2013英语二text   4

Europe is not a gender-equality heaven. In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family-friendly until women are part of senior management decisions, and Europe’s top corporate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male. Indeed, women hold only 14 percent of positions on Europe corporate boards.

欧洲并不是男女平等的天堂。企业的(corporate)职场(workplace)尤其如此，如果女性不参与高层(senior management)决策，企业职场将永远不会彻底地为家庭着想，但是绝大多数的欧洲顶级企业管理(corporate-governance)职位仍然是被男性所占据。实际上，在欧企董事会中，女性董事所占比例仅为14％。

The Europe Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women — up to 60 percent. This proposed mandate was born of frustration. Last year, Europe Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goal of 40 percent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up.

现在，欧盟正在考虑建立法律(legislation)来强制企业董事会维持一定的女性比例(proportion)，这一比例会高达60％。提议(propose)这样的法令(mandate)实则是出于(be born of)沮丧(frustration)之举。去年，欧委会副主席维维亚娜·雷丁发布(issue)了一项自愿(voluntary)采取行动的号召。雷丁邀请各家企业报名参加(sign up for)性别平衡目标 —— 董事会女性成员(membership) 比例达到40％。但是，她的呼吁(appeal)被认为是失败之举：仅有24家公司接受(take up)了她的号召。

Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate ladder fairly as they balance work and family?

在女性平衡工作和家庭的同时，我们还需要采用定额(quota)的方式来确保她们持续地、公平地攀爬职场的阶梯么？

“Personally, I don’t like quotas,” Reding said recently. “But I like what the quotas do.” Quotas get action: they “open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling,” according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.

最近，雷丁说到：“就个人而言(personally)，我不喜欢定额。但是，我喜欢定额达能办到的事情。”定额让人们采取行动，按照雷丁的说法，它们“开辟了平等之路，突破(break through)了玻璃天花板(玻璃天花板是指企业里下层员工的天花板和上层员工的地板，象征企业里限制女性、少数民族等体群难以晋升到高级职位的障碍)”。法国和其他的一些国家制定了具有法律约束力(binding)条款(provision)让女性进入企业高级职位，这些国家已经看到了上面提到的结果。

I understand Reding’s reluctance — and her frustration. I don’t like quotas either; they run counter to my belief in meritocracy, government by the capable. But, when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal, it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered.

我理解雷丁的勉强(reluctance)和她的沮丧。我也不喜欢各种定额，它们其与我精英管理(meritocracy)(能者管理)的理念背道而驰(run counter to)。但是，在人们考虑到实现完美的(ideal)精英管理的制度会遇到诸多障碍(obstacles)时，就必须暂时通过法令来获得一个更加公平的世界，确实看起来是这样的。

After all, four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as well as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top position — no matter how much “soft pressure” is put upon them. When women do break through to the summit of corporate power — as, for example, Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook — they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule.

毕竟，四年的证据已经表明，欧洲和美国的企业一直在避开(evade) 将女性招聘为精英或晋升(promotion)到高层。---不管受到多大“软压力”。当女人做突破的企业权力的高峰，例如，雪莉·桑德伯格最近也在脸谱网做的事---他们吸引了大量的关注正是因为他们是该规则的例外。

If appropriate pubic policies were in place to help all women---whether CEOs or their children’s caregivers--and all families, Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person living in a more just society.

如果有合适的(appropriate)的公共政策可以来帮助所有的女性---不管是首席执行官们，还是她们孩子的看护人[caregiver]们，或者是所有的家庭，Sandberg就没有报道的价值了，那些有能力的人能生活在更加公平的社会。