TED演讲:在危机中前行(7)

 Neither immigration nor Islamic extremism are impossible to deal with. 移民问题和伊斯兰恐怖主义都不是不可能解决的

Join me now on one last trip, this time to Mexico. 现在跟我来看看最后的这个例子，这一次我们转向墨西哥

Now, of our three stories, this one probably surprised me the most, 在所有三个故事中，这一个可能是最令我惊讶的

since as you all know, the country is still struggling with so many problems. 正如你们所知，这个国家仍然在跟很多问题做斗争

And yet, a few years ago, Mexico did something 然而，几年前墨西哥做了一件

that many other countries from France to India to the United States can still only dream of. 很多其它国家，从法国、印度到美国，现在仍然只能梦想的事情

It shattered the political paralysis¹ that had gripped it for years. 那是它打破了困扰了好多年的政治僵局

To understand how, we need to rewind to the year 2000, when Mexico finally became a democracy. 要想理解的它是怎样做到的，我们需要倒回到2000年，那时墨西哥终于成为了一个民主国家

Rather than use their new freedoms to fight for reform, Mexico's politicians used them to fight one another. 墨西哥的政客们不是利用新获得的自由去推动改革，而是利用它们去互相攻击。

Congress deadlocked², and the country's problems -- 国会陷入僵持，而这个国家面临的问题——

drugs, poverty, crime, corruption-- spun⁴ out of control. 毒品、贫困、犯罪、腐败--都失去了控制

Things got so bad that in 2008, the Pentagon warned that Mexico risked collapse⁵. 到了2008年，情况已经变得非常糟糕了，五角大楼警告说墨西哥有崩溃的风险

Then in 2012, this guy named Enrique Pena Nieto somehow got himself elected president. 然后到了2012的年，这个叫做恩里克·培尼亚·涅托的家伙，不知怎么的选上了总统

Now, this Pena hardly inspired much confidence at first. 这个培尼亚一开始就艰难地激发了人们的自信心。

Sure, he was handsome, but he came from Mexico's corrupt³ old ruling party, the PRI, and he was a notorious womanizer. 当然，他很帅，他来自墨西哥腐败的旧执政党，革命制度党，并且是一个臭名昭着的花花公子

In fact, he seemed like such a pretty boy lightweight 事实上，他看起来完全像是一个无足轻重的小人物 

that women called him "bombon," sweetie, at campaign rallies. 在竞选集会上妇女们叫他夹心巧克力，亲爱的

And yet this same bombón soon surprised everyone by hammering out a truce⁶ between the country's three warring political parties. 而就是这个夹心巧克力很快就通过让这个国家三个互相争斗的政党达成休战协议而令人刮目相看。

1 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

2 deadlocked   

陷入僵局的；僵持不下的

参考例句：

• The plan deadlocked over the funds. 这个计划由于经费问题而搁浅了。
• The meeting deadlocked over the wage issue. 会议因工资问题而停顿下来。

3 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

4 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 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。