新闻报道翻译研讨20091128 饱受战争冲突之苦的国家腐败根深蒂固Corruption Digs Deepest in Countries in Conflict

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IN THE NEWS - Corruption Digs Deepest in Countries in Conflict

Written by Brianna Blake

 

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

 

Transparency International is out with its two thousand nine report on corruption around the world. The nongovernmental organization has released its Corruption Perceptions Index each year since nineteen ninety-eight.

国际透明组织发布了2009年度世界腐败报道。这个非政府组织自1998以来每年都发布它的腐败感知指数。

 

This year the country seen as least corrupt is New Zealand. New Zealand shared first place last year with Denmark and Sweden. This year Denmark is ranked second, and Sweden shares third place with Singapore.

今年腐败程度最低的国家是新西兰。去年新西兰和丹麦、瑞典并列为腐败程度最低的国家。

 

At the bottom of the list, ranked last for the third year, is Somalia.

索马里已经是第三年成为排名最后的国家。

 

The order of the list is based on how corrupt a country's government is considered by a number of international organizations. These include the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and the Asian and African development banks.

排名的先后是由许多的国际组织所根据他们认为一个国家政府的腐败程度所决定的。这些组织里有世界银行、世界经济论坛、亚洲非洲发展银行等。

 

Transparency International, based in Berlin, works to fight corruption and increase public awareness. Its yearly report has grown to a list of one hundred eighty countries.

国际透明组织的总部在柏林。它的宗旨就是反腐败和增强公共意识。它的年度报告名单上的国家已经增至180个国家。

 

The group says unstable countries damaged by war and ongoing conflict continue to be those most affected by corruption. Those countries include Afghanistan and Iraq, two nations that receive billions of dollars in international aid.

该组织声称受到战争和不断冲突破坏的国家继续成为受腐败影响最大的国家。这些国家中包括有接受数十亿美元国际援助的阿富汗、伊拉克两国。

Iraq moved up two places this year and is now ranked fourth from the bottom, along with Sudan. But Afghanistan fell three places to just above Somalia, meaning Afghanistan is seen as the second most corrupt country.

伊拉克今年的排名上升了两个，现在与苏丹并列倒数第四。但是阿富汗下降了三个排名，仅好于索马里，这意味着阿富汗现在被视为腐败程度最严重的第二个国家。

 

Transparency International says people have to pay bribes to receive basic services. A lack of government enforcement against corruption is blamed for helping the Taliban gain supporters.

国际透明组织声称人们得行贿才能得到基本的服务。人们把塔利班有支持者归罪为无政府来约束腐败。

 

The United States has approved close to forty billion dollars in aid for Afghanistan over the past eight years of war. President Obama is preparing to announce his new war plan on Tuesday. The plan is expected to include thousands of additional American troops.

美国在过去的八年战争中已经批准接近400亿美元的对阿富汗的援助。奥巴马总统正在准备将于本周二宣布的新的战争计划。该计划有望包括增加数千美国士兵。

 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai began a second term last week after an election in which widespread cheating was found. He is under increased international pressure to fight corruption.

在一场作弊广泛的大选之后，阿富汗总统Hamid Karzai于上周开始了他的第二个总统任期。他迫于国际压力之下开始反腐。

 

Last week his government announced new efforts to investigate top officials. A group of current and former cabinet ministers are reportedly under investigation.

上周，他的政府宣布新的对高官调查措施。据报道许多现任和前任内阁大臣都受到了调查。

 

In this year's corruption report, the United States dropped one place, to nineteenth from eighteenth last year. Yet the score actually improved by two-tenths of a point. Transparency International says there are many concerns about supervision of the American financial industry.

在今年的腐败报道中，美国排名下降了一个名次。从去年的第18名变为今年的第19名。然而它的实际得分却比去年提高了一个点的20%。透明组织认为美国金融业的监管有很多的问题。

 

Many of the countries at the bottom of the list are in sub-Saharan Africa. Patrick Berg is a program coordinator for Transparency International.

非洲撒哈拉沙漠以南的许多的国家排名垫底。Patrick Berg是透明组织计划协调员。

 

PATRICK BERG : "Where you find poverty, corruption usually hits people the hardest. In some of the more affluent countries, corruption may be a major problem. But it does not keep people from getting health care or clean water to their houses."

PATRICK BERG：贫穷所在之地，经常也是腐败最令人痛之所。在一个相对富裕的国家，腐败也许是一个大问题。但是它不会使人们得不到医疗或者是生活所需的清洁水。

 

But he says some countries -- including Botswana, Mauritius and Cape Verde -- have worked hard to improve their governance. As a result, they have improved their standing on the list.

但是他说许多国家，包括博茨瓦纳、毛里求斯、佛得角等，已经努力提高行政管理。因此他们也提高了他们在名单上的排名。

 

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.