创新英语-British Car Insurance Gender Inequality Ends

Britain’s system of car insurance has been turned on its head by the European Court of Justice. For decades, British motorists have paid insurance premiums¹ based on their sex. The rationale for this was that men were far more likely to have accidents than women, and the average repair bill for men was higher. Britain’s insurance industry has until December 2012 to comply with the new ruling. The court’s decision is bad news for women, who are expected to pay an extra 25 per cent for their motor insurance. Young female drivers aged² between 17 and 26 are likely to be hit hardest. Industry analysts³ claim their premiums could jump by as much as 40 per cent. It’s good news for men as they will see their rates fall by 10 per cent.

The insurance ruling was designed to end what the court saw as gender⁴ discrimination in Britain’s car insurance industry. However, many insurance companies are up in arms at the decision with one insurer calling it “breathtaking stupidity”. They say statistics clearly show that men, especially those in the 17-26 age bracket, cause the most accidents and are therefore a higher risk. In all other areas of insurance high risk automatically carries higher premiums. The website confused.com wrote women drivers, “cause less serious accidents and make less expensive claims than their male counterparts” and called the ruling a "gender tax on women". Another site, GoCompare.com, said: "Few drivers will welcome this ruling."

1 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。