2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：公共服务改革

　　2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师范猛老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。

　　Public-service reform公共服务改革

　　Dave's amazingadventure戴夫大冒险让人惊讶

　　Overhauling the public services is proving slower andharder than the government once hoped

　　整修公共服务：比政府预期还要缓慢艰难

　　HEALTH-CARE reform’s potential as raw materialfor rappers has hitherto mostly gone unnoticed.Now the government’s plans for the National HealthService have been satirised in a ditty entitled “TheNHS is not for sale”; it registered over 150,000YouTube hits within a week. Nearly a year after thecoalition came to power, offering the most sweeping public-service reform agenda sinceMargaret Thatcher, grind—and ridicule—have beset it. Ministers look tired; U-turns,refinements and clarifications are frequent.

　　医疗保健改革本可以让说唱歌手好好做上一番文章，但迄今为止却少有人慧眼识珠。如今，讽刺英国政府改革国民健康保险制度计划的打油曲“健保系统不卖”，在YOUTUBE上一周已获得十五多万次点击。联合政府执政将近一年，提出了自撒切尔夫人以来范围最广的改革议程;然而这项议程却被琐事和嘲弄包围。大臣们面色疲惫;方针、政策等的急速转变，调整提高以及解释说明屡见不鲜。

　　The official line is that reforms to schools, the NHS and other institutions are proceeding asintended. David Cameron is sticking to his plans to devolve more power to those directlydelivering the services, cut out bureaucratic middle men and enhance competition. Butscratch a bit deeper, and worries about the impact and pace of the changes are evident. “Wehaven’t succeeded in explaining how our approach saves money and delivers better services,”admits a senior minister.

　　官方方针是学校，健保系统和其他机构的改革正如预期进行。卡梅隆坚持自己的计划，即把更多权力移交给这些直接服务的机构，裁减打官腔的中间人员，加强竞争。但是往深里想想，此举的后果和改革步调便显而易见。一位高级大臣承认：“我们没能成功解释这样做为何省钱，为何可以提供更好的服务。”

　　Andrew Lansley’s bid to devolve the commissioning of hospital care, and responsibility for muchof England’s health budget, to GPs has proved the most contentious policy. Under the healthsecretary’s scheme, GPs will be obliged to form new commissioning consortia; they will alsohave more freedom to choose private health-care providers over state ones.

　　英国卫生大臣安德鲁??兰斯里的尝试是最具争议的。他计划把医疗保健和大部分医疗预算委任给医生，这样医生必须形成新的医疗联盟;他们还可以更加自由地选择私人健保提供者而不是由国家提供。

　　Mr Lansley points out that his changes are going more smoothly than hostile interest groupssuggest: 177 consortia, covering 70% of England’s population, have already been set up (thedeadline for transferring to the new arrangements is April 2013). But the timescale is alarminglyvariable. One senior government figure thinks this and other public-sector reforms will take“between five and 15 years” to bear fruit nationally. That might be asking a bit too much ofpublic patience.

　　兰斯里指出他的改革比反对派所说的进展顺利得多：已经设立了177个联盟，覆盖了英国70%的人口(新安排的最终期限是2013年)。但是时间跨度之多变令人警觉。一位高级官员认为，这项以及其他的公共领域改革将需要“五到十五年”来使全国受益。这可能大大超出了公众的耐心。

　　Sell Stockholm, buy Harlem卖掉斯德哥尔摩，买进哈莱姆

　　Meanwhile the education secretary Michael Gove’s once-prominent focus on new Swedish-style“free schools”—to be funded by the state but run by charities, parents and others—has beenwavering. Although he denies a shift, chains of academies—state schools turned over toautonomous providers—are now being heralded as the driving force of schools reform. MrGove is sounding keener on American-style Charter schools than on the Swedish model, in partbecause the Charter programme has a clearer record of helping to transform education for thepoor.

　　同时，教育大臣迈克尔??戈夫曾大力推进的瑞典式“免费学校”政策——由国家出资，慈善机构，父母和其他人运转——一直以来也动摇不定。尽管他否认政策转移，却还有许多学院——现在转由独立个人支持的公立学校——被宣为教育改革的驱动力。乍听之下，比起瑞典模式，戈夫似乎对美国式的特许学校更感兴趣。一个原因就是特许学校能够使教育更好造福穷孩子。

　　And a bitter row is under way over how far the rise in tuition fees to ??9,000 ($14,500) forsome universities should be dependent on them admitting more students from poor andethnic-minority backgrounds. Supported by Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat businesssecretary who is responsible for higher education, the Office for Fair Access, a regulator, wantsa portion of the higher fees to be diverted to outreach efforts. It threatens to impose a capfor those universities who don’t oblige. Frustration in the universities is matched by outrageamong Tories, who are afraid of damaging standards and biasing the system against middle-class applicants.

　　英国大学学费涨价也让大众不满。上调之后，大学学费最高可至9,000英镑(约合14,500美元)，但政府规定大学必须采取措施招收更多英国本地贫穷学生和少数族群学生，才能收取最高上限的学费。在主管大学事务的自由民主党人，商务部大臣文斯??凯布尔支持下，扮演监管角色的公平入校办公室也想在增收的学费中分一杯羹，以主动帮助入学。如果哪个大学不从，它便表示要对其收取罚款。伴随着大学的唉声叹气是托利党人的雷霆怒火。他们担心这么做会有损规矩，造成对中产阶级学生的歧视。

　　Serious reform is always painful: Mrs Thatcher was widely loathed in her radical second term;Tony Blair complained about the “scars on my back” from his fights with public-sector workers.As then, today’s plans pitch fears about the cost and alleged chaos of upheaval againsthypothetical arguments for change. But the government’s year-long adventure in reformsuggests some other patterns.

　　严肃改革总是伴随着痛苦：撒切尔夫人在第二任任期一片怨声载道;托尼布莱尔抱怨和国有经济工人争斗时“背上受了伤”。今日，改革计划则让人们大惊失色，忧心支出，还有计划可能带来的动乱。但是政府数年来冒险改革也表明了别的模式。

　　First, expectations matter. Before last year’s election the Tories reassured voters that therewould be no “top-down reorganisation of the NHS”. Mr Lansley’s plans might have caused lessof a rumpus with more explicit warning. The civil service matters too: Number 10 complainsthat it is being insufficiently zealous in implementing the government’s agenda. Officialscounter that the problem is the volume of new measures, and varying competence indepartments, rather than intransigence.

　　首先，期望很有关系。去年大选前托利党人向选民保证不会有“自上至下的健保改革”。兰斯利的计划可能引起了一点吵闹和警告。行政部门也有关系：首相府抱怨无法赶不上完善政府计划。官员认为问题在于新政的内容太多，部门间能力不同，而不是死不妥协。

【英语阅读资料】这里有↑↑↑