字神帝國英語天地

今日主題：Special Report-- From darkness, dawn / 特別報導--衝破黑暗，走向黎明

康康精選GRE&GMAT會考的主題，堅持每天精讀一定會進步的哦!!
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://xia2.kekenet.com/Sou…/2016/…/eco160827_07349323N9.mp3

只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

中英文稿：
Special Report-- From darkness, dawn
特別報導--衝破黑暗，走向黎明

After years of underachievement and rising violence, Mexico is at last beginning to realise its potential, says Tom Wainwright
Tom Wainwright說道，經過長年停滯和內亂，墨西哥終於迎來曙光

The Apocalypse was on its way, and it would begin in Mexico. Where elsen When archaeologists dug up Mayan calendars that ominously seemed to run out in the final days of 2012, some doomsayers predicted the end of the world. To many Mexicans it seemed like just another example of their country’s unending run of bad luck. The steepest recession on the American mainland, a plague of H 1 N 1 swine flu and a deepening war against organised crime had made the preceding few years fairly grim. In 2009 the Pentagon had given warning that Mexico could become a “ failed state ”. Armageddon would be the icing on the cake.
《聖經•啟示錄》中的預言正在實現，而首當其衝的就是墨西哥。捨此其誰？考古學家挖掘出的瑪雅日曆似乎到2012年末為止，這一凶兆為部分末日論者所用，預言為世界末日。而眾多墨西哥人看來，這不過是他們無限厄運的另一實例而已。除了美洲大陸上經濟最為不佳之外，墨西哥還遭受H 1 N 1豬流感和緝毒戰爭的洗禮，其前途一片黯淡。2009年，美國五角大樓（Pentagon）警示稱，墨西哥可能成為“失敗國家”。《啟示錄》中的“大審判”（Armageddon）不過給其“錦上添花”罷了。

But it turns out that the Mayan glyphs were misunderstood. The men with magnifying glasses now say that the world is not about to end — in fact, it seems that the Mayans were predicting something more like a renewal or a fresh start. Could the same be true of Mexicon?
但事實上，人們誤解了瑪雅石雕上的日曆。現在，石雕上手握聖杯的男子已不再表示終結。相反，瑪雅人的預示似乎更接近重生或新生。而同樣的事能在墨西哥成真嗎？

This special report will argue that there is a good chance of it. Some awful years are giving way to what, if managed properly, could be a prosperous period for Latin America’s second - largest economy. Big, irreversible trends, from a falling birth rate at home to rising wages in China, are starting to move in Mexico’s favour. At the same time the country’s leaders are at last starting to tackle some of the home - grown problems that have held it back.
本篇特別報導支持這一說法。慘淡的歲月已然過去。只要管理得當，在今後的日子裡，這一拉美第二經濟體將迎來繁榮昌盛。不可阻擋的時代潮流，已從勞動減少、成本上漲的中國，轉而眷顧起了墨西哥。與此同時，墨西哥的政府高官最終開始處理個別阻礙其發展的國內問題。

Many of the things that the world thinks it knows about Mexico are no longer true. A serially underachieving economy, repeatedly trumped by dynamic Braziln Mexico outpaced Brazil last year and will grow twice as fast this year. Out - of - control population growth and an endless exodus to the northn Net emigration is down to zero, if not negative, and the fertility rate will soon be lower than that of the United States. Grinding povertyn Yes, but alleviated by services such as universal free health care. A raging drug warn The failure of rich countries ' anti - drugs policies means that organised crime will not go away. But Mexico’s murder rate is now falling, albeit slowly, for the first time in five years.
世人所熟知的那個“墨西哥”已不復存在。那個“經濟連年停滯的”、“總被勢頭較好的巴西踩在腳下的”墨西哥已不復存在——墨西哥的經濟增速已於去年超過巴西，今年有望翻其一番；那個“人口增長失控，大量人群北遷”的墨西哥也已不復存在——墨西哥的淨移民數（出境移民減去入境移民的結果，譯者註）不計負數已減少至零，其出生率也即將低於美國。至於“百姓貧窮不堪”確實不錯，但無償公共衛生等公共服務已加以緩和。而墨西哥“國內緝毒戰爭不斷”也確非虛言。發達國家在反毒品政策上都比較失敗，這導致毒梟集團始終存在。但墨西哥國內的謀殺率在近五年來首次下降（儘管下降速度不大）。

A vast country with deeply ingrained problems and unreformed corners, Mexico could yet squander the opportunities that are coming its way. But there are signs that it is beginning to realise its potential. With luck, the dire predictions made by the Pentagon and others may turn out to be as reliable as a misread Mayan calendar.
由於深陷國內各種問題以及改革不力的窘境，墨西哥也有可能錯失眼前的機遇。但是種種跡象表明，其潛力已被開發。若一切順利，五角大樓等等關於墨西哥的消極預言可能也終將和遭誤解的瑪雅日曆那般不靠譜。

Preparing to lead Mexico into this brightening future is the party most associated with its past. The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( PRI ) ran Mexico without interruption for most of the 20 th century, silencing opposition through a mixture of co - option, corruption and occasional violence. Only in 2000 did it give up its grip on power to the conservative National Action Party ( PAN ), which fielded two presidents in succession: Vicente Fox, a former executive at Coca - Cola, and Felipe Calderon, a lawyer whose father was a founding member of the party. On December 1 st Mr Calderon will hand over the presidency to the PRI’s Enrique Pena Nieto, who won a clear election victory on July 1st. A handsome 46- year - old with a gift for communication, Mr Pena claims to be the opposite of the crooked party men who ran the country in its pre - democratic days. But will the change be more than superficialn？
帶領墨西哥走向光明的重任落在其歷史悠久的黨派上。“革命製度黨”（PRI）就曾領導了墨西哥不間斷地度過20世紀的大半，期間該黨通過遊說拉攏、貪污行賄、時而付諸暴力的手段，讓反對派偃旗息鼓。直到2000年，該黨才選擇退位，由保守派的“國家行動黨”（PAN）當政，期間先後輪替了兩位總統：曾任可口可樂（Coca - Cola）首席執行的福克斯（Vicente Fox）和擔任律師的國家行動黨元老子弟卡爾德隆（Felipe Calderon）。今年12月1日，卡爾德隆總統即將讓位給革命製度黨的裴納尼托（Enrique Pena Nieto），後者於今年6月1日的選舉中大獲全勝。46歲的裴納尼托外表俊朗、善於演講。他自稱將與那些“墨西哥前民主時期”當政的狡猾政客背道而馳。但他所宣稱的改革究竟能否觸及核心？

Mr Pena says his priority is to make the economy grow faster in order to reduce poverty. Nearly half the population are poor, many of them in the south ( see map ). To achieve more rapid growth he will need to introduce a series of big economic reforms, some of which Mr Calderon attempted during his presidency, only to see them get stuck in Mexico’s cantankerous Congress.
裴納尼托表示，他將優先推進經濟增長，以減少貧困。墨西哥約半數人口處於貧窮狀態，大部分集中在南部（見地圖）。為此，裴納尼托需引入一系列經濟改革，這些措施在卡爾德隆總統執政期間也曾受到推行，但卻堵在爭論不休的國會之中。