外刊阅读～英国财政部考虑为小微企业贷款提供100%担保

2020-04-30 21:38 作者:译思译思 0人读过 | 我要投稿

英文原文783个单词，阅读时间约3分钟；全文共个3160字，阅读时间约10分钟。

今天和大家分享的外刊依旧是BBC商业板块的一篇文章，名为《英国财政部考虑为小微企业贷款提供100%担保》。我会从文章中挑选一些我个人觉得可能对部分同学理解有难度的语言点作一些解析，不是完全讲解哈。希望今天的分享对大家有帮助，也希望大家能通过学习商业方面的外文提升自己的实用英语能力。

Treasury considers 100% guarantee on 'micro-firm' loans

标题Treasury指的是“财政部”，这篇文章中特指英国的财政部，动词consider这里用的consider+n的形式，consider也可以+ing的形式，这个标题也可以改成

Treasury considers offering 100% guarantee on 'micro-firm' loans

但是英文标题讲究简洁表达，如果能少一个词，但是表达的也是同一个意思，那么用词节省一点又何乐而不为？

The Treasury is considering offering 100% guarantees on loans up to £25,000 for the UK's tiniest firms.

See? 这里就出现了consider+ing的形式，也证明了名词和动名词在很多时候是可以转换通用的。

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in March that UK-based small and medium-sized business could apply for interest-free loans to help them with Covid-19 related difficulties.

However, companies say they are still finding it difficult to get credit.

credit这里和上文的loan是同一个意思，英文里常用近义词等多种表达避免重复。

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has questioned whether the system is "too complicated".

News of the Treasury's possible change of heart was first reported by the Financial Times.

According to BBC business editor Simon Jack, eligibility for loans has not yet been decided - namely, how small does a business have to be to qualify for a loan for which the lender gets a 100% guarantee.Our business editor says an announcement is expected next week, if not earlier.

eligibility可能对于很多初阶或中阶英语学习者来说属于生僻词，这里其实不用查字典也可以推断出这个词的意思。因为破折号后对这个词进行了解释，eligibility for loans的意思也就是指to qualify for a loan（获得贷款的资格或资质）。
如果你实在想通过字典验证一下这个单词的意思，这里推荐给大家一个非常好用的词典网站Freedic，可以免费查找金融、法律、医学等各个领域的词和短语，而且用法非常全面。 Freedic中对eligibility的释义如下：

The quality or state of being eligible

由此，我们可以看出解决eligibility的词义必须解决其形容词形式eligible的词义。Freedic对它的释义为qualified or entitled，我们可以将其译为“合格的，有资质的”，那么名词形式 eligibility的意思即“合格，有资质”。

As many as one million of the UK's smallest businesses, employing no more than 10 workers, could benefit from the new rules, analysts say.

These include shops and pubs, which have been forced to close under coronavirus lockdown measures.

这两段提到了英国百万小微企业中哪些贷款对象才能受益于（benefit from+n结构，非常有用的表达，敲黑板咯）新规呢？答案是员工人数不超过10人。

Debt fears

Loans to larger businesses under the coronavirus business interruption loans scheme (CBILS) will continue to get 80% backing.

这里介词under的用法也值得大家记下来哦。它作名词larger businesses的后置定语，说明是贷款针对的是什么样的大中型企业（注意原文用的是比较级larger，是相较于上文提到的micro/small/tiny businesses小微企业，而不是特指larger businesses，是指比小微企业更大的企业。），因此整个主语部分可以处理为“冠狀病毒商业中断贷款计划针对大中型企业的贷款”，get 80% backing这个表达可能又难住一部分童鞋了，别着急，大家还记得上文反复出现的100% guarantee吗？没错backing这里也属于guarantee的同意表达。因此，这里整句话可以翻译为“
冠狀病毒商业中断贷款计划针对大中型企业的贷款将继续获得（英国政府）80%的担保。”

The CBILS provide loans of up to £5m for companies with a turnover of less than £45m.

这一句点出了冠狀病毒商业中断贷款计划具体针对什么样的大中型企业贷款：

companies with a turnover of less than £45m

这里用介词with+名词短语的结构作companies的后置定语，说明贷款公司的性质，即营业额不少于4500万英镑的公司。单词turnover是商业领域的一个专业名词，表示“营业额”。
至此，贷款已经出现了两条标准。给小微企业的贷款要求企业雇佣人数不超过10人；给大中型企业企业的贷款要求企业营业额不少于4500万英镑。

However, many firms have complained that loans are coming through too slowly and that some banks have imposed tough criteria on granting credit.

别以为企业就可以顺顺当当拿到贷款哦！

loans are coming through too slowly

come through是一个非及物动词表达，它没有被动语态，在这里表示
“make it or pass”，也就是说“成功拿到贷款是非常缓慢的一个过程”。
这里就提到了银行贷款的标准，短语impose ... on表示“制定.../实施...”,一般隐含政府强制的意味。解决了这个表达难点后，这一句话就可以顺利翻译为“但是很多公司抱怨贷款成功拿到贷款是非常缓慢的一个过程，有些银行还对企业获得贷款制定了诸多严苛的标准。

Alison Rose, chief executive of Natwest Group (formerly known as RBS), said it had so far processed 7,000 loans and that "help was getting through".

大家注意到没，头衔的前面一般都没有加定冠词the，比如

Alison Rose, chief executive of Natwest Group

大家也可以注意一下其它地方表示头衔的表达是不是这样。
此外，这一句中的get through的用法和上面提到的come through的用法很接近，也是非及物动词短语，没有被动语态，表示”起作用/成功“。因此整句话可以处理为”国民威斯敏斯特银行首席执行官艾莉森·罗斯称，迄今该银行已经处理/办理了7000份贷款，这些贷款也开始起作用了。

“She said the stumbling block for many firms was "taking on additional debt when the future is very uncertain".

这里提到了未来非常不确定之时许多公司面临的绊脚石the stumbling block，这里应用了隐喻（metaphor）的修辞手法，在处理时可以保留隐喻的外壳形式，将其翻译为”绊脚石“，也可以直接翻译出difficulty（困难）的意思。那么绊脚石是什么呢？
"Some businesses can't take on additional debt. It's important not to load debt on to a firm which isn't able to pay that back," she told the BBC's Today programme.
take on这个短语指的是”successfully get“（成功获得）的意思，因此上一句话可以翻译为”她说，当未来非常不确定，许多公司面临的绊脚石/难题是再次成功获得贷款“。当然，我们可以按照中文这种语言特有的表达习惯，将其处理为隐含逻辑关系的多个小句，使其不太生硬，表达更为灵动，如

她说，未来非常的不确定，许多公司面临着再次贷款难的问题。

贷款除了用上文已经出现的动词loan，还可以用什么？以上第二段给出了答案，load debt on to a firm。这里也出现了loan作名词时的另一个同义名词debt，因此loan/credit/debt都可以表示“贷款”。

However, Anne Boden, chief executive of digital challenger Starling Bank, told the programme that the scheme's underlying technology was delaying approval of loans.

"It's based on a very old-fashioned scheme that requires lots of admin and lots of process and it's still being implemented and it's not working very well in all cases," she said.

这一段就写到了为什么贷款难的原因：贷款计划采用的技术故意拖延批准贷款，如贷款牵涉的管理员和程序众多等。

Laura Hurlocker, who runs a power generation company with her husband, has been turned down for a bank loan to keep the business going amid the virus.

be turned down"be refused"(被拒绝)的同意表达。

Ms Hurlocker's Luton-based firm, Fourth Generation, supplies power generation equipment to live events, powering concerts hosted by Coldplay, Beyonce and Robbie Williams.She applied for a CBIL loan from her bank Barclays, with whom she has been a customer for 16 years.

with whom这里用到了介词+关系代词作定语从句的表达，这个定语从句另起一句也就是可以理解为

she has been a customer with Barclays for 16 years.

注意，表示”……的员工/客户“，更地道的用法使用介词with而非of。
She applied for a CBIL loan from her bank Barclays, with whom she has been a customer for 16 years.

But her bank turned her down, partly because the business had other loans.

The business has some debts because she and her husband have invested £350,000 in equipment for the firm in the last three years.

此处用发电设备供应商Hurlocker的例子举例说明再次贷款难，”公司已经欠下了一些贷款，因为过去三年她和她的丈夫投资35万英镑买了设备。“

"We feel we are being penalised," she told the BBC. "To be told because you have an existing loan, you are deemed by us to be unaffordable. It was a kick in the teeth."

penalise较常用的意思是”punish“（惩罚），但是这里是旧词新意，指的是”to cause someone a disadvantage“(使处于不利地位)，因此这里用了被动语态。
deemed这里也是用的被动语态，它的意思和thought同意，表示”被认为“，其后的by us并没有实际的含义，这里是说”被告知因为你已经贷过款了，因此而认定你无法偿付贷款。“
接下来有一个不得不墙裂推荐的地道表达，形容以上经历带给Hurlocker的感受。

It was a kick in the teeth.

俚语a kick in the teeth指的是”person treats you badly and unfairly,
especially at a time when you need their support.”（使人深受打击）

Natwest's chief executive says that extending the guarantee to 100% on loans of up to £25,000 "would not make much difference" to the number of loans the UK's biggest lender to business would advance. She said the main challenge facing firms of all sizes was whether they wanted to take on additional debt at a time of great uncertainty.

这里第一句出现了较为复杂的定语从句，可以转换为两个拥有共同部分the number of loans的简单句，即

Natwest's chief executive says that extending the guarantee to 100% on loans of up to £25,000 "would not make much

difference" to the number of loans

什么样的贷款数目呢？省略关系代词的定语从句给了解释：

(the number of loans) the UK's biggest lender to business

would advance the number of loans

这样理解起来是不是就简单多了，“国民威斯敏斯特银行首席执行官称，将数额达到2.5万英镑的贷款担保额度提高至100%并不会使这家英国最大的贷款机构提高对企业的贷款数额。”
see？这里短语make a difference to并没有被生硬地处理为“对……产生影响”，而是灵活地处理为"使……"

While it is true that the guarantee is to the lender, not the borrower, many businesses have complained that banks have put them through an onerous loan approval process and have looked for ways to say no, given they could still lose 20% of sums advanced. However, privately, banks have told the BBC that a 100% guarantee would speed up the lending process.

It's not yet clear how the Treasury will define what it calls "micro-businesses" - whether it's judged on turnover or number of employees - but an announcement on that is expected early next week. So far, the government's loan guarantee scheme has seen a total of £2.8bn approved - a small fraction of the total £330bn available.

onerous意为"troublesome"(繁琐的，麻烦的)
这一段提到了银行繁琐的批贷程序，就算只提供80%的贷款担保，银行还是会另寻他法拒绝贷款。

Although the pace of approval is picking up, business groups including the CBI have expressed frustration at the amount of financial help getting through and have called on the government to extend the 100% guarantee to businesses with a turnover of up to £45m.

“加速”除了说the pace is speeding up还可以用pick up的表达。

The Treasury insists that the whole package of support should be seen in the round - including direct grants, a £30bn three-month VAT deferral, a business rates postponement and a furlough scheme that will see the government pay 80% of employees' wages, up to a cap of £2,500.