Практика Shadowing: Why is Switzerland home to so many billionaires? - Изучайте разговорный английский с YouTube

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Think of Switzerland and you might think of fine cheese,
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Think of Switzerland and you might think of fine cheese,
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luxury chocolate and snow-capped mountains.
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But you may also think of money.
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Switzerland has one billionaire for every 80,000 people,
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making it the third most dense billionaire population in the world.
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Only Luxembourg and Hong Kong have a higher proportion of individuals with a net worth of at least 10 figures.
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Do you feel like you know any billionaires?
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I personally know quite many billionaires, yes, and millionaires, yes.
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I do not know any billionaires,
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no, no, no. Plenty of millionaires, but no billionaires.
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No, I don't.
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I wish I did, but I really don't.
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Swiss residents are also among the richest in the world,
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with a mean net worth of almost $700,000 ahead of the US and Hong Kong.
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That makes the country stand out on several key wealth metrics.
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If you look at the income distribution,
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it has remained relatively stable over many decades now.
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It is much less unequal than many other countries.
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The average person has it quite good here,
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but I mean, that doesn't mean there aren't poor either.
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And then the super future falls.
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And I mean, that difference is, of course, huge.
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So what makes Switzerland such an attractive place for the uber wealthy?
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And what does that extreme wealth mean for the rest of Swiss society?
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As of 2022, Switzerland was home to an estimated 110 billionaires,
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with a combined wealth of $338 billion.
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That's well above other super-rich hotspots like Saudi Arabia,
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Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
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Among some of the country's wealthiest residents are Chanel co-owner Gerard Wertheimer,
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the heirs of IKEA creator Ingvar Kamprod,
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and the founders of homegrown healthcare giant Roche.
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Switzerland is considered one of the most politically stable countries with a strong reputation for political neutrality.
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It means wealthy individuals can trust that their assets will be safe from any sudden leadership and policy changes.
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The country also benefits from an attractive tax system with low rates for both corporations and individuals,
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giving Switzerland a competitive advantage versus other locations.
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The tax aspect is one part of the equation of rich individuals in the form of income
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that very rich individuals tend to have is not labour income.
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Most of their income tends to be capital income or capital gains on the companies they hold.
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And there is no capital gains tax on financial assets here in Switzerland,
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which of course is attractive for these kinds of rich individuals.
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This means the Swiss aren't getting taxed on the profit they make when selling an asset that's increased in value.
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And while there is no capital gains tax,
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Switzerland is one of the few European countries with a wealth tax,
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but it is set at a relatively low level of 0.1% to 1.1% of an individual's net wealth.
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That tax is levied by individual cantons,
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or regions, of which Switzerland has 26.
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Martin Buller, finance chief for the canton of Grisson,
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told me this system helps boost competitiveness.
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The cantons are responsible for everything that's not delegated to the confederation or delegated to the municipalities.
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We are able to shape our financial policy independently,
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but we have some law confederation-wide where we have to be in line with.
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We have the very globalized urban centers like Zürich, like Basel, Geneva.
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And Grisons is a very big on-surface canton,
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but in the periphery it's more rural.
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Means we need other goodies to find the people to attract people to live here
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and the way we do it is we have for example by the wealth tax
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so we have this competition between the cantons on one hand
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but we also are all interested
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that this is not exaggerating Switzerland also benefits from a strong Swiss franc
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which lowers the cost of foreign goods and services while raising the price of Swiss exports.
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The country's currency has steadily strengthened over recent decades,
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reaching parity with the euro.
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Meanwhile, it has held steady against a strong dollar.
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You don't have to be afraid of a major depreciation of the currency here,
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which is kind of related also of course to the political stability,
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to the strong legal and institutional setting here.
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The century is also considered a leading business destination with world-class financial services,
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pharmaceuticals and chemical sectors.
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It is also home to major business institutions such as the World Economic Forum,
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which famously gathers global industry leaders for its annual event here in Davos.
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Switzerland's banking sector developed a reputation over the 20th century as a place of privacy and anonymity,
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making it a particularly attractive location for wealthy individuals to store their cash and potentially avoid taxes.
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That system came under scrutiny following the global financial crisis and the failure of several major Swiss banks,
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forcing the industry to clean up its act and require greater transparency from clients.
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But still, it has retained its status as a hub for wealth management.
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Historically, that has been part of what the Swiss banks have been doing,
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essentially helping rich individuals evade their taxes in other countries.
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They've moved away from that business model and tried to keep moving away from it because,
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you know, the international regulations have become stricter.
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The shift comes as governments face increasing pressure to rein in the so-called billionaire class,
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as many continue to struggle with the cost of living crisis.
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A 2024 Oxfam report found
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that the combined fortunes of the world's five richest men have more than doubled to $869 billion since 2020,
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while 5 billion people have been made poorer.
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So what does Switzerland's ultra-rich population mean for the rest of the country?
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And social cohesion overall?
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To focus only on rich people would not fit anymore.
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So we have to rethink,
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we have to get attractive for all parts,
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for young people, for low qualified personnel.
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It's not that easy anymore to say we can focus on this and the rest is okay.
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It's a problem that there are so big differences,
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but we're lucky that we're living in Switzerland.
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It's definitely true that Switzerland does have a bigger gap between the richer ones and,
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not poor because they're not,
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but the less wealthy ones, you could say.
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Despite the extremes, however, Switzerland continues to rank highly on livability and social harmony indices.
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That is seen as being down to the country's social policies and labour laws,
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which ensure decent living standards for the less well-off too.
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So you see that the workings of the labour market,
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the education system that makes sure
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that even people further down the distribution actually make good incomes has worked for a long time very well.
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If you think about the system in which there is a social structure
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so that people who don't earn that much can still live quite well,
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that is probably a key element to the society.
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you

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Это видео предоставляет уникальную возможность улучшить навыки разговорного английского, рассматривая интересные факты о богатстве Швейцарии. Говоря о миллиардерах, политической стабильности и экономических преимуществах страны, вы сможете найти много полезной информации для обсуждения. Практикуя разговорный английский, вы не только обогатите свой словарный запас, но и научитесь выражать свои мысли по актуальным темам, что крайне важно для уверенного общения.

Грамматика и выражения в контексте

В этом видео использованы следующие грамматические структуры и выражения, которые помогут вам лучше понимать и формулировать свои мысли:

  • Present Simple: “Switzerland has one billionaire for every 80,000 people.” Это время используется для описания постоянных фактов и привычных действий.
  • Present Perfect: “I have known quite many billionaires.” Данная форма помогает говорить о действии, которое началось в прошлом и имеет отношение к настоящему.
  • Comparatives: “Switzerland is considered one of the most politically stable countries.” Сравнения позволяют выразить мнения и сравнить различные объекты.
  • Conditional Sentences: “If you look at the income distribution…” Условные предложения помогают говорить о возможных ситуациях и их последствиях.

Распространенные проблемы с произношением

Некоторые слова и фразы в видео могут представлять трудности в произношении:

  • “billionaires” - это слово может быть сложным, особенно в быстром темпе речи. Практика “улучшить произношение английского” поможет вам избежать ошибок.
  • “capital gains” - важно правильно произносить длинные фразы для улучшения ясности общения.
  • “politically stable” - сочетание этих слов может затруднять речь, но регулярное повторение улучшит вашу дикцию.

Вы можете использовать технику shadow speak для отработки произношения, повторяя за носителем языка. Это особенно полезно для более глубокого понимания интонации и акцента, что сделает ваше произношение ближе к идеальному.

Не забывайте, что учить английский с YouTube, прослушивая подобные материалы, является отличным способом для практики разговорного английского. Создайте собственные заметки, повторяйте фразы и старайтесь интегрировать изученные слова в повседневную речь.

Что такое техника Shadowing?

Shadowing — это научно обоснованная техника изучения языка, изначально разработанная для подготовки профессиональных переводчиков и популяризированная полиглотом доктором Александром Аргуэльесом. Метод прост, но эффективен: вы слушаете аудио на английском от носителей языка и немедленно повторяете вслух — как тень, следующая за говорящим с задержкой в 1–2 секунды. В отличие от пассивного прослушивания или грамматических упражнений, Shadowing заставляет мозг и мышцы рта одновременно обрабатывать и воспроизводить реальные речевые паттерны. Исследования показывают, что это значительно улучшает точность произношения, интонацию, ритм, связную речь, понимание на слух и беглость речи — что делает его одним из самых эффективных методов для подготовки к IELTS Speaking и реального общения на английском.

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