经济学人253:日本的战争阴影 安倍的恶魔

 　　安倍的恶魔

　　History is haunting Shinzo Abe

　　历史遗留问题正困扰着安倍晋三

　　Unable to forget

　　无法忘记

　　JAPAN'S imperious newspapers rarely issue apologies; two in six months is unheard of. In August, the liberal Asahi Shimbun admitted running stories based on discredited¹ testimony² by a former Japanese soldier who said he had corralled Korean women into wartime military brothels. Last week, the Asahi's conservative archrival, Yomiuri Shimbun, said sorry to its 10m readers for using the term “sex slaves” in many articles about so-called comfort women since 1992. Such language was “inappropriate”, its editors said. This will inflame³ the issue.

　　强势的日本报纸几乎不会道歉，半年内两度发表道歉声明的事更是闻所未闻。今年8月份，自由派报纸《朝日新闻》因以一位前日本军人不可信的证词作了系列报道而道歉，这名军人说自己曾强迫朝鲜女性进入战时的军队妓院。上周，朝日的劲敌保守派报纸《读卖新闻》又为在自1992年以来的多篇文章中使用“性奴”称呼慰安妇而向其1千万读者道歉。该报编辑表示，这种措辞是“不恰当的”。这使得事件火上浇油。

　　日本的战争阴影.jpg

　　The apology reflects an ideological⁴ war that has been waged for over two decades. Conservatives in Japan have fought to reverse an admission by a previous government of military involvement in coercing⁵ Asian women into sexual slavery during the second world war. They say the women were willing prostitutes who served the troops. Critics accuse Japan of whitewashing⁶ the past.

　　这一道歉折射出进行了长达20多年之久的意识形态战争。日本前任政府曾承认日本在二战期间强迫亚洲各国女性成为性奴，但日本的保守派极力否认这些。他们认为这些女性是自愿服务军队的妓女。有关方面则批评日本粉饰历史。

　　Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, is deeply entangled⁷ in this controversy⁸. Several in his cabinet deny war crimes and say Japan has been bullied⁹ into expressions of guilt¹⁰ and remorse¹¹. Mr Abe is unhappy that events from 70 years ago dominate Japan's diplomatic relations with South Korea (at a G20 meeting in Australia last month, Mr Abe and South Korea's president, Park Geun-hye, spent 40 minutes talking about how to resolve their differences over the wartime women). He blames the Asahi for poisoning ties with Japan's closest neighbour and besmirching¹² Japan's image abroad. Japan must regain¹³ its honour, he says. In an interview with The Economist¹⁴, he said his heart ached thinking about the women. But he said previous governments had also taken his view that there was no proof of coercion¹⁵.

　　日本首相安倍晋三被深深卷入这一争议。其内阁中的一些成员不承认战争罪，并认为日本是被迫表达出罪恶感和悔恨。70年前的事件仍左右日本同韩国的外交关系，安倍对这一现实感到不快（在上月于澳大利亚举行的G20峰会上，安倍和韩国总统朴槿惠在讨论如何消除两国关于战时慰安妇问题的分歧上花费了40分钟之久）。安倍指责《朝日新闻》毒害了日本同其最好的邻国之间的关系，并且损害了日本的海外形像。他表示，日本需要赢回尊严。在同《经济学人》的一次访谈中，他表示他为这些女性感到心痛。但是他也认同前任政府的观点，即没有证据证明这这些人是受到强迫的。

　　Historians disagree. They say women were treated as the spoils of war throughout Japanese wartime territories. Some were driven into prostitution by poverty. Others were enticed¹⁶ with promises of legitimate¹⁷ work or marched into “comfort stations” at gunpoint. Revisionists who describe them all as volunteers are “completely wrong”, says Haruki Wada, a former director of Japan's official compensation fund for the women.

　　历史学家对此观点不一，他们认为这些女性在日本战时的领地中完全被当做战利品。一些女性是由于贫困而成了妓女。还有一些或是被合法工作的许诺所诱惑，或是被枪口威胁着去往“慰安所”。那些把这些人描述成自愿行为的修正主义者们“完全错了”，日本官方的慰安妇赔偿基金的前官员和田春树这样说道。

　　The Yomiuri's retraction¹⁸, which follows a similar move by NHK, a public-service broadcaster, is a victory for revisionists—and a pre-emptive strike. Since the Asahi retraction, the Yomiuri has run many articles berating¹⁹ its rival. The apology is a way of protecting the newspaper from counter-attack, while thumbing its nose at its ideological opponents.

　　《读卖新闻》这次撤销报道行为跟在公共电视台NHK的一次类似行为之后，这即是一次修正主义者们的胜利，也是一次先发制人。在《朝日新闻》撤销报道后，《读卖日报》曾发表众多文章抨击对手。《读卖日报》的这次道歉能够保护报纸不受攻击，同时又可以在意识形态上对手嗤之以鼻。

1 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。

2 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

3 inflame   

v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎

参考例句：

• Our lack of response seemed to inflame the colonel.由于我们没有反应,好象惹恼了那个上校。
• Chemical agents manufactured by our immune system inflame our cells and tissues,causing our nose to run and our throat to swell.我们的免疫系统产生的化学物质导致我们的细胞和组织发炎，导致我们流鼻水和我们的喉咙膨胀。

4 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

5 coercing   

v.迫使做( coerce的现在分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• All of the children had atopic dermatis coercing at least 20% of their body surface area. 所有的患儿体表有超过20%的遗传性过敏症皮炎感染。 来自互联网
• I assured him that we had no intention of coercing Israel in response a Soviet threat. 我向他保证，我们无意强迫以色列对苏联的威胁做出反映。 来自互联网

6 whitewashing   

粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的现在分词 )； 喷浆

参考例句：

• Tom went on whitewashing the fence, paying no attention to Ben. 汤姆没有理睬本，继续在粉刷着篱笆。
• When whitewashing the wall, he painted with a roller in his hand. 刷墙的时候，他手里拿个辊子，挥舞着胳膊。

7 entangled   

adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The bird had become entangled in the wire netting. 那只小鸟被铁丝网缠住了。
• Some military observers fear the US could get entangled in another war. 一些军事观察家担心美国会卷入另一场战争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

11 remorse   

n.痛恨，悔恨，自责

参考例句：

• She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。
• He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。

12 besmirching   

v.弄脏( besmirch的现在分词 )；玷污；丑化；糟蹋（名誉等）

参考例句：

• By thus besmirching Su Wen-wan, the two made up. 这样作践着苏文纨，他们俩言归于好。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
• He never forgave the reporter for besmirching his family's name. 该记者损害了他家的名声，他永远不会原谅该记者。 来自互联网

13 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。

14 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

15 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

16 enticed   

诱惑，怂恿( entice的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He enticed his former employer into another dice game. 他挑逗他原来的老板再赌一次掷骰子。
• Consumers are courted, enticed, and implored by sellers of goods and services. 消费者受到商品和劳务出售者奉承，劝诱和央求。

17 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

18 retraction   

n.撤消；收回

参考例句：

• He demanded a full retraction of the allegations against him.他要求完全收回针对他的言论。
• The newspaper published a retraction of the erroneous report.那家报纸声明撤回那篇错误的报道。

19 berating   

v.严厉责备，痛斥( berate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He deserved the berating that the coach gave him. 他活该受到教练的严厉训斥。 来自互联网
• The boss is berating those who were late for work. 老板正在呵斥那些上班迟到的员工。 来自互联网