[E333]A confession to make|经济学人
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第5期，China版块。
Banyan
What the current vogue for televised confessions and apologies says about Xi Jinping’s China
Jan 30th 2016
LOVE, as Ali MacGraw[艾丽·麦古奥] once sobbed, means never having to say you’re sorry[爱就意味着你永远不必说对不起(《爱情的故事》中的对白)]. Working in China is the opposite: you have to say sorry quite often. A handwritten sheet of paper, ideally smudged by contrite teardrops, used to do the trick[获得成功;达到目的;达到(预期的)效果;完成某项任务]. But these days, it sometimes seems, an apology is worth anything only if it is made on national television. In recent months all sorts of people have unburdened themselves in this way: a leading financial journalist distressed at having helped create the “panic and disorder” in China’s markets[造成中国市场的混乱和恐慌]; a Hong Kong publisher of muckraking books about Chinese politics, who disappeared from a beach resort[海滩度假村] in Thailand; a Swede[swiːd][瑞典人] who had for seven years run a group in Beijing offering legal help to Chinese citizens.
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▷ smudge [smʌdʒ]
vt. 弄脏,涂污;用浓烟熏
vi. 被弄脏;形成污迹
n. 污点,污迹;烟熏火堆
She kissed me, careful not to smudge me with her fresh lipstick.
她小心翼翼地吻了我，以免把刚刚抹上的口红弄到我脸上。
▷ contrite [kən'traɪt]
【释义】We are sorry to inform you that the adjective contrite means to feel regret, remorse, or even guilt.
adj. 悔悟了的;后悔的;悔罪的
In fact, he sounded somber and contrite.
事实上，他的声音听起来又沮丧又后悔。
▷ unburden [,ʌn'bɝdn]
【释义】take the burden off; remove the burden from
vt. 吐露;卸去...的负担
There's got to be somebody in the world that you can unburden yourself with.
这世界上总有那么一个人你可以向他吐露心事。
▷ muckraking ['mʌkrekɪŋ]
【释义】the exposure of scandal (especially about public figures)
n. 收集并揭发名人丑闻
adj. 专门揭发名人丑闻的
The Prime Minister accused opposition leaders of muck-raking.
首相指控反对党领袖传播丑闻。
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They and many others have confessed their “crimes” to the cameras and apologised for the trouble they have caused. Westerners, even those addicted to reality TV, find these displays on prime-time[黄金时段] news shows appalling. America’s State Department[国务院] expressed concern this month about the growing number who “appear to have been coerced to confess to alleged crimes[被迫承认所指控的犯罪事实] on state media”. It does indeed look bad—an echo[(言语,作风,思想等的)重复;仿效,模仿;附和] of Mao’s tyranny, when those accused of wronging the Great Helmsman[伟大的舵手(指代Mao)] were forced to kneel in dunces’ caps[被罚时所戴的纸帽;头戴高帽] before braying mobs. So it is worth pondering['pɔndəriŋ][沉思,默想,考虑] why the Chinese authorities do it.
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▷ confess [kən'fes]
【释义】When you confess, you admit to doing something wrong. You might feel guilty about eating the entire platter of chocolate chip cookies and confess to your mom before she notices. If she presses charges, you would confess to the cookie crime.
vt.&vi 承认;坦白;忏悔;供认
She confessed her sins.
她忏悔她的罪过。
▷ appalling [ə'pɔlɪŋ]
【释义】Something that is appalling is awful or horrible, causing dismay or disgust. It's definitely not appealing.
adj. 可怕的;令人震惊的;骇人听闻的
They have been living under the most appalling conditions for two months.
他们已经在恶劣不堪的条件下生活两个月了。
▷ coerce [ko'ɝs]
【释义】You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can coerce — or pressure — someone to attend your office holiday party, but you can't make them have fun.
vt. 强制,迫使
He was coerced into signing the contract.
他被迫签了合同。
▷ tyranny ['tɪrəni]
【释义】Tyranny is a noun that describes a repressive and arbitrarily cruel regime. Don't accuse your mother of tyranny just because she won't let you play video games all weekend long.
n. 暴政;专横;严酷
Freedom from tyranny is a principle we should always defend.
从专制中获得自由是一个我们应该永远维护的原则。
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Two possible answers can be quickly dismissed[解散的,被排除的]: these confessions have nothing to do with justice or truth[与司法公正和真理事实都无关]. The judicial process[司法程序;审判程序] does not require a public apology[公开道歉] or admission of guilt[承认有罪]. Indeed, any chance of a fair trial[公平审判] is jeopardised[危害;使陷危地;使受危困] by a verdict[判决;结论;裁定] decided in advance, delivered by the accused[被告] himself and widely broadcast.
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If the concern were to inform viewers of the true facts of a controversial case[有争议案件], then the confessions would be more credible. Instead, however, people are told, for example, a far-fetched[牵强附会的] story about Gui Minhai, the Hong Kong bookseller who vanished[失踪] in October from Pattaya[芭堤雅] in Thailand. In his televised statement Mr Gui said that he had returned to China voluntarily[自愿地], to answer questions about a hit-and-run[] road accident[肇事逃逸交通事故] in 2003 in the Chinese port of Ningbo in which a young woman had been killed.
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So viewers are asked to believe that Mr Gui, who is a Swedish citizen, was smitten by remorse[懊悔;悔改;同情] for an accident that happened 12 years earlier. Perhaps, when the lightning bolt struck[晴天霹雳;被闪电击中], he was parasailing['pærəselɪŋ][帆伞/滑翔], or merely enjoying his beachfront view[欣赏海滨景色] over a mai tai[迈泰(酒)]. Either way, he abruptly forsook the good life to face the music[勇敢地面对困难;接受应得的惩罚], apparently smuggling himself out of Thailand without troubling the Thai border authorities. Similarly, Peter Dahlin, another apologetic Swede, this month belatedly[延迟地;延续地] realised that his legal-aid[法律援助,法律帮助] activities had broken the law[违法] and hurt the feelings of the Chinese people[伤害了中国人民的感情]. His apology was followed by expulsion[ɪk'spʌlʃ(ə)n; ek-][驱逐;开除] from China.
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▷ smite [smaɪt]
【释义】To smite is to strike with a heavy blow. If you’re playing an ancient Norse warrior in a play, you might get to smite your enemy with a club.
vt. 打;重击;毁灭;侵袭;[常用被动语态]迷住;使神魂颠倒
vi. 打;重击
God will smite our enemies.
上帝将击溃我们的敌人.
▷ forsake [fɔrˈsek, fə-]
【释义】To forsake another person is to leave them entirely, usually in a moment of need.
vt. 放弃;断念
But the President insisted that he would forsake his position only if “they kill me.
但总统坚持说，除非“他们杀了我”，否则他不会放弃这个位置。
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A third red herring[转移注意力的话题;与事实不相干的论点] is the notion that public confession and contrition[公开认罪和忏悔] is something that Chinese, or East Asian, culture demands[文化需求]. Seven decades ago, writing about Japan, Ruth Benedict[鲁思·本尼迪克特], an American anthropologist[,ænθrə'pɒlədʒɪst][人类学家；人类学者], posited a distinction between “shame” cultures[提出了耻感文化/面子文化之间的区别], where the fear of public humiliation[害怕当众受辱] helps regulate behaviour[(日本人)害怕当众受辱有助于规范(人们的)行为], and those, like America and Europe, ruled by “guilt”, and so constrained by the power of individual consciences[个人良知/道德]. The idea is controversial, and in many circles[在很多情况下] dismissed; but it is true that, across East Asia, public shaming[公开羞辱;游街示众] seems an important part of political and even corporate life[企业生命/存亡]. Take a Japanese company, Takata, which makes car airbags[汽车安全气囊]. After these turned out last year to be defective[有缺陷的;不完美的], its executives[ɪg'zekjʊtɪvz][高管们;主管们] faced the press to say sorry, and bowed deeply[深深鞠躬]. Similar rules apply in South Korea: witness the way Chou Tzu-yu, a Taiwanese member of Twice, a Korean pop group, was this month hauled[硬拖,硬拉] in front of the cameras to apologise for having waved a Taiwanese flag on Korean television—an act her managers fear may damage Twice’s sales in China.
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Some academics have suggested that shame works better in a system, such as China’s, where maintaining harmony[保持/维护和谐] is seen as more important than adherence to[遵守;坚持] a notionally objective idea of right and wrong[保持人和人之间的和谐似乎比坚持一个事实上很客观的想法的对错还要重要]. But the stocks and the pillory[示众;惹众人嘲笑(expose to ridicule or public scorn)] were used in Europe for centuries; in Britain they were abolished only in 1837. And today, in much of the West, the most successful part of the media is that specialising[专门从事;专攻] in the shaming of public figures. Similarly, nobody suggests East Asians are immune from[免疫;免除] guilt. It is the theme, for example, of some of the greatest Japanese films.
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The main reason for the spate of[接二连三的;一连串] confessional television in China is, in fact, political: it is a conscious policy of the regime of Xi Jinping, China’s ruler for the past three years. In an illuminating essay last March, David Bandurski of the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong[香港大学中国传媒研究计划(研究员)班志远] pointed out that what he called “China’s confessional politics of dominance” has its roots in the Communist Party’s own history, and in the Soviet influences that helped shape it before it took power. Confession and self-criticism[自我批评] have been part of its ruling strategy since its revolutionary leaders lived in caves in Yan’an and plotted against[暗算;阴谋策划] their neighbouring cavemen. Virtually everybody in China—even Deng Xiaoping and, almost certainly during Mao’s rule, Mr Xi himself—has written at least one piece of self-criticism[自我批评]. At the other end of the scale, even Banyan has done it, when he was a student and later reporter in China, with a few eloquent self-flagellations[自责,自罚]—now (he hopes) gathering dust in some forgotten archive.
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▷ eloquent ['ɛləkwənt]
【释义】When you're eloquent, you have a way with words. An eloquent speaker expresses herself clearly and powerfully. Even though eloquent usually describes oral speech, it can also be used to describe powerful writing.
adj. 意味深长的;雄辩的;有口才的;有说服力的;动人的
His eloquent speech called out a response in the heart of every man.
他意味深长的演说在每个人的心里引起了共鸣。
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Imagine a boot stamping on a human face–for ever
In writing self-criticism[自我批评], the secret is to ponder[考虑;沉思] not truth, justice or cultural norms[文化习俗;文化规范], but what your reader wants. As Mr Bandurski put it: “As in the past, today’s culture of confession is not about accountability[有义务;责任;可说明性;问责制], clean government[廉洁政府;廉政] or a rules-based system. It is about dominance and submission[支配与臣服;统治和服从].” Mr Xi’s revival of this culture[文化复兴] is not accidental[意外的;偶然的;附属的]. It is a reminder that his party’s tolerance for dissent[对异见的容忍] is lower now than at any time since the early 1990s. One symptom of this is its insistence[坚持,强调;坚决主张] that China’s people—and foreigners working in the country—must accept that, even if they cannot love him, Big Brother is right.
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以上言论不代表本人立场，摘自《经济学人》杂志，仅外语学习之用。查看来源请点击“阅读原文”。