新聞出處：新唐人英語新聞

Crash Put’s Rail Ministry’s Debt in the Spotlight
撞車事故讓鐵道部債務成為焦點

【新聞關鍵字】
1. Saddle: v. [ˋsæd!] 使負擔；強加
2. Siphon: v. [ˋsaɪfən] 抽取；分出
3. Call off: ph. 取消
4. Bond: n. [bɑnd] 債券
5. Self-regulating :adj. [ˋsɛlfˋrɛgjə͵letɪŋ] 自制的
6. Referee: n. [͵rɛfəˋri] 裁判員

After the July 23rd train crash in Wenzhou China, where over 40 people were killed, safety isn’t the only thing that has come under the spotlight.
7月23日的中國溫州高鐵相撞事故之後，其中超過40人死亡，但安全並不是唯一成為焦點的事情。

China’s railway ministry is saddled with debt. A debt of over 320 billion US dollars, or five percent of China’s GDP. This debt has built up through the rapid expansion of the railway network. Several railway ministry officials have also been charged with corruption for siphoning off money for themselves.
中國鐵道部正背負著債務。這筆債務超過320億美元，相當於5%的中國國內生產總值。這筆債務是由於快速擴張的鐵路網路而積累。幾位鐵道部官員也被指控貪污中飽私囊。

The railway ministry has been criticized for calling off the rescue efforts early in order to get trains running again. Some analysts believe this is because the railway ministry needs to ensure its cash flow.
鐵道部曾為讓鐵路復駛而太早取消救援工作，因此遭受批評。一些分析家認為，這是因為鐵道部需要確保它們的現金流。

[Professor Xie Tian, University of Southern Carolina Aiken School of Business]:
“I feel that this incident, if we look at it from another angle, reflects the railway ministry’s anxiety to earn money, and it is feeling pressure to pay of its debts. So there’s a concern to return the money it owes, a pressure to make money, so in this state of mind, while trying to get ahead, they don’t care about human life or people’s safety.”
南卡羅來納大學艾肯商學院的謝田教授說：「如果我們從另一個角度來看，我感覺這起事故，反映了鐵道部掙錢的焦慮，及其償付債務的壓力。所以有一個還錢的顧慮，和一個賺錢的壓力，在這種心理狀態下，在修復鐵路時，他們不關心人的生命或人身安全。」

Now after the recent accident, demand for railway ministry bonds has dropped even lower. Standard Chartered economist Stephen Green said in the Chinese version of the Wall Street Journal, he thinks it will be a long time before the railway ministry returns to the bond market. He also doubts the ministry has enough free cash to pay its debt interest.
現在，經過近期的事故，鐵道部債券的需求已經下降，甚至更低。渣打銀行經濟學家史帝芬葛霖在中文版的華爾街日報說，他認為這得歷經一段長時間，鐵道部才能重返債券市場。他還懷疑該部是否有足夠的現金支付其債務利息。

China’s railway ministry is a self-regulatingbody and many have called for it to be broken up and sold. Mao Shoulong, a professor of public policy and politics at Beijing’s Renmin University told Bloomberg, quote: “The ministry’s dual role as referee and market player should be ended.”
中國鐵道部是一個自我規範的機構，許多人都要求它被分解和銷售。北京人民大學公共政策和政治教授毛壽龍告訴彭博 (Bloomberg)，「鐵道部裁判兼球員的雙重角色應該結束。」

The Wenzhou crash may be the thing that starts the wheels turning on the road to reform.
溫州撞車事故，可能是促使改革開始轉動的一起事件。
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責任編輯：黎薇