经济学人2019.4.27/South Africa’s best bet/part1
南非的最佳选择
The most plausible way to clean up the rainbow nation is to back Cyril Ramaphosa
清理彩虹之国最合理的方法是支持西里尔•拉马福萨(Cyril Ramaphosa)
词汇
Plausible/貌似真实的，貌似有理的
rainbow nation/彩虹之国(指南非，因其多种族、多文化而得名);
Since the days of Nelson Mandela, one of the most effective slogans of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party, has been “a better life for all”. The contrast with the old apartheid regime, which promised a good life only for whites, has never needed spelling out. As the party that helped liberate black South Africans from votelessness and segregation, the ANC has ruled uninterrupted since apartheid ended in 1994, always winning national elections by wide margins. The trouble is, when one party has nearly all the power, the kind of people who seek power in order to abuse it and grow rich flock to join that party. Corruption, always a problem, became so widespread under Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s atrocious president from 2009 to 2018, that a more accurate ANC slogan during his rule would have been “a better life for the president and his cronies”.
自纳尔逊•曼德拉时代以来，南非执政党非洲人国民大会(ANC)最有效的口号之一就是“让所有人过上更好的生活”。旧的种族隔离制度承诺只有白人才能过上好日子，与之形成鲜明对比的情况从来就不需要阐明。作为帮助南非黑人从无投票权和种族隔离中解放出来的政党，非洲人国民大会自1994年种族隔离结束以来一直管理着南非，总是以巨大的优势赢得全国大选。问题是，当一个政党几乎拥有所有的权力时，那些为了滥用权力和发财致富而寻求权力的人就会成群结队地加入那个政党。腐败一直是一个问题，在2009年至2018年南非残暴的总统雅各布•祖马(Jacob Zuma)执政期间，腐败变得如此普遍，以至于在他执政期间，非洲人国民大会更准确的口号应该是“让总统及其亲信过上更好的生活”。
词汇
apartheid regime/种族隔离制度
liberate/解放；放出；释放
segregation/隔离，分离；种族隔离
As our special report in this issue describes, in those nine lost years Mr Zuma’s chums systematically plundered the state. Honest watchdogs were sacked. Investors fled, economic growth stalled, public debt soared and unemployment (even by a narrow definition) rose from 23% to 27%. Eskom, the bloated, looted national electricity firm, can no longer reliably keep the lights on or factories humming. Corruption has crippled public services. Many South Africans are frightened of their own police, and nearly 80% of nine- and ten-year-olds cannot read or understand a simple sentence.
正如我们在本期特别报道中所描述的，在过去的9年里，祖玛的密友们系统性地掠夺了这个国家。廉洁的监察人员被解雇了。投资者逃离，经济增长停滞，公共债务飙升，失业率(即使是狭义的失业率)从23%上升到27%。臃肿不堪、被洗劫一空的国家电力公司埃斯科姆(Eskom)已无法可靠地维持电力供应或工厂运转。腐败损害了公共服务。许多南非人害怕他们自己的警察，将近80%的九、十岁的孩子不能阅读或理解一个简单的句子。
词汇
Watchdogs/看门狗；监察人；忠实的看守人
bloated/ 发胀的，浮肿的；傲慢的
Yet there is hope. Mr Zuma is gone, narrowly ousted by his own party and now charged with some 700 counts of corruption. His replacement as party boss and president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, is an honest reformer. He is also a tremendously skilful politician—he was one of the chief negotiators who persuaded the apartheid regime to give up power long before it would have been forced to. At elections on May 8th voters have a choice. Do they back the ANC again, trusting that Mr Ramaphosa will continue to clean up the party and revive the nation? Or do they give the opposition a chance? (They cannot vote directly for the president; he is chosen by parliament, in which seats are allocated by proportional representation.)
然而，希望还是有的。祖玛先生已经走了，他以微弱选票差额被自己的政党赶下台，现在被控大约700项腐败罪行。他的继任者西里尔•拉马福萨(Cyril Ramaphosa)是一位诚实的改革家，现任南非党主席兼总统。他也是一位非常有技巧的政治家——他是在武力强迫种族隔离政权放弃权力之前通过说服使得种族隔离政权放弃权力的首席谈判代表之一。在5月8日的选举中，选民有一个选择。他们是否再次支持非洲人国民大会，相信拉马福萨将继续整顿该党，重振国家?还是给反对派一个机会?（他们不能直接投票给总统;这是由议会选出，议会席位由比例代表制分配。）
词汇
Narrowly/仔细地；勉强地；
Oust/驱逐；剥夺；取代
Parliament/议会，国会
The case for dumping the ruling party is strong. It has been in power for 25 years—too long for any party, anywhere. Despite Mr Ramaphosa’s efforts, it is still stuffed with crooks, some of them too powerful for the president to sack. Though home to a broad range of ideologies, the ANC has recently seen a worrying resurgence of far-left populism among its cadres. For example, it vows to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of farmland without compensation.
抛弃执政党的理由很充分。它已经执政25年了——对任何政党、任何地方来说都太久了。尽管拉马福萨做出了种种努力，但它仍然充斥着骗子，其中一些人太强大了，总统无法将他们解雇。尽管非洲人国民大会拥有广泛的意识形态，但最近在干部中的极左民粹主义有着令人担忧的死灰复燃迹象。例如，它发誓要修改宪法，允许无偿征用农田。
词汇
Ideologies/意识形态
Resurgence/复活；再现；再起
Populism/民粹主义，平民主义
Cadre/干部；基础结构；骨骼
Compensation/补偿；报酬；赔偿金
The case for backing the liberal opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is also strong. It is far cleaner than the ANC. Its charismatic young leader, Mmusi Maimane, believes in free markets. The parts of the country that it runs, including Cape Town and Johannesburg, are islands of efficiency in a sea of murk and incompetence. Though the vast majority of municipalities are controlled by the ANC, a recent study by Good Governance Africa, a think-tank, found that 15 of the 20 best-governed were run by the da, alone or in a coalition. The Economist endorsed the DA in 2014.But this time, with deep reservations, we would cast our notional vote, at the national level, for the ANC.
支持自由主义反对派——民/主联盟(DA)的群体也很强大。它比非洲人国民大会廉洁得多。其富有魅力的年轻领导人Mmusi Maimane相信自由市场。国家所掌控的包括开普敦和约翰内斯堡，是一座在一片黑暗和无能的海洋中，充满活力的小岛。尽管绝大多数自治市都由非洲人国民大会控制，但智库“良政非洲”(Good Governance Africa)最近的一项研究发现，在20个治理最好的自治市中，有15个由民主联盟党单独或联合执政。《经济学人》在2014年支持民/主联盟。但这一次，我们须深思熟虑，保留意见，并将在全国范围内为非洲人国民大会投下名义上的一票。
词汇
Charismatic/超凡魅力的；神赐能力的
Murk/黑暗；阴沉，阴郁
Coalition/联合；结合，合并
Municipalities/市民，自治市；
