[E350]Portrait of a purge|经济学人
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第7期，China版块。
Corruption
Who is being investigated for corruption and why?
Feb 13th 2016 | BEIJING
BEIJING in the winter of 2016 is a bit like Moscow[莫斯科] in the winter of 1936: every day brings news of more purged officials and you never know who will be next. On February 4th four more high-ranking[阶级高的;高级的;高级官员的,职位高的] party members were kicked out, bringing to 67 the number known to have been investigated, expelled[驱逐;除名] or sentenced this year alone. Among prominent establishment figures who have been dealt with in such ways recently are the head of the National Bureau of Statistics[国家统计局]; a former chairman of Wuhan Iron and Steel[武汉钢铁], a large state-owned firm; and a former deputy chief of the country’s police.
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▷ purge [pɜ:dʒ]
【注释】
a) to get rid of people from an organization because you do not agree with them
b) To purge is to get rid of something or someone, and often it’s done suddenly. Purge rhymes with urge, and when you have a really strong urge to throw stuff away or clean something out, you have an urge to purge.
vt. 清除,(使)净化; (使)通便;肃清
n. 净化;<医>泻药;整肃
Party leaders have undertaken to purge the party of extremists.
政党领袖已采取行动清除党内的极端分子。
Hard-liners are expected to be purged from the administration.
主张强硬路线的人预计将从政府中清除出去。
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Observers trying to understand the campaign’s complexities[复杂性] now have a bit more help, thanks to a database compiled by ChinaFile, part of the Asia Society, an American NGO[non-governmental organization]. It includes everyone known to have been targeted: 1,496 of them, which is double the number of people who had been outed as suspects a year ago (thousands of others have been investigated but not identified publicly).
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Only 151 people on the list are those who might be called “tigers”—a term used by President Xi Jinping to describe errant senior officials. The vast majority are those whom Mr Xi calls “flies”, or wayward low-level ones. Tigers and flies named as having been rounded up[围捕;逮捕] so far have been accused of stealing a total of 6.3 billion yuan (nearly $1 billion), 50% more than investigators were saying had been misappropriated[挪用;侵吞(他人的钱等);盗用] by named suspects a year ago.
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▷ errant [ˈerənt]
【注释】
a) behaving wrongly in some way, especially by leaving home
b) Something or someone described as errant has gone astray or done wrong by going in an unexpected direction. An errant bird might end up in northern Canada while his friends fly to southern Mexico for the winter.
(尤指离家出走而)犯错的,行为不当的,出格的
犯错误的;行为不当的;出格的(仅用于名词前正式用语);
(丈夫或妻子)对配偶不忠的;
an errant husband
出轨的丈夫
errant children
犯错误的孩子
▷ wayward [ˈweɪwəd]
【注释】
a) (especially of a person's behaviour) often changing, selfish and difficult to control
b) Someone wayward is a little stubborn and independent — they're determined to find their own way and are not easily controlled.
adj. 任性的;刚愎自用的;固执的;意料不到的
(尤指某人的行为)反复无常的,任性的,难以管束的
She could be wayward, petulant, and disagreeable.
她有时也会任性 、脾气很坏、很暴躁.
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By occupation, the biggest number of targets come from state-owned firms[国有企业] and the armed forces. Of the military officials, 44 are tigers—an exceptionally[例外地,异常地,特殊地] high proportion. The property sector[房地产行业], however, produces the most swag[盗窃物;赃款;赃物]. There are just ten property magnates[富豪,权贵;大企业家;实业巨头;大亨] on the list, but they are said to be responsible for stealing 40% of all the money.
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Geographically[地理学上,在地理上,地理方面], corruption tends to be patchy—or perhaps the investigation of it is. Shanxi, a northern province, has seen almost twice as many tigers arrested than any other region outside Beijing. They include five members of a so-called “Shanxi group” linked to another tiger, Ling Jihua[令计划], who was chief of staff[(总)参谋长] to Hu Jintao, Mr Xi’s predecessor (the authorities would love to get their hands on his brother, Ling Wancheng[令完成], who is reported to be in America and spilling valuable secrets[泄露机密] to officials there). Two provinces where Mr Xi served before becoming president—Fujian and Zhejiang—have got off[免受惩罚;逃脱(严厉的)惩罚] relatively lightly.
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▷ patchy [ˈpætʃi]
【注释】
a) only existing or happening in some parts
b) sometimes good and sometimes bad
散落的,分布不均的,局部地区的;时好时坏的
The varnish is a bit patchy on this table.
这张桌子上的清漆有点不匀。
Southeast England will start with some patchy rain/patchy cloud at first.
英格兰东南部开始会局部降雨／局部多云。
Matthew found the service extremely patchy.
马修发现服务时而极好，时而极差。
▷ get one's hands on
(idiomatic) To get; to obtain; to secure.
If you can get your hands on the right ingredients, it's an easy recipe.
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A big puzzle[大谜团] is whether the campaign is a genuine attempt to clean up or mainly a cover for political vendettas[政治仇杀/仇恨]. The databaselends some support to[支持,支援] the idea that the purge began by concentrating on politically influential groups. But by tracking whether someone under investigation is connected to others on the list, it appears to show that the focus has changed. Of the first 100 people named as suspects when the campaign began, 25 had links with other targeted officials, including to Bo Xilai[薄熙来], a fallen rival to Mr Xi. Among the most recent 100 cases, however, only seven are members of identifiable networks.
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Those in the database who have ties with one another are often members of a group suspected of opposing Mr Xi. The shift from targeting such officials to tackling individuals without apparent connections[没有明显关系/联系] may be a sign that eliminating corruption[消除腐败]—rather than simply getting rid of rivals—is becoming a more important objective[从有针对性的打击"异己"到打倒没有明显联系的一些腐败分子，可能表示打击腐败正成为更加重要的一个目标，而不是仅仅清除竞争对手异己分子]. Or it may be that Mr Xi has run out of rivals in need of crushing[镇压,征服].
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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。查看来源请点击下方的“阅读原文”。