24. Putting the people first By Steve Tsang
(TIME June 18, 2007 /Hong Kong★ 1997--2000)

The British could be arrogant and paternalistic, but they gave Hong Kong what mattered: good governance

24-1-105
In the last days of British rule of Hong Kong, many Chinese in the territory took pictures of their young children in front of colonial coats of arms adorning the exterior of government buildings. No doubt most did so to capture snapshot of history that would shortly disappear. But some, I dare say, were paying their final respects to a departing, father-like symbol they would remember with fondness and admiration.
Why so? As Hong Kong marks the 10th anniversary of its return to China, and ponders the nature of its future relationship with the mainland, it's worth recalling one of Britain's most important legacies to the city: good governance, possibly the best experienced by any colony ruled by any power at any time. Despite the absence of democracy, and the accountability and transparency democracy engenders and encourages, by the early 1980s the British administration in Hong Kong had proven itself essentially honest and effective in meeting the demands of its citizens.
British Hong Kong was not always well governed. Indeed, the first two decades of rule were awful. That period was marked by petty infighting among senior officials, corruption reaching nearly the very top, administrative inefficiency and gross discrimination against local Chinese. As John Bowring, Hong Kong's Governor in the 1850s, admitted: 'We rule in ignorance; they obey in blindness.'

A. 어휘
arrogant 거만한. paternalistic 온정주의의, 가족주의의.
what mattered 중요한 것. governance 통치, 지배. territory 영토, 지역. rule 통치.
colonial 식민지의. coats of arms 紋章(문장). adorn 장식하다. exterior 외부, 바깥쪽.
dare say 감히 말하다. cf. dare 주로 부정문과 의문문에서 조동사로 쓰임.
fondness 사랑, 慈愛(자애). admiration 감탄, 찬양. anniversary 기념일.
ponder 깊이 생각하다. mainland 본토. legacy 유산, 유물. power 强國(강국).
despite ...함에도 불구하고. accountability 책임. transparency 투명성.
engender ...을 낳다. adminstration 행정부. petty 사소한, 內紛(내분), 내부항쟁.
senior official 고위관료. corruption 부패. inefficiency 비능률. gross 심한.
discrimination 차별대우. governor 總督(총독). ignorance 무지. blindness 盲目(맹목).

24-2-106
But a break from this dismal state of affairs occurred in 1862, when three young graduates of British public schools and of Cambridge University--Walter Meredith Deane, Cecil Clementi Smith and Malcom Struan Tonnochy--were appointed on the basis of merit rather than patronage to serve as cadets in the colonial administration. Such cadets, who gained the modern title of administrative officers (AOs) at the end of the 1950s, were well educated, generously remunerated, and meant to be put on the first track for promotion to high office after they had learned Cantonese. Some rose to be Governors, either of Hong Kong or other British colonies.
These early gentlemen administrators laid the foundation for a modern civil service based on merit, a concept that had been accepted in Britain itself only seven years earlier. They created an esprit de corps that took on any task, saw corruption as beneath them, and made decisions on the basis of what in their own conscience and judgement were in the best interests of the colony--a concept that slowly evolved from focusing on the needs of the tiny expatriate community to the welfare of the majority Chinese population.

A. 어휘
break 분리, 중단, 파괴. dismal 어두운, 음침한. affairs 일, 업무.
the state of affairs 形勢(형세), 사태. graduate 졸업생.
British public school 영국의 사립학교. cf. state school 공립학교. appoint 임명하다.
merit 공로, 성적, 업적. on the basis of merit 실력에 근거하여.
patronage 밀어주기, 후원, 愛顧(애고). cadet 간부후보.
colonial administration 식민지 행정청. remunerate 보수를 주다, 보상하다.
be put on the first track for promotion (고위직에)최우선적으로 昇進(승진)되다.
high office 高位職(고위직). Cantonese 廣東語(광동어: 양자강 남동지방의 방언).
administrator 관리자, 통치자. lay-laid-laid 놓다. foundation 토대, 기초.
civil service 對民(대민)행정, 공무원근무, 행정사무. concept 槪念(개념).
esprit de corps 단결심, 단체정신.
see . . .as beneath for them 그들에게 어울리지 않는 것으로 간주하다.
conscience 양심. interest 이익. evolve 발전시키다, 진화하다.
expatriate 국외로 추방된, 離脫(이탈)한. majority 대다수.

B. 구문
-on the basis of merit rather than patronage
[집안의 배경보다는 실력에 의해서]
-the tiny expatriate community
[외부로부터 고립된 작은 공동체]

24-3-107
While AOs were able officials, they were not necessarily the brightest or most imaginative of individuals. Many were also arrogant. Yet they did not simply serve themselves, their superiors or specific sectors in Hong Kong. The AOs saw their worth and achievement as being measured by what good they were able to do collectively for the colony. For example, when Hong Kong built its first cross-harbor tunnel in the late 1960s, then Governor David Trench, a former AO, insisted on two tubes of four lanes, overruling the engineers' cheaper one-tube blueprint, which, he rightly concluded, the city would quickly outgrow.
Hong Kong's current Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, says that, unlike in the colonial era, today's officials need to be less elitist and more responsive to public opinion and needs. As a onetime AO himself, Tsang should know better--he's not giving his former British colleagues due credit. If anything, Tsang needs to make his own appointed ministers, who oversees the civil service, more accountable. The way to do that is to force them to face elections. That's the essence of the Westminster model, which is part of Hong Kong's heritage as a former crown colony: elected ministers, nonpartisan civil servants, all working for the people. It is no longer politically correct to say or to think so, but to shape its future, Hong Kong should draw from its past.
______________________________
Steve Tsang is Louis Cha Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford University, and author of the forthcoming book Governing Hong Kong

A. 어휘
not necessarily 반드시 . . . 하는 것은 아니다(부분부정). superior 상급자.
specific 特定(특정)의, 특수한. sector 방면, 분야. measure 측정하다.
do good 이익이 되는 일을 하다. collectively 집단적으로, 단체적으로.
cross-harbour tunnel 港口橫斷(항구횡단) 터널. tube 지하도로, 지하철. former 前.
overrule 棄却(기각)하다, 제압하다. outgrow 몸이 커져서 입지 못하게 되다.
current 현재의. Chief Executive 行政首班(행정수반). colleague 동료.
due credit 당연히 받아야할 信望(신망). if anything 어느 편이냐 하면.
minister 장관. oversee 감독하다. accountable 책임을 지는.
Westminster 영국의회, 영국 국회의사당. heritage 유산. crown colony 영국직할식민지.
nonpartisan 超黨派(초당파)의, 객관적인. fellow 대학의 특별연구원.

B. 구문
- The AOs saw . . . for the colony.
[AO들은 그들이 식민지(홍콩)를 위해서 어떤 이로운 일을 집단적으로 할 수 있는가에 의해서 그들의 가치와 업적이 측정되는 것으로 간주하였다.]
- he's not giving his former British colleagues due credit.
[그는 그의 前 영국동료들의 우수한 업적을 제대로 인정하지 않고 있다.]