2006年VOA标准英语-The Status and Prospects of Democracy in R
时间：2019-01-13 作者：英语课 分类：2006年VOA标准英语（二月）
By Peter Fedynsky
Washington, DC
17 February 2006
watch G8 Democracy report
Russia recently assumed the rotating presidency 1 of the G-8, prompting a discussion in the United States about whether that country shares the civic 2 values of the industrialized nations that are the other members of the group. VOA's Peter Fedynsky looks at the status and prospects 3 of Russian democratic reforms.
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As G-8 finance ministers met recently in Moscow to discuss oil supplies and other global economic issues, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared on American television to say "Some elements of democratization in Russia," as she put it, "seem to be going the wrong way" -- specifically a crackdown on non-governmental organizations and the temporary cutoff of natural gas to Ukraine.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
"Clearly the law on non-governmental organizations is a problem,” said the secretary. “Clearly the use of energy in the way that it was used concerning Ukraine is a problem. And Russia is now the president of the G-8 process. We would hope for behavior that is befitting of the president of the G-8 process."
Secretary Rice added that Russia as a whole - her leaders and people alike - needs to fully 4 integrate the democratic values of the original G-8 members into the country's future.
Andrew Kuchins, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, says wealthy industrialized nations have a major interest in Russian democracy.
Andrew Kuchins
"The fundamental argument as to why we should care about Russia being democratic gets back to democratic peace theory, I suppose. Democratic nations tend to be more prosperous, democratic nations tend to be less aggressive in their foreign policies towards their neighbors. Democratic nations generally tend to observe human rights conventions more thoroughly 5 than non-democratic nations."
Mr. Kuchins says Russia's initial encounter with democracy in the 1990s was associated with chaos 6 -- mafia hits in city streets, fraud, corruption 8, illegal privatization, and loss of international prestige. Since then, President Vladimir Putin has pursued what he calls sovereign democracy, which Andrew Kuchins says is long on Russian sovereignty and short on democracy as it is understood in the G-8.
Instead, Mr. Kuchins says, Mr. Putin has centralized authority by diminishing the independence of his country's media outlets 9 and political opposition 10. However, Russia expert Anatol Lieven at the New America Foundation, a Washington, DC think tank, says centralization has not made the Kremlin as powerful as it once was.
Anatol Lieven
"Actually, the power of the central state remains 11 extremely weak when it comes to influencing what really happens on the ground in most areas of Russia, because the state bureaucracy is too corrupt 7. It's too in league with local elites 12, with local businessmen,” Mr. Lieven told us. “So many of the orders given from the Kremlin never actually have any effect on the ground at all."
Anatol Lieven and Andrew Kuchins agree that rising prosperity is creating a Russian middle class. However, they are at odds 13 over the country's prospects for democratic reform.
Mr. Lieven says, "I think the Putin administration is not democratic. It is sincerely developmentalist. But I also think that there are many, many reasons to doubt that it will actually succeed in its program, [which has] to do with many things that we see around large parts of the world: corruption, lack of intelligence and dynamism in the bureaucratic 14 elites, and a whole range of issues."
"The middle class is growing in the Russian Federation,” says Kuchins. “That's something that gives me optimism about the future, because as more people have investments in property that they want to defend, I think over time that will create a demand for more efficient, more transparent 15 political and legal institutions in which they can do that."
Mr. Kuchins notes that the demand for a durable 16 and sustainable Russian democracy will take time and must come from below. In the short term, Russia's membership in the G-8 could help accelerate that country's democracy.
- Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
- Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。
- I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
- The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。
- There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
- They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。
- The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
- They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
- The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
- The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。
- After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
- The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
- The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
- This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。
- 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。
- The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
- The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
- He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
- The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
- The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
- Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。
- The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
- Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？
- The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
- In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。
- The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
- The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。