跟读练习: How the rich avoid paying taxes - 通过视频学习英语口语
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This is Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world, thanks to the company he runs, Berkshire Hathaway.
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Basically it's a holding company that just owns a bunch of other companies — Geico,
3
Dairy Queen, a huge railroad — as well as a lot of stock in other companies like Apple and Coca-Cola.
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So when those companies do well and their stock goes up, Berkshire Hathaway stock goes up.
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When Buffett took over the company in 1965, a single share was worth $19.
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Today it's worth nearly half a million dollars.
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Buffett owns nearly 240,000 of these shares.
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This is where his wealth is.
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But as he's been known for pointing out, Warren Buffett still pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.
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She pays at twice the rate I pay.
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I think that's outrageous.
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That's because they pay different types of taxes.
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His secretary pays income taxes on her salary, but Buffett mainly pays capital gains taxes on his sold stock.
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And that's taxed at nearly half the rate.
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The wealthy are definitely undertaxed.
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In the U.S., the disparity between the richest Americans and everyone else has been growing.
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And in the last 40 years, the after-tax income of the richest has risen more than 400 percent, while middle-class income has only risen 50.
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The way these people make money is very different than the way these people make money.
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And they're not taxed the same.
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I pay less in taxes than people that work for a living and make as much money as I do.
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This is Morris.
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He used to work on Wall Street.
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Now he's retired and lives off his many stock market investments.
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I own stock in companies like Berkshire Hathaway and Amazon and Apple.
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He's a pretty typical one percenter, except that he spends his money advocating for rich people like him to be taxed more.
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I want to live in a country filled with a middle
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class of people who can all afford to shop in our businesses.
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Most people have a normal job.
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They get a paycheck and pay income tax, ranging from 10 to 37 percent.
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But people like Morris, they make a lot of their income from investments, generally stocks in real estate.
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These investments are taxed as capital gains.
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And things like long-term stock have a maximum tax rate of just 20%.
33
I sold some stock recently for $400,000.
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And my taxes on that is of around $50,000.
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But that $50,000 is far less taxed than anyone who has a job making $400,000 a year would pay.
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And most of his wealth, well, isn't even taxable.
37
People like Morris or Buffett are worth so much money because of the stock that they hold.
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But it's not tangible, spendable, taxable money.
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I can look at my stock portfolio and I can say, oh, you know, I made a million dollars this year.
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But it doesn't have to pay anything in taxes
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because our system is based on only paying taxes when you actually sell something.
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Amazon's Jeff Bezos, the richest man in America, thanks mostly to his Amazon stock, pays almost nothing in taxes.
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We value his worth here, but it's never taxed, unless it's turned into real money when he sells the stock, and it's taxed as a capital gain.
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This is one way billionaires are able to be technically worth so much money, but pay so little in taxes.
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Some billionaires, like Elon Musk, are able to get loans against their stocks and live off of that.
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They don't even need to sell the stock to turn it into spendable money.
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No sale, no taxes.
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The fact is, if you're a billionaire, you don't need any income.
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There's also a big loophole in capital gains taxes that the rich exploit called the stepped-up basis.
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If, hypothetically, Warren Buffett were to sell his stock, he'd have to pay capital gains taxes based on his profit.
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So the cost of the stock minus the original investment.
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But if he holds off selling his entire life, when he dies, whoever inherits the stock,
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and then sells it, would only have to pay taxes on what they earned after they inherited it, leaving all those original gains untaxed.
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It's part of what's called buy, borrow, die, and it's one way the richest families avoid paying taxes.
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It's this system, and the fact
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that most taxable capital gains are going to the top 1%
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that lawmakers see changing the capital gains tax as an easy way to tax the rich.
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President Biden has proposed closing that stepped-up loophole and increasing the maximum tax rate from 20% to 39.6%,
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but just for people making more than a million dollars a year.
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Critics argue that it may discourage people from investing in the stock market, or that current millionaires would just sell less stock.
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But it would bring in more tax revenue, from more conservative estimates of $200 billion over 10 years to double that.
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It would also mean Buffett would pay a closer tax rate to his secretary.
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But this pile of unrealized money still goes untaxed.
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There's a lot of things we could do to make the system more fair.
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We could have taxes on wealth.
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We could have taxes on gains in the stock market.
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Most Americans are bothered that wealthy people don't pay their fair share.
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And changing capital gains taxes wouldn't be the whole solution, but advocates argue it would be an easy place to start.
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Our system is making the rich get richer and richer and richer, and everyone else just not.
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本课的词汇与口语要点
这节 B2 级别的口语课以视频“How the rich avoid paying taxes”为素材。 视频中反复出现的词有：stock, taxes, gain, tax, Buffett。 这段视频共有 69 个句子、922 个单词可供跟读。 讲话部分时长为 5:46。 说话人语速自然，每分钟约 160 个词，接近日常对话。 83% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词，其余的词建议在练习前先学一下。
视频中的重点词汇
视频中最难的 15 个单词，附发音和释义：
| 单词 | 发音 | 释义 |
|---|---|---|
| billionaire 名词 | /ˌbɪl.jəˈnɛɚ/ | 億萬富翁 /亿万富翁 |
| loophole 名词 | /ˈluphoʊl/ | 漏洞 |
| inherit 动词 | /ɪnˈhɛɹɪt/ | 繼承 /继承, 继承 |
| discourage 动词 | /dɪsˈkɝɪd͡ʒ/ | 令人愁悶 /令人愁闷, 使沮喪 /使沮丧 |
| tangible 形容词 | /ˈtæn.d͡ʒə.bəl/ | 可觸摸的 /可触摸的 |
| millionaire 名词 | /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/ | 百萬富翁 /百万富翁, 巨富 |
| outrageous 形容词 | /aʊtˈɹeɪ.d͡ʒəs/ | 不像話 /不像话 |
| exploit 名词 | /ˈɛksplɔɪt/ | 功勛 /功勋, 勛績 /勋绩 |
| critic 名词 | /ˈkɹɪt.ɪk/ | 批評家 /批评家, 評論家 /评论家 |
| propose 动词 | /pɹəˈpəʊz/ | 提議 /提议 |
| minus | /ˈmaɪ.nəs/ | 減 /减 |
| borrow 动词 | /ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/ | 借, 貸 /贷 |
| retire 动词 | /ɹəˈtaɪɹ/ | 退休, 引退 |
| dairy 名词 | /ˈdɛə.ɹi/ | 乳製品 /乳制品 |
| technically 副词 | /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/ | 嚴格來說 /严格来说 |
视频中出现的短语动词
| 单词 | 释义 |
|---|---|
| go up 动词 | 上昇 /上升, 上去 |
| point out 动词 | 指, 指出 |
| take over 动词 | 接管, 接手 |
视频中的语法
说话人最常用的结构，并附上视频中的原话：
| 结构 | 视频中的用法 |
|---|---|
| 被动语态 be + 过去分词 — 强调发生了什么，而不是谁做的 | been known · are definitely undertaxed · be taxed |
| 现在完成时 have/has + 过去分词 — 过去发生但与现在仍有关联的事 | has risen · has proposed |
| 定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物 | people who can · anyone who has |
需要注意的发音
说话人用了 9 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 don't, doesn't, he'd。请按听到的简短形式来说。
- 长单词——注意重音位置: disparity /dɪˈspæɹɪti/, millionaire /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/, portfolio /pɔːtˈfəʊ.liˌəʊ/
中文母语者容易读错的音：
- 词尾辅音 — 要读清楚，后面不要加元音: inherit /ɪnˈhɛɹɪt/, paycheck /ˈpeɪ.t͡ʃɛk/, discourage /dɪsˈkɝɪd͡ʒ/, outrageous /aʊtˈɹeɪ.d͡ʒəs/, exploit /ˈɛksplɔɪt/
- /æ/ — 嘴张大，不要读成 /e/: taxable /ˈtæksəbəl/, disparity /dɪˈspæɹɪti/, tangible /ˈtæn.d͡ʒə.bəl/
如何用这段视频练习
- 先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
- 先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
- 录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 billionaire, loophole, inherit 这类单词。
什么是跟读法？
跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。