2016年考研英語必讀《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》節(jié)選：紐約政治

　　New York politics

　　紐約政治

　　Tarnished Silver

　　褪去光環(huán)的西爾弗

　　A prosecutor takes on New York state's culture of corruption

　　一個(gè)檢查官呈現(xiàn)出紐約腐敗文化

　　The six-million-dollar-man

　　擁有六百萬美元的男人

　　“ CORRUPTION'S such an old song that we can sing along in harmony/ And nowhere is it stronger than inAlbany.”These lines from“Hamilton”, a musical about Alexander Hamilton now playing inNew York, got an especially loud laugh on January 22nd. That morning Sheldon Silver, the long-serving and powerful Speaker of theNew Yorkstate Assembly, was arrested by the FBI and indicted in a federal court on five corruption charges. Each charge could carry a sentence of20 years.

　　“腐敗是一首如此古老的歌曲，以至于我們可以獨(dú)自娓娓唱來，并且這里的腐敗之風(fēng)比奧爾巴尼更強(qiáng)?！边@些句子來自于“漢密爾頓”，一個(gè)有關(guān)亞歷山大·漢密爾頓的音樂劇1 月22日就在在紐約上演，并反響強(qiáng)烈。那天早晨，長期就職于議會(huì)并且擁有強(qiáng)大發(fā)言權(quán)的紐約州眾議院議長謝爾頓·西爾弗，被美國聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局逮捕，并在聯(lián)邦法庭上被指控五項(xiàng)腐敗事實(shí)，每項(xiàng)罪名均面臨最高20 年刑期。

　　According to the complaint, Mr Silver, a Democrat who has served in the Assembly for 38 years and has been Speaker for 21, received more than $6mfrom two law firms. This included $700,000 in“bribes and kickbacks” for inducing “real-estate developers with business before the state” to use a particular property-law firm; $5.3mfrom Weitz and Luxenberg, a law firm that handles personal-injury cases.

　　根據(jù)投訴，在議會(huì)任職了38 年并且擔(dān)任發(fā)言人21 年的民主黨人西爾弗先生，從兩個(gè)律師事務(wù)所收受了超過600 萬美元的資金。這其中包括，通過給一個(gè)律師事務(wù)所介紹房地產(chǎn)商而獲得的70 萬美元回扣。以及從一家處理人身傷害案件的法律公司韋茨盧森博格那里獲得的530萬美金。

　　Among other things, he allegedly directed state grants to a doctor who then referred clients to an unsuspecting Weitz for asbestos lawsuits. Preet Bharara, the prosecutor, said that Mr Silver had amassed “a tremendous personal fortune—through the abuse of his political power”. He denies it all. The law firms are not accused of wrongdoing.

　　在其他方面，他涉嫌直接將州資金支持給予一位醫(yī)生，而這位醫(yī)生后來又涉及了石棉訴訟案。檢察官普里特·巴拉拉說，西爾弗已經(jīng)“通過濫用他的政治權(quán)利積累了巨額的個(gè)人財(cái)富?！彼裾J(rèn)了這一切，這個(gè)律師事務(wù)所沒有因?yàn)槿魏尾环ㄐ袨槎艿街缚亍?/p>

　　In 2011 Citizens Union, a watchdog, reported that legislators in Albanywere more likely to leave office under a cloud than in a coffin. Since 2000, 28 have left in disgrace and four have been indicted. The New York Post reported that Mr Silver regularly sent a $100 cheque to the campaign fund of a former district attorney. The story goes that if the cheque was cashed, Mr Silver would joke that he knew he was not in any trouble.

　　在2011 年，監(jiān)督者公民聯(lián)盟，報(bào)道說奧爾巴尼的議員活在強(qiáng)權(quán)政治的陰影下而不是走向垮臺(tái)。自2000 以來，28 位立法者已經(jīng)引咎辭職并且有四位已經(jīng)被起訴。紐約郵報(bào)報(bào)道，西爾弗定期會(huì)向前檢察官的競選基金發(fā)送一張100 美元的支票。故事是這樣的，如果支票兌現(xiàn)，他會(huì)開玩笑說他知道他不會(huì)有任何的麻煩。

　　That cavalier attitude was hardly surprising, given the power he had. Most legislators were firmly under his thumb. He could advance or kill legislation with a nod. Sensible ideas like congestion pricing did not even make it to the Assembly floor. Power inAlbanyis entrenched in the hands of the governor, the Senate majority leader (usually a Republican) and the Assembly Speaker (usually a Democrat). These “three men in a room” often give their underlings just a few hours to review bills the size of encyclopedias; lawmakers then vote as they are told, for fear of being denied money for their districts.

　　那傲慢的態(tài)度并不奇怪，因?yàn)樗袡?quán)力。大多數(shù)的議員們堅(jiān)定地服從于他。他可以輕松地將立法提前或者扼殺。諸如堵車費(fèi)這樣的明智想法是不可能進(jìn)入議會(huì)議題中的。在奧爾巴尼，權(quán)力總是牢牢掌握在參議院多數(shù)黨領(lǐng)袖(通常是共和黨人)和議會(huì)議長(通常是民主黨)這些執(zhí)政者手中?！叭齻€(gè)人在一個(gè)房間里“，經(jīng)常只會(huì)給下屬只有小時(shí)的時(shí)間來審查各式各樣的票據(jù)，議員們因?yàn)閾?dān)心其所在的區(qū)域失去加薪機(jī)會(huì)而不得不按照他們的指示投票。

　　The once-obedient rank-and-file of the Assembly at first appeared to stand by their leader, but then abandoned him. On January 27th they announced that a new Speaker would be appointed in February. The Assembly is now in chaos, while lawmakers elbow each other aside for his job.Meanwhile, important budget negotiations simply have to wait.

　　這個(gè)井然有序的議會(huì)一開始由他們的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者建立，而領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者在后來卻被議會(huì)遺棄。1 月27日，他們發(fā)表聲明稱將在二月份選出新的發(fā)言人。議會(huì)現(xiàn)在一片混亂，議員們互相推諉工作。同時(shí)，重要的預(yù)算談判也只能等待了。

　　The affair has caused some to call for term limits for lawmakers. Such calls have been heard before, but most changes have been token. During his campaign for governor ofNew Yorkin 2010,Andrew Cuomo vowed to clean upAlbany. But his anti-corruption law and an ethics task-force did not go far enough. Later Mr Cuomo went one better, setting up the Moreland Commission to root out public corruption. But he disbanded it last March with, curiously enough, Mr Silver's enthusiastic backing.

　　該事件也引起了一些有關(guān)對(duì)國會(huì)議員的任期進(jìn)行限制的呼吁。這樣的倡議在之前就已經(jīng)提出來過電話已經(jīng)聽說過，但絕大部分的改變已經(jīng)被實(shí)施。2010 年，在他競選紐約州州長的期間內(nèi)，安德魯發(fā)誓要肅清奧爾巴尼。但是他的反腐敗法和道德工作推動(dòng)力遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)還不夠。后來科莫想到了一個(gè)更的辦法，建立莫蘭委員會(huì)來根除社會(huì)腐敗。但奇怪的是，在三月份他就在西爾弗的大力支持下將委員解散了。

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