口译时事：台湾立法院上演全武行

2013-06-27 00:00:00来源：可可英语

　　Coffee flew, tears were shed, teeth latched onto flesh. Taiwan’s legislature was in full-on brawl on Tuesday over a number of controversial bills.

　　咖啡被打翻，有人哭泣，还有人张口咬人。周二，台湾立法院因为几个法案引发的争议又上演了全武行。

　　Taiwan has long been known for feisty and combative politics, to the extent that its lawmakers regularly get shout-outs on lists with names like “Six of the best parliamentary brawls from around the world” and even landed the mocking Ig Noble Peace Prize in 1995 . The difference on Tuesday was that visiting Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng was just in the other room, praising Taiwan’s democracy.

　　台湾立法院长期以来一直因为争吵和打架出名，以至于台湾的议员会经常出现在诸如“全球六大议会打架事件”的名单上，并在1995年获得了颇具讽刺意味的搞笑诺贝尔和平奖(Ig Noble Peace Prize)。周二的不同之处在于，当时正在访问台湾的中国活动人士陈光诚就在另一个房间赞扬台湾的民主。

　　It was an ironic moment for the blind political dissident, whose trip has otherwise been focused on tense subjects like China human-rights abuses, accusations of spyware on his electronics and his own contentious departure from New York University. Mr. Chen made worldwide headlines last May after a daring escape from home detention in China to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, sparking a diplomatic crisis that was eventually diffused when he was allowed to move to the U.S.

　　对于这名盲人异见人士来说，这一刻有些讽刺。除此之外，陈光诚的访台之旅一直专注于中国的人权问题、他的电子设备被安装了间谍装置的指控，以及其他本人离开纽约大学(New York University)引发的争议等广受关注的话题。今年5月，在大胆地逃脱了居家软禁并逃到美国驻华使馆之后，陈光诚成为全球媒体关注的焦点。陈光诚的举动引发了一场外交危机，在他被允许前往美国之后，这场危机最终化解。

　　While Mr. Chen said China should aspire toward Taiwan’s democratic openness, his visit to Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan was also a reminder that elected politics can be messy, especially for young democracies like Taiwan.

　　尽管陈光诚称中国应该追求台湾的民主开放，他的这次台湾立法院之行也提醒人们，民选政治也可能是一片混乱，尤其是对于台湾这样的年轻民主政体而言。

　　The furor Tuesday revolved around controversial bills including a proposed revision to Taiwan’s capital gains tax on stock-market earnings and a cross-strait service trade agreement. Lawmakers from both sides wrestled for the podium, shoving and shouting, even as Mr. Chen held forth on the merits of democracy in a nearby chamber. One legislator bit another, according to local news reports.

　　周二的风波与一些引发争议的法案有关，其中包括台湾对股市盈利征收资本利得税的修订法案，以及海峡两岸服务贸易协议。两党立法委员为争夺讲台扭打在一起，相互推挤，大声叫嚷。与此同时，陈光诚正在附近的一个会议厅里谈论民主的好处。据当地媒体报道，一名立委咬了另一名立委。

　　In the end, the ruling Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, passed its revised version of the capital-gains tax, with investors whose transactions total less than 1 billion New Taiwan dollars no longer taxed. Lawmakers also decided Tuesday that the cross-strait service trade agreement, which was signed last week by negotiators from Beijing and Taipei but requires approval of the legislature to take effect, will now require an article-by-article approval instead of the usual one-time vote on the whole thing.

　　最终，执政的国民党通过了资本利得税的修正案，这意味着交易总额低于10亿新台币的投资者不再需要缴税。立委们周二还决定，海峡两岸服务贸易协定将需要逐个条款审批，而不是像往常那样，对整个文本进行一次性的投票。该协议上周由北京和台北的谈判者签署，但是需要立法院的批准才能生效。

　　Legislative violence has a long and storied history around the world. With a country’s governance at stake, tensions run high and lawmakers don’t always resolve their differences with words. Even now staid chambers like the U.S. Congress have had famous incidents, like Representative Preston Brooks’ beating of Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in 1856. But legislative brawls tend to be more common in young democracies, and Taiwan has had more than its fair share.

　　议会暴力在全球有着很长的历史，并且有许多知名案例。由于事关一国治理，紧张情绪高涨，议员们并不能一直依靠语言来解决分歧。即使是目前非常沉稳的议会，如美国国会，也曾发生过一些有名的暴力事件。比如1856年，众议员布鲁克斯(Preston Brooks)用拐杖殴打了参议员萨姆纳(Charles Sumner)。但是议会中发生争吵的现象往往在年轻的民主政体中更常见，不过台湾情况仍然超出了常规水平。

　　Mr. Chen said Taiwan’s democracy is maturing and he views the conflict as a natural part of the process.

　　陈光诚说，台湾的民主正在逐渐走向成熟，他认为冲突是这一过程中的正常现象。

　　“It’s still better to have shoving in the legislature than to have tanks rolling in the streets,” he said.

　　他说，在立法院里推搡总比把坦克开上街要好。

　　Some in Taiwan were less optimistic, including the United Daily News, which said in an editorial Tuesday, “Today, many people no longer care what legislation the Legislative Yuan passes or does not pass, because they have lost faith in the professionalism of legislators.”

　　台湾的有些人则不那么乐观，《联合报》(United Daily News)周二在一篇评论文章中说，如今，许多人不再在乎立法院通过或否决了什么法案，因为他们已经对立委的专业性失去了信心。

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本文关键字: 台湾立法院