歐洲不應(yīng)試圖管制互聯(lián)網(wǎng)
In Paris on Tuesday, Europe’s digital economy ministers will meet to discuss the future. Their agenda should be obvious. The internet has been the bright spot in an otherwise bleak EU economy. The eurozone economy is expected to contract by 0.4 per cent in 2013. By contrast, the internet economy in the G20 countries is forecast to grow by 8 per cent each year for the next five years.
The internet has lowered barriers to entry and made it easier than ever for people to set up their own businesses and to become entrepreneurs. In Europe, we already have best-in-class tech businesses such as Swedish music streaming service Spotify, Finnish games developer Supercell, French display advertising business Criteo and British companies such as Just Eat, Mind Candy and Zoopla. The “internet economy” is also much broader than many people realise. Every business is an internet business to some extent. Many of our best-known, global companies are using digital innovation to bring better products and services to their customers.
The agenda for European governments should be clear: concentrate on policies that enable new business creation and encourage established businesses to innovate through technology. Create incentives for risk-taking to counter the worrying decline in venture capital investment. Make it quick and easy to start your own company and take the stigma out of failure by creating incentives that encourage entrepreneurs to try again. Embrace trade and fair competition and back innovation.
The French government is tabling a series of measures designed to encourage growth and innovation. Many make sense and echo efforts we are pursuing here in the UK. But if measures pertaining to new regulation and taxation are as reported, they appear to be both protectionist in nature and potentially damaging to future innovation and global trade.
For example, it sounds sensible to have US companies pay more tax in Europe. But the fact is we have a global tax system that taxes multinational companies where they create value.Indeed, the G20 and OECD are currently reviewing measures to reform the taxation of global companies.
學(xué)習(xí)指南：
1. Word of the day
entrepreneur： one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise創(chuàng)業(yè)者，企業(yè)家
小編注：entrepreneur是指人，通常用來表示企業(yè)家，承包人，創(chuàng)業(yè)者。有一個(gè)由它派生而出的詞entrepreneurship則是指創(chuàng)業(yè)精神，企業(yè)家精神，企業(yè)家身份。這點(diǎn)大家要學(xué)會(huì)區(qū)別分辨。
2. Phrase of the day
contract by：If something contracts by a certain extent, the size of it will become smaller. 收縮，變小
e.g：The Thai economy is forecast to contract by as much as four percent this year, leaving as many as two million unemployed.
例：據(jù)預(yù)測(cè)，泰國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)今年收縮的幅度可能會(huì)高達(dá)四個(gè)百分點(diǎn)，失業(yè)人口可能會(huì)多達(dá)兩百萬。
小編注：contract by是“收縮了”，而contract to是“收縮到”，兩者意思有區(qū)別，注意區(qū)分。
3. Sentence of the day
But if measures pertaining to new regulation and taxation are as reported, they appear to be both protectionist in nature and potentially damaging to future innovation and global trade.
但如果有關(guān)新的監(jiān)管規(guī)則以及稅收制度的措施與報(bào)道一致，這些措施在本質(zhì)上似乎屬于貿(mào)易保護(hù)主義，并對(duì)未來的創(chuàng)新活動(dòng)以及全球貿(mào)易有潛在破壞作用。
小編注：這句話比較長(zhǎng)，要看懂就先要對(duì)句子的成分進(jìn)行劃分。首先可以看出這是一個(gè)條件狀語從句，主句在逗號(hào)之后。主句從句分別劃分主謂賓、定狀補(bǔ)即可。這句話主句主語是they，指代measures。這里還有一個(gè)詞要注意一下，protectionist的意思是貿(mào)易保護(hù)主義，這里是根據(jù)上下文進(jìn)行的意譯，原意并沒有貿(mào)易之義。
4. Cultural point of the day
歐元區(qū) 歐洲聯(lián)盟成員中使用歐盟的統(tǒng)一貨幣——?dú)W元的國(guó)家區(qū)域。1999年1月1日，歐盟國(guó)家開始實(shí)行單一貨幣歐元和在實(shí)行歐元的國(guó)家實(shí)施統(tǒng)一貨幣政策。2002年7月，歐元成為歐元區(qū)的合法貨幣。歐元區(qū)共有18個(gè)成員國(guó)，包括奧地利、比利時(shí) 、芬蘭 、法國(guó) 、德國(guó) 、愛爾蘭、意大利、盧森堡、荷蘭 、葡萄牙 、西班牙 、希臘 、斯洛文尼亞、塞浦路斯、馬耳他 、斯洛伐克、愛沙尼亞、拉脫維亞，人口超過3億3千萬。受歐債危機(jī)影響，歐元區(qū)自2008年以來經(jīng)濟(jì)陷入持續(xù)衰退。2012年10月8日，歐洲穩(wěn)定機(jī)制(ESM)啟動(dòng)，向債務(wù)纏身的歐元區(qū)主權(quán)國(guó)家提供貸款。