为了增强同学们的英语阅读能力，可以更好的备战PTE考试，PTE在线学院小编给大家带来一篇双语新闻，请同学们认真阅读。

　　Charging workers from employment tribunals erodes their rights.

　　劳资审裁处向雇员收费会损害他们的权利。

　　Eight years after Britain emerged from recession, average real earnings are still below their peak.

　　英国从经济萧条恢复过来8年后，其平均实际收入仍低于他们最高峰时期。

　　But measly pay is not the only thing squeezing workers.

　　但是微薄的工资并不是压榨工人的唯一手段。

　　Since 2013 employees who think they have been wronged by their employer—underpaid or dismissed unfairly, for instance—have had to pay up to ￡1,200 ($1,500) to go to an employment tribunal, which was previously free.

　　自2013年，凡是认为被雇主冤枉的雇员—要么工资太低要么无解雇，比如—已不得不付总计1200英镑(1500美元)去劳资审裁处，而这以前是免费的。

　　A challenge to the legality of such fees came before the Supreme Court on March 27th.

　　3月27日，这种费用合法性的挑战在最高法院之前到来了。

　　A judgment is expected by the summer.

　　预计夏季会有一次裁判。

　　Since the decline of trade-union membership in Britain, the employment-tribunal system has been the main mechanism for enforcing individual employment rights.

　　自英国工会会员人数下降以来，劳资审裁处体系就一直是实施个人就业权的主要机制。

　　In 2012-13 there were roughly 190,000 tribunal claims, equivalent to one for every 130 or so employees.

　　2012至2013年约有19万起法庭索赔，相当于约每130个雇员中就有一个。

　　After fees were introduced the number of claims dropped by about 70%.

　　在介绍完费用后，索赔的数量降了约70%。

　　There were only around 60,000 in 2014-15.

　　在2014-2015年仅有约6万个。

　　The government has welcomed the decline as evidence that bogus claimants are being deterred.

　　政府欢迎这种下降现象，并把它作为虚假索赔人被制止了的证据。

　　“Like Japanese knotweed,” one government minister wrote in 2014, “the soaring number of tribunal cases was squeezing the life and energy from Britain's wealth creators.”

　　一位政府部长在2014年写到，“像日本虎杖，数量飞涨的法庭案件从英国财富创造者里压榨生命和精力。

　　But a paper in the Modern Law Review by Abi Adams and Jeremias Prassl of Oxford University suggests a different interpretation.

　　但是由牛津大学的Abi Adams和Jeremias Prassl编写的《现代法律评论》里一篇文章暗示了另一种解说。

　　The authors argue that the fees prevent genuine claimants from enforcing their employment rights.

　　该书的作者认为费用阻止了真正的索赔人行使他们的就业权利。

　　In many cases the expected payoff is lower than the fee for starting the tribunal—which is not necessarily refunded even if the claim is upheld.

　　在很多案例中期望的报酬比一次开庭的费用低—即使诉求被赞成，开庭费用也不会退还。

　　The authors calculate that abandoning even a claim guaranteed to succeed is the rational response for 35-50% of would-be claimants.

　　该书的作者推测，对于35-50%的潜在索赔人而言，放弃即使是一次势在必得的索赔是理性反应。

　　Worse, there is little evidence that the fees have deterred only frivolous or mendacious claims.

　　更糟的是，几乎没有证据证明费用只制止了无用的或是虚伪的诉求。

　　If that were the case one would expect the success rate of claimants to have risen.

　　如果是这样的话，人们将期望索赔人成功率上升。

　　Instead, since 2012-13 the proportion of complaints that are struck out or dismissed has roughly doubled.

　　相反，自2012-2013年，被踢出局或驳回的投诉比重约已加倍了。

　　It may be that people with small but legitimate grievances have been deterred, whereas those who feel confident enough to game the system have gone ahead.

　　可能是那些有小量但合法不满的人们被制止了，而那些足够自信去玩弄体制的人已经走在前面了。

　　Even if convinced by such arguments, the Supreme Court may not recommend the abolition of fees entirely.

　　即使被这种看法说服，最高法院可能也不会建议费用完全被废除。

　　A report last year from the Justice Committee of the House of Commons acknowledged that a contribution by users to the costs of operating courts was not objectionable in principle.

　　去年下议院司法委员会的一项报告承认使用者对运转法庭的费用的贡献原则上并不是令人反感的。

　　A recent government review made a similar argument.

　　最近一次政府评论也做了相似的看法。

　　Yet Ms Adams and Mr Prassl argue that the steepness of the fees makes them a “disproportionate restriction on litigants' right of access to the employment tribunals”.

　　但是Ms Adams 和Mr Prassl argue认为，费用的陡度使他们成了“对诉讼当事人通往就业法庭不成比例的限制”。

　　That is bad not just for litigants but for Britain's labour market generally.

　　这不仅对诉讼当事人不好，对英国的总体的劳动市场也不利。

　　重点词组：

　　1.equivalent to 相当于

　　例句:Repair rate is low, equivalent to the owners save a lot of money and time.

　　返修率低，等于给车主节省了大量的金钱和时间。

　　2.dropped by 顺便拜访

　　例句:He dropped by my office this morning.

　　今天早晨他到我办公室串门来了。

　　3.government minister 政府部长

　　例句:His shares were placed in a blind trust when he became a government minister.

　　他当上了政府部长之后就把自己的股份进行了全权信托。

　　4.pay up 付款;偿还

　　例句:He'll never pay up unless you get tough with him.

　　你如果不对他硬点，他是决不会把钱付清的。

　　5.labour market 劳动力市场

　　例句:The longer people have been unemployed, the harder it is for them to compete in the labour market.

　　失业时间越长，就越难在劳动力市场与别人竞争。

　　6.the success rate 成功率

　　例句:In order to ensure the success rate of vaccination, inoculation using alcohol lamp, better.

　　为了保证接种成功率，接种时使用酒精灯，效果更好。

　　7.access to 接近;通向...入口

　　例句:They now have access to the mass markets of Japan and the UK.

　　他们现在进入了日本和英国的大众市场。

　　8.go ahead 前进;进行

　　例句:The event will go ahead as planned in Sheffield next summer.

　　这项活动将按计划于明年夏天在谢菲尔德举行。

　　以上就是PTE考试的相关内容了，如果还想获得更多PTE经验分享，或者想要了解南京PTE考试培训或者其他考试讯息，都可以关注我们的PTE考试信息网，在线联系我们，我们也会继续为大家带来更多干货!