Accountants 会计师
Helen: Hello. Welcome to another BBC Learning English programme. I’m Helen.
Li: 我是杨莉大家好。 欢迎收听英国问答Ask About Britain, 我们在这个节目中专门回答有关英国文化习俗的各种提问。
Helen: And our question today is about accountants.
Li: Accountants 会计师。来自天津的Zhen Xin 朋友发邮件问我们。
Helen: He asked, “People say Britain is run by accountants, is that true? Do people in Britain have special respect for accountants?”
Li: Zhen Xin 想知道英国是不是由会计师控制的？他想了解一下英国人对会计师有什么看法，这是不是一个令人尊敬的职业？
Helen: First, do British people think Britain is run by accountants? Let’s find out. Here’s Alex MacDermot, who works for a charity.
Insert:
I wouldn’t say we are run by accountants, but they do an important job.
Li: Alex 说会计师们的工作是非常重要的，但他不认为英国是由会计师们管理的。其他人对会计师的看法有没有不同呢？
Insert:
In a sense it’s true, because all of the major decisions to do with government and the way that the country’s going is governed by affordability these days. So a lot of ideas are now scrutinised to see if they’re financially viable and I think that’s probably true. Yeah.
Helen: Julia Burton is a secretary and she feels that the government decisions are based on affordability these days.
Li: Julia 觉得英国的国家政策现在都是由钱来决定的，政府在经济上能不能够承担得起。Affordability 支付能力。
Helen: And a lot of ideas are scrutinised, they are looked into in detail, to see if they are financially viable.
Li: Scrutinise 详细检查，现在很多建议和想法都会被会计师们详细的检查，从财政的角度上看可行不可行 are the ideas financially viable.
Helen: So Julia agrees that accountants are responsible for the way in which Britain is being run at the moment.
Li: 那么提到accountant 这个职业的时候，一般人会有什么样的想法呢？
Helen: Now, I’m not sure how well Alex’s comment will go down with the accountants. Here he is describing what a typical accountant would be like.
Insert:
They’d be good with numbers, not willing to break the rules, fairly conservative, normally wearing a suit and a bowler hat I would suppose. Quite straight-laced people, quite boring people, that’s my perception anyway.
Li: Alex 个人认为会计师数学肯定没问题。
Helen: Of course, accountants work with numbers all the time.
Li: 他们一般不会做违规的事情。
Helen: No, they’re not willing to break the rules.
Li: 属于比较保守的类型。
Helen: They’re fairly conservative and would normally wear a suit and bowler hat.
Li: 平时上班时都是西装革履的，可能还会戴上圆顶硬礼帽。
Helen: Alex also thinks that they are strait-laced and boring people.
Li: Strait-laced 就是形容过分拘谨，一本正经的人。Boring 枯燥的，乏味的。Alex 对会计师的工作是肯定的，但是对会计师们的形象评价就不高了。
Helen: That’s why trainee accountant Manpreet was keen to dispel the typical stereotype. Is he a boring person?
Insert:
Definitely not, because I’m doing my accountancy qualification and when I’m away from finance, I’m a DJ, I write poetry, I write lyrics to songs and I work for radio as well. So you know I’m an accountant and I try to be as creative as possible. So I think that is… that’s not true.
Li: Manpreet 是会计专业实习生，他可不同意会计师们是枯燥无聊的人这种说法。用他自己做例子，他说放开学习和工作，他的生活可是多姿多彩呢。
Helen: Well, Manpreet loves music and he’s a DJ in his spare time.
Li: 是吗？业余时间里他是音乐DJ？
Helen: Yes, he also writes poetry, lyrics for songs and he works for a radio station as well.
Li: 真不简单。诗歌poetry, 写歌词 writing lyrics, 有时候还会上电台。He’s really creative!
Helen: And very talented too. So this shows that people need to change their perception of accountants.
Li: 那么Zhen Xin 朋友还问到在英国会计师不是一个令人尊敬的职业呢？让我们听听几位英国人的看法。
Insert:
I think most people would say that accountants are fairly well respected, unlike bankers at the moment.
I think so yes, they do play a very important role in actually providing information and controlling costs and keeping business going.
Accountants in Britain have sort of carved out a pretty good reputation for themselves, they have to, they are very important, you have to have them.
Helen: It seems that accountancy is a fairly well-respected profession.
Li: 刚才我们听到了，对会计这个职业的评价都还不错。
Helen: One of the comments was that accountants in the UK have carved out a good reputation for themselves.
Li: Carve out 切出来，但在这里是创造出来的意思。英国的会计师们现在把会计这行的名气给打出来了，赢得了社会的肯定。
Helen: People do recognise the importance of accountants’ work and they’re needed to keep businesses going.
Li: 好了，今天我们对会计这个行业的介绍就到这儿。谢谢大家收听，我们下次节目再会。
Helen: Bye-bye.