【2009经济学人杂志双语阅读】A conqueror, not an end-user 是征服者而不是最终用户

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经济学人杂志双语阅读：A conqueror, not an end-user 是征服者，而不是最终用户
Silvio Berlusconi's woes
贝卢斯科尼的麻烦事

A conqueror, not an end-user
是征服者，而不是最终用户

Jun 25th 2009 | ROME
From The Economist print edition

More embarrassment, but the prime minister toughs it out
虽然糗事不断，但总理先生还是决定死皮赖脸地混下去

AN ELECTION win would gladden most politicians. But Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, was not inclined to lead the celebrations after his party did well in the second round of local polls on June 21st and 22nd. For on June 18th it had emerged that magistrates in Bari were investigating a possible call-girl ring, and that some of its women had been guests of Mr Berlusconi in Rome.

大部分政治家会因为一次选举胜利而开心，不过意大利总理贝卢斯科尼是个例外——他领导的政党在6月21日及22日的第二轮选举中表现良好，但他不会牵头庆 祝选举胜利的活动。造成总理先生兴致不高的原因是：6月18日，巴里的地方法官对电话招妓事件及去过贝卢斯科尼罗马住所的应召女郎们进行了调查。

This has pushed questions about Mr Berlusconi’s relations with a young woman from Naples called Noemi Letizia into the background. But it has also meant that he has had to focus more energy on efforts to limit the damage to his reputation than on running Italy or helping its economy.

这样一来，贝卢斯科尼与那不勒斯年轻女子诺埃米•莱蒂齐亚说不清道不明的关系反倒退居次席了。不过（电话招妓事件调查活动）也意味着他不得不费更大力气来捍卫自己的名声，在这样的情况下，贝氏还能花多少精力来领导意大利和恢复经济呢？

Mr Berlusconi has turned to his media empire for help. The latest issue of Chi, a weekly magazine published by a firm controlled by Fininvest, Mr Berlusconi’s family holding company (see article), includes nine pages of photographs and text promoting the prime minister as a family man. In it he denies ever paying women for sex, saying: “I never understood where the satisfaction is when you are missing the pleasure of conquest.” Italians have been mostly kept in the dark about the Bari investigation, which has been mentioned only briefly and obliquely on the main television channels. Mr Berlusconi and his children own the three main commercial channels and he exerts strong influence over two of the three owned by the state.

贝卢斯科尼已经开始向其缔造的媒体帝国寻求帮助。由贝氏家族芬尼维斯特集团控股的周刊《谁》，最近就发表了一篇长达9页、图文并茂的文章，不遗余力地塑造 总理先生“家庭好男人”的形象。文中，贝卢斯科尼称自己从未有过买春的行为，还表示：“我不明白，那些没有经过征服过程的行为，会有什么快乐的满足感 吗？”意大利民众对巴里调查的详细情况几乎一无所知，关于这项调查的报道只是在主要电视频道里被一笔带过。贝卢斯科尼及其子女拥有三个主要的商业电视频 道，他还能对三个国有电视频道中的两个施加重大影响。

Yet parts of the Roman Catholic Church have now decided that the prime minister is setting a bad example. Famiglia Cristiana, an influential weekly, argues that the church cannot ignore Italy’s moral emergency. In a strongly worded article the magazine accuses Mr Berlusconi’s supporters of defending the indefensible. It attacks Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer for describing prostitutes as “goods”, and a man who pays them as an “end-user”.

而罗马天主教会的一部分人士也断定，贝卢斯科尼树立了一个坏榜样。极具影响力的杂志《天主教家庭周刊》认为，教会不应无视意大利的道德危机。在一篇言辞尖 锐的文章里，杂志指责贝卢斯科尼的支持者们是在为一个罪人开脱。文中还谴责了贝卢斯科尼律师的言论——此君称妓女是“商品”，付费招妓者是“最终用户”。

Noting that politicians in other countries who transgress moral standards often resign, Famiglia Cristiana asks, “why is Italy so different?” Yet Mr Berlusconi is a man of resolve: comparisons with other countries will cut little ice. Nor will calls for him to go be echoed by politicians in his own party—they owe their positions to him. Mr Berlusconi has never enjoyed much standing in international circles. His latest problems will raise a laugh among his guests at the G8 summit next month. But he is unlikely to quit or be driven out.

其他国家的政治家一旦出现道德丑闻，往往会主动辞职，《天主教家庭周刊》就此发问：“为何意大利不能这样？”但贝卢斯科尼赖着不走的决心可是很大的，拿他 跟其他国家政治家做比较，可以说是完全无济于事。有关于他的问题，也甭想从他党内政客的口中得到一个字的回答，原因很明显——这些人的官职是拜贝氏所赐的 嘛。其实一直以来，贝卢斯科尼在国际事务中也没怎么露过脸，但他最近的糗事在下个月举行的G8峰会上也许会遭到欧洲同行们的嘲笑。管他呢，反正贝卢斯科尼 是既不会辞职，也不会被取代的。