Peruvians elected a rags-to-riches2 economist as their next president in a vote that highlighted persisting racial divisions in the land where Spanish conquistadors3 defeated the ancient Inca Empire .
With 87 percent of the vote counted, Alejandro Toledo defeated Alan Garcia, 52 percent to 48 percent. International observers said this runoff election was Peru’s cleanest vote in years.
“Tonight Peruvians celebrate the triumph of democracy, ”Toledo told thousands gathered in front of the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Lima. “I swear, brothers and sisters, I will never let you down. ” Toledo, a shoeshine boy who rose from poverty to become a World Bank economist before entering politics, will become Peru’s first freely elected president of Indian descent and probably the first president ever in Latin America who made Indian pride a cornerstone of his campaign.
Toledo capitalized on his dark, chiseled Indian features and short stature to mount a campaign replete with imagery of triumphant Inca4 emperors and with odes to Indian glory.
Such rhetoric came as a shock in a country where Indians face discrimination in almost every walk of life and where two of the top television comedy acts are white men frolicking around as silly Indian women in colorful skirts.
Garcia , a 6 -foot-3 Spanish-looking former president, used flowery language to overcome memories of his calamitous 1985-90 presidency, marred by corruption, guerrilla violence , food shortages and hyperinflation.
He returned to Peru in January to seek re-election after nearly nine years in exile waiting for corruption charges against him to expire. Despite his loss, he emerges as Peru’s strongest opposition voice and a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Garcia ’s campaign stumbled because it failed to reach the Indian and mixed -race population that makes up 80 percent of Peru’s 26 million people. Many of those voters found a new hope in Toledo.
“He will be a symbol for all of Peru, ”said Mariano de la Cruz, 62 , an Indian migrant from the highlands state of Ayacucho, after voting in a Lima slum.“ It’s a source of pride that for the first time in my life I’ll have someone of Indian race governing me . ”
With partial regional results tallied, it was clear that the heavily Indian highlands voted largely for Toledo , while Garcia took coastal areas dominated by descendants of the Spanish conquistadors.
Toledo’s campaign clearly targeted people with indigenous roots. Calling himself“ a stubborn Indian with a cause, ”he used symbols of the ancient Inca Empire and dressed in pointy hats and multicolored tunics during campaign stops.
“This is a very racist society, ”Toledo said during his final campaign stop in the highlands city of Cuzco5 .“The elitist leadership still has trouble digesting the possibility that
someone like us could come to govern. ”
Anthropologist Juan Ossio said Toledo recognized the potential political force of Peru’s Indian population during his first presidential campaign i 1995 when his campaign slogan was“ a Peruvian like you”and finally was able to capitalize on it this year.
“He has learned to play very well with the symbols of Andean culture , ”Ossio said. “Now President Toledo has the duty to build bridges so the two cultures can come together.
Toledo acknowledged that responsibility in his victory speech, pledging to be“a president for all Peruvians”.
But, he added:“In me, you’ll have the same Alejandro who walks the streets, the same Alejandro who reaches out his hand to touch yours. ”
Toledo campaigned largely on a populist platform. He has pledged to create 2.5 million jobs, raise salaries for public workers and lower taxes. “He knows the poverty we endure, ”said Indian voter Primitiva Huaman, 58 .“He knows all our suffering. ”
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CET4大學英語四級閱讀練習題：
?、? Matching:
1. feature A. child
2. descendant B. basis
3. cornerstone C. appear
4. emerge D. end
5. expire E. face
6. indigenous F. native
?、? Question :
In the past, Peru is called .
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參考答案
Ⅰ. 1. E 2 . A 3 . B 4 . C 5 . D 6. F
?、? Inca
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CET4大學英語四級閱讀參考譯文：
秘魯?shù)?ldquo;印第安”總統(tǒng)
秘 魯人選了一位由貧致富的經濟學家當他們的總統(tǒng), 這次選舉讓人們又一次感受到了這片曾被西班牙人征服的古印加帝國土地上的種族差異。
已統(tǒng)計出的87% 選票中, 亞歷杭德羅· 托萊多以52% 對48% 擊敗了對手阿蘭· 加西亞。國際觀察家稱, 這次進行的秘魯大選是近年來秘魯最“ 干凈”的一次大選。“ 今晚秘魯人民要為民主政治的勝利而慶祝, ”托萊多向聚集在利馬市中心喜來登酒店門前的人群宣誓:“ 兄弟姐妹們, 我向你們發(fā)誓, 我絕不會讓你們失望。”
托萊多出身貧寒, 做過擦鞋童, 在步入政壇之前是世界銀行的經濟學家, 如今, 他將成為秘魯?shù)谝晃煌ㄟ^自由選舉產生的有著印第安人血統(tǒng)的總統(tǒng), 同時也是拉丁美洲第一位以印第安人的自豪感作為競選基礎并贏得大選的總統(tǒng)。
托萊多利用自己印第安人特有的黝黑的皮膚, 輪廓分明的臉龐和不高的身材, 向此次大選發(fā)起了沖擊。他的競選過程中處處可見獲勝的印加帝國國王的肖像, 處處可聞頌揚印第安人榮耀的贊歌。
這種競選方式讓這個印第安人處處受歧視的國家大為震驚, 在這個國家, 人氣最旺的兩位白人男性電視喜劇明星會打扮成穿著艷麗裙子、傻乎乎的印第安婦女嬉鬧取樂。托萊多的對手加西亞有六英尺三英寸高, 是一位有著西班牙人長相的秘魯前總統(tǒng)。他巧言令色, 試圖掩蓋1985 年到1990 年任總統(tǒng)期間的種種災難。那幾年, 貪污盛行, 游擊暴力頻發(fā), 食物短缺, 物價飛漲。
加西亞在外流亡九年直到對他的貪污指控失效后, 才于今年一月回國再次參選。盡管他沒有贏得這次大選, 但已成為秘魯最強的反對聲, 一股不可等閑視之的力量。
加西亞在這次競選中落下馬來, 主要是因為他沒有將自己的影響滲透到占2 600 萬秘魯人口80% 的印第安人和其他混合種族的人口中。而那些人卻在托萊多身上看到了新的希望。
“ 他將成為所有秘魯人的代表, ”一位印第安老人馬里阿諾· 庫斯在利馬的貧民窟參加了投票后說:“ 這真是一件值得驕傲的事, 在我有生之年我終于看到一位印第安人統(tǒng)治我們自己了。”馬里阿諾62 歲, 來自高原阿亞庫徹州。
據(jù)不完全統(tǒng)計結果顯示, 來自內陸地區(qū)的印第安人絕大多數(shù)傾向托萊多, 而西班牙人 后 裔占多數(shù)的西部沿海地區(qū)人口則是加西亞的支持者。
托萊多顯然將目標盯準了土著的后裔, 他稱自己是一位“ 有遠大理想的固執(zhí)的印第安人”。在巡回競選游說中, 他使用了象征古印加帝國的一些東西, 他頭戴尖頂帽, 身著色彩絢爛的束腰外衣。
“ 這是一個種族主義很嚴重的國家, ”托萊多在競選運動的最后一站——— 地處高原的庫斯科說道:“ 精英領導層很難接受像我們這樣的人來統(tǒng)治這個國家。”
人類學家胡安· 歐塞奧說托萊多在他1995 年的第一次總統(tǒng)競選中就發(fā)現(xiàn)了秘魯印第安人口中潛在的政治影響力, 當時他的競選口號是“ 一個和你一樣的秘魯人”, 在今年的競選中他充分用上了這一點。
歐塞奧說:“ 托萊多很好地利用了安第斯文化的象征意義, 現(xiàn)在他的任務就是在秘魯白人文化和本土文化間架起一座溝通的橋梁。”
托萊多在他獲勝后的演講中也明確了自己的責任, 他發(fā)誓自己要成為一位“ 全體秘魯人的總統(tǒng)”。
他補充道:“ 在我, 你們仍然會看到一個普通的托萊多走在馬路上, 一個普通的托萊多伸出手來同你握手。”
托萊多的競選是站在平民的立場上的, 他保證將創(chuàng)造250 萬個就業(yè)機會, 為工人們提高工資, 同時降低稅收。
58 歲的印第安選民普里密蒂瓦· 華曼說:“ 他知道我們的貧困, 他知道我們所有的艱難。”
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閱讀導評
秘魯多年來是南美的新聞中心。先是日裔的藤森當選總統(tǒng), 當選后他到日本去朝拜,人們沒見日本有什么援助動作卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這位日本裔總統(tǒng)有巨額貪污的大動作, 繼而藤森被控多項罪名: 謀殺、綁架、反人類罪, 而后被全球通緝。也難怪, 日本國內此起彼伏的貪污案的確為海外的日本裔樹立了“良好的榜樣”。秘魯各派系人物一一登場后, 都以國內局勢毫無好轉而謝幕。在此情形下, 人們才將目光投向了托萊多, 祝他們這次好運。
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閱讀講解：
1. 亞歷杭德羅·托萊多( Aleijandro Toledo, 1946— ) 2001 年6 月當選秘魯總統(tǒng), 任期至2006 年7 月。
2. 作形容詞用, 表示“ 由貧致富的”。nouveau riche ( 法語) 暴發(fā)戶, 字面的意思等于英語中的new rich。
3. conquistadors n. ( 西班牙語) 征服者, 指16 世紀征服秘魯、墨西哥等地的西班牙人。
4. Inca n. ① 印加人, 南美印第安人的一個部落。② 印加帝國國王( 或貴族成員) 。在哥倫布發(fā)現(xiàn)新大陸時, 美洲有三個出色的文明帝國: 現(xiàn)在墨西哥一帶的阿斯特克帝國( 他們建有類似金字塔形狀的廟宇) , 中美洲一帶的瑪雅文明( 他們當時有一種比中國還要先進的計算方法, 可惜在瑪雅人被歐洲人屠殺后失傳) , 南美安第斯山一帶的“ 黃金之國”印加帝國, 后來這些文明因為西班牙殖民者的入侵, 特別是因為歐洲人帶來的美洲從來沒有的天花傳染病, 而加速滅亡。
5. 庫斯克周圍的谷地是12 世紀印加帝國開始擴張的大本營。印加帝國后來擁有的巨大疆域就是從這里開始的。托萊多選擇這里為最后一站具有深刻的象征意義。
