A Special Report on Russia
55. Grease my palm
Nov 27th 2008 From The Economist print edition

Bribery and corruption have become endemic

55-1-246
RUSSIA may not have democratic elections or the rule of law, but it does have one long-standing institution that works: corruption. This has penetrated the political, economic, judicial and social systems so thoroughly that is has ceased to be a deviation from the norm and become the norm itself. A corruption index compiled by Transparency International gives Russia 2.1 points out of ten, its worst performance for eight years and on a par with Kenya and Bangladesh. Ordinary Russians are well aware of this, with three-quarters of them describing the level of corruption in their country as 'high' or 'very high'.
The size of the corruption market is estimated to be close to $300 billion, equivalent to 20% of Russia's GDP. INDEM, a think-tank that monitors and analyses corruption, says 80% of all Russian businesses pay bribes. In the past eight years the size of the average business bribe has gone up from $10,000 to $130,000, which is enough to buy a small flat in Moscow.
A businessman who was stopped by the traffic police in Moscow recently was shown a piece of paper with '30,000 roubles' written on it. He refused to pay and asked the policeman why he was being asked so much for a minor offence. 'The answer was that the policeman had bought a flat for his mother in Bulgaria and he now needed money to do it up,' the businessmen said. Far from being a taboo subject, corruption is discussed openly by politicians, people and even the mediabut it makes no difference.

A. 어휘
grease 기름을 바르다, ...에게 뇌물을 바치다. palm 손바닥.
grease a person's palm(hand) 남에게 돈을 슬쩍 집어 주다. bribery 뇌물.
corruption 부패. endemic 特有(특유)의, 전염병의. long-standing 오랫동안에 걸친.
institution 관례, 관습, 제도. work 작동하다, 잘 되어나가다.
penetrate 透過(투과)하다, 침투하다, 내부로 스며들다. judicial 사법의.
thoroughly 철저하게. cease 그만 두다, 중지하다.
deviation [正道(정도)에서] 벗어남, 逸脫(일탈). norm 규범, 표준, 기준.
index 指數(지수), 指標(지표). compile 集計(집계)하다, 편집하다.
transparence 투명성, 투명도. Transparence International 국제투명기구.
par 동등. three-quarters 3/4. estimate 평가하다. equivalent to ...와 동등한.
think-tank 연구소, 두뇌집단. monitor 엿듣다, 청취하다, 감시하다. analyse 분석하다.
flat 아파트. minor offence 작은 위반. do up 꾸미다, 손질하다.
far from ...이기는 커녕. taboo 禁忌(금기).
make no difference 아무런 차이가 없다, 아무런 영향이 없다.

55-2-247
Corruption has become so endemic that it is perceived as normal. Opinion polls show that the majority of Russians, particularly the young, do not consider bribery a crime. The Russian language distinguishes between 'offering a reward' to a bureaucrat for making life easier for you, and the brazen (and sometimes violent) extraction of a bribe by a bureaucrat.
Small and medium-sized businesses suffer the most. Dmitry Golovin, who owns a tool-leasing company in Yekaterinburg, explains: 'You go to the local administration to get permission for something and they send you to a private firm that will sort out the paperwork for you, which happens to be owned by their relatives.'
The reason for the persistent corruption is not that the Russian people are genetically programmed to pay bribes, but that the state still sees them as its vassals rather than its masters. The job of Russian law enforcers is to protect the interests of the state, personified by their particular boss, against the people. This psychology is particularly developed among former (and not so former) KGB members who have gained huge political and economic power in the country since Mr Putin came to office. Indeed, the top ranks in the Federal Security Service (FSB) describe themselves as the country's new nobilitya class of people personally loyal to the monarch and entitled to an estate with people to serve them. As Russia's former prosecutor-general, who is now the Kremlin's representative in the north Caucasus, said in front of Mr Putin: 'We are the people of the sovereign.' Thus they do not see a redistribution of property from private hands into their own as theft but as their right.

A. 어휘
perceive 이해하다, 知覺(지각)하다, 認知(인지)하다. poll 여론조사, 투표.
distinguish 구별하다. reward 보상. bureaucrat 공무원, 관료.
brazen 뻔뻔스러운, 놋쇠로 만든.
extraction 뽑아내기, 喝取(갈취), 추출, 拔萃(발췌), 抄錄(초록).
small and medium-sized business 中小企業(중소기업). lease 賃貸(임대).
tool-leasing 機具(기구) 임대. a private firm 개인회사. sort out 선별하다, 분류하다.
paperwork 서류를 달는 일, 서류작성. relative 친척.
persistent 執拗(집요)한, 소멸되지 않는. genetically 유전적으로.
vassal 封臣(봉신), 家臣(가신), 종속자. law enforcer 법집행자.
the interests of the state 국가의 이익.
personify 具現(구현)하다, 체현하다, 상징하다.
former KGB members 前 KGB(소련의 비밀경찰)요원들.
come to office 권력을 잡다. the top ranks 高位層(고위층). rank 高官(고관).
federal 연방. security service 보안담당부서. nobility 귀족계급. class 계층.
personally 개인적으로, 사적으로. loyal 충성스러운. monarch 군주.
entitle 권리를 부여하다. estate [저택이 있는 광대한] 私有地(사유지), 莊園(장원).
prosecutor-general 검찰총장. representative 국회의원, 대표자, 대의원.
Caucasus [흑해와 카스피海 사이에 있는] 지역. sovereign 군주, 통치자.
redistribution 재분배. theft 도둑질.

B. 구문
- The Russian language distinguishes . . . bribe by a bureaucrat.
[러시아語는 생활하는데 편의를 봐주는 공무원에게 “보상을 제공하는 것”과 공무원에 의한 뻔뻔스러운(때로는 난폭한) 뇌물갈취를 구분한다.]
- not that . . . but that. . .→not because . . .but because
- The job of Russian . . . against the people.
[러시아의 법률집행자의 임무는 국민에 대항해서 특정 지도자(boss)로 상징되는 국가의 이익을 보호하는 것이다.]
- Thus they do not see . . . as their right.
[그래서 그들은 재산을 개인으로 부터 갈취하여 그들 자신의 것으로 재분배하는 것을 도둑질이 아닌 정당한 권리로 간주하다.]