2020年经济学人 黑帮VS政府(2)

How a group of metal heads in Los Angeles in the 1980s evolved into a gang that terrorises three countries is the subject of “MS-13” by Steven Dudley, founder¹ of Insight Crime, a site that covers organised crime in Latin America. The story begins with El Salvador’s civil war, which between 1980 and 1992 left 75,000 people dead and over 1m displaced. Like the guns Ronald Reagan’s administration sent down for use against leftist guerrillas, the gang is an American export. Mara Salvatrucha (“Salva” for El Salvador, “trucha” for “savvy”) first referred to a group of refugees in Los Angeles with tastes for crack and heavy metal. When they took to wielding² machetes, America started deporting³ them.

《野蛮萨尔瓦多人》一书的主题讲述了20世纪80年代洛杉矶的一群金属党是如何演变成为一个恐怖统治三国的黑帮，作者是史蒂文·达德利，也是“犯罪洞察”网站的创始人，该网站涵盖了发生在拉丁美洲的有组织犯罪。故事从发生于1980年至1992年的萨尔瓦多内战开始，这场战争造成了7.5万人死亡，100多万人流离失所。就如同罗纳德·里根政府提供给萨尔瓦多用来打击左派游击队的枪支一样，“MS-13”帮派同样是由美国出口的。“MS-13”（“Salva”代表萨尔瓦多，“trucha”代表“精明”）最开始指的是洛杉矶的一群对打击乐和重金属音乐感兴趣的难民。当他们开始挥舞砍刀时，美国开始驱逐他们。

Back in El Salvador, MS-13 thrived on the same ingredients that drove the previous generation to take up arms (minus the ideology): poverty, impunity⁴, a culture of violence, lots of young men and too few opportunities. Salvadoreans living under gang control call their teenage overlords los muchachos (“the boys”), a euphemism⁵ once used for the guerrillas. Acknowledging the parallel, Mr Dudley suggests that the term “insurgency” properly captures the gangs’ weaponry and political capital.

回到萨尔瓦多，让“MS-13”帮派蓬勃发展的因素与促使上一代“MS-13”成员拿起武器的因素相同（不包括意识形态）：贫穷、有罪不罚、暴力文化、年轻人众多以及机会紧缺。生活在黑帮控制下的萨尔瓦多人称呼这些少年小霸王为“游击队员”，这是一种委婉的说法，曾用于游击队。达德利承认了这一点，他觉得“叛乱”这个词恰当地抓住了帮派的武器装备和政治资本的特点。

As with rebels of earlier decades, El Salvador’s response hardened the hoodlums. Consecutive⁶ presidents packed the prisons, but with virtually no rehabilitation⁷ they became gang training grounds. Then, in 2012, an ex-guerrilla forged a short-lived truce⁸ between gangs and the government that halved⁹ the murder rate but horrified¹⁰ elites¹¹ and the American embassy (the mediator¹² is now in jail). Still, it set a precedent¹³. Deals continued in secret: support from MS-13 probably swayed the tight presidential election of 2014. Yet official policy reverted¹⁴ to all-out war against the gangs, fuelling a new exodus¹⁵ of migrants to the Mexican-American border, including numerous children. Mr Trump¹⁶ claimed, falsely, that many were gang members.

与几十年前的叛军一样，萨尔瓦多的应对使这些暴徒更加猖獗。连续几任总统都把监狱搞得水泄不通，但实际上罪犯并未得到任何改造，监狱成了黑帮训练的场所。然后在2012年，前任游击队使帮派和政府之间达成了短暂的停火协议，这一举措使谋杀率减半，但是却让掌权人物和美国大使馆感到震惊（调解员现在在监狱中）。不过这还是开创了先例。交易还在秘密中进行：来自“MS-13”帮派的支持很可能左右了2014年紧张的总统选举。然而萨尔瓦多发布的官方政策恢复了对黑帮的全面战争，促使新一批移民涌入美墨边境，其中包括许多儿童。特朗普谎称，其中许多人是帮派成员。

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 wielding   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
• He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。

3 deporting   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的现在分词 )；举止

参考例句：

4 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

5 euphemism   

n.婉言，委婉的说法

参考例句：

• Language reflects culture and euphemism is a mirror of culture.语言反映文化,而婉语则是各种文化的一面镜子。
• Euphemism is a very common and complicated linguistic phenomenon.委婉语是一种十分常见而又非常复杂的语言现象。

6 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

7 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

8 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

9 halved   

v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• The shares have halved in value . 股价已经跌了一半。
• Overall operating profits halved to $24 million. 总的营业利润减少了一半，降至2，400 万元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

11 elites   

精华( elite的名词复数 )； 精锐； 上层集团； （统称）掌权人物

参考例句：

• The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
• Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。

12 mediator   

n.调解人，中介人

参考例句：

• He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
• He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。

13 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

14 reverted   

恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还

参考例句：

• After the settlers left, the area reverted to desert. 早期移民离开之后，这个地区又变成了一片沙漠。
• After his death the house reverted to its original owner. 他死后房子归还给了原先的主人。

15 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

16 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。