[E332]Snoopers and scrutiny|经济学人
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第4期，Leaders版块。
Intelligence oversight
Britain’s planned law on intelligence oversight could become an example to other countries
Jan 23rd 2016
FEW balances are harder to strike than those involved in running a spy agency[情报机关;间谍机构]. After a terrorist attack, voters demand action and politicians respond by granting their spies greater powers to bug[窃听;监听] and snoop, as with America’s Patriot Act[美国爱国者法案] in 2001 and the wide-ranging surveillance law[监督法] passed after the attacks in France last year. Yet these very powers can, if abused, distort the political system[政治制度;政治体制], chill[使变冷;使感到寒冷;使感到害怕;使沮丧] freedom of expression[言论自由;表达自由]and tilt[使倾斜;使倾向于;攻击;抨击;驳斥] the scales of justice[正义的天平]. When the full extent of clandestine activities come to light[暴露;真相大白;众所周知], as with Edward Snowden[爱德华·斯诺登]’s revelations[揭露] about America’s National Security Agency[美国国家安全局], many feel queasy and demand that the spooks[(美国俚语)暗探,密探,特务,间谍] are reined in[控制;放慢;止住(To stop or slow something, by exercising control)] again.
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▷ snoop [snuːp]
【释义】When you snoop, you poke around in someone else's business. A teenager might snoop in her sister's room, looking for her diary.
vi. 探听,窥探,管闲事
n. 探听;窥探;管闲事;
Governments have been known to snoop on innocent citizens.
有些政府窥探无辜公民的生活——这一事实已经众所周知。
▷ distort [dɪ'stɔrt]
【释义】Distort means to twist out of shape. When you look at a tree through a twisting kaleidoscope, you distort its image, making its branches and leaves look wavy and misshapen.
vt. 扭曲;使失真;曲解
vi. 扭曲;变形
A painter may exaggerate or distort shapes and forms.
画家可能会对线条和形状进行夸大或扭曲。
▷ clandestine [klæn'dɛstɪn]
【释义】Pick the adjective, clandestine, to describe something that is done in secret, like your clandestine attempts to steal your brother's Halloween candy.
adj. 秘密的，私下的；偷偷摸摸的
She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.
她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人.
▷ queasy ['kwizi]
【释义】Queasy describes a feeling of nervousness, uneasiness, or anxiety. If you're queasy about making a speech in front of the entire high school, you have a feeling that it won't go well.
adj. 呕吐的；不稳定的；催吐的
If all of this is making you a bit queasy, we understand.
如果所有这一切让你有点作呕的感觉，我们理解。
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The better part of valour[勇气,勇猛,勇敢]
So a lot is riding on Britain’s attempt to update the law governing the domestic activities of its spy agencies. The draft bill[法律草案] will make explicit[明确的;清楚的;直率的;详述的] how the electronic-intelligence agency, GCHQ[Government Communications Headquarters英国政府通讯总部], may (with a warrant[授权;批准;依据,根据;正当理由]) plant bugs on computers and other devices['wɔrənt][在电脑以及其它设备上植入监听器], collect and analyse bulk information[大量的信息] (such as mobile-phone activity and web-browsing records) and read private messages. Get the details right, and Britain can provide a model of how to balance security and freedom[如何平衡安全和自由]; get them wrong, and centuries of freedom might shrivel.
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▷ have a lot riding on
【释义】to have a great deal of personal interest in the outcome of a person or event
息息相关,关系重大;影响很大
▷ shrivel [ʃrɪv(ə)l]
【释义】When things shrivel, they wrinkle up and get smaller, the way leaves begin to shrivel and turn brown in the fall.
vi. 枯萎；皱缩
vt. 使枯萎；使皱缩；使束手无策
The leaves started to shrivel up.
叶子开始枯萎。
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The bill’s biggest success is its self-restraint[自我约束/限制]. It does not require firms to weaken the encryption they sell to customers, as politicians in several countries, including Britain, would like. If people want security on the internet, they have no alternative[没有其他选择] to strong encryption. The agencies have other means of collecting data, including bugging phones and computers.
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The draft bill[法律草案] is also right to require companies to retain, at least for a time, data about mobile-phone and internet activity that may, subject to a warrant, be of use to future investigations[要求公司将手机和网络活动数据保留至少一段时间，以便为将来调查所用]. Intelligence agencies need to be able to look back at the history of a suspected terrorist[恐怖分子嫌犯]’s contacts and movements.
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Elsewhere, however, the bill could be better. It rightly strengthens GCHQ’s powers to pursue terrorists, gangsters[匪徒;黑帮] and foreign spies[外国间谍]. And it offers extra safeguards[提供了额外的保障措施]: new judicial commissioners[司法专员] will review warrants which, as now, will be issued by the home secretary[内政大臣]. Politicians should have ultimate responsibility[最终责任;完全责任]; if things go wrong, they carry the can[面对责备;代人受过;背黑锅;单独承担困难的任务]. But the bill will work best if it is backed by a consensus[kən'sɛnsəs][ 一致;舆论;合意;共识]. For that reason it needs to reassure[使…安心,使消除疑虑] those who fear that politicians may abuse their powers[滥用权力]. Instead of holding their posts at the prime minister’s behest[命令;邀请;请求], the commissioners should be appointed as judges are and their dismissal[解雇;免职] should require a vote in Parliament[议会,国会]. To avoid “capture”, they should serve a single fixed term[固定期限].
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In addition, the proposed system merely requires the commissioners to check that a warrant has been issued lawfully and reasonably[该制度仅需要司法专员来审核“监听状”是否合法合理地被下达]—broadly the same standard applicable to[适用于;应用于] judicial review[司法审查；复审] of other government decisions. But the extra secrecy with which intelligence agencies operate means that is not enough. The commissioners need a reserve[备用;保留;预备的] power to weigh[权衡;考虑] warrants on their merits[根据事物本身的优缺点 ; 按照事情的是非曲直(based only on a person's or thing's qualities and not on what other people say about that person or thing)]. Also missing is explicit protection for lawyers’ communications with their clients.
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Just as important as the nuts and bolts[具体细节;基本要素] of the new law is its implementation[实现;履行;执行]. GCHQ’s demands may be legal, but if they are too costly or intrusive[侵入的;打扰的], companies dealing with technology and data will simply move abroad. For all these reasons, other countries should watch Britain closely.
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以上言论不代表本人立场，摘自《经济学人》杂志，仅外语学习之用。查看来源请点击“阅读原文”。