059《经济学家》读译参考之五十九：罚单,为腐败而开-UN官员车辆违停困扰纽约供参习.docVIP

TEXT 59 A ticket for corruption 罚单，为腐败而开（陈继龙 编译） Aug 10th 2006 | NEW YORK From The Economist print edition “THE UN needs a good smack in the face,” fumed one city councillor. New York has long been fed up with the United Nations and its diplomats. （1）The city has 1,700 of them, about 1,699 too many. Their meetings cause endless traffic jams and annoying multi-car motorcades[1]. As for their outstanding fines for traffic violations (more than $18m at the last count), these have so infuriated[2] Michael Bloomberg, New Yorks mayor, that in 2002 he vowed to tow away illegally parked consular[3] vehicles. Colin Powell, then secretary of state, had to step in to broker[4] a c_______①. 一位市议员怒气冲天地说：“该狠狠地给联合国一记耳光。”长期以来，纽约已经受够了联合国和它的那些外交官员们。对于这座城市来说，就算只有一名这样的外交官也嫌多，何况却有1700名。他们开会造成无休无止的交通堵塞，会议用车组成的长长的车队也让人烦恼不已。至于他们违反交通规则却不缴罚款一事（最新统计数字显示超过1800万美金），更是让纽约市长迈克尔?布卢姆伯格感到大为光火，以致于他在2002年就发誓要将那些违规停靠的领事馆车辆拖走。（译注：outstanding 这里是“未付清的，有待偿还的”的意思。at the last count是指“according to the latest information about a particular situation”）时任国务卿的科林?鲍威尔不得不从中斡旋，最后双方才达成妥协。 Can anything be done? In 2002 Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, New Yorks senators, added an a_______② to a foreign-aid bill that allowed the city to recoup[5] unpaid parking tickets from foreign-aid disbursements to offending countries. But now a new weapon has been discovered: shame. （2）Two economists have found a direct correlation between the number of people who park by the citys fire hydrants and in its loading bays[6], and the level of corruption in their home countries. 难道真的一筹莫展吗？2002年，纽约两位参议员恰克?舒梅尔和希拉里?克林顿对一项外援法案提出了一个修正意见，即允许该市从援助那些违规官员所在国家的资金中抽取部分用于补偿违规停车罚款欠款。不过，纽约现在又找到了一个新的对付手段，那就是“羞辱”。两位经济学家认为，那些将车停靠在该市消防栓和码头（注：在纽约，这属于绝对禁止停车的地方，一旦违规，惩罚非常重）附近的人的数量，与他们本国的腐败程度直接相关。 A study by Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel, economists at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, gives a rare picture of how people from different cultures perform under new cultural n_______③. For instance, between 1997 and 200