VOA标准英语10月-Island Nations Top African Governance Index; Soma

A newly-released list that ranks the effectiveness of governments in sub-Saharan Africa shows small island nations such as Mauritius, the Seychelles and Cape¹ Verde at the top, and conflict-ridden countries such as Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia at the bottom. VOA's Peter Heinlein reports the rankings were released in Addis Ababa.

The rankings indicate two thirds of African governments are getting better year-by-year. Liberia is perhaps making the biggest strides toward good governance.

On the other end of the scale, a few countries, particularly those where wars are being waged,are failing. Somalia, ungovernable for more than a decade, ranked last of the 48 countries surveyed,

Those are the findings of the, an annual ranking of sub-Saharan African nations according to quality of governance. They are based on data for 2006, compiled and analyzed² by experts from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
　

Mo Ibrahim during press conference releasing the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, 6 Oct. 2008

The Index is the idea of Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim, who made a fortune bringing mobile-phone technology to much of Africa during the past decade. He is now devoting his time and a substantial portion of his fortune to addressing what many consider Africa's biggest failing, bad governance.

Ibrahim unveiled his second annual index at a news conference in Addis Ababa. He was joined by several board members of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Among them were Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and U.N. Human Rights chief, as well as Salim Ahmed Salim, the former head of the Organization of African Unity³ and former prime minister of Tanzania.

One of the most disturbing findings is that the quality of governance deteriorated⁴ between 2005 and 2006 in the Horn of Africa and the surrounding region, including Sudan. Salim Salim says regional conflicts are undermining all progress.

"You talk about conflicts. You talk of Somalia. You talk of the situation right now in Somalia which affects Ethiopia," he said. "You talk of the Ethiopia-Eritrea situation. You talk of Sudan, [this all] is involved in deterioration⁵ of the situation in Sudan, so the number-one problem that has affected⁶ this region has been the issue of conflict."

Ibrahim admits the Governance Index is not perfect for two important reasons. First, the data is often provided by the rated governments themselves, and he says governments lie. Second, the picture is already dated, since the most recent data is from 2006, the last year for which statistics are available.

But he says the index is a valuable tool, giving governments an assessment⁷ of the quality of services provided to their citizens. He says when he began looking at ways of re-investing the millions he made from his African company Celltel, he recognized good governance as the top priority.

"We could have given this money to the people in the camps in Darfur, to the vaccine⁸ for AIDS," Ibrahim said. "These are all pain killers⁹, what we need is to define the root for conflict. Why Darfur happened. Why Somalia happened. Why DRC happened. What we need is to deal with the root of the disease, not to give aspirins. That is why I decided¹⁰ to give the money to this foundation."

This year's index ranked Mauritius as the best governed sub-Saharan African nation for the second year. Next came Seychelles, Cape Verde, Botswana and South Africa, in that order. Liberia showed the most progress, jumping more than 10 points on the index, to move up to 38th place among the 48 countries surveyed.

After Somalia, Africa's worst governed countries are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Sudan, Angola and the Central African Republic.

Zimbabwe ranked 33rd among African nations in 2006, though analysts¹¹ say recent developments will push it further down in future surveys.

The index measures governance based on five criteria¹²: safety and security; rule of law; transparency and corruption¹³; participation¹⁴ and human rights; economic opportunity and human development.

1 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

2 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

4 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

5 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

8 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

9 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

13 corruption   

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。

14 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。