2017考研英語《經濟學人》閱讀：失敗的上帝

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考研英語閱讀百分之八十都出自一些英美報刊雜志The Economist (《經濟學家》 ), Times(《時代周刊》等等，所以考生平時做閱讀訓練的時候可以多看看這些文章，小編也會分享一些出自這些雜志的中英文雙語閱讀，大家可以看看。下面是關于失敗的上帝的一篇文章，大家讀讀看。

Bello

貝洛

The gods that failed

失敗的上帝

A writer's recantation highlights the intellectualfailures of the Latin American left

作家的改口顯示拉美左派的理論失敗。

LEAVE aside Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and no writer has done more to shape the mental imagethat both locals and outsiders have of Latin America than Eduardo Galeano. In 1971 the thenjournalist published “Open Veins of Latin America”, a scorching tirade against foreignexploitation. Now in its 84th impression in Spanish, it remains a fixture on the exiguousshelves devoted to Latin America in bookshops in Europe and the United States. In all, it hassold over a million copies. Hugo Chavez gave it to Barack Obama when they met in 2009.

除了馬爾克斯，沒人能在塑造拉美精神意象上做得比愛德華多·加萊亞諾更多。1971年，當時的記者出版了《拉丁美洲被切開的血管》一書，在書中作者用長篇大論激烈地反對了外國的剝削。到現在它已再版了84次，但仍是美國和歐洲書店中關于拉美的暢銷書籍，其銷量已逾百萬冊。2009年，查韋斯與奧巴馬會面時曾將此書贈與后者。

“Open Veins” is written in powerful prose, with intoxicating passion. But it is also a work ofcrude propaganda, a mix of selective truths, exaggeration and falsehood, caricature andconspiracy theory. It is the bible of “dependency theory”, the notion dear to the left that“underdevelopment in Latin America is a consequence of development elsewhere, that we LatinAmericans are poor because the ground we tread is rich in resources.”

該書以散文寫就，飽含令人沉醉的力量。但它是天然的宣傳，是選擇性真理的集合，是夸張是虛假也是諷刺畫和陰謀論。它是“依賴理論”的圣經，有著“拉美的欠發達是因為其他地方的發達，拉美的貧窮是源于我們土地的富有。(引自原文)”的珍貴見解。

The message is one of anti-capitalism as well as anti-imperialism. Mr Galeano brackets as“mechanisms of plunder” both “the caravelled conquistadors and the jet-propelled technocrats;Hernan Cortés and the [US] Marines; the agents of the Spanish Crown and the InternationalMonetary Fund missions; the dividends from the slave trade and the profits from GeneralMotors.” He dismisses all possibility of reform; Cuban communism offers the only route tosalvation.

該書反對資本主義也反對帝國主義。加萊亞諾用“掠奪機制”和“卡拉維爾征服者、噴氣推進式科技主義者;荷南·科爾蒂斯、美國海軍;西班牙王室和貨幣基金組織的代理人;奴隸貿易的分紅和通用汽車的利潤”加以注解。他將所有改革的可能從考慮中剔除，古巴的共產主義是唯一的拯救途徑

So when Mr Galeano let slip, in remarks at a recent book fair in Brasilia, that today he wouldfind “Open Veins” unreadable, it was almost as if Jesus's disciples had admitted that the NewTestament was a big misunderstanding. He added that when he wrote the book he lacked“sufficient knowledge of economics and politics” and that it belongs to “a past era”.

所以當加萊亞諾在最近巴西利亞的書展上無意中表示《切開的血管》已不具備可讀性時，就像耶穌的門徒承認新約是一個巨大的誤讀一樣。他補充道他在寫作本書時缺乏必要的經濟政治知識，而該書屬于過去。

Indeed so. Asia's economic development and Latin America's commodity-fuelled economicboom of this century expose dependency theory as simplistic nonsense (although it still hasadherents in Latin American Studies departments). Social democracy, as practised in Brazil,Chile and Mr Galeano's own Uruguay, has offered more to the Latin American masses than theCastros' bankrupt police state.

確實如此。本世紀亞洲經濟增長和拉美商品經濟繁榮顯示出依賴理論純粹是胡說八道。(雖然在拉美的研究機構該理論仍不乏追隨者。)巴西、智利和加萊亞諾的烏拉圭仍在摸索著社會民主，而這給拉美帶來的麻煩遠遠多于卡斯特羅破產的集權國家。

But the contention of “Open Veins” that Latin Americans are poor because someone—multinationals, local capitalists or the United States—is stealing their wealth retains aprofound resonance in the region. It lives on in the rhetoric and actions of governments inVenezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina. The political recipe has modulated, however. Inplace of Cuba's armed revolution, the formula now is one of “radical democracy”—or“populism”, as its detractors often call it.

《切開的血管》中提到拉美的貧窮是因為一些跨國公司、當地資本家或美國正在竊取他們的財富，而這引起了廣泛的共鳴。這樣的論斷是基于委內瑞拉、玻利維亞。厄瓜多爾和阿根廷政府的說辭和行為。那些政治做法已被調整，但是取代古巴武裝革命的方式卻是“激進民主”或者說是批判者口中的“平民主義”。

This has involved charismatic leaders winning power through elections by claiming tochampion “the people” against their oppressors. They then hold on to power by ruthlesslyseizing control of all state institutions in the name of the majority and by rewarding theirfollowers with jobs and benefits via an expanded public sector.

這涉及到那些魅力非凡的領導人通過聲稱冠軍屬于人民來打壓對手從而贏得選舉獲得權力。之后他們借著“多數人”的名義無情地控制所有國家機構并且通過擴展公共部門給其追隨者安排工作和其他利益，從而牢牢掌控權力。

The theoretical champion of radical populism, its mobilisation of plebeian masses and itsconfrontation with the established order was Ernesto Laclau, an Argentine politicalphilosopher who lived in Cricklewood, a placid north London suburb. He argued that populismwas an antidote to the capitalist domination of liberal democracy and to the hegemony oftechnocratic “administration” over the realm of “the political”. Laclau died, aged 78, in April. Heremains influential. Ricardo Forster, a friend and sympathiser, was this month named byArgentina's president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, to the new and Orwellian post of“strategic co-ordinator for national thought”.

激進平民主義的理論勝利動員了廣大民眾并且與拉克勞提出的規律相悖。(拉克勞住在平靜的倫敦北郊是一位阿根廷政治哲學家)他認為平民主義是針對自由民主的資本主義統治和政治領域中技術統治霸權的矯正措施。4月，拉克勞逝世，享年78，但其理論仍有一定的影響力。本月阿根廷總統費爾南德斯任命其好友也是支持者的福斯特為新一任的“民族思想戰略協調人”。

Yet Laclau's radical populism contains the seeds of its own downfall, both because it relies onindividual leaders (Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, lacks his mentor's charisma) and,above all, because it offers no economic answers. Chavista Venezuela, sitting on vast oilreserves, has proved incapable of organising a reliable supply of toilet paper, a product thateven theoreticians need. Having run short of hard-currency reserves, Ms Fernandez's Argentinahas begun to cut subsidies and make its peace with its foreign creditors, prompting Mr Forsterand his friends to warn against a “conservative restoration”.

然而拉克勞的激進平民主義從一開始就埋下了失敗的種子。不僅是因為該主義的成功依靠領導人的個人因素(查韋斯的繼承者尼古拉斯·馬杜羅缺乏其前任的魅力)也是因為這一主義難以交出滿意的經濟答卷。查韋斯手中的委內瑞拉擁有大量的石油儲備但卻難以穩定地組織供應那些連老學究都需要的廁紙。由于缺乏硬通貨儲備，費爾南德斯執掌的阿根廷開始削減補貼并與外國債權人和平相處，而這促使福斯特和他的朋友們開始提防“保守恢復”

Mr Galeano's recantation and the mounting difficulties of radical populism are reminders thatcapitalism is the only route to development in Latin America. The task for its proponents is toshow that it can be a tool not just to create wealth but also to overcome extreme inequality.

加萊亞諾的改口，激進平民主義困難的增加暗示著資本主義是拉美發展的唯一途徑。其支持者的任務就是展示資本主義不僅是創造財富的工具也能解決極端不平等的現狀。

1.devote to 致力于

例句:We devote to serving mainland business realestate.

全方位服務于國內商業地產領域。

2.belong to 歸屬于;歸屬

例句:They belong to an older, more self-denyinggeneration.

他們屬于更加克己的上一代人。

3.offer to 提供給

例句:That same day, Silver Lake raised its offer to$ 12.70 per share.

就在同一天，銀湖將出價抬高到了每股12.70美元。

4.hold on 堅持

例句:You helped me to hold on at times when I didn't think I could even go on trying.

在我認為自己甚至無法繼續嘗試的時候，你幫我堅持了下來。