Reading Comprehension Text 1
Financial regulators in Britain have imposed a rather unusual rule on the bosses of big banks. Starting next year, any guaranteed bonus of top executives could be delayed 10 years if their banks are under investigation for wrongdoing. The main purpose of this “clawback” rule is to hold bankers accountable for harmful risk-taking and to restore public trust in financial institutions. Yet officials also hope for a much larger benefit: more long-term decision-making, not only by banks but by all corporations, to build a stronger economy for future generations.
“Short-termism,” or the desire for quick profits, has worsened in publicly traded companies, says the Bank of England’s top economist, Andrew Haldane. He quotes a giant of classical economics, Alfred Marshall, in describing this financial impatience as acting like “children who pick the plums out of their pudding to eat them at once” rather than putting them aside to be eaten last.
The average time for holding a stock in both the United States and Britain, he notes, has dropped from seven years to seven months in recent decades. Transient investors, who demand high quarterly profits from companies, can hinder a firm’s efforts to invest in long-term research or to build up customer loyalty. This has been dubbed “quarterly capitalism.”
In addition, new digital technologies have allowed more rapid trading of equities, quicker use of information, and thus shortens attention spans in financial markets. “There seems to be a predominance of short-term thinking at the expense of long-term investing,” said Commissioner Daniel Gallagher of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a speech this week.
In the US, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has pushed most public companies to defer performance bonuses for senior executives by about a year, slightly helping reduce “short-termism.” In its latest survey of CEO pay, The Wall Street Journal finds that “a substantial part” of executive pay is now tied to performance.
Much more could be done to encourage “long-termism,” such as changes in the tax code and quicker disclosure of stock acquisitions. In France, shareholders who hold onto a company investment for at least two years can sometimes earn more voting rights in a company.
Within companies, the right compensation design can provide incentives for executives to think beyond their own time at the company and on behalf of all stakeholders. Britain’s new rule is a reminder to bankers that society has an interest in their performance, not just for the short term but for the long term.
21. According to Paragraph 1, one motive in imposing the new rule is to
22. Alfred Marshall is quoted to indicate
23. It is argued that the influence of transient investment on public companies can be
24. The US and France examples are used to illustrate
25. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
答案与解析 (Answers)
21. [A] enhance bankers’ sense of responsibility.
解析：第一段提到该规则的主要目的是“to hold bankers accountable for harmful risk-taking（让银行家为有害的冒险行为负责）”，即增强责任感。
22. [D] “short-termism” in economic activities.
解析：引用马歇尔关于孩子吃布丁里的李子的比喻，是为了描述“financial impatience（财务焦躁/短期主义）”。
38. [B] adverse.
解析：第三段提到 transient investors（短暂投资者）会“hinder a firm’s efforts to invest in long-term research（阻碍公司进行长期研究的努力）”，因此这种影响是负面的、不利的（adverse）。
24. [C] the approaches to promoting “long-termism”.
解析：第五、六段通过美国（延期发放奖金）和法国（增加投票权）的例子，说明了可以采取哪些方法来促进长期主义。
25. [B] Patience as a Corporate Virtue.
解析：全文对比了短期主义（贪快）和长期主义（耐心），呼吁公司应更具长远目光。选项 B“耐心作为企业美德”最符合文章主旨。
核心长难句精解 (Highlighted Sentences)
1. 目的状语与并列结构：
"The main purpose of this “clawback” rule is to hold bankers accountable for harmful risk-taking and to restore public trust in financial institutions."
【解析】hold sb accountable for 意为“让某人对...负责”。句中两个 to 引导的不定式短语作为表语并列，明确了新规则的两大初衷。
【翻译】这种“追回”制度的主要目的是让银行家们对有害的冒险行为负责，并恢复公众对金融机构的信任。
"The main purpose of this “clawback” rule is to hold bankers accountable for harmful risk-taking and to restore public trust in financial institutions."
【解析】hold sb accountable for 意为“让某人对...负责”。句中两个 to 引导的不定式短语作为表语并列，明确了新规则的两大初衷。
【翻译】这种“追回”制度的主要目的是让银行家们对有害的冒险行为负责，并恢复公众对金融机构的信任。
2. 比喻与对比结构：
"He quotes... Alfred Marshall, in describing this financial impatience as acting like “children who pick the plums... to eat them at once” rather than putting them aside to be eaten last."
【解析】rather than 引导对比。描述将复杂的经济概念（短期主义）比作孩子急于吃李子的行为，形象地揭示了金融焦躁的本质。
【翻译】他引用了古典经济学巨匠阿尔弗雷德·马歇尔的话，将这种财务上的焦躁描述为表现得像“那些急于把布丁里的李子挑出来立刻吃掉的孩子”，而不是把它们放在一边最后再吃。
"He quotes... Alfred Marshall, in describing this financial impatience as acting like “children who pick the plums... to eat them at once” rather than putting them aside to be eaten last."
【解析】rather than 引导对比。描述将复杂的经济概念（短期主义）比作孩子急于吃李子的行为，形象地揭示了金融焦躁的本质。
【翻译】他引用了古典经济学巨匠阿尔弗雷德·马歇尔的话，将这种财务上的焦躁描述为表现得像“那些急于把布丁里的李子挑出来立刻吃掉的孩子”，而不是把它们放在一边最后再吃。
3. 介词短语与因果逻辑：
"There seems to be a predominance of short-term thinking at the expense of long-term investing..."
【解析】at the expense of 意为“以...为代价”。这句话概括了目前金融市场的病灶：牺牲长远投资来满足短期思维。
【翻译】似乎普遍存在着以牺牲长期投资为代价的短期思维占据主导地位的情况。
"There seems to be a predominance of short-term thinking at the expense of long-term investing..."
【解析】at the expense of 意为“以...为代价”。这句话概括了目前金融市场的病灶：牺牲长远投资来满足短期思维。
【翻译】似乎普遍存在着以牺牲长期投资为代价的短期思维占据主导地位的情况。