​​Inside the luxury world’s commission culture

精读运用方法：

1 通读大意，语言点词汇的部分记忆、观点直接照抄

2 句型的部分尝试运用写作仿写——记忆和仿写均请配合给出的英文释义

3 尝试summary全文观点  ↓  ↓  ↓

After an exercising tour of Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, a Chinese tourist can be forgiven for seeking respite in the luxury of a Bond Street jeweller. What they may not realise, as they browse diamond bracelets and Swiss watches, is that their trusted guide could be pocketing 10 per cent commission on anything they buy. 中国游客游完伦敦城里的威斯敏斯特大教堂(Westminster Abbey)、大笨钟(Big Ben)以及议会大楼(Houses of Parliament)等知名景点后，再去邦德街(Bond Street)逛逛高档珠宝首饰店换个口味，完全合乎情理。但他们或许未曾意识到的是：他们在店里淘钻石手链与瑞士腕表时，他们十分信任的导游就能拿到［小词活用］其所购货款的10%回扣。

N-SING A respite is a short delay before a very unpleasant or difficult situation which may or may not take place. 

Typically, tour guides and their agencies broker deals with luxury retailers: commission of 10 per cent for the guide for each transaction and 2.5 per cent for the agent. It is discreetly paid, long after the client has bought the jewellery or watch, and a top-performing Chinese tour guide can earn £250,000 a year, three people close to the guides say. The practice is so widespread that industry figures say the majority of well-known jewellery and watch brands are involved, raising questions about unfair incentives and even potential bribery. 通常说来，导游与旅行社及奢侈品零售商会订立协议：导游每笔交易的回扣是10%，旅行社的回扣则是2.5%。回扣通常是事后（游客购买首饰或腕表结束后很长时间）悄悄支付，带中国团的顶级导游每年能从中赚到25万英镑，熟知导游圈的三位内情人都这样说道。这种做法大行其道，因此业界人士说多数知名首饰与腕表品牌都参与其中，从而引发不公平激励、甚至潜在贿赂等问题。

ADJ If you are discreet about something you are doing, you do not tell other people about it, in order to avoid being embarrassed or to gain an advantage. 

Eileen Gao is a Mandarin-speaking tour guide who spends her days navigating London’s popular sites on minibuses filled with Chinese visitors. If a client requests shopping, she will oblige and take them to famous stores — ones she thinks they will enjoy and ones she receives commission from. “It’s a question of good relationships,” Ms Gao says of the “kickbacks” (her word) she receives. “They all want the Chinese business.”导游Eileen Gao操着一口中文普通话，她的工作就是用中巴载满中国游客穿梭于伦敦各大知名景点。如果游客主动提出购物，她就会带其前往那些知名百货店——那些她认为游客乐于前往而且自己又能从中吃回扣的百货店。“这主要取决于比较好的关系。”高女士这样说自己收受的回扣，“店家都很想做中国游客的生意。”

V-T/V-I To oblige someone means to be helpful to them by doing what they have asked you to do.【例句】Mr. Oakley has always been ready to oblige journalists with information.奥克利先生一直乐于提供信息帮助记者们。

The Chinese are among the most lavish of all UK inbound tourists, spending an average £2,174 per visit in 2015, three and a half times more than the normal visitor, according to tourism board VisitBritain. Three years ago China was not in the top 10 most valuable inbound markets, but as the Chinese middle class grows, so too do its travel and shopping ambitions; in 2015 it was the ninth most valuable market (Chinese tourists spent £586m). Flight bookings from China to the UK are 38 per cent higher for December 2016 to February 2017, compared with a year earlier, according to data by ForwardKeys, which analyses travel agent and online bookings. 据英国旅游业管理机构英国旅游局(VisitBritain)统计：入境英国的所有外国游客中，中国人出手最为阔绰：2015年人均消费额为2174英镑，是寻常游客花费的3.5倍。三年前，中国还未跻身英国十大最具价值旅游入境国行列，但随着中国中产阶层的崛起，其旅游与购物欲望也与日俱增。2015年，中国是英国第九大入境游客源国（中国游客总共消费了5.86亿英镑）。根据分析旅行社及网上预订量的ForwardKeys公司数据： 2016年12月至2017年2月之间，中国至英国的航班预订量同比去年增加了38%。

ADJ If you describe something as lavish, you mean that it is very elaborate and impressive and a lot of money has been spent on it. 【OR】ADJ If you say that spending, praise, or the use of something is lavish, you mean that someone spends a lot or that something is praised or used a lot. 【OR】ADJ If you say that someone is lavish in the way they behave, you mean that they give, spend, or use a lot of something.

One agency that works with 10,000 tour guides across Europe and North America is EastSong Consulting, whose founder and UK chief executive is sinologist Peter Recknagel. EastSong has offices in Frankfurt, London and New York and although most of its business is in mainland Europe, sales in the UK are performing better, Mr Recknagel says, because of the weak pound and fear of terrorist attacks in mainland Europe. EastSong Consulting是与欧洲及北美1万名导游有合作关系的公司，其创始人兼英国市场负责人是中国通［词汇翻译］彼得•雷克纳格尔(Peter Recknagel)。EastSong在法兰克福、伦敦以及纽约设有分公司。雷克纲格尔说：尽管其主要业务在欧洲大陆，但英国市场的业绩更为亮丽，原因是英镑贬值以及游客担心欧洲大陆遭遇恐袭。

EastSong provides tour guides with a smartphone app showing them which stores offer a commission, information about the products on offer[句型] and tips on, among other things, how to help tourists claim back value added tax[词汇]. It also arranges the back end: the tour guides are paid by the luxury brands through its computer systems. Brands can advertise on the EastSong app directly to the guides, and EastSong has annual seminars for the brands to promote their offering. The agency even produces a map for tourists in Chinese, which lists brands it works with. EastSong为导游提供手机版App：哪些店铺给予导游回扣、店家所售产品相关信息以及如何帮助游客申请退还增值税。EastSong还办理购物后的回扣：奢侈品牌公司通过电脑系统向导游支付相应回扣。各大品牌公司可直接在EastSong手机App上向导游推销自己，EastSong每年会为各大品牌举办推介研讨会。EastSong甚至为中国游客提供中文版购物地图：列出与其合作的品牌名单。

V-T If you claim something, you try to get it because you think you have a right to it.【OR】V-T If someone claims a record, title, or prize, they gain or win it.

Luxury companies approach EastSong, not the other way around, Mr Recknagel says, and he calls them “co-operation partners”. (It is not clear whether all partners pay tour guides commission and Mr Recknagel would not confirm this.) He says Chinese tourists understand that tour guides take a commission and even ask to be taken to shops where they earn it. “It’s not something secret, not at all, it’s a very natural thing［四字格］,” he says. Mr Recknagel declined to comment on exact commissions paid or brands involved. 雷克纳格尔说：各大奢侈品公司都是主动找上门来［小词活用］，而非EastSong求着对方，他称对方为“合作伙伴”。（是否所有合作伙伴都给导游回扣不得而知，雷克纳格尔对此也不愿证实。）他说中国游客对导游拿回扣也是心知肚明，甚至主动要求导游带其去那些给回扣的商店。“拿回扣根本不是啥见不得人的事，完全天经地义。”他说。雷克纳格尔拒绝透露具体回扣数以及哪些知名品牌支付回扣。

V-T If you approach someone about something, you speak to them about it for the first time, often making an offer or request. 

An executive at one of the world’s biggest luxury conglomerates合成物/大企业, speaking on condition of anonymity, says most global brands pay commission to tour guides. It is in their interest to know who the guides are, the executive adds, and companies often arrange in-store events to build a network and explain their stock. Once a relationship has been established, often the guide will approach the brand directly when they have arranged a busload［呼应前文/省译］of tourists. 某全球奢侈品巨擎、一位要求匿名的经理说多数世界名牌公司会向导游支付回扣，并补充说它们感兴趣的是了解导游的底细，然后公司会安排店内活动以便与导游搭建良好关系，并向对方介绍自己销售的产品。双方关系一旦确立，导游就会直接把游客带至品牌销售点。

N-COUNT A busload of people is a large number of passengers on a bus. 
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