美国国家公共电台 NPR For Barcelona Activist Turned Mayor, The Anti-Corruption Goals Stay The Same

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

An activist¹ in Spain who has no experience in office is now the mayor of Barcelona. Ada Colau was swept into office on a wave of anti-establishment anger. And now almost two years into her term, she spoke² to reporter Lauren Frayer about her transition from activist to politician.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE³: A few years ago, at the height of Spain's economic crisis, protesters used to form human chains around houses to prevent authorities from serving eviction⁴ papers.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Speaking Spanish).

FRAYER: Often at the center of the crowd was Ada Colau with a megaphone.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

ADA COLAU: (Speaking Spanish).

FRAYER: She founded an anti-eviction group, protested in front of thousands of homes and banks and got hauled away by police many times. She was evicted⁵ from Spain's parliament after she interrupted a debate on banking⁶ laws in 2013...

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Si, se puede. Si, se puede.

FRAYER: ...With shouts of, si, se puede - yes, we can - from the gallery. Colau became such a folk hero that she was eventually invited to testify before parliament. A spokesman for the Spanish Bankers Association went first, though, telling lawmakers that bankers had played no role in the economic collapse⁷ here. And when it was Colau's turn to take the mike, her voice was shaking.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COLAU: (Through interpreter) This man is a criminal and should be treated as such. He's no expert. Bankers are the ones who got us into this mess.

FRAYER: Nearly four years later in an interview at City Hall, Colau recalls how she felt that day. She hadn't planned to be confrontational⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)

COLAU: (Through interpreter) My reaction was simply to say what I thought. Every day, I was with people who were losing everything, and this guy had no idea what was happening in our country.

FRAYER: Ada Colau is now a politician herself, barcelona's first female mayor and the boss of those police who once cuffed⁹ her.

COLAU: (Through interpreter) I'm the same person with the same goals - to fight corruption¹⁰ and solve problems - just in a different role.

FRAYER: Since winning office in May 2015, she's quadrupled public spending on social housing and fined banks that kept foreclosed homes empty. She slashed¹¹ her own salary, refused a government-issued Audi and rides the Metro¹² to work instead. Her latest target is President Donald Trump¹³. After Spain's conservative prime minister had a friendly phone call with Trump, Colau launched a social media campaign with the hash tag #NoEnNuestroNombre - not in our name.

COLAU: (Through interpreter) He questions human rights and says sexist and racist¹⁴ things. You have to put limits on diplomacy¹⁵ with someone like that.

FRAYER: Kate Shea Baird is a democracy activist who's worked with Colau. She says it's ironic¹⁶ that Colau's supporters are not unlike Trump's or even like Britons who voted to leave the European Union. They're people who felt underrepresented in politics.

KATE SHEA BAIRD: They all feed off a similar hunger for what in Spain we've called real democracy, what in the U.K. has been called - take back control. That kind of frustration¹⁷ can be channeled into positive projects or nationalist authoritarian¹⁸ projects, so it can go either way.

FRAYER: Colau denies any ambition for higher office, though she's more popular than most national politicians here.

COLAU: (Through interpreter) People think being a mayor is like being on the lowest rung on the ladder of politics and that you always want to move up.

FRAYER: But she says she disagrees with that classic vision of politics. Being a mayor, she says, is where you're closest to the people.

For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Barcelona.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYMBYC SYSTYM'S "PRAIRIE SCHOOL")

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

5 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

6 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 confrontational   

adj.挑衅的；对抗的

参考例句：

• Fans love rappers partly because they strike such a confrontational pose. 乐迷热爱这些饶舌艺人一定程度上是因为他们所采取的那种战斗姿态。 来自互联网
• You prefer a non confrontational approach when it comes to resolving disputes. 面对争端，你不喜欢采用对抗性的手段来解决。 来自互联网

9 cuffed   

v.掌打，拳打( cuff的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She cuffed the boy on the side of the head. 她向这男孩的头上轻轻打了一巴掌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mother cuffed the dog when she found it asleep on a chair. 妈妈发现狗睡在椅子上就用手把狗打跑了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• 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。

11 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

13 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

14 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

15 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

16 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

17 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

18 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。