经济学人349:合法使用大麻变成空话(2)

 　　But then, last year, the administration issued the Cole memo¹ (these things are named after the deputy attorneys-general who draft them). It seemed, in dense² verbiage³, to suggest that the Ogden memo had been misunderstood, and that federal prosecutors⁴ should indeed go after the cannabis trade, especially if they suspect that serious money is being made.

　　但是去年奥巴马政府发布了科尔备忘录（以起草备忘录的助理大法官的名字命名）。它似乎暗示奥格登备忘录被人们误解了，联邦检察官们应该追查大麻买卖，尤其是检察官们怀疑有非法牟利的时候。

　　The overall effect has been to confuse everybody and leave matters entirely⁵ at the discretion⁶ of individual prosecutors. Thus there are few signs of federal aggression⁷ in New Mexico, Rhode Island or Vermont, for instance. Rather, the crackdown appears to be occurring in just six federal districts—the four in California, and those in Montana and Colorado.

　　这样产生的大体影响是：人们会感到困惑，大麻的执法也完全依赖于检察官自己的判断。因此在例如新墨西哥、佛蒙特和罗德岛等州联邦很少禁止大麻，但是六个联邦特区（加利福尼亚州的四个特区和蒙太纳州、科罗伦多州的其余两特区）却有严打大麻的行动。

　　To Ethan Nadelmann, the head of the Drug Policy Alliance, which lobbies for an end to the failed “war on drugs”, this suggests that six federal prosecutors may be acting⁸ on their own, perhaps even in conflict with the Obama administration. The president, in this scenario⁹, is too afraid to touch anything that looks soft on drugs in an election year and stands weakly by.

　　伊桑-南德尔曼是药物政策联盟的执行董事，一直为停止失败的毒品战争而进行游说。对他来说这意味着六位联邦检察官可能会独自行动，甚至会与奥巴马政府相冲突。对于这样的情况，正处大选年的奥巴马总统非常恐惧，不敢在毒品问题上表现得很软弱，必须强势出击。

　　States do not like it. Democratic and Republican legislators from five medical-marijuana states have written an open letter to Barack Obama to end the “chaos” and leave this matter to the states. Christine Gregoire and Lincoln Chafee, governors of Washington state and Rhode Island, have asked the federal government to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug (like heroin¹⁰, say) to a Schedule II drug (like morphine) so that doctors can at least prescribe it safely in certain circumstances. Vermont, Colorado, Hawaii, and have joined in the request. Ms Gregoire has already found herself having to veto a medical-marijuana bill she supports for fear that her state employees may be indicted¹¹ by federal prosecutors. To all the good reasons for drug reform can now be added this classically conservative one: states’ rights.

　　各州均很反感。共和党和民主党的立法议员们给奥巴马写了封公开信，要求结束纷争，让州政府处理是否禁止大麻事宜，他们主要来自五个允许使用药用大麻的州。华盛顿州州长克里斯汀-格雷瓜尔和罗德岛州州长林肯-切菲已经要求联邦政府把大麻重新归类，从一等毒品（海洛因等）降为二等毒品（比如吗啡），以便医生在某些情况下可以安全地开出大麻的处方药。佛蒙特州、科罗伦多州、夏威夷州和康涅狄格州也加入了请求队伍中。格雷瓜尔女士已经感到她必须否决一项自己支持的药用大麻的法案，以免华盛顿州的雇员遭联邦检察官起诉。各州的权利这一保守而又老生常谈的说法能够成为进行药物改革的中肯理由。

1 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 verbiage   

n.冗词；冗长

参考例句：

• Stripped of their pretentious verbiage,his statements come dangerously close to inviting racial hatred.抛开那些夸大其词的冗词赘语不论，他的言论有挑起种族仇恨的危险。
• Even in little 140-character bites,that's a lot of verbiage.即使限制在一条140个字也有很大一部分是废话。

4 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

7 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

10 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

11 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。