经济类文章精选:Anything to declare?

时间:2006-09-13 02:28:46

(单词翻译:单击)

9 Anything to declare?

  Customs officers' powers are excessive, but so is smuggling1

  RICHARD EVANS, a retired2 lorry driver, and his family were travelling in Spain last summer when their camper van broke down. They left it to be brought back by the AA. But customs officers at Dover claimed it was being used for smuggling. They seized the vehicle and all its contents, including 9,000 cigarettes and 20 bottles of spirits. The van, worth £20,000 ($30,800), is still impounded. It even took Mr. Evans six months to recover his 90-year-old mother-in-law's wheelchair.

  Under European Union regulations, people may import an unlimited3 quantity of alcohol and tobacco, so long as it is for their own personal use. Had Mr. Evans been driving his van himself, he would probably have had no trouble. Cases like this are putting Customs and Excise4's considerable powers under scrutiny5. A recent stinging High Court judgment6 about another vehicle seizure7 said, "the mindset of those determining these policies has not embraced the world of an internal market where excise goods can move freely across internal frontiers." And, on September 18th, the EU announced that it was giving Britain two months to prove that customs officers were not breaching8 consumers' rights to shop freely in Europe. "Cross-border shopping...is a fundamental right under EU law and should not be regarded as a form of tax evasion10," said Frits Bolkestein, the internal market commissioner11.

  Customs officers have an impossible job. Excise duty and VAT12 on a pack of premium13 brand cigarettes account for 79% of the recommended retail14 selling price of £4.51. An identical pack costs £1.97 in Belgium. One in every five cigarettes smoked in Britain--some 17 billion altogether--has been smuggled15. The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association reckons that 80% of hand-rolling tobacco is smuggled.

  The main weapon Customs and Excise has in tackling abuse is to seize cars in which it suspects goods are being smuggled. Guidelines suggest "personal use" can mean only up to 800 cigarettes, for example. Anyone bringing in more can be asked to explain. In the past three years, customs officers have impounded more than 22,000 vehicles. Tellingly, only a fifth of seizures16 are contested, and fewer than 1% of appeals are successful. Officials say the value of cross-channel smuggling has fallen sharply in the past year, from £1.6 billion to £400m.

  Some customs officers, though, have clearly been over-zealous. And the recent High Court case ruled that the legislation under which Customs and Excise operates wrongly reverses the burden of proof. The defendant17 must prove that he is not bringing in tobacco and so forth18 for a commercial purpose. It also said that customs officers must have "reasonable grounds" for searches: suspicion and instinct are not enough. The government is appealing.

  The minister in charge of Customs and Excise, John Healey, accepts that there is an urgent need to respond to questions about the "legitimacy19" of the Customs regime. But he says the charge that Customs are abusing their powers is wrong: "Customs," he says, "never stop at random20, they never do blanket searches. They always have some ground for stopping people." Tell that to Mr Evans.

  Economist21; 9/21/2002, Vol. 364 Issue 8291, p52-53, 2p

  注(1):本文选自Economist; 9/21/2002, p52-53, 2p;

  注(2):本文习题命题模仿对象2004年真题Text 3;

  1.How could Richard Evans have avoided such a trouble?

  [A]If the camper van didn’t break down on the way.

  [B]If the amount of alcohol and tobacco were not too large.

  [C]If he carried cigarettes and spirits for personal use.

  [D]If he hadn’t asked others to drive the car.

  2.How does the EU feel about the behavior of Customs and Excise?

  [A]Critical.

  [B]Optimistic.

  [C]Indifferent.

  [D]Supportive.

  3.How can Customs and Excise check the smuggling effectively?

  [A]By doing blanket searches.

  [B]By seizing the suspect cars.

  [C]By limiting shopping in Europe.

  [D]By stopping at random.

  4.What is the charge against Customs and Excise?

  [A]They are abusing their power.

  [B]They deprive Europeans of their right to a free shop.

  [C]They seize the car for no good reason.

  [D]Their power is too excessive.

  5.By “Tell that to Mr Evans.”(Last Line, Paragraph 6), the author means _____________.

  [A]Evans should learn a lesson from his experience

  [B]what John Healey has said is good for Evans

  [C]he does not believe what John Healey has said

  [D]Evans should understand what he has experienced

  答案:DABAC

  篇章剖析

  本文采用提出问题——分析问题的模式,非常客观地分析了海关工作确实是一件非常棘手,但也确实非常必要的工作,但在工作中有些官员表现得过于“热情”,有滥用职权的嫌疑,所以招致了一些公民的指控。第一段以理查德·埃文斯的经历为例,指出他在海关遇到的麻烦;第二段指出海关和货物税收部门的强大权力受到了密切关注;第三段指出走私现象非常严重;第四段指出关税及国产税务部门在对付走私时使用的武器主要是没收有走私嫌疑的车辆;第五段指出最高法庭诉讼案的新规定;第六段指出海关官员的反应。

  词汇注释

  AA=Automodile Association of Great Britain汽车协会

  impound [Im5paJnd]vt.关在栏中, 拘留, 扣押, 没收

  scrutiny [5skru:tInI; (?@) 5skru:tEnI]n.详细审查

  seizure [5si:VE(r)]n.抓, 捉, 没收, 查封, 夺取

  breach9 [bri:tF]vt.打破, 突破

  evasion [I5veIV(E)n]n.逃避, 借口

  VAT=Value-Added Tax 增值税, 附加价值税;

  premium [5pri:mIEm] adj 质优价高的;质量或价值极高的:

  reverse [rI5v\:s] vt颠倒,倒转;撤消或废除(法令等)

  burden of proof n.提供证据之责任

  defendant [dI5fend(E)nt]n.被告

  legitimacy [lI`dVItImEsI]n.合法(性), 正统(性), 正确(性), 合理(性)

  at random adv.胡乱地, 随便地

  难句突破

  A recent stinging High Court judgment about another vehicle seizure said, "the mindset of those determining these policies has not embraced the world of an internal market where excise goods can move freely across internal frontiers."

  主体句式:a judgment said …

  结构分析:本句是一个简单句,关键是理解其中一些词汇的含义。“stinging”在此句的含义是“棘手的”;在引用的话中,“mindset”的意思是“思想倾向”,“determining these policies”之前省去了“who are”,这就变成了现在分词做后置定语来修饰“those”;“embrace”的意思是“接受”;“where”引导定语从句来修饰“internal market”。

  句子译文:高级法院最近审理另一起棘手的机动车扣留案件时说明:“决定这些政策的那些人,在思想意识里并没有接受欧盟境内市场。在这个市场里,征税货物在各成员国之间是可以自由流通的。”

  题目分析

  1.答案为D,属推理判断题。原文对应信息是:“Had Mr. Evans been driving his van himself, he would probably have had no trouble.”本句是虚拟语气 。表示与过去事实相反,从句用过去完成时,主句用“would have done”。但有时会把“if”省略,把“had”提前,本句就属于这种现象。

  2.答案为A,属情感态度题。句子“A recent stinging High Court judgment about another vehicle seizure said, "the mindset of those determining these policies has not embraced the world of an internal market where excise goods can move freely across internal frontiers."”中显然包含了批评的含义;接下来的句子也是顺承这一含义的:“And, on September 18th, the EU announced that it was giving Britain two months to prove that customs officers were not breaching consumers' rights to shop freely in Europe.”,我们可看出欧盟也是不赞成海关的一些做法的;从欧盟内部市场委员Frits Bolkestein的话:“Cross-border shopping...is a fundamental right under EU law and should not be regarded as a form of tax evasion”,我们更加看出欧盟对待海关的一些做法的态度究竟如何。

  3.答案为B ,属事实细节题。原文对应信息是“The main weapon Customs and Excise has in tackling abuse is to seize cars in which it suspects goods are being smuggled.”。从给出的数据“In the past three years, customs officers have impounded more than 22,000 vehicles. Tellingly, only a fifth of seizures are contested, and fewer than 1% of appeals are successful.”,我们可看出这一手段确实非常有效。

  4.答案为A,属事实细节题。原文对应信息是:“But he says the charge that Customs are abusing their powers is wrong.”。

  5.答案为C,属推理判断题。从文章来看,作者非常客观地分析了海关工作确实是一件非常棘手,但也确实非常必要的工作,但在工作中有些官员表现得过于“热情”,有滥用职权的嫌疑,所以招致了一些公民的指控。虽然关税及国产税务部部长为之也做了辩解,但是并不使人信服,所以在文章最后,作者说了一句:“Tell that to Mr Evans.”。

  参考译文

  有东西要报关吗?

  海关官员权利过大,走私行为过甚

  理查德·埃文斯是一位退休的货车司机。去年夏天,他和家人在西班牙旅行的时候,他们开的露营车出了故障。他们把车留给汽车协会,由他们负责拖回去。但是多佛港口的海关官员却声称此车被用来走私。他们没收了这辆汽车以及车上的所有物品,其中包括9,000支香烟和20瓶烈性酒。直到现在,这辆价值20,000英镑(相当于30,800美元)的露营车仍然被扣押着。埃文斯先生甚至还花费了六个月的时间才得以取回他那年高九旬的岳母的轮椅。

  欧盟法规规定,只要是个人使用,对带入境的酒和烟的数量并不限制。假如埃文斯是自己开车的话,那么他很可能就不会有任何麻烦。类似这样的案例使海关和货物税收部门的强大权力受到了密切关注。高级法院最近审理另一起棘手的机动车扣留案件时说明:“决定这些政策的那些人,在思想意识里并没有接受欧盟境内市场。在这个市场里,征税货物在各成员国之间是可以自由流通的。”9月18日,欧盟宣布:给英国两个月的时间来证明其海关官员没有侵犯消费者可以在欧洲自由购物的权利。内部市场委员Frits Bolkestein说:“根据欧盟法律,跨境购物是公民的基本权利,不应该被视为逃税行为。”

  海关官员的工作相当棘手。一包高级香烟所征收的货物税和增值税是其建议零售价4.51英镑的79%。而同样一包烟在比利时售价1.97英镑。在英国,人们吸的每五支烟中就有一支——总共约170亿——是走私过来的。烟草制造商协会估计有80%的手卷烟是走私来的。

  关税及国产税务部门在对付这一弊端时使用的武器主要是没收有走私嫌疑的车辆。条例规定的“个人使用”,打个比方,只限800支香烟。携带超出此数量者,将被要求做出解释。在过去三年里,海关扣留的车辆超过22,000辆。这样做有明显的效果,这些扣押案例中只有五分之一的案例是有争议的,上诉案件的胜诉率还不足1%。海关官员宣称去年跨境走私物品的价值从16亿大幅度下跌到4亿英镑。

  然而,有些海关官员明显表现得过于积极。最近的最高法庭诉讼案规定,海关方面执行有误的那项法规把双方提供证据的责任进行了交换。被告必须证明自己没有出于商业目的而携带烟草等物品。还规定海关官员必须有进行收查的“合理依据”:光靠怀疑和直觉是不够的。政府部门也在做此呼吁。

  关税及国产税务部部长约翰·希利表示,确实迫切需要对海关系统合法性问题做出反应。但他认为,有关海关滥用职权的指控是错误的。“海关,”他说,“从来不随意截停,也从不做地毯式搜查。他们拦住某些人都是有理由的。”把这话说给埃文斯先生吧。

 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 smuggling xx8wQ     
n.走私
参考例句:
  • Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
  • The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。
2 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
3 unlimited MKbzB     
adj.无限的,不受控制的,无条件的
参考例句:
  • They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
  • There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。
4 excise an4xU     
n.(国产)货物税;vt.切除,删去
参考例句:
  • I'll excise the patient's burnt areas.我去切除病人烧坏的部分。
  • Jordan's free trade zone free of import duty,excise tax and all other taxes.约旦的自由贸易区免收进口税、国内货物税及其它一切税收。
5 scrutiny ZDgz6     
n.详细检查,仔细观察
参考例句:
  • His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好,但是经不起仔细检查。
  • Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。
6 judgment e3xxC     
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见
参考例句:
  • The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
  • He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
7 seizure FsSyO     
n.没收;占有;抵押
参考例句:
  • The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
  • The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。
8 breaching 14143775ae503c20f50fd5cc052dd131     
攻破( breach的过去式 ); 破坏,违反
参考例句:
  • The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。
  • Third, an agency can abuse its discretion by breaching certain principles of judge-made law. 第三,行政机关会因违反某些法官制定的法律原则而构成滥用自由裁量权。
9 breach 2sgzw     
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破
参考例句:
  • We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
  • He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。
10 evasion 9nbxb     
n.逃避,偷漏(税)
参考例句:
  • The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
  • The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。
11 commissioner gq3zX     
n.(政府厅、局、处等部门)专员,长官,委员
参考例句:
  • The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
  • He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。
12 vat sKszW     
n.(=value added tax)增值税,大桶
参考例句:
  • The office is asking for the vat papers.办事处要有关增值税的文件。
  • His father emptied sacks of stale rye bread into the vat.他父亲把一袋袋发霉的黑面包倒进大桶里。
13 premium EPSxX     
n.加付款;赠品;adj.高级的;售价高的
参考例句:
  • You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
  • Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后,清水便因稀而贵了。
14 retail VWoxC     
v./n.零售;adv.以零售价格
参考例句:
  • In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
  • These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。
15 smuggled 3cb7c6ce5d6ead3b1e56eeccdabf595b     
水货
参考例句:
  • The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网
16 seizures d68658a6ccfd246a0e750fdc12689d94     
n.起获( seizure的名词复数 );没收;充公;起获的赃物
参考例句:
  • Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year. 今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Other causes of unconsciousness predisposing to aspiration lung abscess are convulsive seizures. 造成吸入性肺脓肿昏迷的其他原因,有惊厥发作。 来自辞典例句
17 defendant mYdzW     
n.被告;adj.处于被告地位的
参考例句:
  • The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
  • The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。
18 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
19 legitimacy q9tzJ     
n.合法,正当
参考例句:
  • The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
  • Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。
20 random HT9xd     
adj.随机的;任意的;n.偶然的(或随便的)行动
参考例句:
  • The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
  • On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查,发现肉变质了。
21 economist AuhzVs     
n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人
参考例句:
  • He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
  • He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家,自以为什么都懂。

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