VOA慢速英语2014 土耳其的建设热潮引发安全担忧

Safety Is a Concern in Turkey's Construction Boom 土耳其的建设热潮引发安全担忧

Ten years ago, the Turkish capital of Istanbul had no extremely tall buildings called skyscrapers 2. Today, Istanbul is suddenly the skyscraper 1 capital of Europe, thanks to a national construction boom.  But recent construction accidents in the country have many people angry about worker safety.

土耳其的首都伊斯坦布尔十年前并无所谓的摩天大楼之类的参天建筑。由于国家建设热潮，伊斯坦布尔现如今骤然成为欧洲摩天大楼之都。然而该国最近的建筑事故引发了人们对工人安全的愤怒。                     

So far this year, a record 1,500 workers have died in Turkey. Earlier this month, 10 construction workers were killed when the brakes on an elevator failed. The workers plummeted 3 – or fell suddenly – 32 floors down.  

据记录，土耳其自今年以来已有1500名工人死亡。本月初，10名建筑工人死于电梯紧急制动失灵。他们从32楼骤然下跌。                                            

A woman screams for her lost son at his funeral. He was one of the 10 workers killed in September’s construction accident. Two twin teenage brothers who had started working the week before were among the dead. Many workers claimed the accident was very likely.

一位妇女在她儿子的葬礼上悲痛欲哭。她的儿子是在九月建筑事故中罹难的10位工人之一。还有一对双胞胎兄弟也包括其中，一周前他们刚开始这项工作。许多工人声称事故随时都会发生。

The accident was widely reported by Turkish media. Thousands of protestors gathered in downtown Istanbul where the accident took place. They chanted, “It’s not a work accident. It’s murder.”

土耳其媒体对该事故大肆报道。成千上万的抗议者聚集在事故发生现场，即伊斯坦布尔市区呼喊道“这不是事故，这是谋杀”。

But police officers quickly ended the demonstrations 4 by using tear gas and water cannons 5. Experts say public concern is growing about the health and safety of construction workers.          

但很快警察借用催泪弹和高压水炮将这次游行镇压。专家分析道公众日益关注的是建筑工人的安全和健康问题。     

Cengiz Aktar is a professor of economics at Istanbul’s Suleyman Sah University. He says that Turkey has among the worst work safety conditions in the world.  

森吉斯阿克塔尔，伊斯坦布尔苏莱曼萨哈大学的经济学教授说道：“土耳其有着世界上最差的安全生产环境”。  

“The lack of control, lack of worker safety and working environment are appalling 6. And Turkey is ranked number one in Europe in terms of work accidents, and apparently 7 number three after Algeria and El Salvador in the world. Observers qualify these work accidents as work assassinations 8.”     

“缺乏管理，缺乏对安全生产和工作环境的担忧是极其可怕的。土耳其工作事故发生率位列欧洲第一，世界第三，仅次于尼日利亚和萨尔瓦多。观察员把这些事故称为工作暗杀.”

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has promised to investigate this and other accidents this year. But he says that trade unions are part of the problem.

土耳其总理亚哈梅特 达乌托格尔鲁已承诺在今年调查这些事故，同时也声称工会组织也是个问题。

Mr. Davutoglu says laws are introduced and then there is nothing done to educate workers about them. He says the trade unions should not raise their voices after these accidents. Unions should inform workers about their rights.

达乌托格尔鲁声称已引进法律但依旧不能在工人自身安全教育上有所作为。他认为工会组织在事故发生后应告知工人们关注自身权益，而非伺机提升自己的话语权。

But trade union leaders say that the government’s ruling AK Party needs to remove old anti-labor 9 laws, introduced in the 1980s by Turkish military leaders.    

然而工会组织领导表示统治着正义与发展党的政府需要废除1980年军事领导人引进的陈旧的反劳动法。

Professor Aktar says many workers who go into construction are more concerned about simply finding a job than finding a safe job. And many are not members of the trade union.

阿卡塔尔教授说道相对于只是找个工作，众多建筑工人更多关注的是有个安全的工作，并且他们许多人都不是工会组织的成员。

“It’s an industry which employs probably millions of people. These are mainly former peasants. As Turkey is liquidating 10 its agriculture, they have nowhere to go, and they are ready to accept any job. So they don’t look for safety, they don’t look for social security. And, of course, the employers hate labor [trade] unions, and the pool of unemployed 11 is very sizable so they can look for other workers to get rid of those who are at the labor unions.”

这是一个动辄需要成千上万员工的产业。许多员工之前皆是雇农，由于土耳其正在清算其农业，他们无可去处，随时准备接受任何一种工作。因此他们的所求并非安全，而是社会保障。当然，雇主也厌恶工会（劳动）组织。由于失业者人数相当大，雇主们便可寻求这些失业工人，以此驱逐身为工会组织成员的员工。

Migrant workers from Turkey’s rural Black Sea area built many of Istanbul’s skyscrapers. Nearly all of the construction workers killed earlier this month came from that area.

来自黑海乡村地区的移民工人们为伊斯坦布尔建造了许多摩天大楼。几乎来自这一区域的所有建筑工人都在本月初的事故中罹难。    

Most workers will return to the job, in 10 to 15 days.

大部分工人将在10到15日内回返工作。

But some will not be returning. According to Turkish media reports, about 20 men who spoke 12 to the media about their safety concerns have been fired. That may mean they will be safe, but for their families back home who depend on them for income, they will likely go hungry.

但有一部分不会回返。据土耳其媒体报道，大约20名向媒体声明对自身安全担忧的工人已被解雇。也许对这些工人自身来说，意味着安全，但对于依赖着他们的家人来说，将意味着饥饿。