考研英語時文賞讀（63）：官僚的黃昏，整治臃腫的政府機構

　　摘要：考研英語作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學了英語十幾年，卻仍經(jīng)常有總分過線掛在英語上的情況，因此英語復習不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫之后會不定時推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

　　?背景介紹：截至2019年，埃及全國人口為9937萬，而在這不到一億的人口中，就有超過500萬的國家公務員，相當于每個公務員平均僅服務20位公民。龐大的公務員數(shù)量導致大量閑職的存在，一些人的工作甚至僅僅是復印資料或者泡茶。

　　Twilight of the bureaucrats

　　官僚的黃昏

　　Millions of retiring Arab civil servants need not be replaced

　　數(shù)百萬即將退休的阿拉伯公務員不需要人來頂替

　　Governments could save billions if they resist the urge to hire more

　　政府如果能抑制住招募更多公務員的沖動，就能節(jié)省數(shù)十億美元

　　At a municipal parking garage in Cairo, a row of freshly painted machines wait to dispense tickets to drivers. But the machines are turned off. Attendants stand next to them and hand out tickets manually.

　　在開羅的一個市政停車場，一排嶄新的機器正在待命，等著給司機們分發(fā)票據(jù)。但這些機器是關著的。工作人員站在它們旁邊，手動分發(fā)著票據(jù)。

　　It is one of many useless government jobs in the Egyptian capital. Stamping passports at the airport can be a three-person affair. Offices are full of functionaries who make photocopies or brew tea (few do both).

　　這是埃及首都諸多政府閑職中的一個。機場給護照蓋章的工作甚至都要3個人來做。辦公室里到處都是復印資料或泡茶的工作人員（很少會兼做這兩項）。

　　More than 5m Egyptians work in the civil service. Each serves fewer than 20 citizens, if “serves” is the right word. Other developing countries get by with a far less populous public sector.

　　埃及有超過500萬名公務員。如果“服務”這個詞算是用得恰當?shù)脑挘敲雌骄聛砻總€公務員僅服務不到20位公民。相比于埃及，其他發(fā)展中國家的公務員則要少得多。（小編注：截至2019年，埃及人口為9937萬。）

　　The president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, thinks little of his workforce. At a conference in May he suggested that 1m employees could do the work now accomplished by 5m. (Anyone who has dealt with Egyptian bureaucracy would probably agree.)

　　公務員人數(shù)并沒有引起埃及總統(tǒng)阿卜杜勒·法塔赫·塞西的重視。在5月份的一次會議上，他暗示只需要100萬人就可以完成現(xiàn)在500萬名公務員的工作。（任何一位與埃及官僚機構打交道的人都會同意這一觀點。）

　　He worries that firing them would cause unrest, however. Instead, his government has a better solution: do nothing and let the bureaucracy shrink itself. About 2.2m of Egypt’s civil servants are in the top two pay brackets, which usually require decades of service to reach.

　　然而，總統(tǒng)擔心解雇這些公務員會引起國家動亂。相反，他的政府有一個更好的解決方案：無為而治，讓官僚機構自我縮減人數(shù)。埃及約有220萬名公務員享受著前兩個等級的工資待遇，這通常需要工作數(shù)十年才能達到。

　　The prime minister, Mustafa Madbouly, wagers that at least 35% of the workforce will retire within a decade.

　　總理穆斯塔法·馬德布利斷言，至少35％的公務員將在10年內(nèi)退休。

　　That would reduce a wage bill that consumes 27% of government revenue, freeing billions for badly needed investment. Many of these jobs plainly do not need to be filled.

　　減少的工資單（埃及政府財政收入的27％都用來給公務員發(fā)工資了）將為國家亟需的投資騰出數(shù)十億美元。許多（退休公務員的）工作都不需要再安排人來補上。

　　Egypt is dragging itself into the digital age. Citizens can renew their national ID cards online, and other documents will be available later this year.

　　埃及正在進入數(shù)字時代。公民可以在網(wǎng)上更換新的身份證，在今年晚些時候，其他證件也將可以在線辦理。

　　The state is installing new electricity meters that can be recharged via smart cards. Even the notoriously archaic courts are buying computers. All of this will reduce the need for cadres to collect bills and scribble notes in ledgers.

　　全國正在安裝可以通過智能卡充電的新電表。即使是臭名昭著的古老法庭也在購置電腦。所有這些都將減少對諸如收賬和記賬之類公務員的需要。

　　Many Arab countries are in a similar situation. Cushy state sinecures were once seen as a birthright. Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak bloated Egypt’s public sector to keep the middle class loyal.

　　許多阿拉伯國家也有類似的情況。輕松的政府閑職曾經(jīng)被視為與生俱來的權利。為了維持中產(chǎn)階級的忠誠度，安瓦爾·薩達特和胡斯尼·穆巴拉克（兩位都是埃及前總統(tǒng)）擴充了埃及的公務員隊伍。

　　Gulf governments started a long hiring spree during the oil boom of the 1970s. For a generation, though, public-sector hiring has not kept pace with population growth. Though Egypt’s workforce has swollen by 7.7m since 2005, the bureaucracy registered a net increase of just 190,000.

　　在20世紀70年代的石油繁榮時期，海灣各國政府開始了一個長期的公務員招聘狂潮。然而，對于這一代人來說，公務員的招聘沒能跟上人口增長的步伐。盡管埃及的勞動人口自2005年以來已經(jīng)增加了770萬，但公務員的凈增長數(shù)僅為19萬。

　　Hiring has slowed in Saudi Arabia too, but a whopping 45% of citizens still work for the state (in the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, the average is 18%). As in Egypt they skew old, with 31% aged 45 and over versus just 7% under 30.

　　沙特阿拉伯對公務員的招聘也有所放緩，但公務員占全國人口的比例仍高達45％（發(fā)達國家組織——世界經(jīng)合組織中各國公務員的人口比例平均為18％）。同埃及一樣，沙特阿拉伯的公務員年齡也偏大，45歲以上者占31％，而30歲以下者僅為7%。

　　The crown prince wants to steer young Saudis into the private sector, but few firms want to hire them on the cushy terms they demand. Over 30% of under-30s are jobless.

　　沙特王子希望引導沙特年輕人進入私營企業(yè)工作，但很少有公司愿意開出他們想要的輕松的條件來雇傭他們。因此，超過30％的30歲以下的沙特人沒有工作。

　　?重難點詞匯：

　　twilight n. 黎明，黃昏；薄暮；衰退期；朦朧狀態(tài) adj. 昏暗的，微明的；暮年的

　　notoriously adv. 眾所周知地；聲名狼藉地；惡名昭彰地

　　sinecure n. 閑職；掛名職務

　　birthright n. 與生俱來的權利；長子繼承權

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