Advanced Week 139
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“ScalersTalk 口译进阶小组”的前身是“ScalersTalk 交传小组”，成立于 2015 年 2 月，现阶段，小组继续专注高级阶段的交替传译与同声传译训练，在巩固语言基本功的同时训练各类口译技能，从而为承担正式场合的口译打下坚实基础。96 周起，小组全面引入 CATTI 新版二口教材的训练，时间为每天晚上 8 点到 9 点，训练期间播放录音、记笔记，在空白处按暂停键后做口译，用 QQ 发群语音，然后对照文档，查找漏译和错译的部分，标出口译时较为困难的词汇和表达，随时发到群里；每天早上 6 点到 7 点训练复述及同声传译。
第 139 周训练为同声传译和复述。本日志整理的是复述材料Tradable Debt and the Tally Stick的部分内容。
As Felix Martin points out in his book Money: The Unauthorized Biography, we tend to misunderstand money because much of our monetary history hasn't survived in a form that could grace a museum.
grace: vt. (of a person or thing) be an attractive presence in or on; adorn（人，物）充满魅力地出现；装饰
unauthorized biography正史以外的人物传记
If you had a tally stick showing that Bishop Basset owed you five pounds, then unless you worried that the bishop wasn't good for the money, the tally stick itself was worth close to five pounds in its own right. ... On Monday, May 4, 1970, the Irish Independent, Ireland's leading newspaper, published a matter-of-fact notice with a straightforward title: “Closure of Banks.” Every major bank in Ireland was closed and would remain closed until further notice. The banks were in dispute with their own employees, the employees had voted to strike, and it seemed likely that the whole business would drag on for weeks or even months.
good for: reliably providing 总能提供的
They found him good for a laugh. 他们发现他总能逗人发笑。
in one's own right: as a result of one's own claims, qualifications, or efforts, rather than an association with someone else 凭自身的权利（或资格、努力）而非凭借与他人的关系
He was already established as a poet in his own right. 他早已凭自身的努力成为一位诗人。
matter-of-fact: concerned only with factual content rather than style or expression（事情）实事求是的，讲究事实的
drag on (for + 时间段)：(of a process or situation) continue at tedious and unnecessary length
They'd been expecting trouble, so many people had been stockpiling reserves of cash. But what kept the Irish economy going was something else.The Irish wrote each other checks. Now, at first sight this makes no sense. Checks are paper-based instructions to transfer money from one bank account to another. But if both banks are closed, then the instruction to transfer money can't be carried out. Not until the banks open, anyway. But everyone in Ireland knew that might not happen for months.Nevertheless, the Irish wrote one another checks. And those checks would circulate. Patrick would write a check for £20 to clear his tab at the local pub. The publican might then use that check to pay his staff or his suppliers. Patrick's check would circulate around and around, a promise to pay £20 that couldn't be fulfilled until the banks reopened and started clearing the backlog.The system was fragile. It was clearly open to abuse by people who wrote checks they knew would eventually bounce. As May dragged past, then June, then July, there was always the risk that people lost track of their own finances, too, and started unknowingly writing checks they couldn't afford and wouldn't be able to honor. Perhaps the biggest risk of all was that trust would start to fray, that people would simply start refusing to accept checks as payment.
stockpile: vt. accumulate a large stock of (goods or materials)
clear one's tab: 付清账单
backlog: n. an accumulation of uncompleted work or matters needing to be dealt with积压
clear the backlog处理积压的事务
bounce: v. (informal) (of a cheque) be returned by a bank when there are insufficient funds in an account to meet it (非正式)（支票）遭到银行拒付而被退回
The checks will bounce.
drag: vi. (of time, events, or activities) pass slowly and tediously （时间，事件，活动）缓慢且单调乏味地过去
The day drags (past).
finance: n. (usually finances)the monetary resources and affairs of a state, organization, or person财务
lose track of one's finances不了解某人的财务状况
honour vt. accept (a bill) or pay (a cheque) when due 允付（账单）；兑现（支票）
afford/honour checks兑现支票（反义搭配：Checks will bounce. 支票遭银行拒付而被退回）
fray: v. become worn（织物，绳，线）磨散，磨松；磨破，磨损
Trust frays.
And the pubs and corner shops were able to vouch for the creditworthiness of their customers, which meant that checks could circulate.When the dispute was resolved and the banks reopened in November, more than six months after they had closed, the Irish economy was still in one piece. The only problem: the backlog of £5 billion worth of checks would take another three months to clear.Nor is the Irish case the only one in which checks were passed around without ever being cashed in. In the 1950s, British soldiers stationed in Hong Kong would pay their bills with checks on accounts back in England. The local merchants would circulate the checks, vouching for them with their own signatures, without any great hurry to cash them. Effectively, the Hong Kong checks—like the Irish checks, and like the tally sticks—had become a form of private money.If money is simply tradable debt, then tally sticks and uncashed Irish checks weren't some weird form of quasi-money; they were money. They were simply money in a particularly unvarnished form. Like an engine running with the cover off or a building with the scaffolding still up, the checks were the system of money with the underlying mechanism laid bare.
vouch for sth: assert or confirm as a result of one's own experience the truth or accuracy of (something) 保证，担保，证明
I can vouch for the drug's efficiency.
creditworthy: (of a person or company) considered suitable to receive credit, especially because of being reliable in paying money back in the past （人或公司）有信誉的；有资格接受信用贷款的（尤指过去偿还款项可靠的）；信贷可靠的
pass: v. [with obj. and usu. with adverbial of direction] put (something, especially money) into circulation 使（货币等）流通
pass checks around=circulate checks
cash sth in: convert an insurance policy, savings account, or other investment into money 把（保单、存折或其他投资）兑成现金
cash checks in
quasi-money=near money: a term used in economics to describe highly liquid assets that can easily be converted into cash 准货币
unvarnished: adj. (of a statement or manner) plain and straightforward （声明，态度）无掩饰的；率真的
the unvarnished truth事实真相
lay sth bare: bring something out of concealment; expose something 曝光，揭露
