2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读三十三
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一三四
The first face-off人脸识别第一案A lawsuit against face-scans in China could have big consequences在中国，一场有关人脸识别的诉讼或将带来巨大的影响Guo Bing,a legal academic in the eastern city of Hangzhou,likes to spend his leisure time at a local safari park.But when the park informed season-pass holders like him that admission would require a face-scan,Mr Guo objected.郭兵是中国东部城市杭州市的一名法律学者，他平日里喜欢在当地的野生动物园度过闲暇时光。
但当动物园告知像他这样的年卡用户需要扫脸入园时，郭先生无法接受。
Late last month he filed a lawsuit,claiming the new rules violated his privacy.Facial-recognition technology is widely used in izens have been hailing Mr Guo as a champion of consumer rights.A thread about his suit has garnered100m views on Weibo,a social-media platform.上月底，他以新规定侵犯其隐私为由向法院提起了诉讼。
人脸识别技术在中国已经得到了广泛的应用。
网友们纷纷称赞郭兵是消费者权益的捍卫者。
在社交媒体平台新浪微博上，一条关于他诉讼的微博获得了1亿次的点击量。
It is surprising that it has taken so long for the judiciary to get involved. Some300tourist sites in China use facial recognition to admit visitors.The safari park says doing so can shorten queues.令人惊讶的是，司法部门过了这么久才介入其中。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二三
Why an“Uber for tailors”is gaining ground in Lagos“裁缝优步”为何能在拉各斯发展起来？“Rich and poor,everyone has a tailor here,”says Olajire Omikunle,a couturier for Nigeria’s powerful.So great is the appeal of a well-cut outfit in Lagos,Nigeria’s commercial centre,that roadside stitchers rove the streets armed with their sewing machines and clicking their large scissors to drum up customers.尼日利亚颇具影响力的服装设计师奥拉吉尔·奥米昆勒说：“无论贫富，这里的每个人都有自己的裁缝。
”在尼日利亚的商业中心拉各斯，一套剪裁考究的服装如此具有吸引力，以至于街头裁缝们会带着他们的缝纫机在街道上来回穿梭，并拿着大剪刀咔嚓咔嚓地招揽着顾客。
David Peterside,a local entrepreneur,hopes to capitalise on this sartorial obsession with a new app that is being dubbed an“Uber for tailors”.Fashion Map allows natty Nigerians to find a suitmaker at the press of a button.当地企业家戴维·彼得赛德希望借着人们对服装的痴迷，开发一款名为“裁缝优步”的新应用。
整洁时髦尼日利亚人只需按下一个按钮，便能在时尚地图上找到一位裁缝。
It may be a perfect fit for Africa’s most populous country.Nigeria has a fast-growing base of smartphone users and“over100,000registered tailors”,says Otunba Wasiu Taiwo of the Nigeria Union of Tailors.“We are still counting.”该应用或许非常适合这个非洲人口最多的国家。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读十三
Sun,sea and a diplomatic point阳光、大海和外交China’s high-spending tourists bring political clout中国的高消费游客带来了政治影响力Countries at odds with China find holidaymakers from there stop coming 与中国不和的国家发现，中国游客不再来了Earlier this month the great pyramids of Giza and the nearby Sphinx were lit up in“Chinese red”.Spectators,many of them from China,were then given another unprecedented treat.The sound-and-light show,a staple of pyramid entertainment since1961,was narrated in Chinese.本月初，“中国红”点亮了吉萨的大金字塔和附近的狮身人面像。
随后，参观者（特别是来自中国的游客）感受了另一种前所未有的体验。
自1961年以来作为金字塔主打娱乐节目的声光表演是用中文来讲解的。
The event was sponsored by the Chinese government,which takes pride in its travellers’growing influence.Since2012China has been the world’s biggest source of tourists.Chinese travellers racked up nearly150m trips abroad last year.活动是由中国政府赞助的，中国政府以中国游客日益增长的影响力为荣。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
The Guardian view on unaffordable homes: building injustice into the economy《卫报》关于难以负担的住房的观点：在经济中制造不公The average wage of the top 1% in Britain rose to £13,770 a month in December. Jeevun Sandher, an economist at King’s College London, points out the very richest saw their incomes rise the fastest during the pandemic. This group were also likely to have been able to save the most while Covid raged. Where do the very wealthiest spend their cash? One place is housing, for which there is a low level of stock being released on to the market. The result is rising house prices. Over the past 12 months, asking prices have gone up by 9.5%.12月，英国最富有的1%人群的平均工资上升至每月13770英镑。
伦敦国王学院的经济学家桑德尔指出，在疫情期间，最富有的人的收入增长最快。
在新冠病毒肆虐期间，这一群体也可能是能够存最多钱的人。
最富有的人把钱花在哪里？其中一个地方就是住房，因为住房市场上的存量很低。
结果就是房价上涨。
在过去12个月里，住房要价上涨了9.5%。
This has a knock-on effect for renters. UK rents rose by 8.3% in the last three months of 2021. For would-be first-time buyers, the situation is as bad if not worse, with the current average price of £277,000 nearly £25,000 higher than just a year ago. Those looking to have a roof to live under will find little solace in official figures. These record an 11% drop in the number of total homes added in 2021 compared with the year before. The number of new affordable houses that began being built dropped 16% year-on-year. Shortages of labour and materials, as well as planning delays, will make it harder for the 11th Tory housing minister since 2010 to meet government targets for new homes.这对租客产生了连锁反应。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二四
Neanderthals had a propensity for earache,nudging them to their doom易患耳疾将尼安德特人推向了灭亡A new analysis of their skulls points to an anatomical problem一项对头颅的新研究指出了一个生理构造缺陷The last neanderthals vanished from Earth about40,000years ago.Exactly what drove them to extinction,however,remains a mystery,with their disappearance variously attributed to anything from climate change to inferior cognitive abilities or even cannibalism.在大约4万年前，最后一批尼安德特人消失在地球上。
但究竟是什么导致了他们的灭亡，至今仍是一个谜，关于他们灭亡原因有着各种各样的猜想，从气候变化到认知能力低下，再到同类相食。
Anthony Pagano,a medical researcher at Seton Hall University in New Jersey,has a new explanation.He thinks Neanderthals might have been unusually prone to severe ear infections,which left them struggling to compete against their Homo sapiens cousins.新泽西州西顿霍尔大学的医学研究员安东尼·帕加诺给出了一个新的解释。
他认为尼安德特人或许非常容易患上严重的耳部感染，这使得他们很难与智人相互竞争。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
A global house-price slump is coming全球房价即将暴跌It won’t blow up the financial system, but it will be scary虽然不会摧毁金融体系，但仍然令人恐慌Over the past decade owning a house has meant easy money. Prices rose reliably for years and then went bizarrely ballistic in the pandemic. Yet today if your wealth is tied up in bricks and mortar it is time to get nervous.过去十年里，拥有一套房就意味着轻松赚钱。
房价多年来一直稳步上涨，甚至在疫情期间还异乎寻常地飙升了。
然而现如今，如果你的财富被套牢在房产上，那你应该感到紧张了。
House prices are now falling in nine rich economies. The drops in America are small so far, but in the wildest markets they are already dramatic. In condo-crazed Canada homes cost 9% less than they did in February.九个发达经济体的房价都在下跌。
到目前为止，美国房价的跌幅还不大，但最疯狂的市场的房价跌幅已经非常大了。
在热衷于共管公寓的加拿大，房价较今年2月下跌了9%。
As inflation and recession stalk the world a deepening correction is likely—even estate agents are gloomy. Although this will not detonate global banks as in 2007-09, it will intensify the downturn, leave a cohort of people with wrecked finances and start a political storm.随着通货膨胀和经济衰退的风险在全球范围内蔓延，房价或将迎来一场深度调整——甚至房地产经纪人也对此感到悲观。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一一一
The legal cannabis market shrank in California last year去年，加州的合法大麻市场在萎缩Harbourside Cannabis in Oakland is a modern-day temple to the delights and possibilities of the botanical marvel that is the plant Cannabis sativa. Around the airy shop move a well-heeled clientele.They browse among offerings ranging from cannabis-infused chocolate to sparkling water and vape pens.奥克兰的哈伯赛德大麻公司是一座可供寻求快乐和见识到大麻种植奇观的现代庙宇。
一群有钱人在通透的大麻商店里来来往往。
他们浏览着从大麻巧克力到大麻起泡水和大麻电子烟等各式各样的大麻商品。
California was the first state to allow sales of medical cannabis in1996, and Harbourside one of the first shops in America to sell pot legally.Since January last year,the firm has also been able to sell pot for purely recreational purposes.1996年，加州成为美国首个允许销售医用大麻的州，哈伯赛德也是美国首批合法销售大麻的商店之一。
自去年1月以来，哈伯赛德也能销售纯娱乐用途的大麻了。
Thanks to its large number of“medical”users,California’s is the largest legal cannabis market in the world.But since the legalisation of adult sales, that market has been shrinking.得益于大批的“医疗”用户，加州成为了全球最大的合法大麻市场。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一三三
McDonald’s fires its boss over a workplace romance麦当劳CEO因办公室恋情遭到解雇The swiftness of Steve Easterbrook’s exit from McDonald’s matched that of Don Thompson,his predecessor,in2015.Mr Thompson was pushed out for poor performance.Not Mr Easterbrook,who was widely admired for doubling the American fast-food giant’s share price.史蒂夫·伊斯特布鲁克离开麦当劳的速度之快与其前任唐·汤普森（于2015年离职）不分伯仲。
汤普森是由于业绩不佳而遭到开除的。
但伊斯特布鲁克就不同了，他曾使这家美国快餐巨头的股价翻了一番，并因此广受赞誉。
On November3rd the company announced it was sacking its British-born boss because of“a recent consensual relationship with an employee”. Chris Kempczinski,who runs its domestic business,takes over.11月3日，麦当劳宣布解雇了这位英国籍老板，理由是“他最近与一位下属存在两情相悦的亲密关系”。
负责美国国内业务的克里斯·肯普钦斯基接手了该职位。
Bill George of Harvard Business School called Mr Easterbrook’s departure a“tragedy”for McDonald’s.In Europe ousting a capable CEO drew bemusement.Süddeutsche Zeitung,a German daily,commented that,“luckily”,German labour law would bar such a move.哈佛商学院的比尔·乔治称，伊斯特布鲁克的离开对于麦当劳来说是一场“悲剧”。
2019考研英语经济学人阅读1(英语学习).doc
2019考研英语经济学人阅读1（英语学习）联合国严厉制裁朝鲜The European Union announced that it will provide700m ($760m) in aid to accommodate migrants incountries overwhelmed by the refugee crisis. Most ofthe money is expected to go to Greece. AngelaMerkel, Germany’s chancellor, scolded Austria andother countries for clamping down on refugeearrivals, and vowed not to abandon Greece.欧盟宣布将向深陷难民危机的国家提供7亿欧元(7.6亿美元)的难民安置援助。
该援助的一大部分将给希腊。
德国总理安吉拉·默克尔(Angela Merkel)谴责奥地利等国家抵制难民入境的行为，并承诺不会放弃对希腊的援助。
The leader of Spain’s Socialist Party, Pedro Sánchez, failed in his first attempt to form aminority government with the upstart centrist Ciudadanos party. Both the centre-right PopularParty and the far-left Podemos party voted against the proposed coalition in parliament. If MrSánchez fails again in a second vote planned for March 4th, the caretaker government willprobably call new elections.西班牙工人社会党( Socialist Party)领导人彼得罗·桑切斯(Pedro Sánchez)与新兴中立公民党(Ciudadanos party)首次尝试组建少数党政府，但最终以失败告终。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二十
Wealth taxes have moved up the political agenda征收财富税已经被提上了政治议程Some economists are reconsidering their aversion to levies on large fortunes一些经济学家正在转变他们对向巨额财富征税的反感态度Five years ago Thomas Piketty’s“Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, a weighty analysis of rising inequality,flew off shelves and ignited fiery debate.Fans and detractors alike tended to agree on one thing,at least: its proposal to fix inequality—a tax on wealth—was a dud.五年前，托马斯·皮凯蒂撰写的《21世纪的资本》（一本对日益加剧的不平等现象进行了深入分析的著作）一经上架便引发了激烈的辩论。
支持者和反对者至少在一件事上达成了一致：书中所提出的解决不平等问题的提议（征收财富税）是没用的。
A half-decade later the mood has shifted.Several candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination promise to tax wealth;Bernie Sanders recently announced a plan to tax fortunes of more than$32m at1%per year,and those larger than$10bn at8%.五年后的今天，人们的态度发生了转变。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Have baby, stay in school生孩子还是继续上学？Why teenage mothers in Zimbabwe struggle to get educated为什么津巴布韦的未成年妈妈很难继续接受教育Brilliant Ndlovu has never really known childhood. Since the age of seven she has headed her household in Tsholotsho, a town in rural western Zimbabwe, after her parents went to work abroad. The oldest of five, she scraped a living growing crops while trying to keep up with her schoolwork.聪明的恩德洛夫从未真正经历过童年。
自从7岁起，她的父母去国外工作后，她就一直在津巴布韦西部乡村小镇茨洛特肖主持家务。
她是五个孩子中的老大，一边靠种庄稼勉强糊口，一边还要努力完成学业。
But in 2020 the covid-19 pandemic struck, coming shortly after a devastating drought. Farmers could not afford to pay child labourers like Ms Ndlovu. “So I looked for a man to help support my family,” she recalls. She found one who demanded sex in exchange for money. Aged 17, she got pregnant.但在2020年，经历一场毁灭性的干旱后，新冠疫情又紧随其后。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二八
Why people should leave the countryside为什么人们要离开农村Quitting a village and heading for the slums makes people richer离开村庄前往城市的贫民窟会让人们更富有In Weicheng,A village in Hebei province,a group of friends are tucking into duck,broccoli and dumplings,flavoured with raw garlic and lubricated with baijiu liquor.It is the Chinese new year,and migrant workers have come home to see their families.在河北省的魏城村，几位好友正吃着鸭肉、西兰花和饺子，他们嚼着生蒜调味、喝着白酒润喉。
这正是中国的农历新年，外出务工的农民工纷纷回家探亲。
Nationwide,some3bn journeys were undertaken during the holiday season this year,making it the biggest mass migration ever;though next year’s will doubtless be even bigger.今年春节期间，全国旅客运输量高达30亿人次，这也成为中国有史以来最大规模的一次人口迁移；当然，明年的规模毫无疑问将更大。
Suddenly a loud phone interrupts.Two men pop outside to take the call. When they come back,they both have new jobs:a three-month contract on a building site in Taiyuan,a city neither man has visited before.突如其来的一通来电打断了饭局。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文阅读经济学人
China’s “dreamchild” is stealthily winning the battery race中国“梦之子”悄然引领电池竞赛In America, if you want to dominate an industry, you channel your inner Elon Musk and shout about it. But CATL, the Chinese company that makes batteries for some of Mr Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles (EVs), is different. When your columnist first contacted it in 2017, the brush-off was swift.在美国，如果你想主宰一个行业，你就得调动自己内心的埃隆·马斯克并大声咆哮。
但为马斯克的部分特斯拉电动汽车供应电池的中国公司宁德时代则不同。
当笔者在2017年第一次与该公司取得联系时，对方直接拒绝了我们的采访。
“We want to concentrate on our products only and do not accept any interviews at present.” These days it is only marginally less blunt. “Unfortunately, we are sorry that it’s hard for us to arrange [interviews] at the moment.” The temptation is to give it a dose of its own medicine and ignore it.“我们只想专注于我们的产品，目前不接受任何采访。
”如今，该公司的态度没有过去那么生硬了，但也只是稍微缓和。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一三九
Plantation owners profit by not persecuting primates果园主通过放任猴子而获利Monkeys act as pest controllers who take their fees in fruit猴子收取水果费，扮演害虫控制者的角色Palm oil is a lucrative business,but not without its problems.Plantations of palms,the fruit of which are crushed to release the oil,are usually there at the expense of rainforest.This does not go down well with environmentalists.棕榈油是一门利润丰厚的生意，但其中也存在着一些问题。
种植棕榈树（人们通过压榨棕榈果来获得棕榈油）的果园往往是以破坏雨林为代价的。
这引发了环保人士的不满。
Nor does it go down well with the rainforest’s inhabitants,some of whom, such as pig-tailed macaques,a species of monkey,raid the plantations to eat the palm fruit before it can be harvested.同样不满的还有生活在雨林的居民们，其中一些居民（比如猪尾猕猴，一种猴子）会在棕榈果成熟前突袭果园去偷吃棕榈果。
Such raiding,naturally,invites retaliation by planters,who try to trap and relocate the animals,or scare them off with gunshots.But a study published in Current Biology this week,by Nadine Ruppert and Anna Holzner of the University of Sciences Malaysia,suggests such retaliation is a mistake.猴子的突袭自然会招致果园主的报复行为，他们试图诱捕并转移这些动物，或者用枪声将它们吓跑。
考研英语阅读高分必背60篇 第33期-农产品价格大涨
考研英语阅读高分必背60篇第33期:农产品价格大涨Soaring Food Prices农产品价格大涨Agricultural commodities prices exploded on Friday, threatening higher global food prices, after the US government forecasters slashed grains production estimates after adverse weather damaged crops worldwide.美国政府预测粮食产品受全球范围的恶劣天气影响将大幅减产，随后周五农产品价格急速上升，这可能会提高全球食品价格。
The price movements of up to 12.5 percent were among the worst since the 2021-08 food crisis as traders scrambled for supplies amid warnings of dwindling inventories.农产品价格涨幅最高达到12.5%，这是自2021—08 年食品危机以来涨幅最大的一次。
They followed a warning from the US Department of Agriculture that stocks of corn and barley, the feedstocks of the meat industry, would “fall dramatically” with US corn stocks forecast to hit a 14-year low.由于不断传来库存下滑的警告，交易员正在疯狂地寻求货源。
此前，美国农业部警告，肉类行业的饲料——玉米和大麦库存将“大幅下降”，其中美国玉米库存预测将达到14 年低点。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读三十二
Prices of prime properties around the world are falling世界各地的豪宅都在跌One Blackfriars soars into the sky from the south bank of the River Thames, announcing its presence to central London.The new50-storey tower contains274luxury flats that range in value from a merely expensive£1m ($1.3m)to an eye-watering£15m.坐落在泰晤士河南岸的布莱克法尔一号直插云霄，仿佛在向伦敦市中心宣示着它的存在。
这座新建的50层高的大楼共有274套豪华公寓，公寓的售价从不算太贵的100万英镑（约合130万美元）到令人瞠目结舌的1500万英镑不等。
Thanks to its distinctive midriff the building has been nicknamed“The Tummy”by Robert Shiller,who won a Nobel economics prize for his work on spotting asset bubbles.The name might also apply to London’s bloated housing market.Prices have nearly doubled since2009.由于其独特的类似于人体腹部的造型，这座建筑被罗伯特·希勒戏称为“大肚子”，希勒曾因发现了资产泡沫而荣获诺贝尔经济学奖。
这个昵称或许一语双关，还指代了伦敦膨胀的住宅市场。
自2009年以来，伦敦的房价几乎翻了一番。
It is not only in London that property values bulged in the decade after a housing bust that nearly took down the world’s financial system:prices are near new highs in manyplaces,according to The Economist’s latest roundup of global housing markets.根据《经济学人》对全球住宅市场的最新概览，在几乎摧毁了世界金融体系的房地产泡沫破灭后的十年时间里，不仅伦敦的房价大幅上涨，许多地方的房价都创下新高。
考研英语19年阅读答案
考研英语19年阅读答案考研英语阅读部分一直是考生们备考的重点和难点。
2019年的考研英语阅读题目，不仅考察了考生的词汇量和语法知识，还对考生的逻辑推理能力和快速阅读能力提出了挑战。
以下是对2019年考研英语阅读部分的答案解析。
首先，考生需要掌握大量的词汇，这是理解文章的基础。
在2019年的阅读题目中，很多词汇都是高频考点，比如“innovation”、“sustainability”和“diversity”等。
考生在备考过程中，应该重点记忆这些高频词汇，以便在考试中能够迅速识别和理解。
其次，阅读理解能力的提高需要大量的练习。
2019年的阅读材料涵盖了多个领域，包括科技、教育、经济和社会问题等。
考生应该广泛阅读这些领域的文章，通过不断的练习来提高自己的阅读速度和理解能力。
在解题技巧方面，考生需要注意文章的结构和逻辑关系。
2019年的阅读题目中，很多问题都是基于文章的主旨和细节来设置的。
因此，考生在阅读时应该关注文章的开头和结尾，以及段落之间的转折词，如“however”、“furthermore”和“nevertheless”等，这些词往往提示了文章的主旨和作者的观点。
此外，考生在做题时还应该注意时间管理。
2019年的阅读部分共有四篇文章，每篇文章后面都有五个问题，总共20个问题。
考生应该合理分配时间，每篇文章大约用时15分钟，包括阅读文章和回答问题的时间。
最后，考生在备考过程中应该多做真题和模拟题，这样可以更好地了解考试的题型和难度，同时也能够检验自己的备考效果。
综上所述，2019年考研英语阅读的答案不仅需要考生具备扎实的词汇基础和阅读能力，还需要掌握一定的解题技巧和时间管理能力。
通过系统的学习和大量的练习，考生可以在考试中取得理想的成绩。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一一三
Congo’s enormous rainforest is getting smaller刚果幅员辽阔的雨林正在变小Jagged,charred tree stumps jut out of blackened earth in what was once part of the rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.One man, Rafael,standing amid the devastation,reckons he has set fire to around 40sections of the forest near the city of Bandundu in the past two months.一个个锯齿状烧焦的树桩矗立在一片焦黑的土地上，这里曾经是刚果民主共和国热带雨林的一部分。
一个名叫拉斐尔的男子站在这片废墟上，他估计自己在过去两个月里已经纵火烧毁了班顿杜市附近的40片森林了。
He bags the scorched wood and flogs it as charcoal in the capital, Kinshasa,some250km away.Most of the city’s12m residents,unable to afford gas or electric ovens,rely on charcoal for cooking.他把烧焦的木头打包好，然后运至250公里外的首都金沙萨并将其作为木炭进行售卖。
这座城市1200万居民中的大多数人都用不起燃气或电炉，只能烧木炭来做饭。
The Congo basin rainforest is the second biggest tropical forest in the world,after the Amazon.It stretches across six central African countries (though more than half its trees are in Congo).Its absorbent peatlands hold the equivalent of three years’worth of global carbon emissions,mitigating global warming.刚果盆地雨林是世界上仅次于亚马逊雨林的第二大热带雨林。
考研英语范文阅读（三十三）
When I decided to quit my full time employment it never occurred to me that I might become a part of a new international trend. A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although， in the manner of a disgraced government minister， I covered my exit by claiming “I wanted to spend more time with my family”。
Curiously， some two-and-a-half years and two novels later， my experiment in what the Americans term “downshifting”has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality. I have been transformed from a passionate advocate of the philosophy of “have it all”， preached by Linda Kelsey for the past seven years in the pages of she magazine， into a woman who is happy to settle for a bit of everything. I have discovered， as perhaps Kelsey will after her much- publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build-up of stress， that abandoning the doctrine of “juggling your life”， and making the alternative move into “downshifting”brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status. Nothing could persuade me to return to the kind of life Kelsey used to advocate and I once enjoyed： 12-hour working days， pressured deadlines， the fearful strain of office politics and the limitations of being a parent on “quality time”。
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Twilight of the bureaucrats官僚的黄昏Millions of retiring Arab civil servants need not be replaced数百万即将退休的阿拉伯公务员不需要人来顶替Governments could save billions if they resist the urge to hire more政府如果能抑制住招募更多公务员的冲动，就能节省数十亿美元At a municipal parking garage in Cairo,a row of freshly painted machines wait to dispense tickets to drivers.But the machines are turned off. Attendants stand next to them and hand out tickets manually.在开罗的一个市政停车场，一排崭新的机器正在待命，等着给司机们分发票据。
但这些机器是关着的。
工作人员站在它们旁边，手动分发着票据。
It is one of many useless government jobs in the Egyptiancapital.Stamping passports at the airport can be a three-person affair. Offices are full of functionaries who make photocopies or brew tea(few do both).这是埃及首都诸多政府闲职中的一个。
机场给护照盖章的工作甚至都要3个人来做。
办公室里到处都是复印资料或泡茶的工作人员（很少会兼做这两项）。
More than5m Egyptians work in the civil service.Each serves fewer than 20citizens,if“serves”is the right word.Other developing countries get by with a far less populous public sector.埃及有超过500万名公务员。
如果“服务”这个词算是用得恰当的话，那么平均下来每个公务员仅服务不到20位公民。
相比于埃及，其他发展中国家的公务员则要少得多。
（小编注：截至2019年，埃及人口为9937万。
）The president,Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi,thinks little of his workforce.At a conference in May he suggested that1m employees could do the work now accomplished by5m.(Anyone who has dealt with Egyptian bureaucracy would probably agree.)公务员人数并没有引起埃及总统阿卜杜勒·法塔赫·塞西的重视。
在5月份的一次会议上，他暗示只需要100万人就可以完成现在500万名公务员的工作。
（任何一位与埃及官僚机构打交道的人都会同意这一观点。
）He worries that firing them would cause unrest,however.Instead,his government has a better solution:do nothing and let the bureaucracy shrink itself.About2.2m of Egypt’s civil servants are in the top two pay brackets,which usually require decades of service to reach.然而，总统担心解雇这些公务员会引起国家动乱。
相反，他的政府有一个更好的解决方案：无为而治，让官僚机构自我缩减人数。
埃及约有220万名公务员享受着前两个等级的工资待遇，这通常需要工作数十年才能达到。
The prime minister,Mustafa Madbouly,wagers that at least35%of the workforce will retire within a decade.总理穆斯塔法·马德布利断言，至少35％的公务员将在10年内退休。
That would reduce a wage bill that consumes27%of government revenue, freeing billions for badly needed investment.Many of these jobs plainly do not need to be filled.减少的工资单（埃及政府财政收入的27％都用来给公务员发工资了）将为国家亟需的投资腾出数十亿美元。
许多（退休公务员的）工作都不需要再安排人来补上。
Egypt is dragging itself into the digital age.Citizens can renew their national ID cards online,and other documents will be available later this year.埃及正在进入数字时代。
公民可以在网上更换新的身份证，在今年晚些时候，其他证件也将可以在线办理。
The state is installing new electricity meters that can be recharged via smart cards.Even the notoriously archaic courts are buying computers.All of this will reduce the need for cadres to collect bills and scribble notes in ledgers.全国正在安装可以通过智能卡充电的新电表。
即使是臭名昭著的古老法庭也在购置电脑。
所有这些都将减少对诸如收账和记账之类公务员的需要。
Many Arab countries are in a similar situation.Cushy state sinecures were once seen as a birthright.Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak bloated Egypt’s public sector to keep the middle class loyal.许多阿拉伯国家也有类似的情况。
轻松的政府闲职曾经被视为与生俱来的权利。
为了维持中产阶级的忠诚度，安瓦尔·萨达特和胡斯尼·穆巴拉克（两位都是埃及前总统）扩充了埃及的公务员队伍。
Gulf governments started a long hiring spree during the oil boom of the 1970s.For a generation,though,public-sector hiring has not kept pace with population growth.Though Egypt’s workforce has swollen by7.7m since2005,the bureaucracy registered a net increase of just190,000.在20世纪70年代的石油繁荣时期，海湾各国政府开始了一个长期的公务员招聘狂潮。
然而，对于这一代人来说，公务员的招聘没能跟上人口增长的步伐。
尽管埃及的劳动人口自2005年以来已经增加了770万，但公务员的净增长数仅为19万。
Hiring has slowed in Saudi Arabia too,but a whopping45%of citizens still work for the state(in the OECD,a club of mostly rich countries,theaverage is18%).As in Egypt they skew old,with31%aged45and over versus just7%under30.沙特阿拉伯对公务员的招聘也有所放缓，但公务员占全国人口的比例仍高达45％（发达国家组织——世界经合组织中各国公务员的人口比例平均为18％）。
同埃及一样，沙特阿拉伯的公务员年龄也偏大，45岁以上者占31％，而30岁以下者仅为7%。
The crown prince wants to steer young Saudis into the private sector,but few firms want to hire them on the cushy terms they demand.Over30%of under-30s are jobless.沙特王子希望引导沙特年轻人进入私营企业工作，但很少有公司愿意开出他们想要的轻松的条件来雇佣他们。
因此，超过30％的30岁以下的沙特人没有工作。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)重难点词汇：twilight['twaɪlaɪt]n.黎明，黄昏；薄暮；衰退期；朦胧状态adj.昏暗的，微明的；暮年的notoriously[noˈtɔːriəsli]adv.众所周知地；声名狼藉地；恶名昭彰地sinecure['saɪnɪkjʊr]n.闲职；挂名职务birthright['bɝθraɪt]n.与生俱来的权利；长子继承权。