2021年经济学人 有人愿意出价买毒枭矮子的房子吗(在线收听) |
The Americas 美洲板块 Mexico's raffle 墨西哥的抽奖活动 A bad lot 坏掉的奖品 Will anyone bid for El Chapo's house 有人愿意出价买毒枭矮子的房子吗 If the popularity of the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico" is anything to go by, people would jump at the chance to own a former abode of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, a notorious Mexican drug lord better known as "El Chapo". 如果网飞电视剧《毒枭:墨西哥》的人气可以作为参照的话,人们会欣然接受这个机会,买下乔奎因·古兹曼·洛埃拉的旧居。乔奎因·古兹曼·洛埃拉是墨西哥的一个臭名昭著的毒枭,人们更为熟知的是他的绰号“矮子”。 It was from this house in Culiacán, in the north-western Mexican state of Sinaloa, that the kingpin escaped capture in 2014, fleeing through a tunnel under the bathroom floor as the Mexican marines stormed in. 2014年,正是在这座位于墨西哥西北部锡那罗亚州库利亚坎的房子里,当墨西哥的海军陆战队冲进来时,该头目通过浴室地板下的一条隧道逃跑了。 (He was subsequently captured and extradited to the United States, where he is serving a life sentence.) (之后他被捕并被引渡到美国,被判终身监禁。) The house is among a bunch of prizes up for grabs in a special draw run by the Mexican National Lottery to be held in September, along with 20 other properties and a vip box at Azteca stadium, the home of the national football team. 墨西哥国家彩票将于9月举行特别抽奖活动,这栋房子是奖品之一,另外奖品还包括其它20处房产以及国家足球队主场阿兹特克体育场的一个贵宾包厢。 Many of the items are the confiscated property of criminals and corrupt former officials, put up by the Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the People, a public body that also auctions off recovered booty. 其中许多奖品是从罪犯和腐败的前官员那里没收的财产,由“将赃物归还人民协会”提供,该协会是一家公共机构,还负责拍卖被追回的赃物。 President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has a penchant for showy acts that suggest his government is fighting corruption. 墨西哥总统安德烈斯·曼努埃尔·洛佩斯·奥夫拉多尔喜欢炫耀,通过这些举动来表明他的政府正在打击腐败。 (On August 1st he held a referendum on whether to prosecute his five predecessors. A paltry 7% of voters turned out, far short of the legally binding 40%.) (8月1日,他就是否起诉他的五位前任总统进行了全民公投。仅有7%的选民参加了投票,而达到40%才具备法律约束力。) He says the money raised from the raffle will be spent on things to improve life for the poor, including medicines, scholarships and roads. 他说,从抽奖活动中筹集到的资金将用于改善穷人的生活,包括药品、奖学金和道路。 Yet it is unclear how many people will shell out 250 pesos ($12.45) for one of the 2m tickets. 该抽奖活动共设200万张门票,然而,目前还不清楚有多少人会花250比索(12.45美元)购买这样一张门票。 El Chapo's two-bedroomed house has repeatedly failed to attract interest at auction—perhaps less because of fear that one of his sicarios might not look kindly on a new tenant, than because the property is now decidedly rough round the edges. 毒枭矮子的两居室房子在拍卖会上屡屡未能引起人们的兴趣,不是因为担心他的某个边境杀手会对新房客不友好,而是因为这套房子已经破败不堪。 When Mr Lopez Obrador, who flies economy class, failed to find a buyer for the presidential plane after taking power in 2018, he offered it as the main prize in a similar draw. 乘坐经济舱的洛佩斯·奥夫拉多尔于2018年掌权后尚未为总统专机找到买家,于是他将这架专机作为令一个类似的抽奖活动的主要奖品。 When it dawned on the authorities that the average Mexican would not be able to house or maintain a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, they replaced the prize with the cash equivalent. 当当局意识到普通墨西哥人无法拥有或维护一架波音787-8梦幻客机时,他们把奖品换成了等值的现金。 Despite the riches on offer, about a quarter of tickets remained unsold. 尽管门票数量很多,但仍有约四分之一的门票未售出。 |
原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/2021jjxr/533976.html |