考研英语阅读中英全文对照版 (4)

）

但是，正如伦敦其 他许多顶尖的雇主所发现的，高工资并不意味着高满意度。根据本月初

刊登在《律师》上 的一项

YouGov

民意调查，英国律师有

1/4

（包括

1/5

的律师搭档） 都想要离

开这个行业。那些不满意的人抱怨几近极限的工作时间、激烈的竞争和最大事务 所（拥有

3000

名以上雇工）的非人性化。那么他们为什么不 放弃这个工作呢？

因为收入，

3/4

的人这样回

答。

TEXT TWO

Richard Burton probably knew nothing of the small South African town of Cullinan

when he bought yet another

chunky

diamond for Elizabeth Taylor in 1969. Now the

Cullinan mine itself, like so many of the diamonds unearthed there, is about to change

hands. On November 22nd De Beers, the diamond giant that has owned the mine since

1930, said it was selling it to a

consortium

led by Petra Diamonds, one of South Africa's

emerging diamond producers, for 1 billion rand in cash. Provided regulators approve the

deal, the transfer should take place by the middle of next year.

De Beers is selling because the mine is no longer profitable, despite attempts to turn it

around. But Petra reckons the mine still has another 20 years of production in it and plans

to extract at least 1m carats a year. The unexploited “Centenary Cut” deposit, which lies

under the existing mine, could yield a lot more. This is good news for the mine's 1,000 or so

employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir

Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained

kimberlite

, a rock

that can be rich in diamonds. The mine, established in 1903, is one of 30 or so kimberlite

diamond mines in the world, and is believed to be still the world's second-most- valuable

diamond resource

Petra is a relatively small outfit, listed on London's Alternative Investment Market,

that specialises in buying mines that bigger companies see as marginal. Its trick is to extract

better returns by rationalising production and processing, and keeping operating costs and

overheads down. Petra has already bought two of De Beers's loss-making South African

mines

—

both of which are now profitable

—

and is finalising the 78.5m rand acquisition of

the group's underground operation in Kimberley, which stopped working in 2005.

It already operates four mines in South Africa and has promising exploration in

Angola (a joint-venture with BHP Billiton), Sierra Leone and Botswana. Petra expects to

produce over 1m carats by 2010

—

quite a jump from 180,474 carats in the year to June. The

company has yet to make a profit, but expects to be making money by the middle of next

year.

In the 1990s De Beers decided that it was no longer a good idea to try to monopolise

the diamond market. It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has

been revamping its mine

portfolio

, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and

investing in more

enticing

operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa,

its V

oorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada.

This has opened the way for a new class of diamond firm that operates in the vast

middle ground between the world's handful of large producers and a multitude of much

smaller exploration firms. The Cullinan deal should

entrench

Petra in this middle tier,

alongside firms such as Kimberley Diamond and Trans Hex. But even if it does reach its

target of 1m carats a year, Petra will still not be able to match the sparkle of the giants. Last

year De Beers produced 51m carats from its mines in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa

and Tanzania, which amounted to 40% of the world's diamonds by value.

参考译文：

Richard Burton

在

1969

年为

Elisabeth Taylor

新购一块又小又厚的钻石时，他 可能对南非小

镇

Cullinan

一无 所知。现在

Cullinan

连同埋在地下的钻石一起都将易主 了。

11

月

22

日，

De

Beers