新闻出处：新唐人英语新闻

Crash Put’s Rail Ministry’s Debt in the Spotlight
撞车事故让铁道部债务成为焦点

【新闻关键字】
1. Saddle: v. [ˋsæd!] 使负担；强加
2. Siphon: v. [ˋsaɪfən] 抽取；分出
3. Call off: ph. 取消
4. Bond: n. [bɑnd] 债券
5. Self-regulating :adj. [ˋsɛlfˋrɛgjə͵letɪŋ] 自制的
6. Referee: n. [͵rɛfəˋri] 裁判员

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日的中国温州高铁相撞事故之后，其中超过40人死亡，但安全并不是唯一成为焦点的事情。

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.
中国铁道部正背负着债务。这笔债务超过320亿美元，相当于5%的中国国内生产总值。这笔债务是由于快速扩张的铁路网路而积累。几位铁道部官员也被指控贪污中饱私囊。

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.
铁道部曾为让铁路复驶而太早取消救援工作，因此遭受批评。一些分析家认为，这是因为铁道部需要确保它们的现金流。

[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.”
南卡罗来纳大学艾肯商学院的谢田教授说：“如果我们从另一个角度来看，我感觉这起事故，反映了铁道部挣钱的焦虑，及其偿付债务的压力。所以有一个还钱的顾虑，和一个赚钱的压力，在这种心理状态下，在修复铁路时，他们不关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.
现在，经过近期的事故，铁道部债券的需求已经下降，甚至更低。渣打银行经济学家史帝芬葛霖在中文版的华尔街日报说，他认为这得历经一段长时间，铁道部才能重返债券市场。他还怀疑该部是否有足够的现金支付其债务利息。

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.”
中国铁道部是一个自我规范的机构，许多人都要求它被分解和销售。北京人民大学公共政策和政治教授毛寿龙告诉彭博 (Bloomberg)，“铁道部裁判兼球员的双重角色应该结束。”

The Wenzhou crash may be the thing that starts the wheels turning on the road to reform.
温州撞车事故，可能是促使改革开始转动的一起事件。
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责任编辑：黎薇