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VOA慢速英语2013 打击南非腐败现象

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AS IT IS 2013-08-26 Fighting Corruption1 in South Africa 打击南非腐败现象

Hello there, and welcome to “As It Is,” VOA’s daily show for people learning American English!

I’m Christopher Cruise in Washington.

Today on the program we hear from Anita Powell. She is VOA’s main radio and television reporter for southern Africa. She tells us about the South African city of Johannesburg, a place she considers both strange and energetic.

“The city can be crazy and hard-edged, but it has an energy that I have rarely seen anywhere else. Here in Johannesburg, anything goes, and everyone is welcome. And we like it that way.”

But first, we report on the issue of corruption in South Africa, and what officials there say they are doing about it.

Fighting Corruption in South Africa

The group Transparency International follows corruption in many countries. It recently released a report that may finally lead to real changes in South Africa.

The report says almost half of South Africans paid a bribe2 to an official in 2012 for a necessary service. The worldwide average is about 25 percent.

Paul Hoffman heads the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa. He is not surprised by the finding.

“Corruption thrives when there’s an absence of public accountability, where the levels of transparency in governance are lacking and where a culture of impunity3 takes root. And all three of those factors are available in abundance in South Africa.”

David Lewis is the head of Corruption Watch, a non-profit organization.

“There is plenty of vulnerability in the system for those who would abuse it, to take advantage of it. And, and, you know, it’s one of the things that we’re beginning to recognize which I think makes combating corruption so difficult is that there is around every public sector4 resource, there are sort of interests clustered who are living off them -- sometimes living quite, you know, relatively5 speaking, quite elaborately off them. And, so these are, these are difficult to, to tackle.”

The South African government is answering the report with new efforts to fight corruption. Lindiwe Sisulu is the minister for public service and administration. She says the government will create a new anti-corruption agency, and her ministry6 will ask the legislature to approve more anti-corruption laws.

The South African Police Service announced plans to launch a new anti-corruption department within the next six months. But the Service’s Lt. General Solomon Makgale said police are not the only ones to blame.

“Some of the media reports -- well most of them -- they put a lot of emphasis on the police who are being corrupted7. They forget that there is an equal responsibility on the person that is doing the corrupting8.”

He does, however, admit that the police service must make changes.

“What is important for us is that corruption is a reality in South Africa, corruption is a reality within the South African Police Service, and the national commissioner9 has made it very clear that this needs to be dealt with by forming an anti-corruption unit that’s going to focus exclusively on addressing criminality within the South African Police Service.”

Paul Hoffman of the Institute for Accountability says the planned reforms will be effective only if they are enforced and kept separate from politics.

“They won’t persuade me that they are serious about corruption until such time as a body that is specialized10, trained, independent, properly resourced, and who’s membership has security of tenure11 of office exists. We do not have a body that has any of those attributes.”

“You’ll Get Killed!”

South Africa’s Advertising12 Standards Authority has ruled that the city of Johannesburg must stop calling itself a “world-class African city.” Johannesburg has been using advertisements that describe the city as financially stable and environmentally friendly. But the independent authority says that is just not true.

In this Reporter’s Notebook, VOA’s Anita Powell tells us about life in South Africa’s biggest city and, in her opinion, possibly Africa’s strangest…

There is a fine-chocolate store in Johannesburg that carefully places large amounts of tissue paper around the sweets you buy there. Just down the road is a car dealership13 that sells costly14 Ferraris. Nearby is a private school for boys, where costs for a single year of studies start at $7,500. That is the same as the cost for three years at the University of Johannesburg.

But just a short drive north is the settlement of Diepsloot.It is known for violent attacks on foreigners, mob violence and protests by people demanding running water and electricity.

It is those conflicting worlds that troubled Steven Haywood when he heard a radio advertisement with the words “Joburg, a World-Class African City.” Mr. Haywood brought his concerns to the Advertising Standards Authority. Last month, the group ruled that he was right.

It agreed with him that records show investigators15 have examined local government spending three times. They agreed that the city’s waste-management company often leaves trash lying around on streets for days. And its roads agency lacks money to fix the roads.

Mr. Haywood also noted16 that $1.2 billion in public money is missing. This information, he said, is on the city’s own website!

Nthatisi Modingoane is a spokesman for the city of Johannesburg. He says the city will appeal the ruling. He says Johannesburg is working to become financially and environmentally strong.

“You know, whoever (is) listening might be saying because I’m biased17, and because they pay my salary. But, for me it’s beyond that. We, we attract so many people coming through Johannesburg. People are rushing here -- it says there is something that is being talked about through the word of mouth in terms of how great this city is.”

Gerald Garner18 works for the Joburg City Tourism Association. He calls the city “one of the most exciting on the planet.”

“The city is a melting pot, it’s a very creative place -- one of the most creative cities on the planet -- and you never have a dull moment in this city.”

Johannesburg calls itself “Egoli” -- or the city of gold. But many people -- referring to the city’s high crime rate -- say the unofficial name is “the place where you’ll get killed.” A number of people in Johannesburg have said this to me.

“You want to walk through your neighborhood?” asks the woman who takes the bus to the city every day from a poor area. “Oh, no, my dear, you’ll get killed,” she warns. “You live where?” asks a friend who lives just five minutes from where I live. “You’ll get killed.” 

Johannesburg is a place that fought early and hard against apartheid -- the system that separated blacks and whites. But until six years ago a main road was still named after Hendrik Verwoerd -- the man who created apartheid!

The city has an internationally-respected art and literary environment. But you can also buy dried monkey paws at a busy market, and you can find people who promise to bring back your lost lover or make parts of your body bigger. Some of them will provide this service by mobile phone.

The city can be crazy and hard-edged, but it has an energy that I have rarely seen anywhere else. Here in Johannesburg, anything goes and everyone is welcome. And we like it that way.

Is Johannesburg a world-class city? Maybe not, but its weirdness19 certainly is.

This is Anita Powell, VOA News, in Johannesburg.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 corruption TzCxn     
n.腐败,堕落,贪污
参考例句:
  • The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
  • The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。
2 bribe GW8zK     
n.贿赂;v.向…行贿,买通
参考例句:
  • He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
  • He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。
3 impunity g9Qxb     
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。
4 sector yjczYn     
n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形
参考例句:
  • The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
  • The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。
5 relatively bkqzS3     
adv.比较...地,相对地
参考例句:
  • The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
  • The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
6 ministry kD5x2     
n.(政府的)部;牧师
参考例句:
  • They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
  • We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
7 corrupted 88ed91fad91b8b69b62ce17ae542ff45     
(使)败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)腐化; 引起(计算机文件等的)错误; 破坏
参考例句:
  • The body corrupted quite quickly. 尸体很快腐烂了。
  • The text was corrupted by careless copyists. 原文因抄写员粗心而有讹误。
8 corrupting e31caa462603f9a59dd15b756f3d82a9     
(使)败坏( corrupt的现在分词 ); (使)腐化; 引起(计算机文件等的)错误; 破坏
参考例句:
  • It would be corrupting discipline to leave him unpunished. 不惩治他会败坏风纪。
  • It would be corrupting military discipline to leave him unpunished. 不惩治他会败坏军纪。
9 commissioner gq3zX     
n.(政府厅、局、处等部门)专员,长官,委员
参考例句:
  • The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
  • He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。
10 specialized Chuzwe     
adj.专门的,专业化的
参考例句:
  • There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
  • These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。
11 tenure Uqjy2     
n.终身职位;任期;(土地)保有权,保有期
参考例句:
  • He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
  • Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。
12 advertising 1zjzi3     
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
参考例句:
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
13 dealership Kv6zWa     
n.商品特许经销处
参考例句:
  • The car dealership has a large inventory of used cars. 这家汽车经销商拥有数量庞大的二手车。
  • A key to this effort is the experience in the dealership. 达到这个成果的关键是销售的体验。
14 costly 7zXxh     
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
参考例句:
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
15 investigators e970f9140785518a87fc81641b7c89f7     
n.调查者,审查者( investigator的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
  • The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
16 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
17 biased vyGzSn     
a.有偏见的
参考例句:
  • a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
  • The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。
18 garner jhZxS     
v.收藏;取得
参考例句:
  • He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
  • Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。
19 weirdness 52f61ae314ff984344d402963b23d61f     
n.古怪,离奇,不可思议
参考例句:
  • The weirdness of the city by night held her attention. 夜间城市的古怪景象吸引了她的注意力。
  • But that's not the end of the weirdness feasible in evolutionary systems. 然而这还不是进化系统居然可行的最怪异的地方呐。

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