VII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2015

Введение.

Актуальность выбранной темы исследования связана с тем, что средства массовой информации приобретают на современном этапе развития общества все большую силу и значимость, и определяется относительно недостаточной изученностью стилистических средств воздействия на получателей информации, которыми в данном случае являются носители языка. У данной статьи массовый реципиент.

Объектом исследования являются тексты аналитических статей. Предметом исследования – лингвистические характеристики аналитических статей на тему экономики.

Материалом для исследования послужили 5 текстов аналитических статей, отобранных из англоязычного интеренет-источника (http://www.economist.com), который является электронным вариантом еженедельного издания Великобритании.

Целью работы является определение характерных лингвистических особенностей данного вида текста. Поставленная цель обусловливает решение следующих задач:

1. Определить место аналитической статьи в общей системе стилей.

2. Выявить основные лингвистические особенности аналитических статей из интернет-ресурсов.

В работе использованы методы семантического, структурного и статистического анализа.

Практическая ценность исследования состоит в том, что его материал может быть использован при составлении оформленных в соответствии со всеми правилами аналитических статей на актуальную тему. Материал исследования может быть также использован в лекционных курсах и на практических занятиях по стилистике английского языка.

Работа состоит из введения, двух глав, заключения, библиографического списка и приложения.

Во введении формулируются цель и задачи исследования, обосновывается актуальность выбранной темы.

В первой главе рассматривается проблема классификаций стилей, освещаются разные точки зрения современных лингвистов по данному вопросу, дается общая характеристика публицистического стиля и определяются жанровые особенности текста аналитической статьи.

Вторая глава посвящена описанию характерных лингвостилистических особенностей текстов аналитических статей на уровне морфологии, лексики и синтаксиса.

В заключении подводятся итоги по поводусовершенной работы: достигнута ли поставленная цель и соотносятся ли результаты анализа аналитических статей с задачами исследования.

Реферативная часть. 1.1. Проблема классификации стилей.

Система функциональных стилей находится в состоянии непрерывного развития. Сами стили обособлены в разной степени: границы некоторых из них определить нелегко, а стили как таковые трудно отделить от жанров. В современной жизни стили активно взаимодействуют друг с другом, и, таким образом, перенимают некоторые характерные черты. Проблема разграничения функциональных стилей заключается в том, что ученые различных времен и национальностей выделяют те или иные стили, руководствуясь определенными умозаключениями.

Согласно теории И.В. Арнольд, выделяют следующие функциональные стили: […научный, разговорный, деловой, поэтический, ораторский и публицистический - являются подсистемами языка, каждая из которых обладает своими специфическими особенностями в лексике и фразеологии, в синтаксических конструкциях, а иногда и в фонетике]. ¹

По ее мнению, нет четкой классификации функциональных стилей, они могут переходить один в другой. Понять, где кончается граница одного стиля, и начинается другой, весьма нелегко. Функциональные стили взаимодействуют между собой.

Другой лингвист, В.В. Гуревич, придерживается дугой точки зрения, согласно которой можно определить такие функциональные стили, как разговорный, фамильярно-разговорный (жаргоны), книжный, официально-деловой, научный, публицистический. В.В. Гуревич дает достаточно специфическую классификацию функциональных стилей, поскольку он выделяет жаргон, как отдельный самостоятельный стиль: [Besidesthestandard, literary-colloquialspeech, thereisalsoanon-standardstyleofspeech, mostlyrepresentedbeaspecialvocabulary. Such is the familiar-colloquial style used in very free, friendly, informal situations of communication. ]²

Скребнев Ю.М.³, в свою очередь, ссылаясь на И.Р. Гальперина, обозначает художественный, публицистический, газетный, официально-деловой и научный стили. Разговорный стиль Ю.М. Скребнев обособляет отдельно, считая, что он неуместен в общей классификации функциональных стилей в силу своих характерных особенностей.

Ивашкин И.В., Сдобников В.В., Селяев А.В. в своем «Практикуме по стилистике английского языка» также опираются на классификацию И.Р. Гальперина и соглашаются с его вариантом разграничения функциональных стилей. Данные авторы тоже поднимают проблему разграничения стилей: [They are not homogeneous and fall into several variants all having some central point of resemblance.]⁴

Обобщив вышесказанное, можно сделать вывод, что данная проблема разграничения функциональных стилей будет предметом спора различных лингвистов довольно долгое время. Жизнь не стоит на месте, и со временем функциональные стили будут проникать друг в друга все больше и больше. Например, такие стили, как художественный и публицистический/газетный, могут включать в себя характерные черты остальных стилей. Данная проблема не потеряет свою актуальность в ближайшее время, так как, по моему личному мнению, четкое разграничение функциональных стилей не состоится неопределенное количество времени.

1.2 Характерные особенности публицистического стиля на материале аналитической статьи.

Публицистический стиль широко применятся в различных сферах общественной жизни: в газетах и журналах, на телевидении и радио, в публичных политических выступлениях. Публицистический стиль использует языковые средства разных стилей в зависимости от темы, освещенной в статье. Исходя из того, что текст публицистического стиля содержит когнитивный и эмоциональный типы информации, целесообразно утверждать, что в тексте будут присутствовать средства выражения данной информации.

В первую очередь необходимо рассмотреть отличительные черты публицистического стиля на примере аналитических статей на лексическом уровне. Помимо фона нейтрального слоя речи, стоит отметить книжную лексику и эмоционально-оценочную, за счет которой передается эмоциональная информация. Интересно наличие различных литературных приемов, например, метафоры, эллипсис, риторические вопросы, направленные на привлечение внимания реципиента и установления скрытого диалога на уровне подсознания. Оценка может выражаться не только лексическими средствами. Это могут быть и средства словообразовательные, например, суффиксы превосходной степени прилагательных, суффиксы оценки у существительных: высочайший, интереснейший, важнейший, дедовщина, штурмовщина. Обширное употребление сокращений также можно отнести к особенностям публицистического стиля, например: М.Р. – Member of Parliament; Т.U.С. – TradesUnionCongress;UNO – UnitedNationsOrganization;NATO – NorthAtlanticTreatyOrganization;EEC – EuropeanEconomicCommunity;FO – ForeignOffice. Также необходимо отметить большое количество имен собственных: название организаций, имена известных и значимых людей, название различных географических объектов.

Что касается грамматических особенностей публицистического стиля, хотелось бы отметить повелительную форму глагола, что обеспечивает внимание читателя к аналитической статье или призыв к действию, глаголы в форме настоящих времен, которая необходима для подтверждения актуальности события, описанного в данной статье. В некоторых случаях уместен пассивный залог, предназначенный для выражения объективности когнитивной информации. Говоря о модальности, можно отметить, что в текстах публицистического стиля присутствует модальности долженствования и модальность вероятности.

Что касается синтаксиса, в аналитических статях синтаксис средней сложности, что обусловлено логическим изложением материала и объективностью когнитивной информации. Предложения в основном сложноподчиненные, показывающие причинно-следственную связь. Предложения часто осложнены однородными членами предложения, герундиальными, причастными и инфинитивными оборотами. Это необходимо, во-первых, для компрессии когнитивной информации, во-вторых, для объективности когнитивной информации. В публицистическом стиле можно также отметить большое количество цитат прямой речи и развитую систему различных способов передачи чужой речи. Один из таких способов является недословная, сокращенная передача речи с примечаниями журналиста в запятых; цитируемая речь приводится при этом без кавычек. Такую прямую речь называют «вольной прямой речью», «неотмеченной» или «адаптированной» [Арнольд 2002:179]. Но случаев прямой речи, отмеченной кавычками, отмечается еще больше.

Суммируя вышесказанное, можно отметить, что публицистический стиль на материале аналитических статей обладает средней сложностью в области лексики, грамматики и синтаксиса. Это объясняется тем, что, хотя тексты аналитических статей обращены в широкие массы, необходимо использовать средства выражения объективности, актуальности, последовательности изложения информации, пришедшие в публицистический стиль из официально-делового и научного стилей. А в целях того, чтобы заинтересовать читателя, авторы используют различные средства образности и эмоционально-окрашенную лексику.

Практическая часть. 2.1 Лексические особенности.

Источником данных статьей является электронная версия еженедельного издания Великобритании – журнал «Экономист» (http://www.economist.com). Автором данных статей является журналист, реципиент – массовый. В данных статьях присутствуют когнитивная и эмоциональная типы информации.

Начать следует с лексического состава данных статей. В первую очередь здесь можно увидеть фон нейтральной лексики (change, to come, unusual, number, world, food, water, to have, future, to meet).

Далее следует отметить книжную лексику (approach, independence, efficiently, to diverge, commercially, assessment, environment, to benchmark, complexity, department).

Кроме того, присутствует общеупотребительные термины из области экономики (finance transformations, economy, manufacturer, market, customer, euro crisis, bail-out programmes, debt, current-account surplus).

Для компрессии когнитивной информации в текстах мы видим большое количество аббревиатур (European Central Bank (ECB), European Union (EU), Chief financial officer (CFO), United Kingdom (UK), Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Corporate Leaders Group (CLG), Chief executive officer (CEO), Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Помимо этого необходимо отметить множество имен собственных (Paul Polman, Katja Hall, Mario Draghi, Jean Pisani-Ferry, Philippe Legrain, José Manuel Barroso, David Cameron, LoukasTsoukalis, Roger Bootle, Martin Weitzman).

Далее следует обратить внимание на разнообразие топонимов (Amundsen Sea, Australia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Scotland, Greece, Ireland. Portugal, Berlin).

Особое внимание мне бы хотелось уделить эмоционально-экспрессивным средствам, которые придают данным текстам «пряность». В первую очередь нужно рассмотреть метафоры (the world has received sobering news; markets have calmed; these books all argue; financial markets would buy; the first victim; the Scottish White Paper suggests; a silver bullet; his conclusions strike, the world is ill). Далее хотелось бы отметить эллиптические предложения (Inorout? Perhabsnot). Помимо этого мы должны рассмотреть стилистически окрашенную лексику (reckon, chunkofice, nasty, tosussout, toblame, it’stimetobrave, topushup).

Проанализировав лексический состав данных статей, можно сделать вывод, что приемы, продемонстрированные в данных текстах, соответствуют прагматическим задачам аналитических статей. Задачи автора заключаются в том, чтобы проинформировать реципиента о происходящих в мире событиях, поделиться своим мнение и, возможно, дать читателю пищу для размышления.

2.2. Грамматические особенности.

Что касается грамматических особенностей, они также достаточно разнообразные. Для подтверждения актуальности происходящего автор использует глаголы в Present Tenses (just under half of respondents believe; the poll comes; the single market means; we want secure; these metrics only provide; successful transformations understand; he describes; Mr Pisani-Ferry offers; America has recently grown; the world has received).Более того, для прогнозирования, предположения развития событий используется Future Simple (serious repercussions will become; climate change will happen; future costs will be very, very big; that won't make it).

Особое место отводится глаголам в повелительном наклонении (Drop the service centre mentality; think about a finance departments; build a finance strategy; tier support; track the time).

Далее, объективность написанного подтверждается пассивным залогом (that its retreating glaciers will be in contact with; a view which is supported by).

Так как текст содержит мысли и размышление автора, соответственно, в тексте будет присутствовать модальность, а в нашем случае модальность двух разновидностей: долженствования (humanity should be willing; the priority should not have been; Europe should have tackled; Britain should leave; finance must act; finance departments should not fall into; it seems like that ought to be the case) и вероятности (it might slow economic growth; benefits that might accrue; probably irreversibly; countries could share; they might be lumbered; it is simply not possible; as the UK Government may be unwilling; their bills could go up). На основе вышеуказанных примеров мы определенно ясно видим отношение автора к происходящим событиям, оценку сложившейся ситуации и возможное прогнозирование дальнейших действий и результатов.

В целях компрессии когнитивной информации в данном тексте наблюдается несколько примеров использования сложных атрибутивных групп (ConsumergoodscompanyUnileverhasalsosignedthecommuniqué…; Scotlandisideallysuitedforrenewableelectricitygenerationthankstoitsweather, geographyandlowpopulationdensity).

Проанализировав грамматические особенности аналитических статей, целесообразно подвести итог, что использованные морфологические средства выполнили свою функцию создания внутреннего диалога между читателем и автором или, по крайней мере, получения ответной реакции у реципиента по поводу представленной когнитивной и эмоциональной информации.

2.3. Синтаксические особенности.

Просмотрев тексты аналитических статей, в первую очередь необходимо выделить простые предложения (The poll comes at a time of heightened awareness of the effects of climate change; Companies will almost certainly be affected by climate change in one way or another; The risks involved include the breakdown of infrastructure networks, food systems and water ecosystems, for example; Overall, however, the largest share of our surveyed executives appears to be lending its voice to the call for action; Energy giant Shell is among the signatories to the communiqué). Хотелось бы отметить, что простых предложений в тексте небольшое количество.

Гораздо больше мы наблюдаем сложных предложений. Прежде всего, это сложносочиненные предложения (Our current collective response to climate change is inadequate, and this now threatens businesses, jobs and the economy; Scotland would indeed continue to supply electricity to the UK but it would be one of a number of options…; Roger Bootle has similarly gloomy concerns about the state of the European project, but his conclusions strike a far more Euro-sceptical tone). Как мы видим, сложносочиненных предложений в тексте около 30% от общего количества предложений.

Справедливо заметить, что сложноподчиненных предложений намного больше в силу логического изложения фактов и изображения причинно-следственной связи. Придаточные предложения необходимо классифицировать для получения полной картины доли сложноподчиненных предложений в текстах аналитических статей. Придаточные предложения можно увидеть самые разнообразные:

• придаточные подлежащего (…they focus on what finance does…);

• придаточные сказуемого (…there is no guarantee that this would be the case…; Of course it is for Scottish voters to decide whether independence represents the best choice for them; And it was about whether euro-zone voters would accept low growth…; …it's worth cutting emissions to stop it, whether or not it threatens our very existence…);

• придаточные дополнения (Just under half (46%) of respondents to our poll believe that the effects of climate change call for urgent and immediate action by leaders in government, business and civil society; The CBI’s recent analysis of the Scottish Government’s case for independence concluded that Scotland is emphatically better off remaining within the Union; The Scottish White Paper suggests that this approach would continue…; The single market means that costs are kept to a minimum by allowing the energy industry…);

• определительные придаточные (One example is the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG) of major UK and European corporate leaders, which issued a communiqué…; … a timeline for achieving net zero emissions, which would keep cumulative emissions from human-caused CO2 below one trillion tonnes of carbon; Jean Pisani-Ferry, who now works in the French prime minister’s office, was director of Bruegel…; Philippe Legrain, who once worked for The Economist, was another close observer…; A big reason why America has recently grown faster than Europe is that it did more to sort out its banks in 2008-09);

• придаточные времени (When it comes to energy policy, the Union offers the best way to ensure…; While better integrated finance IT solutions and shared service centres can be an attractive means to improving reporting capabilities, this is not a silver bullet…; Markets have calmed since July 2012, when the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) promised…; Mr Legrain is also right to criticise the ECB for its half-hearted bond purchases before July 2012, when it finally emerged as a proper lender of last resort…);

• придаточные места (In a business climate where the only certainty is continuous change, finance departments should not fall into the trap of trying to look like everyone else...; Even Greece, where the crisis began, has just sold debt);

• придаточные причины (That is because over time an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK would be likely to diverge in their approaches to energy policy; Because the first victim was Greece, it became accepted wisdom in Brussels…; The Germans liked this explanation because it confirmed the suspicions…);

• придаточные образа действия и сравнения (Successful finance transformations do not just focus on how finance does things…; It raised broad worries over how countries (…) could share a currency…; What is striking is how much the authors agree about the failings of the EU and the euro…);

• придаточные уступительные (Yet, in spite of huge investments in new IT systems, shared service centres, process re-engineering, etc., our research has found…; And, although he is a supporter of the euro and of European integration, he describes…; Though that argument makes quite a lot of sense, it does leave some economists unsatisfied);

• придаточные цели (…it makes sense to pay to cut emissions in order to enjoy the benefits of slower warming…; …it is worth taking action now in order to reduce the odds of a civilisation-ending outcome);

• придаточные условия (…this approach would continue if Scotland were to opt for independence…; …if Scottish bill payers had to meet the full costs of supporting Scottish large-scale renewables their bills could go up by an additional £189 by 2020; …if we want secure, clean and affordable energy then Scotland is better off as part of the UK; Even if markets do not turn sour again, most of Europe seems stuck with low growth…; …if he does not succeed, Britain should leave the club; If that happens, the EU and the euro will get into trouble again…).

Далее следует отметить осложненность предложений различными оборотами, которые присутствуют в данных статьях в большом количестве:

• герундиальные обороты (including a heat wave in Australia; calling for a timeline for achieving net zero emissions; pursuing separate approaches to energy policy; with the global economy and the business environment becoming more complex every day; improving finance effectiveness; delivering targeted business support; blowing them apart; including German and French ones; culminating in his call for a “European spring”; separating a vast basin of ice from the sea);

• инфинитивные обороты (to support these costs; to operate efficiently within a single regulatory framework; to supply electricity to the UK; to support every business partner request; to bring them with you on this journey; to judge from how often the words appear in global media; to save the euro);

• причастные обороты (compared with 67% in logistics and distribution; made by Europe’s leaders; published by London-based Policy Network; backed by Mr Legrain);

Нельзя не отметить большое количество предложений с однородными членами предложения (The risks involved include the breakdown of infrastructure networks, food systems and water ecosystems, for example;Our current collective response to climate change is inadequate, and this now threatens businesses, jobs and the economy; Scotland is ideally suited for renewable electricity generation thanks to its weather, geography and low population density; This ensures greater stability, improves competition and allows Scottish generators unrestricted access to the Great Britain (GB) market).

Большое внимание привлекают риторические вопросы, необходимые для диалога между автором и реципиентом (NoonecanagreewhatISTHEeurocrisisover? Suppose that the crisis had begun, as it might easily have done, in Ireland? So, time to sell that oceanfront property? Surely the costs of warming are high enough that it's worth cutting emissions to stop it, whether or not it threatens our very existence, right?).

Проанализировав синтаксис аналитических статей, мы можем с уверенностью сказать, что синтаксис в данных текстах средней сложности. Осложненность всевозможными оборотами необходима для логического и последовательного изложения фактов.

Заключение.

Выполнив полный анализ аналитических статей со стороны лексического, грамматического и синтаксического уровней, мы выяснили, что в зависимости от типов информации подбираются приемы для выражения данной информации. На основе наших выводов, сделанных в процессе исследования, можно утверждать, что все характерные особенности аналитических статей выражены в данных текстах. Автору удалось донести до читателя когнитивную информацию и привлечь внимание реципиента к тексту за счет различных средств образности, что является эмоциональной информацией.

Цели, поставленные в начале нашего исследования, можно считать достигнутыми: мы рассмотрели характерные особенности аналитических статей и увидели, как эти особенности «работают» в текстах.

Библиографический список.

1. Арнольд И. В. Стилистика. Современный английский язык. М.: Флинта, 2012. - 384 с.

2. Гуревич В. В. English Stylistics. Стилистика английского языка. Учебное пособие. Изд. 5-е – М.: Флинта, 2011. - 69 с.

3. Молчкова Л.В. Предпереводной анализ текста. Практикум по стилистике английского языка. Самара: МИР, 2009. – 52с.

4. Гальперин И.Р. Текст как объект лингвистического исследования. М.: «Просвещение», 2004.

5. Скребнев Ю.М. Основы стилистики английского языка. Учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. (на англ. яз.) 2-е издание, исправленное. М.: "Астрель, АСТ", 2000. -224 с.

6. Алексеева И.С. Введение в переводоведение. Учеб. пособие. –СПб.: Филологический факультет СПбГУ; М.: Издательский центр «Академия», 2004. – 352 с.

7. Ивашкин И.В., Сдобников В.В., Селяев А.В. Практикум по стилистике английского языка. 2-е издание. Нижний Новгород: Изд-во НГЛУ, 2002.

8. Болотнова Н. С. Коммуникативная стилистика текста. Словарь-тезаурус. М.: Флинта, 2009. - 384 с.

9. Карасик В.И. Языковой круг: личность, концепты, дискурс. Волгоград: "Перемена", 2002.

10. Стилистика и литературное редактирование / Под. ред. проф. В.И.Максимова. –М.: «Гардарики», 2004.

Приложение 1.

Business leaders call for urgent action on climate changeopinion-image.

An EIU flash poll of 2,324 senior executives worldwide challenges the stereotype that business is complacent about climate change. Just under half (46%) of respondents to our poll believe that the effects of climate change call for urgent and immediate action by leaders in government, business and civil society.

The poll comes at a time of heightened awareness of the effects of climate change. An unusual number of extreme weather events across the globe in early 2014—including a heat wave in Australia, unusually cold weather in the eastern US and severe storms in Europe—may be interlinked, according to the UN's World Meteorological Organisation. Business leaders' call for action may also have been influenced by a recent report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which warns that the world is ill-prepared for the risks from a changing climate.

Companies will almost certainly be affected by climate change in one way or another. The risks involved include the breakdown of infrastructure networks, food systems and water ecosystems, for example. (Conversely, climate change could also offer new opportunities for certain types of firm, for instance those involved in water management or designing resilient buildings.)

Emerging economies are particularly vulnerable to climate change, a point highlighted in the IPCC report. This may explain why, in our survey, emerging-market business leaders (from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America) are far more insistent on action to combat climate change than their peers in Europe and North America. The degree of divergence between rich and developing-world attitudes is striking, and suggests a significant degree of scepticism remains among developed-world businesses that climate change is a priority global issue.

Overall, however, the largest share of our surveyed executives appears to be lending its voice to the call for action. This is consistent with other business-led initiatives on climate change taking shape in different parts of the world. One example is the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG) of major UK and European corporate leaders, which issued a communiqué warning that "significant changes must be introduced to the global economy, or the risks of disruptive climate impacts will grow increasingly serious."

Seventy major global companies have signed the CLG's Trillion Tonne Communiqué, calling for a timeline for achieving net zero emissions, which would keep cumulative emissions from human-caused CO2 below one trillion tonnes of carbon. Energy giant Shell is among the signatories to the communiqué. However, in our flash poll, only 39% of business leaders from the energy and natural resources sector demand urgent action on climate change, compared with 67% in logistics and distribution (the sector with the highest share of executives calling for immediate action).

Consumer goods company Unilever has also signed the communiqué, and its CEO, Paul Polman, has called for decisive action to tackle climate change: "Our current collective response to climate change is inadequate, and this now threatens businesses, jobs and the economy. (…) The cost of inaction is now greater than the cost of action."

In or out?

On energy Scotland is better off as part of the UK, argues Katja Hall, chief policy director at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

The CBI’s recent analysis of the Scottish Government’s case for independence concluded that Scotland is emphatically better off remaining within the Union. Nowhere is this clearer than in energy – a view which is supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The analysis highlights the significant benefits of the Union and the precarious position an independent Scotland would likely find itself in. When it comes to energy policy, the Union offers the best way to ensure that bills remain affordable, that we tackle climate change in the most effective way and that we have a secure supply of energy for the future.

Scotland is ideally suited for renewable electricity generation thanks to its weather, geography and low population density. Currently the costs associated with supporting renewables are socialised – a key benefit of the Union – meaning that they are spread across 30m bill payers rather than 3m Scottish bill payers. The Scottish White Paper suggests that this approach would continue if Scotland were to opt for independence but there is no guarantee that this would be the case, as the UK Government may be unwilling to continue to support these costs. DECC’s analysis indicates that if Scottish bill payers had to meet the full costs of supporting Scottish large-scale renewables their bills could go up by an additional £189 by 2020. For a medium-sized manufacturer this would add £608,000 to their energy bill.

A single approach to energy doesn’t just mean that costs are spread evenly across the UK. The single market means that costs are kept to a minimum by allowing the energy industry to operate efficiently within a single regulatory framework. This ensures greater stability, improves competition and allows Scottish generators unrestricted access to the Great Britain (GB) market. All of this places downward pressure on energy prices and provides the best outcome for consumers, industry and investors. DECC’s analysis is clear that in the event of independence the GB market could not continue in its current form. That is because over time an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK would be likely to diverge in their approaches to energy policy. Independence would mean that the GB market would have two independent governments pursuing separate approaches to energy policy which could ultimately push up costs for households and business users as well as creating uncertainty for investors.

In the event of independence, maintaining as many of the benefits of a single market as possible would be a priority. But it is disingenuous to suggest the market could operate unchanged. A key difference would be the likely move to a more commercially focused relationship. Scotland would indeed continue to supply electricity to the UK but it would be one of a number of options and it is probable that the UK would seek to pay the market price for power.

Of course it is for Scottish voters to decide whether independence represents the best choice for them. And arguments over a single energy market are unlikely to stir many souls. Yet these are real issues that will have very real impacts on businesses and families across Scotland, and the Scottish Government is currently failing to answer the questions that will allow voters to make an informed decision. Our assessment is that if we want secure, clean and affordable energy then Scotland is better off as part of the UK.

Finance transformation: Everyone is doing it but few get it right

With the global economy and the business environment becoming more complex every day, companies and CFOs are increasingly keen to transform the finance function from a slightly aloof department within an organisation into an integral part of the business. For many companies, “transforming” finance is no longer a choice; it is the only way forward.

Yet, in spite of huge investments in new IT systems, shared service centres, process re-engineering, etc., our research has found that fewer than one in three finance transformations succeed. Leading CFOs attribute high failure rates to conventional transformation approaches focusing on the wrong levers of efficiency. As a first step on a transformation journey, most companies benchmark transactional effectiveness and finance IT capabilities. Often, the benchmark score results in an efficiency goal and the goal then becomes the cornerstone of the transformation strategy. This over reliance on efficiency benchmarks is flawed for two reasons.

First, these metrics only provide a backward looking perspective on departmental costs and, second, they focus on finance cost as a proportion of annual revenue even though functional complexity is just as much of functional cost. Benchmarking exercises are usually followed up with back office efficiency targets, often achievable only through greater levels of automation and centralisation. While better integrated finance IT solutions and shared service centres can be an attractive means to improving reporting capabilities, this is not a silver bullet for improving finance effectiveness and delivering targeted business support.

Which brings us to what works. Successful finance transformations do not just focus on how finance does things, they focus on what finance does. A successful transformation is about making difficult choices with regard to the activities finance will improve and which it will stop. It focuses on the back office (transaction processing, reporting) and the front office (analysis and decision support). They have a clear vision of the activities that create most value and drive business outcomes and which do not. Successful transformations understand the skills and competencies their staff need now and in the future and focus on unlocking trapped potential within the finance team and building stronger talent capabilities in the areas of weakness

To be successful, Finance must act like a profit centre

So here is a call to action for finance. It’s time to be brave. Drop the service centre mentality. Currently, 90% of finance departments aim to support every business partner request. In a resource constrained environment, it is simply not possible to meet an increasing volume of demand and simultaneously delight the internal customer. Instead, think about a finance departments as profit centres and act accordingly. In practice, this means doing following:

Build a finance strategy based on alignment with business goals rather than hitting a cost target.

Tier support based on business need and appropriate levels of risk.

Track the time and cost of ad-hoc requests.

In a business climate where the only certainty is continuous change, finance departments should not fall into the trap of trying to look like everyone else. Instead, build a vision for supporting business growth, scale back the activities that don’t contribute to this vision, and actively manage your internal customer to bring them with you on this journey.

A troubled union

There’s something wrong with Europe. No one can agree what IS THE euro crisis over? To judge from how often the words appear in global media (down by three-quarters between early 2012 and early 2014), the answer is yes. Markets have calmed since July 2012, when the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, promised to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. Ireland and now Portugal are climbing out of their bail-out programmes. Even Greece, where the crisis began, has just sold debt.

Yet, as these books all argue, the crisis was always about more than whether financial markets would buy government debt. It raised broad worries over how countries with widely differing levels of prosperity, competitiveness, public spending and taxes, and regulation of labour and product markets, could share a currency without economic shocks blowing them apart. And it was about whether euro-zone voters would accept low growth, high unemployment and a permanent loss of sovereignty to the centre. None of these concerns has been fully dealt with.

Jean Pisani-Ferry, who now works in the French prime minister’s office, was director of Bruegel, an influential Brussels think-tank during the crisis. His careful and persuasive book is an extensive updating of an essay published in French in 2011. And, although he is a supporter of the euro and of European integration, he describes thoroughly the hugely expensive mistakes made by Europe’s leaders.

The biggest error was to misunderstand the underlying causes of the crisis. Because the first victim was Greece, it became accepted wisdom in Brussels (and Berlin) that the problem was profligate spending and borrowing. The Germans liked this explanation because it confirmed the suspicions they had before the creation of the euro that they might be lumbered with other countries’ debts. It also looked susceptible to a gratifyingly simple cure: ever more fiscal austerity. And it avoided any suggestion that Germany might have contributed to the crisis by running a large current-account surplus that its banks recycled in cheap loans to Mediterranean property developers.

Mr Pisani-Ferry offers a challenging alternative hypothesis. Suppose that the crisis had begun, as it might easily have done, in Ireland? It would then have been obvious that fiscal irresponsibility was not the culprit: Ireland had a budget surplus and very low debt. More to blame were economic imbalances, inflated property prices and dodgy bank loans. The priority should not have been tax rises and spending cuts, but reforms to improve competitiveness and a swift resolution of troubled banks, including German and French ones, that lent so irresponsibly.

Philippe Legrain, who once worked for The Economist, was another close observer of the euro crisis, as an economic adviser to the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso. His conclusions are similar to Mr Pisani-Ferry’s, if more stridently expressed. He is particularly good on (and particularly scathing about) the shortcomings of his own institution and the ECB. He is not popular in Brussels or Frankfurt.

Mr Legrain argues that Europe should have tackled its banks’ problems much sooner than mid-2012, when it decided to create a (still incomplete) banking union. A big reason why America has recently grown faster than Europe is that it did more to sort out its banks in 2008-09. Mr Legrain is also right to criticise the ECB for its half-hearted bond purchases before July 2012, when it finally emerged as a proper lender of last resort. Only in the second part of his book, when he moves into broader topics such as education, innovation, climate change and democracy, culminating in his call for a “European spring”, are his arguments sometimes less persuasive.

Both authors agree that the aftermath of the crisis is an unsatisfactory one that may not endure. Even if markets do not turn sour again, most of Europe seems stuck with low growth, high unemployment (especially for young people) and a horrible debt burden. The risk of a “lost decade” similar to Japan’s in the 1990s is worryingly high. Worst of all is the broad disillusion of voters with the entire European project, which will be expressed in this month’s European elections through big gains for populist and extremist parties.

Roger Bootle has similarly gloomy concerns about the state of the European project, but his conclusions strike a far more Euro-sceptical tone. He wants to reduce the role of Brussels and enhance that of governments, with a call to “renationalise Europe”. He also believes that Britain, where David Cameron is threatening to hold an in/out referendum by 2017, is well-placed to push an agenda of reforms that turns the European project into little more than a somewhat expanded free-trade area—and that, if he does not succeed, Britain should leave the club (see article).

What is striking is how much the authors agree about the failings of the EU and the euro, which is stuck in a half-completed house. Where they differ is in the solutions they propose. Europhiles want deeper integration and more centralised powers. That was proposed this spring by the German-led Glienicker group and by the French-led Eiffel Europe group. It is also backed by LoukasTsoukalis, a Greek academic, in an essay, “The Unhappy State of the Union”, published by London-based Policy Network.

Yet few voters feel warmly about ever closer union; many would agree with Mr Bootle that this aspiration of the original Treaty of Rome should be formally ditched. Nor do many welcome ever greater intrusion by Brussels and Frankfurt into domestic politics. A more plausible idea, backed by Mr Legrain, is to restore greater freedom to national governments but reinstate the principle that they will not be rescued by the centre if they get into trouble.

The biggest worry may stem from the perception that the crisis is over. This is likely to slow or even stop further reforms. If that happens, the EU and the euro will get into trouble again—and the outcome next time could be even worse.

Weighing the future

OVER the past two weeks the world has received sobering news concerning the melting of polar ice. Unexpectedly deep canyons in Greenland's bedrock mean that its retreating glaciers will be in contact with warm ocean water for longer, and will therefore melt faster. And in West Antarctica a wall of glaciers separating a vast basin of ice from the sea is coming apart far faster than anticipated, suggesting that quite a lot of sea level rise is now unavoidable and will occur faster and more dramatically than anticipated.

So, time to sell that oceanfront property? Perhaps not. Many of the reports covering the news read like this:

A large part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, a massive expanse of frozen water that flows into the Amundsen Sea, is likely already in the process of collapsing, probably irreversibly. A pair of studies show that part of the sheet is melting more quickly than previously thought, and that several of its large glaciers will probably melt into the ocean, raising global sea levels at least 10 feet in the coming centuries. And it cannot be stopped.

For many readers the sense of anxiety no doubt melted away like a chunk of polar ice at the qualification "in coming centuries". Sea level rise is just one of many ways in which global climate change will affect humanity, and serious repercussions from other phenomena—like longer, more frequent, and more intense severe weather patterns—will become meaningful problems long before rising seas begin disrupting the economy (unfortunately for those living in places like the Maldives). But all of these changes will be felt most severely decades or centuries down the road: after our children, and our children's children, are gone.

That is a nasty complication for economists trying to figure out the most appropriate way to respond to climate change. Some economists, like Martin Weitzman, reckon that significant investment may be justified now as a form of insurance. There is a risk that climate change will happen faster or be more costly than we anticipate, possibly threatening humanity's very existence. Whether or not it makes sense to pay to cut emissions in order to enjoy the benefits of slower warming, it is worth taking action now in order to reduce the odds of a civilisation-ending outcome.

Though that argument makes quite a lot of sense, it does leave some economists unsatisfied. Surely the costs of warming are high enough that it's worth cutting emissions to stop it, whether or not it threatens our very existence, right?

It seems like that ought to be the case. But to suss that out, we have to make an assumption about discount rates—that is, how much we, today, should value benefits received well down the line—in order to compare costs today to benefits tomorrow.

If one believes that humanity should take drastic action now even though it might slow economic growth, one has to assume that future costs will be very, very big or that people living today place significant value on benefits realised 50 or 100 or 500 years down the line. And that strikes many dismal scientists as implausible. It is easy enough to imagine that people living today care about benefits that might accrue to them in their old age, or that of their children or grandchildren. But look much beyond a century and the beneficiaries become too distant to count much in our mental calculus.

Discount rates, in other words, are high. In a lot of climate modelling, researchers use discount rates of around 4% to 6% (common estimates of the average rate of return to capital) to calculate the present value of future benefits from reduced emissions today. That sort of rate implies that humans should do a bit to save the planet, but only just a bit. Lower discount rates, like the 1.4% effective rate used by Sir Nicholas Stern in his review of the economic risks from climate change, imply that humanity should be willing to be substantial costs in the present to protect generations in the distant future from harm.

Unfortunately, peeling apart how people actually discount benefits centuries or more in the future is very hard. But a fascinating new NBER working paper uses a clever approach to take a crack at it.

The authors exploit an oddity in British real estate: Britons buying a home may either purchase what is known as a freehold (which means they own the land outright) or a leasehold (which means they "own" it for the duration of the leasehold). But leaseholds aren't like your standard rental contract; they often grant ownership for periods between 80 and 999 years. The authors reckon that by finding the premium paid for freeholds relative to super-long-dated leaseholds on otherwise identical properties, they can come up with an estimate of how distant benefits are actually valued in the market.

Remarkably, they find that people pay a premium of 10%-15% less for 100-year leaseholds and 5%-8% less for leaseholds of between 125-150 years. Only for leaseholds of 700 years or more do they detect no difference in price. On the whole, they reckon, a discount rate of about 2.6% appears to apply out well beyond a century. Oddly enough, people are willing to part with real money now in exchange for benefit flows accruing well beyond any reasonable expected lifespan

That won't make it any easier to generate the political support for meaningful action to slow climate change. But it does make it harder to justify delay based on the fact that people simply don't care much about the distant future.

1^Арнольд И. В. Стилистика. Современный английский язык. М.: Флинта, 2002. - 384 с.

2^ГуревичВ. В. English Stylistics. Стилистика английского языка. Учебное пособие. Изд. 5-е – М.: Флинта, 2011. - 69 с.

3^ Скребнев Ю.М. Основы стилистики английского языка. Учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. (на англ. яз.) 2-е издание, исправленное. М.: "Астрель, АСТ", 2000. -224 с.

4^ Ивашкин И.В., Сдобников В.В., Селяев А.В. Практикум по стилистике английского языка. 2-е издание. Нижний Новгород: Изд-во НГЛУ, 2002.

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