第一部分 英译汉

 

It didn’t take long for Manuel García Murillo, a bricklayer who took over as mayor here last June, to realize that his town was in trouble. It was 800,000 euros, a little more than $1 million, in the red. There was no cash on hand to pay for anything – and there was work that needed to be done.

 

But then an amazing thing happened, he said. Just as the health department was about to close down the day care center because it didn’t have a proper kitchen, Bernardo Benítez, a construction worker, offered to put up the walls and the tiles free. Then, Maria José Carmona, an adult education teacher, stepped in to clean the place up.

 

And somehow, the volunteers just kept coming. Every Sunday now, the residents of this town in southwest Spain – young and old – do what needs to be done, whether it is cleaning the streets, raking the leaves, unclogging culverts or planting trees in the park.

 

“It was an initiative from them,” said Mr. García. “Day to day we talked to people and we told them there was no money. Of course, they could see it. The grass in between the sidewalks was up to my thigh. “

 

Higuera de la Serena is in many ways a microcosm of Spain’s troubles. Just as Spain’s national and regional governments are struggling with the collapse of the construction industry, overspending on huge capital projects and a pileup of unpaid bills, the same problems afflict many of its small towns.

 

But what has brought Higuera de la Serena a measure of fame in Spain is that the residents have stepped up where their government has failed. Mr. García says his phone rings regularly from other town officials who want to know how to do the same thing. He is serving without pay, as are the town’s two other elected officials. They are also forgoing the cars and phones that usually come with the job.

 

“We lived beyond our means,” Mr. García said. “We invested in public works that weren’t sensible. We are in technical bankruptcy.” Even some money from the European Union that was supposed to be used for routine operating expenses and last until 2013 has already been spent, he said.

 

Higuera de la Serena, a cluster of about 900 houses surrounded by farmland, and traditionally dependent on pig farming and olives, got swept up in the giddy days of the construction boom. It built a cultural center and invested in a small nursing home. But the projects were plagued by delays and cost overruns.

 

The cultural center still has no bathrooms. The nursing home, a whitewashed building sits on the edge of town, still unopened. Together, they account for some $470,000 of debt owed to the bank. But the rest of the debt is mostly the unpaid bills of a town that was not keeping up with its expenses. It owes for medical supplies, for diesel fuel, for road repair, for electrical work, for musicians who played during holidays.

 

Higuera de la Serena is not completely without workers. It still has a half-time librarian, two half-time street cleaners, someone part-time for the sports complex, a secretary and an administrator, all of whom are paid through various financing streams apart from the town. But the town once had a work force twice the size. And when someone is ill, volunteers have to step in or the gym and sports complex – open four hours a day – must close.

 

参考译文：

 

曼纽尔·加西亚·穆里洛是一名砖匠出身，去年六月，他接任了这座城市的镇长一职，但是他很快意识到他的城市正陷入危机。财政赤字达800,000欧元，比100万美元还要多上一点。政府没有现金来支付任何费用，而摆在面前的却是一堆没有完成的烂摊子。

 

他说，接下来居然发生一件让人意想不到的事情。那时由于没有一个像样儿的厨房，卫生部正准备关闭托儿所，一名叫做伯纳多·贝尼特斯的建筑工人提出为其免费修筑墙壁并贴上瓷砖。一名叫做玛丽亚·何塞·卡莫纳的成人教师也站了出来，要帮助打扫托儿所。

 

不知怎么地，志愿者们一个个接踵而至。现在，每逢周日，这座西班牙西南部小镇的居民们，无论老少，都来帮助完成镇里那些需要被完成的事宜，有人清扫大街，有人清理落叶，有人疏通水道，还有人在公园里植树。

 

加西亚说道：“他们都是自愿的，我们日复一日地和人民进行交谈，并告诉他们镇里还没有钱，当然，他们能看得出来，因为人行道两侧的草都长到我大腿那么高了。”

 

从很多方面来看，希格拉德拉塞丽娜镇都像是西班牙危机的一个缩影。由于很多耗资巨大的工程超支，并欠下大量欠款，很多小镇都面临和西班牙国家和地区政府同样的问题：他们正在为建筑业的衰败而犯愁。

 

但是由于当地的居民在政府支持不住的时候挺身而出，希格拉德拉塞丽娜镇在西班牙声名大增。加西亚说，经常有其他镇子的官员打来电话向自己讨教是怎么做到这些的。加西亚没有薪水可领，其他两个选举出来的官员也是一样。他们甚至放弃了工作中配备的公车和电话。

 

加西亚说：“我们入不敷出，在公共事业上的投资并不理智，技术也十分欠缺。欧盟的借款本应用于正常政府运作，并维持到2013年，可是即使这些钱都已经花光了。”

 

希格拉德拉塞丽娜镇有大约九百户民宅，周围是耕地，一直以来，小镇靠养猪以及种植橄榄维生。在建筑热潮风靡的日子里，小镇也受到了热潮的席卷。镇上建立了一个文化中心，投资了一家小型疗养院。但是这些项目却面临搁置以及成本超支的困境。

 

文化中心还没有洗手间。粉刷成白色的疗养院坐落于小镇的边缘，至今还没有开放。这两个项目加起来共拖欠了银行47,000美元。其他的债务主要是小镇入不敷出造成的，这些开支包括医疗供应、燃油、公路维护、电力供应以及那些在节假日表演的音乐家们。

 

希格拉德拉塞丽娜镇并不是一名工人也没有。它有一名半工半薪的图书管理员，两名半工半薪的道路清洁工，一名在体育中心兼职的工作人员，一名秘书和一名管理员。他们的薪水都来自小镇外的其他渠道。但在此之前，镇子里的工人数量是现在的两倍。体育中心每天开放四个小时，现在只要工作人员生病，志愿者们就必须接手体育中心的工作，否则体育中心必须关闭。