经济学人223:意大利的支付习惯

　　Italian payment practices

　　意大利的支付习惯

　　Unhealthy delays

　　有害的延误

　　Late payments are an Italian speciality—particularly in health care

　　延迟支付是意大利的特色——尤其在医药保健领域

　　IN MEDICINE speed is of the essence.

　　在医药领域，速度就是核心。

　　If the ambulance arrives a minute late, the patient may be dead.

　　如果救护车晚到一分钟，病人就可能死亡了。

　　Italian paramedics are no doubt as swift as those in other countries.

　　意大利的护理人员无疑同其他国家一样行动迅速。

　　But Italy's health-care authorities are shamefully¹ slow when it comes to paying suppliers—making it difficult for them to survive.

　　但谈到向供应商支付时，意大利的医疗机构就慢的令人羞耻了—简直让供应商们难以生存。

　　We're still waiting to be paid for goods sold in 2009, says Stefano Rimondi, the managing director of Bellco, a maker² of equipment for dialysis with revenues of more than 100m and a workforce³ of 360 people.

　　我们还在等2009年出售的货物的付款，Bellco公司的常务董事Stefano Rimondi说道。Bellco是一家渗透设备制造商，拥有360名员工，每年收入超过1亿欧元。

　　We have one employee working full-time⁴ chasing up late payers, he adds.

　　他补充道，我们有一个员工全职专司向延迟付款人追讨款项。

　　Bellco is not the only company to suffer.

　　Bellco不是唯一一家深受其害的公司。

　　The 250 other members of Assobiomedica, a trade group for firms that supply medical equipment, are owed 5.6 billion;

　　提供医疗设备的贸易组织，意大利生物医药联合会下属的250家公司有未付款56亿欧元；

　　those of Farmindustria, which represents 200 pharmaceutical⁵ firms, are waiting for 4 billion.

　　意大利制药工业协会下属的200家制药公司则有未付款40亿欧元。

　　The farther south you look, the longer the delays in payment.

　　你往南看的越远，支付的延迟时间就越长。

　　The Friuli and Trentino-Alto Adige regions in north-eastern Italy and Valle d'Aosta in the north-west settle bills after about three months.

　　在意大利东北部的Friuli 和Trentino-Alto Adige区域，以及在西北部的Valle d'Aosta都在三个月后支付账单。

　　The regions of Calabria and Molise pay on average after two years.

　　Calabria 和 Molise区的人平均两年后才付账。

　　The record is held by one Neapolitan health authority:

　　那不勒斯省中某市的卫生部门保持着相关记录：

　　some of its suppliers have been waiting for more than four-and-a-half years.

　　他的一些供应商已经等了至少四年半了。

　　Small Italian firms that rely on the home market are hit particularly hard.

　　一些依赖家庭市场的意大利企业尤其损失严重。

　　Often they cannot get bank financing at reasonable interest rates.

　　他们通常不能以合理的利率从银行贷款。

　　And long delays in payment create all kinds of tax and accounting⁶ headaches.

　　而长时间延误付款将导致税收和会计方面的一系列问题。

　　Suing late-payers doesn't help much.

　　起诉延迟付款者也没有太大作用。

　　Courts are at least as slow as health-care authorities.

　　法院的速度至少和医疗机构一样慢。

　　In five regions a law even blocks the use of courts to compel authorities to cough up.

　　甚至有一项法律在五个地区中禁止法院强制官员吐出资金。

　　Once we were able to recover about 5m of interest a year, but now we've had to give up, says the executive of a large American drugmaker, which had started to take legal action in 2007.

　　一家大型美国制药公司在2007年采取法律行动以后说道：曾经我们可以收到一年大约500万欧元的利息，但现在我们放弃了。

　　Pharmaceutical firms cannot simply stay clear of the worst offenders⁷:

　　制药公司不能简单的远离最极端的冒犯者们：

　　they are legally required to supply drugs even to notoriously slow authorities.

　　法律甚至要求这些为慢的臭名昭著的官员提供药品。

　　Desperate measures are also unlikely to help.

　　令人绝望的法规同样很难起到作用。

　　Starting a boycott⁸ of late-paying authorities could trigger an antitrust investigation⁹.

　　启动对延迟付款官员的联合抵制将触发反垄断调查。

　　And paying sweeteners to move invoices¹⁰ to the top of the list can land you behind bars.

　　而通过贿赂使账单排到列表最顶端的举动将使你锒铛入狱。

　　Some suppliers are pinning their hopes on new European Union legislation which requires health-care authorities to settle bills within 60 days;

　　一些供应商寄希望于要求医疗机构在60天内付款的欧盟监管新条例；

　　it takes effect in March next year.

　　此条例将于明年三月份生效。

　　Yet Mr Rimondi would be shocked if things improved:

　　但如果情况真的有所改进的话，Rimondi先生会感到震惊，

　　Some clause will be dreamed up so that the directive can be dodged¹¹ in Italy.

　　将有一些条款被设计出来，让意大利逃过监管。

1 shamefully   

可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。
• They have served me shamefully for a long time. 长期以来，他们待我很坏。

2 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

3 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

6 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

7 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

8 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 invoices   

发票( invoice的名词复数 )； （发货或服务）费用清单； 清单上货物的装运； 货物的托运

参考例句：

• Take the example of a purchasing clerk keying invoices into a system. 继续说录入员输入发票的例子，这个录入员是一个全职的数据输入人员。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Consular invoices are declarations made at the consulate of the importing country. 领事发票是进口国领事馆签发的一种申报书。

11 dodged   

v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He dodged cleverly when she threw her sabot at him. 她用木底鞋砸向他时，他机敏地闪开了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He dodged the book that I threw at him. 他躲开了我扔向他的书。 来自《简明英汉词典》