2016年翻译资格考试CATTI初级口译译文指导一
******总理谈中国政治体制改革(《华盛顿邮报》采访)
A：中国的经济改革发展迅速，使得中国在短期内取得高速增长。中国是否需要加快政治改革以跟上经济改革的步伐?
B：China embarked on the road to reform and opening up in 1978. Our reform is a comprehensive one which includes both economic and political restructuring. Precisely as Mr. Deng Xiaoping pointed out, without political reform, economic reform would not be successful. In essence, political restructuring in China aims at integrating the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the people’s role as masters of their own affairs, and the rule of law in the conduct of public affairs.
At present, it is particularly important to do a good job with regard to the following. First of all, we should develop democracy to safeguard people’s democratic rights and to respect and protect their human rights. Secondly, we should improve the legal system through better legislation, better administration according to the law, and greater judicial reform. Thirdly, we should run the country according to the law, making our socialist democracy more institutionalized, standardized and regularized, and in this way we can make sure that it will not change because of changes in the leadership or changes in the views and priorities of leaders. Fourthly, we must strengthen supervision, and we should make sure that the government is placed under the supervision of the people. We have to develop democracy and strengthen supervision. Only in this way can we make sure the government will not relent in its efforts, and this would help avoid a situation whereby the government would be a failure.
China is a big country with 1.3 billion people. So, political reform should be pressed ahead in an orderly fashion and in a well-organized manner. Now there exist many misunderstandings. For instance, with regard to freedom of religious belief. Freedom of religious belief is clearly written into China’s constitution. China currently has over 100 million religious followers and over 100,000 religious sites.
Since the beginning of the reform and opening up, one religious site has been either built or restored every three days. There are quite a number of religious sites around the Zhongnanhai. For instance, to the east of Zhongnanhai, there’s the Wangfujing Catholic Church. To the south, there’s the Islamic mosque on Niujie Street. To the north, there’s the Yonghe Buddhist Monastery. To the west is the Baiyun Taoist Temple. Nearest to Zhongnanhai is the famous Sishiku Catholic Church, which has a long history in China. If you visit these religious sites, I’m sure you will see people practicing their religious faith.
A：今后中国在政治改革方面还会有什么步骤?比如说现在的直接选举，是否会从基层推进到乡镇?
B: At the moment, we have introduced the practice of self-administration and direct elections in 680,000 villages. This is a great innovation, and it is also very good practice for Chinese farmers. We have also introduced suffrage for the election of people’s deputies at the level of townships, counties and urban cities without districts. Indirect elections are held for the leadership of the provinces, and of municipalities with districts, as well as for the central authorities. Why? This is because China is such a huge country with such a big population. It is still underdeveloped, and economic development is uneven between regions. So conditions are not ripe for direct elections at the higher levels. The fist hindrance in my view is the inadequate education level of the population.
