2015考研英语阅读印度的反腐败抗议

　　Anti-corruption protests in India

　　印度的反腐败抗议

　　SQUELCHING barefoot in the sludge atRamlila Maidan, a park in central Delhi, a middle-aged manpraises the peopleslove for his guru, Anna Hazare. His eyes shine with zeal and hunger. Hislegs have cramp from fasting, for over a week, beside his 74-year-old leader. Sowhat? We trainour bodies to go without food for 30 days, he says. To loseflesh is to gain energy.

　　赤脚穿行于德里市中心Ramlila Maiden兰姆力拉广场公园的淤泥中，一位中年男子表达着对他心目中的领袖安纳哈扎尔的爱戴之情。他的眼神闪烁着激情和饥饿。一周多来追随其74岁领袖，他的双腿因绝食而痉挛。这又怎样呢?他说，30天来我们绝食来训练我们的身体。牺牲肉身来获取精力。

　　Mr Hazare, who has himself lost 6kg, isprone on a platform nearby, framed by a huge posterof Mahatma Gandhi, whosemethods he has adopted. A bank of television cameras and adevoted crowd, tensof thousands strong, watch him intently, day and night, cheering andchantingin a sea of mud. Groups of uniformed schoolboys march about, flourishing theIndiantricolour. Young men sport white Gandhi caps with I am Anna penned onthe sides.

　　哈扎尔先生本人，已经减轻了6公斤体重，仰卧于附近的一座平台之上，背景是一副巨型的甘地画像，他正沿用着甘地的方式。无数的摄像机，数万名忠实的群众，日夜不分的专心的看着他，在一片泥海中不时发出喝彩和颂扬之声。一群群着装统一的学生挥舞着印度三色旗游行示威。年轻人头戴侧面写有我是安纳字样的甘地式帽子。

　　Trade is brisk in Hazare rosettes,headbands, T-shirts, and badges. Five rupees getsthree swipes ofpaintsaffron, white, greenon your cheek. Even police X-ray gateshavecorruption-free India scrawled on them. Dozens of cities have their ownmarches andprotests. The countrys thicket of excitable cable-news networksreports on nothing else.

　　与哈扎尔有关的玫瑰花饰、头带、T恤和徽章生意兴隆。5个卢比就可以在你脸上画上橘黄、白、绿三色条。甚至警察的x射线安检门都涂上了印度远离腐败。数十个城市都有自己的游行和抗议。该国容易亢奋的有线资讯网团体除此之外什么都不予关注。

　　Mr Hazares campaign has turned him froma notedsocial reformer into a national figure. He hasdemanded that, by the endof the month, parliamentpass a bill his team has written setting up ananti-graft ombudsman, or Lokpal, tooversee every partof government from the serving prime minister andSupremeCourt down, holding every governmentbody accountable for corruption andpotentiallybecoming a powerful new arm of the state.

　　哈扎尔的举动已经使他从一个知名的社会改革者变成了全国瞩目的人物。他要求在本月底前，议会通过一项他团队草拟的议案，该议案要求设立反腐官员、或委员会，来监管包括总理到最高法院在内的所有政府机构，使每一个政府部门都接受反腐审计，有可能成为国家一个新的有力臂膀。

　　On August 24th, after talks with MrHazare, the ruling Congress Party called an all-party meetingat the primeministers residence, which agreed to resist the activist. A day earlier theprimeminister, Manmohan Singh, had been rebuffed after begging Mr Hazare tocall off the fast for thesake of his health and a shared goal of wiping outcorruption.

　　8月24日，在与哈扎尔会谈之后，执政党在总理官邸召开了一次全党会议，会上同意回绝这位活动家。一天前，总理辛格请求哈扎尔看在自身健康和扫除腐败的共同目标的情分上取消绝食的建议遭到拒绝。

　　In the end the government may havelittle option but to give in to the street protesters, but asof August 25th itwas playing for time. Although one ageing but spirited opposition leader,L.K.Advani, has urged the government to quit and call a fresh election, nobody elseseemedkeen. Even Mr Advanis Bharatiya Janata Party quickly said it did notwant early polls.

　　也许最终政府除了向街头示威者妥协外并无多少选择，不过才25号，它仍有时间。虽然一位年长却精神矍铄的反对派领导人L.K. Advani已经要求政府下台并举行新的大选，但无人响应。甚至Advani自己的印度人民党也很快说无意于提前选举。

　　Quite how Mr Singhs governmentjustifies its keep, however, is growing harder to see. By turnsit has beeninept and indecisive over this affair, while failing to get anything else doneeither.Last week it briefly jailed and tried to muzzle Mr Hazare, whichguaranteed him wide publicityand sympathy instead. That was followed by a daftclaim by Congress that the Americans wereegging on the protesters. RahulGandhi, who with three others is supposed to run Congresswhile his mother,Sonia, gets medical care abroad, has been deafeningly silent, absent fromDelhiand offering no leadership.

　　如何证明其执政的正当性，辛格政府对此保持沉默，然而，这一点也越发难以体现。无力在其他事上有所突破的同时，在这件事上的转变只代表其无能和犹豫不决。上周辛格政府只是拘禁了哈扎尔，试图使其闭嘴，这反而使得哈扎尔名声大震而且深得同情。之后国会发表一份可笑的申明，说美国人在抗议者中煽风点火。当其母Sonia在国外接受医疗的时候，Rahul Gandhi和其他三人一起被认为是国会领导人，但她装聋作哑，既不在德里也不承担任何领导职责。

　　Those dismayed by both graft andpoliticianshopelessness have felt increasingly inclined to fall inbehind MrHazare. Protesters moved from publicsquares to camp outside the Delhi homesofgovernment ministers and MPs, unsettling theoccupants. One protester set fireto himself onAugust 23rd.

　　那些对腐败和政客的无能感到失望的人们逐渐倾向于支持哈扎尔。示威者们从公共广场转移到政府部长和议员们位于德里的住址外围安营扎寨，使这些官员很不安。8月23日一位示威者还纵火自焚。

　　By mid-week Mr Hazares supportersclaimed they were within sight of a great triumph. Theybrushed aside questionsabout parliamentary democracy being undermined by a minority ofstreetprotesters. A bunged-up system needed a jolt, they retorted. A newly assertiveurbanmiddle class looks ever readier to push elected leaders to actin their interest.

　　截至周中哈扎尔的支持者们说他们看到了伟大胜利的曙光。他们对议会民主被一小部分街头抗议者侵蚀的质疑置之不理。他们反驳说，一个阻塞的系统需要敲击。一个新兴的自信的城市中层阶级似乎已准备迫使民选领袖代表他们的利益。

　　Cooler heads, however, are wary. Tocraft a campaign against corruption into a movementaround a single figure isfaintly troubling. The claim that Anna is India, India is Anna soundscloseto cult-speak. As it happens, the Supreme Court, the auditor-general, a panoplyof civilactivists and a more assertive press have all helped to hold thecorrupt to account this year.Several powerful figures have been jailed.

　　然而，冷静的头脑行事谨慎。将一个反腐败运动塑造成围绕某单一个人的行动毫不费力。安纳即印度、印度即安纳这个口号听起来很像一个邪教的说法。巧合的是，最高院、总检察长、一位民主活动家的盛典和一家坚决果断的媒体都有助于今年开展腐败审查。一些权势人物已经锒铛入狱。

　　Other doubts exist about Mr Hazare. SomeMuslim leaders are suspicious of the nationalist, andwhat they see as at timesHindu-dominated, tone and imagery of his campaign. Low-casteDalits, whorallied separately in Delhi on August 24th, also question his stand. They fretthat ifstreet protesters can, in effect, make one constitutional change, anattack might follow on atreasured but controversial constitutional provision reservingjobs and more for the lowestcastes.

　　也有一些对哈扎尔的疑问。一些穆斯林领导人对其民族主义心存疑虑，他们在其运动中时常看到印度教为主的语调和图像。8月24号，在德里单独集会的低等级的贱民们，也质疑其立场。他们忧愁于如果街头抗议者真能有效的做出宪法的修改，接下来可能就会攻击一个宝贵而有争议的宪法条款，即提供一些保留职位，而其中绝大部分是给最底层民众的。

　　Mostly sceptics bristle at Mr Hazaresmethods. The most revered Dalit leader, the late B.R.Ambedkar, chief draftsmanof Indias constitution, has been much quoted this week for an earlywarningabout the grammar of anarchy, by which he meant using Gandhi-style fasts toimposeyour will on a democratic government. Hunger strikes, a form ofblackmail, might have beenjustified against the British, but not againstelected leaders.

　　绝大部分怀疑者不满于哈扎尔的方法。最受尊敬的贱民领袖，印度宪法主起草人，B.R.Ambedkar，其早前对他所谓的用甘地式的绝食把自己的意愿强加于民主政府的无政府原则的警告本周被多次援引。绝食抗议作为一种勒索方式，也许可以用于英国殖民者，却不应针对民选领袖。

　　Such grumbles will not dent Mr Hazaresprogress. His camp hints at possible future campaignson electoral changes andeducation reform. Rival fasters might also jump in since a hungerstrikesextended drama so clearly suits live television. Yet elected politicians canpush back. Theyhave an easy way to remind voters how they matter, by gettingon and passing many long-promised bills, for example on further economicreform. Dull and undramatic: but for manyvoters it matters at least as much ascorruption.

　　这些牢骚不会阻碍哈扎尔的脚步。其营地暗示在未来有可能发起对选举和教育的改革的运动。既然绝食抗议这部大戏如此适合电视直播，敌对的绝食者也可能会跳出来。不过当选的政客也能接招。他们只需通过大量远期的法案，如更深刻的经济改革，就可以很容易的提醒选民们他们对此十分在意。乏味而平淡无奇，但对许多选民而言，这和腐败一样重要。