76 贪污腐败仍是非洲国家的主要问题

76 贪污腐败仍是非洲国家的主要问题

Corruption 2 Still a Major Problem in Africa
Barry Wood
27 Jun 2001 21:03 UTC

Transparency International, the world anti-1)corruption organization, Wednesday released its annual corruption index. Sub-Saharan African countries generally 2)scored poorly.
On a scale of one to ten (with ten being best) only two sub-Saharan countries had scores higher than five. They are Botswana (6) and Namibia (5.4). By 3)contrast, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Cameroon registered scores of two or below and ranked near the bottom of the 91 countries that were 4)surveyed worldwide. Bangladesh topped the list as the world's most corrupt 1 country.
Frank Vogl is the vice 3 chairman of 5)Transparency International. He addressed a 6)crowded room of reporters at Washington's National Press Club. "I am personally very saddened that the score for Nigeria has gone down," he said. "It's gone down fractionally. But here you have a national leader of enormous 7)integrity, President Obasanjo, who is trying desperately 4 to make fighting corruption a huge issue in his country. But clearly, the 8)perceptions of his country have not adequately changed."
The corruption index, launched in 1995, is a 9)compilation of 14 polls done by seven independent institutions. The surveys of business people, academics and country analysts 5 measure perceptions of corruption. Each country in the index has had at least three surveys done over a three-year period.
Mr. Vogl calls the corruption index a wake-up call for national leaders. He says the public at large has become very skeptical 6 of leaders who say they will fight corruption. He says people are waiting for actual improvements like, for example, not having to pay 10)bribes to get something done.
Transparency International says it is greatly concerned about corruption in Zimbabwe (3.0) where 11)journalists and civil servants are being 12)intimidated. Mr. Vogl noted 7, by contrast, corruption is at least being debated in neighboring South Africa (4.8). "What is so interesting here is not just a tiny little change," he said. "But the fact that there is a very strong public debate in South Africa about corruption. It is very important that that debate be 13)sustained. Because, while South Africa does relatively 8 well, compared to its neighbors on our index, the very fact that South Africa still has a level of five or less ought to be and I think it is a major concern to the government and people of South Africa."
Fifty-five countries, many of them very poor, scored less than five on the index, suggesting high levels of perceived corruption in government and public administration.
 

(1) corruption[kE5rQpF(E)n]n.腐败, 贪污, 堕落
(2) score[skC:(r)]n.得分vi.记分, 刻痕, 得分
(3) contrast[kEn5trB:st; (?@) kEn5trAst]vt.使与...对照n.对比, 对照
(4) survey[sE5veI]n.测量, 调查vt.调查(收入,民意等) 测量
(5) transparency[trAn5spArEnsI, trB:-]n.透明, 透明度
(6) crowded[5kraJdId]adj.拥挤的, 塞满的
(7) integrity[In5te^rItI]n.正直, 诚实, 完整, 完全, 完整性
(8) perception[pE5sepF(E)n]n.理解,感知,感觉
(9) compilation[kRmpI5leIF(E)n]n.编辑
(10) bribe[braIb]n.贿赂vt.贿赂, 向...行贿
(11) journalist[5dV:nElIzt]n.新闻记者, 从事新闻杂志业的人
(12) intimidate[In5tImIdeIt]v.胁迫
(13) sustained[sE`steInd]adj.持续不变的, 相同的