10月14日午间英语新闻：西班牙拟推出“数字游民签证” 最长可居住五年

Spain plans ‘digital nomad’ visa scheme to attract remote workers
西班牙拟推出“数字游民签证” 最长可居住五年

Spain plans to issue “digital nomad” visas which will give non-EU citizens the chance to work in the sun and enjoy a lower cost of living with tax breaks thrown in for good measure.
西班牙计划发放“数字游民签证”，让非欧盟公民有机会在阳光普照的西班牙办公，并享受税收减免带来的低成本生活。（注：数字游民指不需要到固定地点上班、依靠互联网便可谋生的人群。）

The visas will be offered to people who work remotely for enterprises outside Spain and who derive a maximum of 20% of their income from Spanish firms.
这一签证将向为西班牙境外企业远程工作的人提供，前提是他们从西班牙企业获得的收入不超过他们收入的20%。

As the law has yet to be passed, there are still some details to be hammered out but it is expected that the visa – essentially a residency permit – will be initially valid for one year, renewable for up to five years depending on the applicant’s circumstances. Close relatives, such as a spouse or children, will be eligible to join the applicant.
尽管西班牙尚未通过相关法规，部分细则也有待敲定，但预计这种签证（本质上是居住许可证）最初有效期为一年，随后可以依据申请者情况续签至最多五年，配偶和子女等近亲也可以一同申请。

Applicants must be from outside the European Economic Area and be able to demonstrate that they have been working remotely for at least a year. They must have a contract of employment or, if freelance, show that they have been regularly employed by a company outside Spain.
申请者必须来自欧洲经济区以外国家，并能证明自己已远程办公至少一年。他们必须持有雇佣合同，如果是自由职业者，则必须证明自己常受雇于某个西班牙以外的企业或机构。

They must also demonstrate that they will earn enough to be self-sufficient and that they have an address in Spain.
另外，申请者必须证明自己的收入可以自给自足，并在西班牙有住所。

For the first four years they will be taxed at 15%, rather than the standard 25% base rate.
拿到“数字游民签证”者在西班牙居住的前四年里可以享受15%的优惠税率，而当地标准税率为25%。

Spain joins 15 other European countries that offer some version of a digital nomad visa. Each country has its own set of conditions.
目前已经有15个欧洲国家推出类似的“数字游民签证”，各国有自己的申请条件。

In Croatia, for example, applicants must be earning at least €2,300 a month, in Estonia €3,500, in Iceland €7,100 and in Portugal only €700. It’s thought that Spain will set a minimum monthly income of about €2,000.
比如，克罗地亚要求申请者月收入不低于2300欧元，爱沙尼亚要求不低于3500欧元，冰岛要求达到7100欧元，葡萄牙的最低门槛则只有700欧元。据估计，西班牙将把申请者最低月收入门槛设定在2000欧元左右。

Greece introduced a digital nomad law in October 2021, offering residency of one to three years. Applicants must have a monthly income of €3,500.
希腊于2021年10月出台了数字游民法，向数字游民提供一至三年的居住权。申请者月收入必须达到3500欧元。

Some countries demand that you have cash in the bank – €5,500 in the case of the Czech Republic – as well as income. Some may also insist on private health insurance.
有些国家除了收入限制外，还要求你在银行里有存款，比如捷克共和国要求银行存款达到5500欧元。另外一些国家还要求申请者拥有私人医疗保险。

Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona are already popular among the EU’s digital nomads, with the latter proving a favored destination for startups as the city aspires to become a technology hub and less dependent on tourism.
西班牙的马德里、巴伦西亚和巴塞罗那原本就是欧盟的数字游民热门聚居地，事实证明，巴塞罗那还是很受初创企业欢迎的目的地，该市立志要成为技术中心，减少对旅游业的依赖。

Excellent 4G cover that is almost everywhere in Spain is tempting some nomads to set themselves up in rural areas where rent is very low. Internet speed is among the fastest in Europe and, at 148Mbps, almost double the UK speed of 75Mbps.
西班牙几乎覆盖各个角落的优质4G网络吸引着一些数字游民在租金很低的乡村地区落脚。西班牙的网速是欧洲最快的，达到148兆比特每秒，是英国网速（75兆比特每秒）的近两倍。

However, for residents of cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, one negative effect is that nomads push up rent as people working remotely for US or UK companies can command much higher salaries and pay higher rent than locals.
但是，对于马德里和巴塞罗那等城市的居民而言，数字游民涌入的一个负面影响是会推高当地房租，因为远程为英美公司工作的人能领到远超当地人的薪水，能支付得起的租金也高得多。

According to a report published this year, in Spain the average monthly salary is €1,751, 20% less than the EU average of €2,194.
根据今年发布的一份报告，西班牙的月均工资水平为1751欧元，比欧盟平均水平（2194欧元）低20%。

重点词汇：
nomad
英 /ˈnəʊmæd/ 美 /ˈnoʊmæd/
n.游牧民，游牧部落一员；流浪者，不断更换工作的人
adj.游牧的，流浪的

Why don't woodpecker brains get damaged from pecking? 
最新研究！啄木鸟每天啄树，为什么不会得脑震荡？

A strong hit to the head will normally give you a concussion. Woodpeckers, however, strike their beaks into trees thousands of times a day and are perfectly fine.
头部受到重击通常会造成脑震荡。然而，啄木鸟每天用喙啄树上千遍，却仍安然无恙。

We used to think that a woodpecker’s skull worked as a kind of safety helmet which absorbed the shocks. A new study by Sam Van Wassenbergh, a researcher at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, proved that this “common sense” assumption was in fact false.
我们过去认为啄木鸟的头骨像是某种安全头盔，可以吸收冲击。比利时安特卫普大学的研究人员山姆•范•瓦森伯格发布了一项新研究，证明这种“普遍认知”实际上是错误的。

Wassenbergh and his colleagues argued that, if a woodpecker’s head absorbed the force, it would not be able to strike the tree with enough force.
瓦森伯格及其同事认为，如果啄木鸟靠头部吸收了撞击带来的冲击力，就无法以足够的力道啄树。

“If the beak absorbed much of its own impact, the unfortunate bird would have to pound even harder,” they said in their paper. In other words, if the theory were true, the woodpecker would have to peck even harder to compensate for both the shock-absorbing qualities of the sponge-like bone inside its skull as well as the density of the wood.
范•瓦森伯格团队在论文中写道:“如果啄木鸟通过喙吸收了自己大部分的冲击力，那么这只不幸的鸟将不得不更加用力撞击。”换句话说，如果“安全头盔”理论是正确的，受啄木鸟头骨内海绵状骨头减震特性和木材密度的影响，啄木鸟将不得不更加用力啄树去补偿缓冲掉的力。

The research suggested that woodpeckers don’t have any shock-absorbing device or the ability to reduce the amount of force. Although they are without “helmets”, the team claimed that the woodpeckers’ tiny size and weight protect them.
研究表明，啄木鸟没有任何减震器或减少冲击力的能力。不过研究团队表示，啄木鸟虽然没有“头盔”，但其体型微小，体重较轻，对自身起到了保护作用。

A woodpecker’s brain is about 700 times smaller than that of a human. “Smaller animals can withstand higher decelerations. Think about a fly hits a window and then just flies back again,” Van Wassenbergh said. “So that is why even the hardest hits we observed are not expected to cause any concussion.”
啄木鸟的大脑比人类的大脑小约700倍。“较小的动物可以承受较高的减速。试想一只苍蝇撞到窗户，然后又飞了回来，”范•瓦森伯格说，“所以，这就是哪怕我们观察到最严重的撞击，也不会给啄木鸟造成任何脑震荡的原因。”

重点词汇：

concussion
英 /kənˈkʌʃn/ 美 /kənˈkʌʃn/
n. 冲击；震荡；脑震荡