Hero or bully?
英雄抑或恶霸？
（1）WHEN lawyers speak, laymen are often baffled. So it is refreshing to hear an exchange such as the following, between the attorneys-general of New York and California, as reported in the American Lawyer. “You want to step outside, that's fine! I grew up in the Bronx!” said Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney-general. “No problem,” shouted Bill Lockyer, California's attorney-general, “I grew up in east LA. Let's go!” In the end, the two men settled their dispute without v________①.
当律师们说话的时候，外行人通常都感到匪夷所思。所以，下面这段争吵听上去让人感觉很新鲜。据《美国律师》报道，争吵发生在纽约和加里福利亚两位首席检察官之间。纽约的首席检察官艾里奥特·斯皮策说：“您想出去遛遛，那好！我可是在布朗克斯（译注：纽约一行政区）长大的。”加里福利亚首席检察官比尔·洛基尔则大叫道：“没问题，我是在洛杉矶东部长大的。咱们走吧！”最终两人和风细雨地结束了论辩。
What does this i_______② tell us about Mr Spitzer, who is likely to be elected governor of New York state this year? As the title of Brooke Masters's new biography suggests, Mr Spitzer is a combative fellow. He can be admirably plain-spoken, too. （2）But his aggression is not always channelled to useful ends, and he sometimes talks up a tempest but fails to follow through.
就今年可能当选纽约州州长的斯皮策而言，这段小插曲意味着什么呢？布鲁克·马斯特斯的新传记标题表明，斯皮策是个好斗之人，同时也因说话直来直去而受人钦佩。不过，他的好斗并不总是善始善终，有时为了点小事大做文章，却不能坚持到底。
To his boosters, Mr Spitzer is a paragon among prosecutors: diligent, imaginative and incorruptible. （3）He gets up at five and, after a run and shower, works tirelessly to bring mighty malefactors[1] to justice. He cut his teeth breaking up a mob-connected trucking cartel[2]. On becoming New York's top prosecutor in 1998, he went after bigger targets. In 2002, for example, he wrung[3[ a $1.4 billion settlement out of ten investment banks for hyping[4] dud[5] stocks to small investors, among other transgressions[6]. His record of fighting for the little guy makes him an ideal Democratic candidate.
在斯皮策的拥护者看来，他是检察官中的典范——工作勤奋、富有想像力而且清廉。他早上五点起床，跑跑步，再洗个澡，然后不知疲倦地工作，直到顽固的犯罪分子受到法律制裁。在打破勾结犯罪团伙垄断货车运输业的某卡特尔一案中，他小试牛刀。（译注：cut one’s teeth [on sth.]初学乍练）1998年成为纽约最高检控官后，他开始追求更大的目标。例如在2002年，他迫使十家投资银行签订了一份价值14亿美元的补偿协议。这些银行涉嫌用无效股票欺诈小本投资者等多项犯罪。他这种为小人物而战的经历使他成为一名理想的民主党候选人。（译注：本人对股票不甚了了，不太清楚这个dud stocks到底指的是什么，不过下面这段话可能有助于你我了解：Some people are getting rich off the internet; you could too. But every investor must ask themselves if they can handle and afford the risk. You could pick a dud stock and lose all your money, but on the other hand, you could pick the next Yahoo, Ebay (EBAY) or Amazon (AMZN) and become a multi-millionaire.）
To his detractors[7], Mr Spitzer is a bully who abuses his office to further his political career. Bashing[8] Wall Street generates vote-wooing headlines. But his critics charge that he sometimes disregards due process. He makes accusations amid media fanfare[9] and then quietly drops them when he cannot find evidence that would stand up in court. By threatening to indict[10] whole companies—spelling certain bankruptcy—he forces their managers to settle. Ms Masters, a Washington Post reporter, is studiously even-handed in telling the story, but it is clear where her sympathies lie. Her first chapter is e_______③: “When markets need to be tamed”.
对于诋毁他的那些人来说，斯皮策则是一个为了提高政治地位而滥用职权的恶霸。非难一下华尔街就可以成为头版头条的新闻，还能争取到选票。但是，批评人士指责他有时置正常的诉讼程序于不顾。他先提出指控，搞得媒体沸沸扬扬，然后当他无法找到有效的证据时又悄悄地撤回。他威胁要起诉所有公司——从某种程度上看，这将意味着破产——从而迫使这些公司的经理们达成和解协议。马斯特斯（《华盛顿邮报》记者）在记述中很注意保持一视同仁的态度，但她到底同情谁还是一目了然。本书第一章的标题就是——“当市场需要压制之时”。
Her book is thorough and often engaging. （4）We learn that Mr Spitzer came from a competitive family where Scrabble routinely sparked friendly but intense squabbles[11]. His father, a squillionaire[12] property developer, once reduced young Eliot to tears during a game of Monopoly. “He said, _____________________,（借钱不还就有你好看的。）” Mr Spitzer recalled.
她的书记述很全面，也有不少吸引人的地方。据说斯皮策生于一个喜爱竞争的家庭，在这个家庭中，就算是拼字游戏也照样能引发友好而激烈的口角。他的父亲是一个腰缠万贯的房地产开发商，曾在一次“大富翁”游戏中把年幼的艾里奥特给逼哭了。斯皮策回忆道：“他说，借钱不还就有你好看的。”
Mr Spitzer's combativeness, says Ms Masters, has led some observers to wonder whether he has “the temperament to serve effectively as governor, a multifaceted executive job that require[s] both administrative and conciliation skills.” （5）Or, as the Wall Street Journal more pithily[13] put it, New Yorkers should question “whether Mr Spitzer's habit of publicly smearing individuals while bringing no charges in court is appropriate behaviour by any prosecutor, much less one running to be New York's governor.”
马斯特斯说，斯皮策的好斗性格让一些观察人士怀疑他是否具有“胜任州长这一需要管理和调解双重技能、涉及面广的行政工作的气质”。或者像《华尔街杂志》更为直截了当地说的那样，纽约人应当质疑“斯皮策公开诬蔑个人却不诉诸法庭的习惯对于一名检控官——更遑论一个即将成为纽约州长的人——而言是否得体。”
[QUIZ]
1. 根据上下文和英文释义，完成单词：
①v________（n. behaviour that is intended to hurt other people physically）
②i________（n. an event, especially one that is unusual, important, or violent）
③e________（v. to give a name to）
2．汉译英（根据译文提示和上下文，在空白处填入相应英文）：
[NOTES]
1. malefactor n.坏人；罪犯
2. cartel n.卡特尔；同业联盟
3. wring v.（out of）强迫获得；逼迫某人说出（真相）
4. hype v.大肆宣传；大作广告
5. dud n.无用之物；作废的东西
6. transgression n.越界；违法犯罪
7. detractor n.诽谤者；诋毁者
8. bash v.严责；非难；重击
9. fanfare n.大张旗鼓；炫耀；号曲
10. indict v.起诉；控告
11. squabble n.口角；为琐事争吵
12. squillionaire 亿万富翁〔squillion表示极大的数字（在trillion之上），该词在诸如韦伯、朗文、剑桥等词典上都没有摘录，通过google，尚知其意，是一个上世纪80年代才创造出的新词，类似的还有zillion〕
13. pithily adj.简洁的；精练地
Monopoly:a very popular type of board game that has been sold since the 1930s. Players use toy money to buy streets and buildings on squares on the board, and then make other players pay rent if they move onto those squares. The squares on the board show the names of real streets in cities in the US (=in an American Monopoly set), London (=in a British Monopoly set), or other big cities around the world. People sometimes use the expression Monopoly moneyto mean a very large amount of money（类似于台湾的“大富翁”游戏）
[KEY TO QUIZ]
1. ①violence 暴力
相关用词搭配：act of violence暴力行为physical violence发生身体接触的暴力
domestic violence (=violence between a man and woman in their home)家庭暴力
racial/ethnic violence (=violence between different groups of people)种族暴力
use/resort to violence (=behave violently)使用暴力；动武
violence erupts/explodes (=there is suddenly a lot of violence)突发大规模暴力事件
②incident 事件；事变
③entitled 命名
来源:考试大-口译笔译
责编:huangling 纠错
