Spanish protesters seeking to stop a wave of evictions have resorted to embarrassing politicians at their homes over harsh mortgage laws that have multiplied the pain of a property crash in the recession-hit country.
希望遏止一波房屋驅逐令的西班牙示威民眾，已開始採取到政客家門前給他們難看的行動，抗議西班牙在遭經濟不景氣打擊導致房地產價格崩盤之際，嚴苛的房屋抵押法令更讓民眾痛苦指數倍增。
Inspired by Latin American human rights campaigns from the 1990s, the "escraches" - Argentine slang for denunciation - have involved protesters posting flyers and shouting slogans on the doorsteps of a number of politicians over the past fortnight.
這項抗議行動是受到1990年代拉丁美洲人權運動「esaraches」所啟發，這個字為阿根廷俗詞，意指譴責。過去兩週來，有示威民眾跑到一些政客家門口張貼傳單並高喊抗議口號。
"There is a certain lassitude - the demonstrations grouping together tens of thousands of people don’t seem to be as effective as before," said Tomas Alberich, a sociology professor at the University of Jaen.
「目前社會上出現一種倦怠感，因為號召了成千上萬人的大型示威活動似乎已不再像過去那麼有效，」哈恩大學社會學教授艾伯里希說。
Late last year a series of suicides of people who had recently been forced out of their homes thrust evictions to the fore, pushing the government to offer the most vulnerable families two years’ breathing room on mortgage payments.
去年底西國發生了連串民眾因繳不出房貸被逐出家園後無奈自殺的案件，房屋驅逐令也因而成為社會焦點，促使西國政府提供最弱勢家庭兩年的房貸寬限期。
Campaigners now want drastic changes in mortgage rules, including for debts to be cancelled when a house is handed over - a shake-up that could hurt banks. At present, the debts are not even cancelled in death, making Spain’s mortgage laws much harsher than those in many other countries. （Reuters）
運動人士現在要求政府對房貸抵押法令做出重大改革，包括當屋主把房屋交給銀行時，積欠銀行的房貸也該一筆勾銷，但這項劇變卻可能損及銀行利益。依照現行法規，即使房屋所有人身故，房貸也不會取消，使得西班牙的房屋抵押法令遠較其他許多國家嚴苛。（路透）
新聞辭典
lassitud：名詞，指困乏、疲乏、厭倦，如Shareholders are blaming the company’s problems on the lassitude of the managing director.（股東們把公司的問題歸咎於總經理倦勤。）
to the fore：片語，指在前面、或顯著、重要的地位，如Dry conditions have brought water use to the fore.（天候乾旱使得用水議題成為眾所矚目的焦點。）
shake-up：名詞，指政策或人員的重大改變、改組，如The arrival of the new baby caused a thorough shake-up of their family life.（寶寶的降臨使他們的家庭生活徹底改觀。）
資料來源 http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=676384&day=2013-05-05
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