2020年经济学人 疫情下的租房驱逐保护令(1)

United States

美国版块

Eviction¹

驱逐

Shelter in place

就地避难

Can the executive branch halt evictions on public-health grounds?

政府行政部门能否因公共卫生问题而终止驱逐行为？

Even in normal times, attending housing court in America is a dispiriting encounter with the judicial² system. The justice dispensed³ looks much like a conveyor belt. Few tenants⁴ can afford lawyers to challenge the eviction orders sought by their landlord (unlike criminal proceedings⁵, there is no right to counsel). Many do not show up on the day, so the judge enters default evictions for them en masse. Even more dispiriting would be the spectacle of a judge pronouncing a family’s eviction by video conference in the midst of an epidemic⁶ that has killed 190,000 Americans.

即使是在平时，美国民众也会觉得出庭住房法院这样与司法系统打交道的遭遇令人沮丧。司法公正更像是传送带。很少有房客能请得起律师对房东谋求的驱逐令发起质询（与刑事诉讼不同，被告人并不享有获得律师帮助的权利）。很多人当天没有出庭，所以法官全部裁决为违约驱逐。一场疫情造成了19万美国人死亡，而令人更加沮丧的是，疫情期间，一位法官通过视频会议宣布驱逐一个家庭。

Fortunately that remains⁷ rarer than the weakened economy—with 11m fewer Americans working than in February, and an unemployment rate of 8.4%—might suggest. Many cities and states issued moratoriums⁹ when it became clear that the epidemic would result in a lot of missed rent payments. The cares Act, the enormous stimulus¹⁰ package passed by Congress, included an eviction moratorium⁸ for federally subsidised housing. Though it covered fewer than half of renters in the country, advocates cheered the measure before it expired on July 24th (generous federal unemployment benefits of $600 a week also expired soon afterwards).

相比2月份，美国就业人数减少了1100万，失业率高达8.4%，幸运的是，与疲软的经济显示的数据相比，驱逐的情况要更加少见，在得知疫情致使美国租客大量拖欠租金后，许多城市和州颁布了驱逐保护令。维生法案是国会通过的巨额刺激方案，包括禁止驱逐联邦政府补贴住房的房客。尽管这项法案覆盖了美国不到一半的租房者，但在7月24日到期前，支持者们为这项法案欢呼（每周600美元的慷慨的联邦失业救济金也很快到期）。

Congress has been unable to come up with a second stimulus bill, even though Democrats¹¹ and Republicans agree that one is necessary. That prompted worries of a tsunami¹² of eviction filings. In Philadelphia, 17 protesters were arrested for blocking the entrances to court a few days after the state moratorium expired. In some cities, like Milwaukee, evictions quickly rebounded¹³ after coming to a halt . Since there seems more hope of an October vaccine¹⁴ than a second stimulus, the consequences looked grim.

国会一直未能提出第二个刺激方案，尽管民主党和共和党都觉得刺激方案势在必行。这导致美国民众十分担心会出现大规模的驱逐申请。在费城，17名抗议者因在州驱逐保护令到期后的几天内封锁法院入口而被捕。在密尔沃基等的一些城市，驱逐情况停顿后迅速反弹。相比在10月份提出第二个刺激方案，推出新冠肺炎疫苗似乎更有希望，由此，前途堪忧。

1 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

2 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

3 dispensed   

v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• Not a single one of these conditions can be dispensed with. 这些条件缺一不可。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage. 他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

5 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

6 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

9 moratoriums   

正式的延缓，暂停( moratorium的名词复数 )

参考例句：

10 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

11 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

13 rebounded   

弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 )； 反弹； 产生反作用； 未能奏效

参考例句：

• The ball rebounded from the goalpost and Owen headed it in. 球从门柱弹回，欧文头球将球攻进。
• The ball rebounded from his racket into the net. 球从他的球拍上弹回网中。

14 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。