2016考研英语阅读题源经济学人文章：提升公务员工作动力

2016 考研英语阅读题源经济学人文章： 提升公务员工作动力 感谢凯程考研李老师对本文做出的重要贡献 考研，对一个人来说，这个过程就是一个锻炼。准备考研这个过程是非常艰难和乏味的。 如果坚持下来，会使你变得更坚强。至于考上研，你的父母，亲戚朋友，都会对你刮目相 看的。念上研以后，对自己的动手能力，实践能力，交际能力，创新能力，等等，都有提 高。现凯程教育为考研考生们带来重要信息。 每年考研英语阅读篇章很多都取材于经济学人，因此 2016 年考研复习之初，一定要从基 础打好，稳扎稳打。下面分享经济学人文章，希望大家能够多看、多练，提升阅读能 力! 2016 考研英语阅读题源经济学人文章：提升公务员工作动力 Reforming Leviathan 处于改革浪潮中的庞大机构 Mandarin lessons 政府官员的经验之谈 Governments need to rethink how they reward andmotivate civil servants 政府需要重新思考如何去奖励和提升公务员的工作动力。 THE French call them hauts fonctionnaires, theGermans Beamte im h?heren Dienst and the British, somewhat more economically, know themas “mandarins”. The senior echelons of civil services are a powerful arm of the state. Theyimplement the reforms dreamed up by politicians, and design public services ranging fromwelfare systems to prisons. Compared with private-sector bosses, the bureaucrats who managethe public sector tend to be less well paid but have more cushioned lives, with more securejobs and far less pressure to improve productivity. Now the mandarins face change. 法语中称呼他们为官方人员，德语叫做高级公务员，英国则各位简短称呼公务员为政 界要员。公务员的高层人员是国家的一个强大的臂膀。他们实现政客对于改革的设想，并 构思计划公共服务，涵盖面从福利制度到监狱。与私营部门的老板相比，负责管理公共部 门的官员往往不太高薪，但拥有更多的缓冲生活，更安全的工作，对于提高工作效率方面， 其承受的压力远不如私营老板。现在的政府高级官员们面临着改变。 There has long been taxpayer fury when big projects go awry. Berlins new airport is threeyears overdue and predicted to cost 6 billion (8.1 billion), three times the original estimate.But voters, and thus politicians, are especially intolerant of civil-service inefficiency nowadays.One prompt is austerity. Another is technology, which is changing not only how public servicesare deliveredthink of “massively open online courses” in educationbut also the way they canbe measured. Social networks enable users to grumble about hospital waiting-times andmathematics results. Perhaps the biggest pressure is the passing of time: private- sectorworkers are incredulous as to why civil servants should escape the creative destruction thathas changed other offices around the world. 长期以来，大项目出差错时纳税人会因而感到十分愤怒。柏林新机场建设已有三年逾 期，并且预计耗资 60 亿欧元(81 亿人民币)，三倍于原来的预算。但在现今，选民和政客尤 其无法忍受公务员服务效率低下。其中一个提示便是紧缩政策。另一个则是技术，这不仅 正在改变公共服务的提供方式思考“大规模开放式在线课程”的教育但同时也是在思 考他们可以被评估的方式。社交网络让用户有机会抱怨医院候诊室漫长的等待时间和自己 的数学成绩。或许最大的压力是时间的流逝：私营部门的工作人员对于为何公务员要逃避 已经改变了全球政府各部的创造性破坏表示质疑。 The reform of the public sector is a huge project, but people are at the centre of it.Government is a service industry, and there is a basic talent problem. A few civil services Singapores is the obvious examplecompete with the private sector for the bestgraduates. But elsewhere even elite departments, such as the US Treasury and BritainsForeign Office, struggle (or lose high-flyers quickly). The mandarins and their political mastersneed to change tack. 公共部门的改革是一项庞大的工程，需要以人民为中心。政府是一个服务行业，并且 存在一个基本的人才问题。一些民事部门如新加坡的民事部门就是一个明显的例子他 们能够与私营部门竞争优秀人才。但在其他地方，即使是精英部门，如美国财政部和英国 外交部，也同样存在斗争(或很快失去极高报负者 )。政府官员和他们的政治领导者需要改 变策略。 Too many civil servants, especially in continental Europe, swirl around a bureaucraticGormenghast but rarely leave it. Nearly four-fifths of German senior public servants have beenin public administration for more than two decades. The French state under Franois Hollande isgoverned by a caste of unsackable functionaries, resistant to reform. One reason manyofficials become stuck is their generous pension deals: making pensions portable should be apriority. But career structures also must adapt. 太多的公务员，尤其是在欧洲大陆的公务员，他们漩涡在具有官僚政治的古老王国歌 门鬼城身旁，但很少会选择离开它。近五分之四的德国高级公务员已经在公共管理中工作 超过二十年。整个法国处于奥朗德状态，由固若金汤的社会团体所管辖，他们抵制改革。 其中一个原因是，很多官员被慷慨的养老金交易卡住：使得养老金可携带成为一个必须考 虑的优先事项。但是，职业结构也必须作出适当改变。 Most civil services still tend to be gerontocracies, where age and seniority are synonymous.New Zealand has dismantled the system of rigid hierarchies and pay-grades that spawned thelikes of the phlegmatic Sir Humphrey in the BBC comedy “Yes Minister”. Instead, it appointsdepartmental chief executives in its ministries, who sign contracts to meet specific targets andcan be dismissed if they fail. Singapores civil servants are frequently sent out to private-sectorjobs. Britain has appointed a senior figure from the oil business to run the agency that dealswith large-scale state projects. The idea is that private-sector experience in areas such ascontract management and negotiation can help avoid disasters like Berlins airport. 大部分公务员还是倾向于老人统治，这一词是年龄和资历的同义词。新西兰已经剔除 了坚硬的等级和付费等级制度，这两种等级产生了类似于冷漠的汉弗莱爵士在 BBC 喜剧中 的台词中“是，首相”这种制度方面的喜好。相反，它任命在其各部委部门的行政首长， 负责签订契约，以达到特定的目标，并在他们失败时可以予以取消。新加坡的公务员被频 繁地派遣到私营部门就业。英国已任命来自石油行业的资深人物来运行国家大型项目所涉 及的机构。我们的想法是，在诸如合同管理和谈判领域私营部门的经验，可以帮助避免像 柏林机场所发生的灾难。 All this appeals to right-wing politicians. But the corollary of better performance is higher pay.The British governments chief operating officer announced this week that he is leaving for alucrative commercial job. Singapore, which runs a far leaner government than America, pays itsbest people 2m a year. No Republican congressman would tolerate that, which is foolish. Thecost of higher salaries is offset by saving money on costly consultants to mop up failingprojects. 这一切都吸引了右翼政客。但更好成绩的必然结果是更高的薪水。英国政府的首席营 运官在这个星期宣布，他将要胜任一份利润丰厚的商务工作。新加坡，其运行比美国更为 精简的政府，付给其最佳胜任者 200 万美元一年的薪酬。没有共和党议员能够容忍这一点， 他们认为这是愚蠢的想法。更高的工资成本是由节约资金成本聘请高昂费用的顾问以扫荡 失败的项目而抵消的。 There is one area where less change would be useful. To plan careers, you need a long- termstrategyand democracy throws up change every election. In Britain health-care officials talkabout successive “re-disorganisations”. One reason for authoritarian Singapores success isthat its voters have miraculously always chosen the party founded by Lee Kuan Yew since hetook control in 1959. Voters elsewhere are less obliging. New Zealand has tried to counter thisby boosting the powers of a state-services commissioner, whose duties include one of lasting“stewardship”. That could be a useful model for elsewhereespecially America, where too manysenior positions are filled by political appointees (who then take months to get confirmed byCongress). Mandarinates have their faults, but somebody needs to keep Leviathan working. 在有的地方发生更少的变化是有用的。要规划职业生涯，你需要一个