2022年经济学人 不堪安全焦虑，旧金山选民罢免地区检察官(1)

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Chesa Boudin

凯萨·布丁

The city by the Bay says nay¹

海湾城市说不

San Franciscos fire their progressive district attorney

旧金山罢免他们进步派的地方检察官

Before Chesa Boudin was sworn in as San Francisco’s district attorney in January 2020, he once served as a translator for Hugo Chavez, the autocratic former president of Venezuela, and co-wrote a book about the Bolivarian revolution.

在2020年1月切萨·布丁宣誓就任旧金山地区检察官之前，他曾担任委内瑞拉独裁前总统乌戈·查韦斯的翻译，并与人合著了一本关于玻利瓦尔革命的书。

Now Mr Boudin has experienced his own revolt -- by voters.

现在，布丁先生也经历了选民的反抗。

On June 7th a majority of San Francisco voters decided² to “recall” him from office.

6月7日，旧金山的大多数选民决定“罢免”他的职务。

The mayor will appoint an interim³ district attorney, with a permanent replacement⁴ elected in November.

市长将任命一名临时地区检察官，并在11月选出永久继任者。

What may sound like a provincial⁵ spat⁶ is anything but.

这可能听起来像是一个地方性的争议，但事实并非如此。

This was a litmus of values in a city that has always been on the bleeding edge of social and political change.

对于一座一直处于社会和政治变革前沿的城市来说，这是一块价值观的试金石。

In 2019, when Mr Boudin was campaigning as a progressive promising⁷ to revolutionise criminal justice, his offbeat⁸ pedigree was an asset.

2019年，当布丁以一名进步人士的身份参加竞选时，他承诺要改革刑事司法，他与众不同的血统是一种优势。

He is a Rhodes scholar, a former public defender⁹ and the son of two members of the leftist Weather Underground, who were sentenced to prison for their role as getaway drivers in an armed robbery that led to two police officers and a security guard being killed.

他是罗兹学者，前公设辩护人，父亲是左翼组织“地下气象”的两名成员之一，他们曾在一次武装抢劫中作为司机逃逸，导致两名警察和一名保安死亡，被判入狱。

Mr Boudin promised to end cash bail¹⁰ and put fewer people in jail.

布丁承诺终止现金保释，并减少入狱人数。

Prosecutions¹¹ have indeed fallen since he took office.

自他上任以来，起诉人数确实有所下降。

If he did what he said he would, why did he come under fire?

如果他言而有信，为什么会受到攻击？

His rhetoric¹² and brash manner alienated¹³ many from the start.

他的言辞和傲慢态度从一开始就疏远了许多人。

At his election-night party in 2019, people lashed¹⁴ out at the Police Officers Association, chanting “Fuck the poa”, which had spent heavily to try to defeat Mr Boudin.

在2019年的选举之夜派对上，人们猛烈抨击警察协会，高呼“去他妈的POA”，该协会曾斥巨资试图击败布丁。

Since then, the relationship between Mr Boudin’s office and the police has been about as cosy¹⁵ as an old jail cell on Alcatraz.

从那时起，布丁的办公室和警方之间的关系就像恶魔岛上的旧牢房一样融洽

Morale¹⁶ in the district attorney’s office is “terrible”, says Michael Swart, one of seven prosecutors¹⁷ Mr Boudin fired after assuming office.

布丁上任后解雇的七名检察官之一迈克尔·斯沃特说，地区检察官办公室的士气“很糟糕”。

By October 2021, 59 attorneys, or around 40% of the prosecutors in his office, had either quit or been sacked.

到2021年10月，59名律师，约占他办公室检察官总数的40%，要么辞职，要么被解雇。

Some who have worked with Mr Boudin felt he was too quick to side with defendants¹⁸, when his job was to prosecute¹⁹ crimes and represent victims.

一些与布丁共事过的人认为，当他的工作是起诉犯罪和代表受害者时，他太快站在被告一边了。

The recall campaign gained steam after a few incidents in which his office’s choice not to keep people in jail carried deadly consequences.

在几起事件发生后，罢免运动的势头增强，在这些事件中，他的办公室选择不把人关在监狱里带来了致命的后果。

One paroled felon²⁰ stole a car, drove while drunk and killed two young women crossing a street (earlier that year the man had been arrested five times, and each time the district attorney’s office had declined to file charges).

一名被假释的重刑犯偷了一辆车，酒后开车，杀害了两名过马路的年轻女子(当年早些时候，这名男子被逮捕了五次，每次地区检察官办公室都拒绝提出指控)。

The degraded state of San Francisco has left a lot of inhabitants angry -- and blaming Mr Boudin.

堕落的旧金山让很多居民感到愤怒，并指责布丁。

“People are really sick of living in chaos,” says Michael Shellenberger, author of a book, “San Fransicko”, which argues that progressives are mishandling cities, who ran unsuccessfully for governor as an independent.

《旧金山》一书的作者迈克尔·谢伦伯格说：“人们真的厌倦了生活在混乱中。”这本书认为，进步派对城市处理不当，他们以无党派人士的身份竞选州长失败。

Downtown, drugstores have closed or refused to stock goods on shelves, due to shoplifting.

由于商店行窃，市中心的药店已经关闭或拒绝进货。

1 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

2 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。

3 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

4 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

5 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

6 spat   

n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声

参考例句：

• Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
• There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。

7 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

8 offbeat   

adj.不平常的，离奇的

参考例句：

• She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
• His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。

9 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

10 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

11 prosecutions   

起诉( prosecution的名词复数 )； 原告； 实施； 从事

参考例句：

• It is the duty of the Attorney-General to institute prosecutions. 检察总长负责提起公诉。
• Since World War II, the government has been active in its antitrust prosecutions. 第二次世界大战以来，政府积极地进行着反对托拉斯的检举活动。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

12 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

13 alienated   

adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• His comments have alienated a lot of young voters. 他的言论使许多年轻选民离他而去。
• The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers. 首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 cosy   

adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的

参考例句：

• We spent a cosy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
• It was so warm and cosy in bed that Simon didn't want to get out.床上温暖而又舒适，西蒙简直不想下床了。

16 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

17 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。

18 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

19 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

20 felon   

n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的

参考例句：

• He's a convicted felon.他是个已定罪的重犯。
• Hitler's early "successes" were only the startling depredations of a resolute felon.希特勒的早期“胜利 ”，只不过是一个死心塌地的恶棍出人意料地抢掠得手而已。