拥有强大金融中心的国家投资更有信心。当地人也可以学习新技能。

One way centres compete is by slashing taxes on the companies that move into them.
中心竞争的一种方式是对进入中心的公司大幅减税。
It is going to court to challenge the tax breaks offered by Rwanda and is calling for a temporary halt to Kenya’s centre until its rules on tax and transparency are strengthened.
它将向法庭反对卢旺达提供的税收减免,并呼吁暂时停止肯尼亚的中心活动,直到其税收和透明度规则得到强化。
【词源故事】(1+4个)(来源于Qian)
gospel=福音,极好的消息。“福音”本是一个基督教的术语,指耶稣的言论及其门徒们传播的教义。
在希腊语中,福音叫做evangelion(拉丁化形式为euangelium)。其中,ev(eu)是“好”的意思,如eugenics(优生学)、eulogize(赞美)、euphemism (委婉的词语);angelion是“消息”的意思,天使angel与其同源。英语单词evangel(福音、佳音)就源自希腊单词evangelion。
基督教传入罗马后,罗马人将希腊单词evangelion意译为bona adnuntiatio(好消息)。基督教传入英国后,英国人将拉丁文bona adnuntiatio意译为古英语单词godspel,其中,god等于good(好),spel等于spell(消息、信息)。后来,godspel中间的字母g被简略掉,拼写逐渐演变成了现在的gospel形式。
现在,gospel一词已经逐渐走出宗教领域,应用于更多场景,用来表示任何主义、信条。
evangel:[ɪ’væn(d)ʒel] n.福音,佳音
evangelist:[ɪ’vændʒəlɪst] n. 福音传道者;圣经新约福音书的作者
evangelistic:[ɪ,vændʒə’lɪstɪk] adj. 福音传道者的;福音书作者的
evangelical:[,ivæn’dʒɛlɪkl] adj. 福音的;新教会的n. 福音派信徒

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