美洲—福克斯领导下的墨西哥

Mexico under Fox

福克斯领导下的墨西哥

 

It was an event, the likes of which Mexico had not experienced in seven decades. In 2000, Vicente Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, rode to power on a wave of enthusiasm fostered by his promise to overhaul¹ the political and economic life of a country racked by corruption². In winning the presidential election, the 58 year-old Mr. Fox ousted³ the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which had held power since 1929.

 

The Mexican Constitution limits presidents to one six-year term. Thus, in 2000, Mr. Fox did not face an entrenched⁴ and long-serving incumbent⁵, but rather the PRI's nationwide and well-organized political machine, which observers said controlled the media and had turned keeping itself in power into an art form.

 

Enter Vicente Fox, the former governor of the central state of Guanajuato, with his well-trimmed mustache and trademark⁶ cowboy boots. His victory caused a sensation in a country longing⁷ for change and where 40% of the population lives below the poverty line.

 

Sidney Weintraub is an expert on Mexico at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or C.S.I.S. He says Mr. Fox's election fostered a significant change in Mexico's political culture.

 

Sidney Weintraub：I think his major domestic achievement was the fact that he was elected, because it changed quite dramatically the nature of the Mexican process in that a party could win and lose, be turned out of power, come in to power. And that's an important change.

 

Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, who runs the Mexico Program at C.S.I.S., gives the Fox administration credit for some significant achievements.

 

Peschard adds：I think at the end of the day, Mexico now no longer has the all-powerful president that had the rubber-stamp Congress. It definitely represents progress for Mexico in that you have congressional oversight⁸ and you have more checks and balances. They have been able to get some pieces of legislation. For example, there is a Mexican transparency law that forces the executive branch to be more transparent⁹.

 

But experts on Mexico agree that the weakness of President Fox's PAN party in Congress and other political constraints¹¹ have severely¹² limited his ability to push through other significant reforms. Peter Hakim, President of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue.

 

Peter Hakim：Whenever you have a government that doesn't control the legislature, you have difficulties. The fact is that Fox was unable to resolve that. It was on his watch that a whole series of reforms did not get done and that he has to accept the blame as the president.

 

One of the most frequently cited criticisms of Mr. Fox's tenure¹³ in office is his inability to reform the country's energy sector¹⁴. The state-owned PEMEX company dominates the country's oil production. But Peter Hakim says it needs outside help to boost production and modernize¹⁵ Mexico's energy infrastructure¹⁶.

 

Peter Hakim：Mexico, as you know is a large producer of oil and changes that would allow for greater private investment even in some of the related industries should have helped Mexico a great deal economically, would have helped the United States, would have helped the relationship between the two countries.

 

Sidney Weintraub of C.S.I.S. says another problem stems from the weakness of the Mexican state. He says the Fox administration has not been able to modernize the country in the way it would like in part because the government cannot collect all of the taxes it needs in order to implement¹⁷ its policies.

 

Sidney Weintraub：If we are talking about the ability to actually collect taxes that are on the books, there are some difficulties there. The underground economy is about 40% of the total economy and most of these people don't pay taxes. With the value-added tax, Mexico collects about 40% of what the potential is under the tax structure. In other words, that really runs into ingrained habits of Mexicans not paying their taxes when they don't have to.

 

In foreign policy, President Fox has also been unable to accomplish his goal of a far-reaching immigration agreement with the United States. He and President Bush, whose home state of Texas has a large Mexican-American minority, established a cordial working relationship in early 2001, as the two leaders took office less than two months apart. However, the United States dramatically reordered its foreign policy priorities toward the Middle East and South Asia and away from Latin America after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

 

Next year, Mexico will elect a new president. No one knows whether the new head of state will come from Mr. Fox's National Action Party, the PRI, or the left-wing Revolutionary Democratic Party. But most experts agree that Mr. Fox's victory five years ago has ushered¹⁸ in a culture of democratic dissent¹⁹ and media freedom that will push Mexico toward greater democracy, no matter who wins next year's election.

 

For focus, I’m Robert Daguillard.

 

注释：

enthusiasm [in5Wju:ziAzEm] n. 狂热，热情

foster [5fCstE] vt. 鼓励

overhaul [7EuvE5hC:l] v. 检查

corruption [kE5rQpFEn] n. 腐败

incumbent [in5kQmbEnt] adj. 职责所在的

sensation [sen5seiFEn] n. 感觉

all-powerful adj. 全能的

transparency [trAns5pZErEnsi] n. 透明度

constraint¹⁰ [kEn5streint] n. 约束

tenure [5tenjuE] n. 任期

infrastructure [5infrE5strQktFE] n. 基础设施

value-added tax n.（商品）增值税

1 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

2 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。

3 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

4 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

5 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

6 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

7 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

8 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

9 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• 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。

10 constraint   

n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物

参考例句：

• The boy felt constraint in her presence.那男孩在她面前感到局促不安。
• The lack of capital is major constraint on activities in the informal sector.资本短缺也是影响非正规部门生产经营的一个重要制约因素。

11 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

13 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

14 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

15 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

16 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

17 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

18 ushered   

v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
• A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。