他没有一味儿遵循父母的训导成为一名出色的医生,而是从生物界成功跨越到行政领域;
他带着一身浅褐色的肌肤,跻进美国南部最保守的路易斯安那州政坛。
他跨越的不单只是专业的范畴,还有种族的界限。
25岁那年,博比·金达尔成为路易斯安那州健康和医院署署长,堪称该州最年轻的部门主管。2007年,他被票选为路易斯安那州州长,次年被评为全美最受欢迎的州长,支持率高达77%。更有媒体认为,这位年轻但做起事来毫不含糊,同时又不失学者风范的共和党新星拥有成为未来总统的潜质……
美式发音 适合泛听
Here in New Orleans' Jackson Square, the strains of Sweet Georgia Brown accompany just about the most popular yet unlikely man in town.
新奥尔良的杰克逊广场上,《甜心乔治亚·布朗》的旋律围绕着镇上几乎最受欢迎,却又不太可能如此的男人。
Bobby Jindal is not a musician nor a restauranteur, but a mere governor who, after the 2)Katrina 3)debacle, is trying to put “the Big Uneasy” back on dry land. This son of immigrants, Ivy League educated, is all of 37 years old. He's been called the “Great Beige Hope” of the Republican Party.
博比·金达尔不是音乐家,或餐馆老板,他只是位州长。他在卡特里娜飓风灾难后,努力重整这座“不闲之城”。父母是移民,毕业于常春藤盟校,现年只有37岁的金达尔,被称为共和党“浅褐色的新希望”。
Bobby Jindal: I think the Republican Party needs to stop thinking about who the next messenger is, they need to stop thinking about how they fix their party. We need to start thinking about how do we help fix our country.
博比·金达尔:我认为共和党要停止考虑下一位使者人选,他们要停止思索如何整顿党风,我们要开始思考的是如何治理国家。
He's the first non-white governor of Louisiana since 4)Reconstruction. And in a state that's been described as half underwater, half under indictment, this eager and ambitious young whirlwind is determined to change all that.
他是自内战后重建时期以来首位出任路易斯安那州州长的非白种人。这个州被形容为“被水与腐败均分”的地方。这名充满雄心壮志的年轻人雷厉风行,决心改变种种现状。
Jindal: I'm not going to take “No” for an answer on reforming our ethics laws.
金达尔:说到改革本州的道德法律,我是不会因有人反对而放弃的。
I think what voters were saying when they elected me: “We're tired of the past. We're tired of corrupt politics. We're as tired as the same old politicians. We know we're better than that.”
我认为当选民选我时,他们想说的是:“我们厌倦了过去。我们厌倦了腐败的政治。我们厌倦了同样的政客。我们知道可以做得更好。”
If Jindal can truly change “5)business as usual” in Louisiana, it may be because he's an outsider.
如果金达尔真的能改变路易斯安那州不作为之风,或许是因为他是局外人。
The son of immigrants who arrived from India in the early 70s, he was born in Baton Rouge, where his mother earned a Doctorate in nuclear physics. His father was a civil engineer. He went to Brown University, where he studied biology, trying to fulfill his parent's dream to become a doctor. He was admitted to Harvard Medical School and Yale Law, but declined both. Instead he accepted a Rhodes Scholarship, and by the 6)ripe old age of 24 he was running the Louisiana health care system. He is a classic product of the American “melting pot.”
金达尔的父母是移民,上世纪70年代初从印度来到美国。他生于巴吞鲁日(路易斯安那州的首府),他母亲在那儿成为核物理学博士。父亲则是土木工程师。他上布朗大学专攻生物学,努力完成父母的梦想,即成为医生。哈佛医学院和耶鲁法学院都向他抛出了橄榄枝,但他两者都拒绝了,反而接受了罗德奖学金。他年仅24岁时,便负责管理路易斯安那州的医疗系统。他是美国熔炉的典型产物。
Host: That seems a huge reach for people like that to vote for somebody as, 7)quote unquote, exotic as Bobby Jindal.
主持人:对于该地区的人,照他人所说,投票给“金达尔这种异国人”,看起来是踏出了一大步。
Jim Amoss(Editor): He shares in many ways the 8)conservative values of people in north Louisiana, and then the other big factor that I think played in north Louisiana as well as south Louisiana is Katrina.
吉姆·阿莫斯(编辑):他与路易斯安那州北部的人有很多相同的保守观念。而我想另一个主因影响着路易斯安那州南北各地人们的则是卡特里娜飓风。
Hurricane Katrina and the 9)bungled state and federal response, more than anything else, set the stage for change in Louisiana. Jindal took us to the still-devastated Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
卡特里娜飓风吹袭后乱成一团的状态和联邦政府缓慢的应变措施,相对其他原因,更能让路易斯安那州准备好接受改变。金达尔带我们到仍然满目疮痍的新奥尔良下九区。
Jindal: Anybody watching what happened in 2005 should come away with the distinct conclusion we should never allow that to happen again.
金达尔:任何人如果见到过2005年所发生的灾难,应该清楚地意识到,我们不能再让这样的事情发生。
Host: You talk about 10)bureaucratic indifference. Do you think that's particular to any party?
主持人:你提及过冷漠的官僚作风。你认为这是某个政党的问题吗?
Jindal: No, but I don't think as Americans we should accept anything other than excellence in our government. Look, I'm a Republican, I don't think government's the answer to every problem, but that does…that doesn't mean we should accept 11)incompetence.
金达尔:不是。但我认为身为美国人,我们只应该接受的是政府卓越的政绩。这么说吧,我是共和党党员,我不认为政府能解决所有问题。但这……这并不代表我们应该接受政府无能。
But where he seems to be making the biggest waves is in ethics reform. Just weeks after taking office he forced through several bills that, among other things, called for far more 12)transparency in the financial dealings of politicians. It was a radical break with a tradition established in the 1930s by that powerful and massively corrupt governor Huey Long.
但看起来,他正取得明显成效的是在道德方面的改革。他上任数周后便强硬通过了数项法案,其中包括要求政客的金钱交易要大力提高透明度。这个法案彻底打破了在20世纪30年代由强势且贪污严重的州长休伊·朗所订下的传统。
