拉脱维亚就俄语成官方语言全民公投
Citizens in the European nation of Latvia are voting in a referendum Saturday to decide whether to make Russian the country’s official second language.
欧洲国家拉脱维亚的民众星期六进行全民公投，决定是否要让俄语成为拉脱维亚的第二官方语言。
Although the second-language referendum is seen as having little chance of passing, the question has triggered a heated debate between the country's large ethnic Russian and Latvian populations.
虽然就第二官方语言进行的全民公投获得通过的机会不大，但这个问题在该国众多的俄罗斯人和拉脱维亚人之间引发了热议。
When the former Soviet Union broke apart in 1991 and Latvia regained independence, most of its Russian-speaking citizens chose to remain in the country.
在前苏联1991年解体而拉脱维亚恢复独立时，大部分讲俄语的民众选择留在拉脱维亚。
And even though the government in Riga offered them citizenship, some Russian speakers, such as swimming instructor Viktor Saltikov, say their voices are not being heard.
即使里加政府给予这些民众拉脱维亚国籍，但是一些像游泳教练萨提科夫这样讲俄语的人说，政府没有听取他们的声音。
Saltikov says Russians would feel better if their language was made official. He says Russians are not going to vanish from Latvia, no matter how much some people would like them to.
萨提科夫说，如果俄语变成官方语言，俄罗斯人会感觉好一些。他说，不管一些人多么希望俄罗斯人消失，他们是不会从拉脱维亚消失的。But ethnic Latvians say that the Moscow-backed attempt to integrate the Russian language into the government is an attempt to weaken Latvia’s sovereignty and drag the former Soviet republic back into Russia’s sphere of influence. Andrejs Salaks, an accountant, says it is a question of civic duty.
但是拉脱维亚人说，将俄语纳入拉脱维亚政府体系受到莫斯科支持，这是在削弱拉脱维亚的主权，并使这个前苏维埃加盟共和国再度回到俄罗斯的势力范围。萨拉克斯是一名会计师，他说，这是公民义务的问题。
Salaks says if there are still people in Latvia who do not know the official language, it means they have not tried to learn it. Even the prospect of obtaining citizenship has not urged them, he says, and this means they are not loyal to the country they live in. If the second state language is introduced, they would be left without any reason or motivation to learn Latvian.
萨拉克斯说，如果拉脱维亚还有一些人不会第一官方语言拉脱维亚语，那表示他们没有试着去学。他说，连会拉脱维亚语容易获取公民身份这点都无法敦促他们学习，那就代表他们根本不忠于他们居住的国家。他说，如果采用了第二官方语言，这些人就更有理由或动机不学拉脱维亚语了。
Latvia is one of three small Baltic states that was part of the former Soviet Union for most of the 20th century. Many Russians moved into Latvia during that time, and about one-third of Latvia's people now speak Russian. The Russian and Latvian languages will be equally acceptable in matters of government if half of all eligible voters, more than 771,000 people, vote "yes" on the constitutional referendum.
拉脱维亚是波罗的海三个小国之一，20世纪大部分时间里都隶属前苏联。许多俄罗斯人在这段时期搬到拉脱维亚，现在拉脱维亚大约三分之一的人说俄语。如果有半数以上的合格选民，也就是超过77万1千人在这次宪法全民公决中投下赞成票，俄罗斯语和拉脱维亚语将在政府事务中并行使用。
Final results are expected in a couple of days.
预料，最终结果将在几天内揭晓。
