TOEIC,TOEFL,IELTS,全民英檢,SAT,
菁英英日語-站前分校

站前 英文 | 《經濟學人》：馬英九老是出包

Ma the bumbler
A former heart-throb loses his shine

WHEN he was first elected in 2008, Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, offered Taiwanese high hopes that the island’s economy would open a new chapter. He promised ground-breaking agreements with China to help end Taiwan’s growing economic marginalisation. At the time, Mr Ma’s image was of a clean technocrat able to rise above the cronyism and infighting of his party, the Kuomintang (KMT). He was a welcome contrast to his fiery and pro-independence predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, now in jail for corruption.

Five years on, and despite being handily re-elected ten months ago, much has changed. In particular, popular satisfaction with Mr Ma has plummeted, to a record low of 13%, according to the TVBS Poll Centre. The country appears to agree on one thing: Mr Ma is an ineffectual bumbler.

Ordinary people do not find their livelihoods improving. Salaries have stagnated for a decade. The most visible impact of more open ties with China, which include a free-trade agreement, has been property speculation in anticipation of a flood of mainland money. Housing in former working-class areas on the edge of Taipei, the capital, now costs up to 40 times the average annual wage of $15,400. The number of families below the poverty line has leapt. Labour activists have taken to pelting the presidential office with eggs.

Exports account for 70% of GDP. So some of Taiwan’s problems are down to the dismal state of rich-world economies. Yet Mr Ma’s leadership is also to blame. He has failed to paint a more hopeful future, with sometimes hard measures needed now. Worse, he frequently tweaks policies in response to opposition or media criticism. It suggests indecisiveness.

Public anger first arose in June, when Mr Ma raised the price of government-subsidised electricity. Few Taiwanese understood why, even though Taiwan’s state-owned power company loses billions. In the face of public outrage, Mr Ma postponed a second round of electricity price rises scheduled for December. They will now take place later next year.

People are also worried that a national pension scheme is on course for bankruptcy in less than two decades. Yet Mr Ma cannot bring himself to raise premiums sharply, because of the temporary unpopularity it risks. When Mr Ma does try to appeal to Taiwanese who make up the island’s broad political centre, it often backfires with his party’s core supporters. Following public grumbles that retired civil servants, teachers and ex-servicemen were a privileged group, the cabinet announced plans to cut more than $300m in year-end bonuses, affecting around 381,000. The trouble was, veterans are among the KMT’s most fervent backers. Now some threaten to take to the streets in protest and deprive the KMT of their votes until the plan is scrapped. Meanwhile, Mr Ma’s clean image has been sullied by the indictment of the cabinet secretary-general for graft.

Cracks are starting to grow in the KMT façade. Recently Sean Lien, a prominent politician, criticised Mr Ma’s economic policies, saying that any politician in office during this time of sluggish growth was at best a “master of a beggar clan”—implying a country of paupers.

But the next election is four years away, and presidential hopefuls will not try to oust or even outshine Mr Ma anytime soon. After all, they will not want to take responsibility for the country’s economic problems. Nothing suggests Mr Ma’s main policies will change (or that they should), but his credibility is draining by the day

最新一期《經濟學人》（The Economist）雜誌，以「老出包的馬英九」為題報導，講述台灣經濟表現等問題，使馬英九如何從政壇明星，變成台灣人眼中失去光環的總統。台灣網友嘲諷，馬總統已獲得「國際認證」。

網友諷獲國際認證

對此，總統府發言人范姜泰基說，雖國內外環境不利，但許多指標顯示政府努力已有初步成績，「我們該就事論事，不必妄自菲薄」。他說，馬英九對目前成果也不滿意，執政團隊會全速前進，突破困境。

網友maimai10諷：「呵呵！台灣之光！」網友puppetsgame說：「丐幫幫主第一次榮登經濟學人。」網友jrshiun諷：「反觀民進黨沒人上得了這種國際期刊。」網友MrDisgrace打趣：「快叫（旺旺）米果（把《經濟學人》）也買下來。」網友webb酸：「馬終於拚出國際歷史定位。」

「因輿論政策反覆」

《經濟學人》是全球權威刊物，發自台北的報導，以《老出包的馬：原本的偶像人物失去光環》為標題。不願具名的台大外文系副教授及台師大英語系教授都表示，bumbler是指笨手笨腳，「總是把事情搞砸的人」。報導說，馬英九優柔寡斷，舉棋不定，常因輿論而政策反覆。

報導還指台灣油電雙漲、房價、物價翻飛，人民所得原地踏步，連國民黨榮譽主席的長子連勝文都認為台灣是「丐幫」，並指馬民調滿意度已跌到13％的空前低點，「台灣看來已有共識：馬先生是個不勝任的出包者。」

資料參考：
http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20121117/34648302/
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21566657-former-heart-throb-loses-his-shine-ma-bumbler
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20121118-384165.html

菁英教育｜上海托福培训｜上海雅思培训｜遊學｜托福｜多益｜雅思｜全民英檢｜TOEFL｜TOEIC｜IELTS｜GEPT｜SAT｜上海SAT培训｜上海SSAT培训｜日本打工遊學｜日語｜菁英排課系統