It was originally enacted in 1975 as a means of encouraging the poor into the labor force, and has been extended and expanded enthusiastically since by both parties, most recently by Mr Obama in 2009. Unlike most tax credits, the EITC is refundable. Its amount varies with income and the number of dependants, but it is a credit amounting to a percentage of a taxpayer’s earned income. When that credit exceeds a payer’s tax liability, the government refunds the difference. Its
benefits skew overwhelmingly toward families: the most a single person can claim is around $500, while a married couple with three or more dependent children can receive $5,000 or more. In 2010 $55 billion was paid out through the EITC, and $23 billion for the child tax credit. Yet these programs remain deeply unpopular with many in Congress.
美国最重要的税收现金补助项目要数工作所得抵免（EITC）。该抵免最早在1975年实施，是一项鼓励穷人工作的措施。自那以后，两党政治家都对拓展该措施非常热心，最近一次在2009年奥巴马总统拓宽了该措施的覆盖面。和大多数税收抵免不同，EITC是可退回的。虽然该抵免的具体金额和收入及家里的受抚养人数相关，但其金额大致还是纳税人工作收入乘以某个百分比。如果该税收抵免的金额超过了纳税人所有应交税款，那么政府会反过来贴补纳税人其间的差额。其福利完全是针对家庭设计的，单身人士最多只能获得大约500美元的抵免，而一对已婚夫妇如果有三个或以上的受抚养子女，可以收到5000美元甚至更多的抵免。2010年EITC总共支出的金额达550亿美元，而儿童税收抵免则支出总共230亿美元。但在很多议员中这些项目依然很不受欢迎。
（此文为节选，语言稍难，但该话题是非常新颖的题材，可以仔细研读）
外刊时文---The power of faith信心的力量
The Power of Faith信心的力量
(equity n.公正，公平；adj.股票的 / rally v.召集；n.反败为胜，上升 )
IF a couple of trading days could sum up the mood of financial markets this year, it has to be August 2nd and 3rd. It has been aswitchback year all the way through. The volatility also illustrated how dependent financial markets are on the actions of central banks.Fiscal policy is generally being tightened in the developed world, whether voluntarily (as in Britain) or under pressure from creditors (as in southern Europe). But there is still scope for monetary easing in the form of bond-buying programs, financed with newly created money. So investors wait agog for every central-bank announcement, every publication of the latest meeting minutes, every speech by a board member.
如果可以用两个交易日来总结今年金融市场的情绪，那就得用：8月2日与8月3日。总的来说，今年的股票市场是反反复复的一年。这种易变性正表明了金融市场是如何依赖央行的一举一动。不管是出于自愿（比如英国）还是迫于债权人的压力（比如南欧），发达国家的
财政政策现在通常是紧缩的。但还是有余地以增印钞票购买债券的形式放松货币政策。所以，投资者们翘首期盼着央行的每一条声明，最新公开的每一条会议记录，和董事会的每一场演讲。
Although the markets have often been disappointed by European rescue plans, hope springs eternal that the ECB and the politicians willcome up with some kind of package that will prevent a break-up of the single currency and stop the continent’s slide into deep recession. When hopes of such a deal rise, investors can be indiscriminate about which assets they buy. In July, European shares, ten-year German Bunds and gold all rose by more than 2.5%.
尽管市场常常对欧洲救援计划失望至极，但市场仍然有一颗永怀希望之心，它相信欧洲央行和政治家们一定会想出一个一揽子计划：防止单一货币的崩裂，而且避免欧洲大陆坠入衰退的深渊。当出现这样协议的希望增大时，投资者会不加区别地买入任一资产。七月，欧元股票、德国十年期国债、黄金这三者价格涨幅均超过2.5%。（hope springs eternal that…是难点：hope是主语，springs是谓语，此处理解为保持，that引导同位语从句解释hope）
The latest rally occurred despite some dismal European economic data and a steady downgrade of profit forecasts. The latest batch of bad news included a 0.7% fall in Italian GDP during the second quarter, and very weak manufacturing surveys in France and Germany. The Bank of England is now not expecting the British economy to grow at all this year.
股市的最新表现还是上扬，但是欧洲经济数据不容乐观、预期利润稳固下滑。最新一批坏消息包括：意大利国内生产总值（GDP）第二季度环比下跌0.7%，而且调查数据显示，法、德两国制造业非常虚弱。英格兰银行更是压根不看好英国今年的经济会出现增长。
As ever, analysts are optimistic that this slowdown will be temporary. The annual profits-growth rate of S&P 500 companies is expected to be back in double digits by the fourth quarter. Globally, profits growth of 13.5% is predicted for the following year after 7.5% this year.
与往常一样，分析师们仍然乐观地相信这种衰退只是暂时的。他们预期，标普500指数上的公司利润的年度增长率将在第四季度回归至两位数。虽然今年的全球利润增长率只有7.5%，人们预计下一年的利润增长率将增至13.5%。
Where could a boost to growth come from? Earlier this year, lower energy prices seemed to offer some prospect of relief: a fall in the petrol price is the equivalent of a tax cut for Western consumers. But Brent crude has rebounded very sharply in recent weeks, from $90 to almost $110 a barrel, in part because of fears that the Syrian conflict will spread across the Middle East.
促进经济增长的刺激点从哪儿而来呢？今年较早些时候，石油价格下降，似乎让人们可以喘口气，做个好梦：石油价格的下跌等同于西方消费者购物税的减少。但是布伦特原油价格近几周迅猛反弹，从90美元/桶增至几乎110美元/桶。其中的部分原因要归咎于人们担心叙利亚冲突会扩散到整个中东而引起的恐慌。
But the main argument for owning equities is the unappealing nature of the alternatives. The return on cash is close to zero in most of the developed world. In terms of developed-country government bonds, investors have the choice of yields below 2% in America, Britain, Germany and Japan, or a plunge into the riskier markets of southern Europe. Contrast that with the 3.7% dividend yield on London’s shares, or with the 3.4% yield available on German shares, and the temptation to switch some money into equities is understandable. Any good news is likely to prompt a rally. Investors just have to hope that central banks really can rescue their economies with the tools they have available. 但是，持有股票的主要争论点在于其替代品毫无吸引力。在发达国家，现金形式的盈利近乎于零。就发达国家的国家债券而言，投资者可以选择美、英、德、日的证券，收益率不足2%，或者一脚踏入更危险的南欧市场。相比之下，伦敦股票生息率为3.7%，德国股票的则为3.4%，所以，人们把钱投资到股票上也是情有可原的。任何一个利好消息都有可能引发股票的回升。投资者只能希望，央行真的能竭其所能，挽救经济。
外刊时文---Middle Managers’ Roles中层管理者
Middle Managers’ Roles中层管理者的作用
In “undercover boss”, a British television program, company chiefs disguise themselves and work on the shop flooThe climax comes when the boss reveals his true identity to his co-workers. Much to his surprise, the shop-floor grunts 英国有一档电视节目叫“卧底老板”，公司老板乔装打扮后，下到自己公司一线与员工一起工作。当老板向身份时，节目达到了高潮。让老板感到吃惊的是，这些基层员工常常不知道自己的老板是谁。
The cult of the chief executive has reached absurd proportions. Business magazines splash their smug faces on gloscredit for achievements to which thousands of others have contributed. Yet a recent study by Antoinette Schoar, an econat the top accounted for just 5% of a Fortune 500 firm’s performance.
对于首席执行官的狂热已经达到了一种荒谬的地步，商业期刊的封面上尽是他们的大幅照片，个个自命不凡全部记在他们的头上。但最近麻省理工学院经济学家安托瓦内特?斯考尔进行的一项研究发现，在财富500强公献仅有5%。(credit是熟词僻义，荣誉)
Some bosses believe their own hype: a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, our sister company, found that mwords and actions were the key to motivating employees. Yet when the same survey asked workers what they thought, m
relationship with their line manager that counted. As Marcus Buckingham, a management writer, once quipped, “Peoplemanagers.”
有些老板非常相信自己的号召力，经济学人智库“我们的姊妹公司”进行的一项调查发现，许多老板对自己但该调查也征询了员工的看法，很多员工表示，他们与现场主管的关系更为重要。这正应了管理学作家马库斯?进来时看公司，出去时看领导。
Yet middle managers could hardly be less fashionable. Companies sack them by the truckload. Sitcoms such as “Tgeneral managers who know “a little about lots” are completely over, claims Lynda Gratton of London Business School Knowledge workers often receive feedback from peers working on the same project, she observes. Technology helps thelittle need for supervision by a middle manager.
然而，中层管理者可能是最不风光的职位。公司大批大批地对他们进行解雇。情景剧《办公室》就是这些达?布兰顿在他的新书《大转移》中断言，总经理事无巨细管理公司的日子早已过去。她观察到，知识工人常从得反馈。他们可以借助技术手段来监控彼此的产出情况，不再需要中层管理者的监督。
Many firms have become nimbler by removing unnecessary bureaucracy. Unilever, a consumer-goods firm, used tmanagement; now it has, by some counts, only six. But cutting out too much of the middle can start to look like corporat 很多公司通过清除不必要的繁文缛节而变得更加灵活。消费品公司联合利华过去管理上有36个层级，有人掉这么多的中间管理层对公司来说，也许无异于切腹自杀。（注意Unilever的翻译）
Ethan Mollick, of Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania, argues that firms should nurture managers with the iday-to-day operations against the need to implement the board’s strategy. Middle managers also act as a crucial filter. thousands of employees. The CEO cannot possibly listen to them all.
宾夕法尼亚沃顿商学院的伊桑?莫立克认为，公司应该用创新精神培养管理者，使他们既能搞好日常管理工管理人员就像一个过滤器，作用十分重要。一家大公司可能有数万员工，公司的CEO不可能听到他们每个人的对，表示两者对应，balance the needs of…..against the need of …….：既能满足….的需求，又能满足…..的要求）
注意本文中心与作者态度的对比：中层管理者的作用的下降及作者支持中层管理者的态度
外刊时文---The Mass Political Party on its Way Out? 群众性政党是否大势已去？
The Mass Political Party on its Way Out? 群众性政党是否大势已去？
BELONGING to a political party has never been cheaper. For example, It costs just