The First Apple, Fetching Prices That May Crash the System
By STEVE LOHR
Apple-1 computers,
built in Steve Jobs's family garage, have sold for hundreds of
thousands of dollars in recent auctions, a run-up reflecting the
company's mystique.
A gauge will be how much Mr Abe capitalises on his high popular ratings in the run-up to crucial upper-house elections in July to press for change.
Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, yesterday admitted that banks had lost control of some socially useless products they sold in the run-up to the financial crisis and accepted that the furore over bankers' pay was both “understandable and appropriate”.
高盛(Goldman Sachs)首席执行官劳埃德•布兰克费恩(Lloyd Blankfein)昨日承认，金融危机爆发前，银行对于自己售出的一些对社会无益的产品失去了控制，他还承认，公众对于银行家薪酬的愤怒，“既可以理解，也是适当的”。
Fallout over Lockerbie release
Scotland has been weathering an international furore over the release of
the Lockerbie bomber.
Obélix among the Belgians
Gérard Depardieu,
the French actor, has said he is giving up his passport in an
escalation of his dispute with François Hollande’s Socialist government
over its punitive tax rates.
In an open letter to Jean-Marc
Ayrault, the French prime minister, on Sunday, Mr Depardieu said he was
quitting France for Belgium because “you consider that success,
creativity and talent ... must be sanctioned”.
The move by the
63-year-old film actor, who is popular in France after playing roles
such as Cyrano de Bergerac and Astérix the Gaul’s sidekick Obélix, would
be the highest-profile departure since Mr Hollande imposed a 75 per
cent tax rate on people earning more than €1m a year.
“I hand
over my passport to you and my social security card, which I have never
used,” the letter said, referring to prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
It
is unclear whether Mr Depardieu has taken concrete steps to renounce
his French citizenship though he has reportedly inquired about
procedures for acquiring Belgian residency.
In his letter, Mr
Depardieu said he had paid 85 per cent taxes on his revenues this year
and estimated that he had paid €145m in total since he started work as a
printer at the age of 14.
Bernard Arnault, chief executive of
LVMH and France’s richest man, has also sought to establish residency in
Belgium, though he has insisted this is not for tax reasons.
David
Cameron, the British prime minister, offered to “roll out the red
carpet” to French tax exiles after Mr Hollande’s election in May, though
much of the evidence of departures has remained largely anecdotal so
far, with estate agents and hairdressers complaining about the loss of
custom as bankers quit Paris.
Other business leaders such as
Jean-Paul Agon, chief executive of L’Oréal, have warned of the damage to
France as a global business destination from the new tax rate, which
the government says is temporary while the economy recovers.
Mr
Depardieu, who has put his luxury house on Paris’s Left Bank up for sale
for an estimated €50m, had been labelled “pathetic” and unpatriotic by
Mr Ayrault after it emerged that he was planning to leave the country.
In his angry letter, published in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Mr Depardieu said he had been “insulted” by Mr Ayrault.
“I
haven’t killed anybody, I don’t think I have acted in an unworthy
manner. I’ve paid €145m in taxes in 44 years, I have created work for 80
people in businesses that have been created for them and which are
managed by them. I’m not complaining or looking for praise but I reject
the word ‘pathetic’.”
The actor added: “Who are you to judge me like this, Mr Ayrault? I ask you, who are you?”
The
furore has taken place amid evidence of the increasing unpopularity of
Mr Hollande’s government, including from the left after its perceived
capitulation during a dispute with ArcelorMittal over the closure of two
steel furnaces.
Ifop, the French pollsters, said at the weekend
that Mr Hollande’s public approval rating was just 37 per cent and Mr
Ayrault’s 35 per cent.
速读测试：高卢英雄大战法国总理
出演过《高卢英雄大战凯撒王子》的影星德帕迪约移居比利时，他针对总理的批评写了封愤怒的公开信，表示要归还自己的法国护照。本文作者是FT驻巴黎记者James Boxell.
| 测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识： | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyrano de Bergerac | 《大鼻子情圣》 | |||
| Astérix and Obélix | 《高卢英雄大战凯撒王子》里，德帕迪约扮演阿斯特里克斯的朋友奥比里克斯 | |||
| anecdotal | 多轶事的 | |||
| LVMH | 路易·威登集团；L’Oréal，欧莱雅集团 | |||
| furore | 勃然大怒 | |||
| a dispute with Arcelor Mittal | 今年11月，安塞乐·米塔尔钢铁集团计划关闭在法国弗洛朗格的两座高炉，裁员629人，法国工业部长蒙特布赫(Arnaud Montebourg)强烈反对，甚至表示“想让米塔尔退出法国”乃至“将其国有化”。 | |||
| Paris’s Left Bank | 巴黎左岸，即塞纳河南岸，是一个充满小资和文艺情调的地方，这里有大量的书店、咖啡馆，有诗歌、哲学、清谈···与右岸大银行、保险公司、股票交易所所在的商业区形成鲜明的对比。 | |||
Politics | 08.05.2009
Germany to crack down on tax evasion amid diplomatic furore
The German Bundestag is examining a new legal initiative to curb rampant tax evasion with Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck accusing neighboring countries of aiding and abetting in fraud.
furore
n. Chiefly British.
Variant of furor (sense 1) (sense 3).
[Italian, from Latin furor, frenzy. See furor.]
名
1. 〔大衆｛たいしゅう｝の怒りの表現｛ひょうげん｝としての〕騒動｛そうどう｝、大騒ぎ｛おおさわぎ｝
2. 興奮｛こうふん｝、熱狂｛ねっきょう｝
3. 〔熱狂的｛ねっきょう てき｝な〕流行｛りゅうこう｝
4. 〈古〉激怒｛げきど｝、憤怒｛ふんど／ふんぬ｝
Definition of run-up
noun
run-up
noun
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