跟读练习: Why is Switzerland home to so many billionaires? - 通过YouTube学习英语口语
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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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关于本课
在本课中，学习者将通过观看和模仿一段关于瑞士亿万富翁的短片，提高英语发音和口语能力。我们将专注于理解视频中的关键信息，并通过shadow speak的练习，帮助学习者掌握语调、语速和发音。通过这种方式，您将能够增强自己的英语口语能力，并在社交场合中更加自信地表达自己。
关键词汇和短语
- 亿万富翁 (billionaire) - 指财富达到十亿美元或以上的人。
- 资产 (assets) - 个人或公司拥有的财富或财产。
- 资本收入 (capital income) - 由投资所获得的收入，而非劳动所获得。
- 政治稳定 (political stability) - 一个国家在政治环境上保持相对平静和可预测性。
- 财富税 (wealth tax) - 针对个人净资产征收的税务。
- 隐私和匿名性 (privacy and anonymity) - 在财务交易中不公开身份的特性。
- 低税率 (low tax rates) - 企业和个人所需缴纳的税费较低。
- 经济危机 (financial crisis) - 财务状况严重恶化的时期。
练习建议
为了有效地进行
shadowspeak练习，建议您遵循以下步骤：
- 观看视频时，注意演讲者的语速和语调。瑞士的环境和背景带来了独特的言语风格，模仿他们的语调将有助于提升您的英语发音。
- 可以先尝试跟读视频中的句子。慢慢模仿每个单词的发音，确保观察到韵律与重音。
- 如果你觉得跟读的速度太快，可以调整播放速度，在较慢的速率下进行练习。这有助于您更清楚地听到每个单词。
- 重复练习时，尝试记录自己的声音，并与视频中的音频进行对比，找出需要改进的部分。
- 定期进行这种shadow speech练习，帮助建立自信，同时加强您对语言的掌握。
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。