『Desperate to stamp out malpractice in the Thai capital, the mayor of Bangkok Samak Sundaravej sent a handwritten letter to all 50 municipal offices saying any local officials taking bribes would suffer terrible misfortune and calamity. The letter was designed to stamp out extortion by city officials of local street vendors, who have traditionally had to pay bribes to get permission to sell their wares.
“May those city officers who commit extortion from vendors run into disasters until their retirement, have illness and die in their early days”, the fulmination declared. A spokesman for Samak said that the governor hoped the curse would have more impact than previous polite warnings. 』
《世说英语》Page 16
Vocabulary
malpractice，n，弊端。
municipal，adj，市的。
calamity，n，灾难、不幸。
extortion，n，敲诈、勒索。
wares，n，商品。
fulmination，n，严词谴责，爆发。
Phrases
stamp out，消灭、根除。
a handwritten letter，手写信。
take bribes，受贿。
pay bribes，行贿。
commit extortion，实施敲诈。
die in their early days，夭折。
从官方试图利用诅咒遏制贿赂的行为来看，宗教文化对于泰国民众有着深远的影响[1]。另一方面，泰官方对于腐败处理手段多少过于仁慈了些。
[1] “佛教是泰国代代相承的传统宗教，也是泰国人的生活重心。在四千七百万人口中，佛教徒占了百分之九十五。泰国95%以上的人信奉佛教，据说全国有3万多所寺庙；而“天使之城”的首都曼谷便有“佛庙之都”之称。”（引自百度百科-泰国佛教）
