The Economist 经济学人精读 [1] | Savin

The Economist 经济学人精读  [1]

选自 October8,2016 | Leaders板块

注：划线部分为好词好句，加粗为生词，要加入单词本进行背诵。

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1) After voters reject the agreement, the country needs a political accord.

1) 当哥伦比亚选民拒绝了国家政府的协议后，举国上下急需达到一致。

2) Ask the people a question, and you may not get the answer you expected. That happened to David Cameron with the Brexit referendum, and now it has happened to Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia's president. In a plebiscite on October 2nd Colombians made fools of the opinion pollster with the FARC guerrillas by the narrowest of margins - less than 0.5%.

referendum - hold a referendum on a particular policy is to ask the people to vote to see if they agree to the policy or not

e.g. Estonia plans to hold a referendum on independence. 

plebiscite - a direct vote of the people of a country to see if they agree to a particular policy

make a fool of sb - make sb seem silly by tricking them

e.g. They have made fools of us. 他们愚弄了我们。

guerilla - part of an unofficial army and fights against an offical army 游击队

margin - difference of the number of votes between a winner and a loser in an election

2) 当你问一个问题时，所听未必是你所想的。David Cameron 在进行Brexit 公民投票时就遭遇过这个窘境，现在哥伦比亚的总统 Juan Manuel Santos 又面临了同样的问题。10月2日那一天，公民投票结果出来的 0.5% 微弱优势的反对意向让之前关于 FARC 游击队的民意调查看起来像个笑话。

3) For Mr Santos that was an embarrassment. He had lined up an array of international support for the deal. For Colombia it is dangerous. The agreement came after four years of hard talking, and almost certainly represented the best available compromise between peace and justice. FARC leaders who confessed to war crimes would not go to jail, but they would be judged and punished under a strict legal framework.

hard talking - [self def] talking that faces difficulty, in regards to reaching a compromise between two parties

3) 这不仅对于 Santos 总统来说绝对是难堪的，因为他已经计划好一系列跨国界的政策支持，更把哥伦比亚整个国家拉下了水。经过了整整四年之久的艰难的谈话，这个政策应该是现在看起来最能确保和平和比较公正的。那些承认战争罪行的 FARC 领袖虽不会被判入监狱，但他们至少会被审理和接受法律的制裁。

4) Several factors explain the voters' rejection. The weather didn't help: Hurricane Matthew struck a glancing blow to Colombia's Yes-leaning Caribbean coast, where turnout was exceptionally low. Mr Santos, an aloof patrician presiding over a slowing economy was unpopular. His predecessor-turned-foe, Alvaro Uribe, who inspired the No campaign, has the common touch. But the overwhelming factor was that, after decades of terrorism, extortion, kidnapping and drug-trafficking, many Colombians look upon the FARC with mistrust and hatred.

strike a glancing blow - hit the place but off to its side

patrician - a person from a family of high social rank

preside - preside over an event is to be in charge of it

predecessor - person who had the job before

foe - enermy

extortion - the crime of obtaining money from sb via threatening or force 勒索

trafficking - trafficking drugs/ stolen items is to do illegal trade

e.g. drug-trafficking 毒品走私

4) 公民会反对这个政策出于几个因素。其中一个是因为天公不作美。飓风 Matthew 侧击了本来同意政策的海湾，导致当地居民的投票率异常的低。因为 Santos 总统有贵族背景，又恰巧在国家经济缓慢时当家做主，所以不太受欢迎。相反的，因为 No 运动， 前任总统Uribe 反而更得民心。 不管怎样，最具有压倒性导致政策失利的决定因素是因为哥伦比亚居民对于 FARC 近十几年来的恐怖主义，勒索，诱拐儿童，还有毒品走私的行为怀有怨恨和不信任。

5) The No campaign capitalised on these emotions with a simple and partly deceptive story: the agreement granted impunity to the FARC, it said, and tougher terms can be extracted from them. In fact, the talks stalledfor a year over the FARC's refusal to become the first guerrilla movement in history to agree to hand over its weapons in order to go straight to jail.

capitalize - capitalize a situation is to gain some advanatage for yourself 利用

terms - terms of an agreement are conditions that must be accepted by both parties 条款

stall - avoid doing sth until later 拖延

Lingering Questions:

In fact, the talks stalled for a year over the FARC's refusal to become the first guerrilla movement in history to agree to hand over its weapons in order to go straight to jail. 

5) No 运动发起的原因的很简单，但含有欺骗性：这个政策直接赦免了FARC，应该让FARC妥协于更多的条款。这一运动正是利用了人民的负面情绪。事实上，关于FARC反对成为第一个缴械投降的游击队的话题已经被拖延一年多。

6) So what now? Both Mr Santos and the FARC say they will honour a ceasefire but, on the government's side, only until the end of the month. Mr Uribe has a political responsibility to back his claim that such a complex agreement can be substantially renegotiated: he should offer a serious alternative to an early return to war. It is encouraging that he has met with Mr Santos and named three representatives to talk to the government. It is helpful, too, that has rejected calls for a constituent assembly. Rather than offering a solution, that would have been an unwarranted distraction. On the other hand, Mr Uribe's proposal for isolated measures (such as an amnesty for rank-and-file guerrillas) outside the scope of the agreement looks like an attempt to impose elements of a unilateral deal on the FARC which has scant chance of success.

constituent assembly - a meeting of elected representatives to change the Constitution

amnesty - offical pardons granted to prisoners 赦免

unilateral deal - [self def] a deal agreed by/ initiated by only one party

6）现在该怎么办呢？Santos 总统和 FARC 都希望能休战，但这可能只会延续到月末。前Uribe总统同样有责任去证明他自己声称有大幅度调整这个复杂的政策的希望，用来取代用战争的解决方式。使人鼓舞的是前Uribe总统已经和Santos 总统面谈过，也请了三位代表跟政府交涉，这比举行一个修改宪法的国民代表大会来的更有保障，这是为什么前Uribe总统拒绝了举行大会的呼喊声。另一方面，前Uribe总统提议的个别处理措施，如只赦免FARC高层的领袖，看起来是要给FARC提出单方面的解决方案，当然，是在认为FARC不可能赢的前提下。

The FARC should bend, too. 

7) Mr Uribe and Mr Santos, once allies, abhor each other. If Colombia is to salvage anything from this mess, the two men have to find a way to work together. But the main onus now lies with the FARC. Their commitment to peace has recently started to look genuine. They cannot ignore the verdict of the voters, however much that might suit them. They should recognize that peace without political support is a mirage.

salvage - get sth useful from the situation, rather than a complete failure 挽救（败局）

onus - onus on sb means they have the responsibility to do it

verdict - a person's opinion after thinking about it or investigating it

mirage - it's not real although it may seem to be

7）前Uribe总统和Santos 总统虽站在同一阵线，却互相憎恨。如果哥伦比亚还想在现有的困境中挽救些什么的话，这两位总统必须首先能谈得来。但是FARC现在有更重的责任。近期，他们想要和平的心看起来有那么点儿真诚了，当然，他们还是无法忽略民意。还有，他们该意识到没有政治支持的和平只是海市蜃楼。

8) The FARC should be pressed for at least two additional concessions. The first is to accept that their recent promise to declare ill-gotten assets and pay reparations to victims should become a binding addendum to the agreement. The second is that the "effective restrictions on liberty" to be imposed on sentenced guerrilla commanders should look more like a prison farm than a holiday camp.

concession - make a concession to sb is to agree to let them have/ do sth in order to end a conflict

8) FARC 应该再退两步。第一，他们必须接受公开非法获得的财物和支付赔款给受害者，并把这两项变成绑定的附录。第二，被处刑的游击队长官应该有更多限制性的自由，至少他们的牢房不该像是个度假村。

9) Time is short: The FARC's troops cannot remain in limbo indefinitely, nor can the UN team that was to supervise their disarmament. Barring a tripartite commitment to reach a consensus, a slide back into war is all too likely.

in limbo - in an uncertain situtation

barring - to indicate the thing mentioned is an exception to the statement/ situtaion 除...之外

tripartite - involving three parties

9) 时间不多了： FARC 的军队不可能一直处在不安中，来监督军队武器剪裁的UN军队也一样不会停留太久。除了三方共同的合作，达成一致，战争才不会再次被当做底牌被打出。

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第一次做英语的分享，欢迎大家给与评价，指出我的不足之处，共同成长!