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1、October 12, 2012 ENGLISH LEARNING 1 South Korea Wallows in 1Existential Angst2 The phenomenal3 success of Gangnam Style, a video by Korean rap artist Psy that has been viewed 280m times, is a quirky4 (and rather catchy) indication5 of South Koreas rising fortunes. The dance video gently sends up the
2、 nouveau-riche6, plastic surgery7-enhanced lifestyle that has been made possible by an economic transformation so extraordinary it is known as “the miracle on the Han River”. But something curious is happening. Just as South Korea is growing more confident on the world stage culturally, economically
3、 and diplomatically it is going through something of an existential crisis at home. Suicides are drastically8 higher, fertility is perilously9 low and the electorate10 is flirting with the idea of jettisoning11 traditional presidential candidates in favour of an untested IT entrepreneur. It seems an
4、 odd moment to be having a national nervous breakdown. Samsung and Hyundai have established themselves as premier consumer brands from Canberra to Cupertino. Koreas per capita income of $30,000 is fast closing in on the EU average of $33,000. And whether it is winning $20bn nuclear contracts in Abu
5、Dhabi, pouring money into emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil, or vying12 with Japan to be Washingtons best friend in Asia, Seoul is having a global impact as never before. 1沉湎于；打滚 2焦虑；担心 3异常的 4古怪的；离奇的；诡诈的 5指示，指出；迹象；象征 6 nouveau 新近产生的，新近到达的;nouveau-riche 暴发户 7整形外科 8激烈地 大幅度的 彻底地 9危机四伏地；充
6、满危险地 10选民；选区 11掷荷；投下（jettison 的 ing 形式） 12争夺（vie 的现在分词） October 12, 2012 ENGLISH LEARNING 2 That is not how it feels at home. The more that the residents of the fashionable Gangnam district live it up, the more Koreans feel their economic model is skewed13 towards a privileged elite. Some statistics
7、 suggest Korea is among the most unequal of advanced countries. Chaebol14 conglomerate15s, the pride of the nation abroad, are considered by many to be economic bullies at home, blamed for squeezing suppliers and pushing small businesses into bankruptcy. Whatever the impressive macroeconomic data su
8、ggest, more Koreans feel poor, overworked and weighed down by social pressures. Chief among their concerns is the stress and expense of putting their children through “exam hell”, even in the knowledge that there are too many graduates chasing too few well-paid jobs. No wonder Koreas birth rate has
9、plummeted16 to 1.23, well below the 2.2 replacement rate and lower even than Japan, at 1.4. The outgoing conservative17 government of Lee Myung-bak was good at putting on an international show. It hosted the G20 summit with aplomb18. It attracted attention with its “green growth” agenda. But John De
10、lury, assistant professor at Yonsei university, says it neglected19 domestic social and economic issues. Suicide rates have doubled over the past decade and are now the main cause of death for people under 40. The position of women has advanced at a much slower pace than the economy. Nowhere is the
11、sense of dissatisfaction more apparent than in the campaign for Decembers presidential election. The surprise package has been Ahn Chul-soo, a university professor and founder of Ahnlab, an antivirus20 company, who has gained a cult21 following especially among Korean youth. The 50-year-old independ
12、ent a sort of “anti- politician” is polling above 40 per cent even though he only declared his presidential ambition this month. Mr Ahn is running 13歪斜的；曲解的 14韩国财阀 15大型联合企业 16一落千丈 急剧减少 17保守派 保守党 18沉着；垂直；泰然自若 19 忽视 20反病毒程序；抗病毒素 21狂热崇拜的 October 12, 2012 ENGLISH LEARNING 3 against two establishment fig
13、ures. Park Geun-hye is a conservative from the same party as the presidential incumbent22. On the liberal establishment side, the Democratic United party has selected Moon Jae-in, aide to a former president. It is a measure of how much Koreans want a break from the past that Ms Park saw fit this wee
14、k to apologise for the human rights abuses of her father, the dictator23 Park Chung-hee, who ran the country for 18 years until he was assassinated24 in 1979. (On hearing of his fate, his pragmatic25 daughters first words were said to have been “Is the border secure?”) Ms Park has felt it necessary
15、to ditch her impeccably26 conservative credential27s by moving towards the centre. She has taken to talking about “economic democratisation”, a buzz phrase that embraces the idea of weakening the stranglehold28 of chaebol and fostering a more even distribution of wealth. Mr Ahn, whose supporters com
16、pare him with Barack Obama the promising 2008 vintage, not the corked 2012 version represents a rejection of old-style politics. “Moon is the man of the past, Park is a relic29 of the past, Ahn is the man of the future,” is how Jang Sung- min, a former parliamentarian30 puts it. The three-way race makes the election result highly unpredictable. Many expect Mr Ahn and Mr Moon to come to some sort of last- minute pact.
