[E381]Suppressed in translation|经济学人
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第12期，China版块。
UN covenants
How Chinese versions of UN covenants gloss over human rights
Mar 19th 2016 | BEIJING
“THE Chinese dream is the Chinese people’s dream of human rights.[0]” That was not uttered by one of China’s beleaguered dissidents[1], who are now suffering the most intense crackdown on human-rights activists that the country has waged in many years. They were, in fact, the words of a foreign ministry official, in a speech this month marking the 50th anniversary of the UN’s adoption of two covenants[2] on the protection of a wide range of political, cultural and other freedoms[3]. As a signatory[4] to the documents, China has little choice but to parrot their language[5], even though it often shows little regard for[6] what the covenants mean.
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注释
[0]中国梦就是中国人民的人权梦。
[1]dissident(a person who publicly disagrees with and criticizes their government) 持异议者;持不同政见者;批评政府者
[2]covenant 盟约/契约/协定
[3]联合国人权两公约是指《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》和《经济、社会和文化权利国际公约》，1966年联合国大会通过。
[A公约]公民权利和政治权利国际公约
(International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights)
[B公约]经济、社会和文化权利国际公约
(International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)
[4]signatory 签约国/签约人
[5]parrot n.鹦鹉；v.机械地复述/模仿
[6]regard for 对…的注意,尊重;考虑到
have no regard for 置之度外/不顾
生词
▷utter ['ʌtə]
to say something or to make a with
说;讲;出声She through the without uttering a word.整个会议期间她干坐着，一言不发。
▷beleaguered [bɪ'liɡɚd]
by someone or a
被烦扰的;处于困境的The of the was a for the beleaguered in the .新医疗用品的到来大受医生们的欢迎，他们在难民营中已忙得不可开交了。
▷wage [weɪdʒ]
to a or a of in to something
发动（战争）;组织,筹备（活动）Surely the President ' to wage on another ? 想必总统须得到国会的许可才能对他国发动战争吧？They've been waging a to the .他们为修改这一法律已组织发起了一场持久的运动。
[注]wage作动词，有进行/发动/从事等的意思。想到昨天碰到的stage作动词，同样有举行/上演/筹划的含义，stage protest举行抗议示威活动。见[E380]
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China signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the late 1990s in an effort to improve its image abroad, which was badly tarnished by the bloody suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. The government has embraced neither document with enthusiasm, but in 2001 its rubber-stamp[0] legislature ratified the more palatable[1] of them, the ICESCR. It has yet to take that step with the meatier[2] ICCPR. In November a court in the southern province of Guangdong sentenced an activist, Sun Desheng, to two-and-a-half years in prison for the crime of touring the country holding up banners[3] calling for ratification of the ICCPR, and circulating photographs[4] of them on the internet. It also jailed another dissident, Guo Feixiong, for six years, partly for organising the banner campaign.
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注释
[0]rubber-stamp不经审查就批准;加盖橡皮图章;
*橡皮图章(rubber stamp)，是一个政治术语。橡皮图章是来描述一个人或者一个组织在法律上被赋予很大的权力，而实际上只能行使很少的一部分。
[1]palatable(acceptable)可以接受的，合乎趣味的
I'm the won't all these very palatable.
恐怕会员们不会觉得所有这些变化很合他们的心意。
[2]meatier,meaty比较级(having a lot of important or interesting ideas),内容丰富的;发人深省的
a meaty //
内容丰富的书／信／报告
[3]举着广告牌/旗帜;拉横幅
[4]传播相关照片,circulate 传播,流传
生词
▷tarnish ['tɑ:niʃ]
to make that someone or something is less good
诽谤;中伤;玷污;毁坏,糟蹋(名誉等)By this a of had tarnished the leader's /.到这时，一连串的丑闻已使这位领导人的形象／名誉大大受损。
▷ratify ['rætɪfaɪ]
( of or ) to make an
（尤指政府或组织）正式批准,使正式生效,正式签署Many have now ratified the UN on the of the .很多国家现在已经正式签署了联合国儿童权利公约。The will have to be ratified (= ) by the .这个决议必须要经过管理委员会的批准。
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So squeamish is China about both covenants that it prefers to use its own, alternatively phrased[0], translations of them rather than the official Chinese-language versions approved by the UN in 1966. China’s seat in the General Assembly[1] was then held by the (also, at the time, human-rights averse) government in Taiwan. The unofficial versions began circulating in 1973, a couple of years after the Communist government in Beijing took over[2] the seat. China does not dispute that the versions of 1966 are valid. But its diplomats and scholars usually quote the unofficial ones[3].
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注释
[0]phrase 措词/用话表示;用短语描述;用语言表达
[1]General Assembly 联合国大会
[2]接任;接管,接手
[3]尽管中国队1966年官方的版本有效性没有提出异议，但是外交官和学者们引用的通常都是非官方版本。
生词
▷squeamish ['skwiːmɪʃ]
or by things which you or which you do not of
易心烦意乱的;易受惊的;神经脆弱的She's really squeamish and can't the of .她神经很脆弱，见不得血。Many are squeamish about putting into .很多厨师把活的贝类放进滚水中时都于心不忍
▷averse [ə'vɜːs]
or to
反对的;嫌恶的;不愿意的Few are averse to the of the .没有几个下院议员不愿受到媒体关注。I'm not averse to (= I like) the of myself.我乐得偶尔自己来杯香槟酒。······
There are significant differences between the two sets. “In far too many cases the revised drafts[0] do violence to[1] the plain meaning[2],” write James Seymour and Patrick Yuk-tung Wong of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in a recent paper on the topic. Where the authentic versions say governments “must make every effort” to observe rights, the alternative ones say only that they “should promote” them. The right “to serve in public office[3]” is downgraded to a right to “participate in public affairs” (ie, choosing which Communist Party-approved candidate will serve in a toothless[4] local legislature). There are also omissions in the unofficial versions, for example of a stipulation[5] that members of the ICCPR’s human-rights committee “serve in their personal capacity” (China would balk at[6] allowing its delegates to do so, lest they feel emboldened to[7] criticise their own government). There are also formulations[8] in the unofficial texts that are entirely invented, such as one requiring that “international remedies” be exhausted before any human-rights case is brought before the committee.
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注释
[0]revised drafts修订稿
[1]do violence to违背(原则等);违反;歪曲;篡改
[2]plain meaning普通含义;一般意思;明显意义
[3]public office 公职;官职;对外办事处
[4]toothless(describes an organization or a rule that has no power)没有约束力的;没有权力的
This but toothless will do nothing to the .
这项用意良好但没有约束力的法律对改善局势没有什么作用。
[注]上文rubber-stamp和这里的toothless，在[E380]和[E379]就已经用过。如读者@正月鬼谷 的留言所说，经济学人你真会玩花样！换着表达来吐槽啊！
[5]stipulation规定;约定;条款;契约
[6]balk at 回避,畏缩
[7]feel emboldened to有胆量去做;大胆;被鼓励去
[8]formulation 提法;构想;规划;表述
生词
▷omission [ə(ʊ)'mɪʃ(ə)n]
when something has not been that should have been
疏忽,遗漏,疏漏Measures to are a (= very )omission from new to .新的儿童保护法规显然没有提及对雇用童工加以遏制的措施。There are some and omissions in the .这本书里有几处严重的的错误和疏漏。
▷bring [brɪŋ]
to make or as of an
提起（诉讼）;起诉He was for , but have not to bring.他因斗殴被捕，但警方决定不予起诉。
[注]bring，熟词僻义！
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Scholars argue over the importance of these discrepancies, but there is no denying that they were introduced in a most irregular manner. Mr Seymour says the alternative versions may have been produced by Chinese diplomats who were not aware at the time that UN-approved translations already existed. But he also believes China has been deliberately[0] promoting the unofficial versions in the years since. “It was probably very innocent in the beginning and then it took on a life of its own[1],” he says. In public, the UN has avoided wading into[2] the issue of rival translations; privately, one UN official calls it “a rather delicate matter[3]”. Both sets can be found on the sprawling UN website. That may be helpful for Chinese diplomats seeking wiggle-room[4], though they would prefer to be pinned down[5] to neither.
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注释
[0]deliberately 故意地;谨慎地;慎重地
[1]take on a life of its own (to no longer be controlled by anyone)
Once an earthquake starts, it takes on a life of its own.
Someone imagined it,and the idea took on a life of its own.
[2]wade into (to become involved in a difficult situation, often without thinking about it carefully)贸然涉足/插手;猛烈攻击(或抨击);斥责
[3]delicate matter微妙;棘手/难人的事
[4]wiggle-room (the freedom or opportunity to do something, or to change your mind and do something differently if that is what is needed)
We need to leave ourselves some wiggle room when we're negotiating the deal.
[5]pin down 把…固定住;使动弹不得;迫使作出决定;采取行动
生词
▷discrepancy [dɪs'krep(ə)nsɪ]
(a) between two things that should be the same
不一致，出入，差异There is some discrepancy between the two .这两份账单之间有一些出入。The is about the discrepancy in .据说委员会对数字不一致很不满。
▷sprawl [sprɔːl]
( of a ) to a of with which have been at different so that it
（尤指城市）杂乱无序地扩展，散乱地延伸The sprawl the .眼前杂乱地散落着许多难民营。
▷sprawling ['sprɔlɪŋ]
sprawling
杂乱无序地延伸的城郊
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【参考相关新闻】
中国代表就落实联合国人权两公约提出中方三点主张
http://t.cn/RGgKml3
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以上言论不代表本人立场。
生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries
原文摘自《经济学人》，仅外语学习之用。
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