Officials' alienation from people must not be tolerated

 BEIJING, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The government of a central China city has been left red-faced again just as it was trying to restore reputation from the shame of not providing desks for students at public schools. This time, some of its officials gave false email addresses to the public.

The government of Macheng, in Hubei Province, recently required all the major officials to publicize their email addresses on the government website to strengthen their ties with the public.

This is a good way for officials to communicate with the public and listen to their opinions. But people were surprised to discover that 11 of the officials' email addresses left on the website do not really exist.

Releasing these fake addresses means the officials are reluctant or not willing to communicate with the people, let alone listen to their views and help them through difficulties.

Their behavior defies the good intentions of the government to tighten¹ their relations with the public and damages people's trust in the authorities.

It seems they did not learn their lesson from a school desk scandal in September, when 3,000 primary school students in Shunhe Town were forced to carry desks and chairs from their homes to school due to a shortage of supplies.

The incident ignited uproar² concerning the government's ignorance to the rural children's basic needs. The government's image was badly affected³ even though it raised 5 million yuan (792,619 U.S. dollars) to buy the furniture for the children soon after the scandal was exposed.

Publicizing the officials' email addresses was a good chance for the government to regain⁴ trust. The officials should not take it as a formal assignment but treat it as an opportunity to maintain close contact with citizens and help them solve their problems.

It's also a golden chance for them to listen to people's comments on government's work and make improvements accordingly.

However, their sheer indifference⁵ to the public's needs smears⁶ the government's image and cause severe negative consequences.

In July last year, Chinese President Hu Jintao, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, warned that the Party is in growing danger of becoming divorced from the people.

In fact, local officials in many provinces of the country have been asked to visit households, schools and enterprises on a regular basis in recent years to listen to public opinion and maintain close contacts with the people.

It's commendable⁷ that the Macheng government ordered these officials to correct their non-existent email addresses on Sunday and vowed⁸ to accept supervision⁹ from the media and public.

To make this new policy really work, though, the Macheng government also needs to set up an evaluation¹⁰ mechanism¹¹ to ensure mails from the public are duly handled. Those who do not reply, proving themselves reluctant to help people solve their problems, should be punished.

Maintaining close ties with the people gives the CPC, the ruling party of China, its biggest political asset while alienation¹² from the people poses the greatest risk to the Party after it has gained political power. Such scandals as have recently hit Macheng must not happen again.

1 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

2 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

5 indifference   

n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎

参考例句：

• I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
• He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。

6 smears   

污迹( smear的名词复数 )； 污斑； （显微镜的）涂片； 诽谤

参考例句：

• His evidence was a blend of smears, half truths and downright lies. 他的证词里掺杂着诽谤、部份的事实和彻头彻尾的谎言。
• Anything written with a soft pencil smears easily. 用软铅笔写成的东西容易污成一片。

7 commendable   

adj.值得称赞的

参考例句：

• The government's action here is highly commendable.政府这样的行动值得高度赞扬。
• Such carping is not commendable.这样吹毛求疵真不大好。

8 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

9 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

10 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

11 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

12 alienation   

n.疏远；离间；异化

参考例句：

• The new policy resulted in the alienation of many voters.新政策导致许多选民疏远了。
• As almost every conceivable contact between human beings gets automated,the alienation index goes up.随着人与人之间几乎一切能想到的接触方式的自动化，感情疏远指数在不断上升。