经济学人:斯洛伐克政坛疑云 总统儿子被绑架(1)

 　　Europe 欧洲

　　Slovakia Political Misery¹: Family Drama 斯洛伐克政坛疑云：家庭大戏

　　Who kidnapped the president's son? 是谁绑架了斯洛伐克总统的儿子？

　　In August 1995 Michal Kovac Jr, whose father was president of newly independent Slovakia, was stopped in his car by armed men who handcuffed him,  1995年8月，此时斯洛伐克刚刚独立，新上任总统的儿子小科瓦克在车上被一伙武装人士铐起来，

　　forced him to drink two bottles of whisky and began driving him to an unknown destination. 强行灌了两瓶威士忌之后，被带去了没人知道的地方。

　　When he tried to jump out of the car, they beat him and shocked him with a stun² gun. 当小科瓦克试图跳车逃走的时候，绑匪就开始殴打他，并且对他使用了电击枪。

　　The 34-year-old Mr Kovac woke up in Austria, where police arrested him in connection with a German financial probe. 而34岁的科瓦克总统此时正在奥地利，当他早上醒来的时候，警察正以涉嫌一桩德国金融调查案为由逮捕他。

　　They said they had been tipped off to his whereabouts by a Slovak informant. 警察透露他们是通过一位斯洛伐克线人知道了总统的位置。

　　An Austrian court soon released him because of the illegal manner of his detainment. 而奥地利法院很快就因为扣留不合法释放了总统。

　　He was never charged. 而他此后再没有遭到指控。

　　Slovak police and justice officials investigating the kidnapping were frustrated³ when a key witness went into hiding and his police contact was killed with a car-bomb. 当一名关键证人销声匿迹，而他的警察联络人遭遇一场汽车爆炸丧生，斯洛伐克警方和调查绑架案的司法官员心灰意冷。

　　Still, they managed to prepare an indictment⁴, which was later leaked. 然而，警方和司法官员仍设法准备对罪犯提起公诉，但是他们的计划随后被泄露了。

　　It pinned the crime on private thugs hired by the Slovak secret services (SIS) , whose head, Ivan Lexa, was the right-hand man of Vladimir Meciar, the prime minister at the time. 此后，这个案子被归罪到为私人做事的暴徒身上，而这些暴徒是由伊万-雷克沙所领导的斯洛伐克秘密情报局雇佣的，Ivan Lexa正是时任总理瓦德米尔-米契尔的左膀右臂。

1 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

2 stun   

vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹

参考例句：

• When they told me she had gone missing I was totally stunned.他们告诉我她不见了时，我当时完全惊呆了。
• Sam stood his ground and got a blow that stunned him.萨姆站在原地，被一下打昏了。

3 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。