The Economist magazine bilingual reading summary

经济学人杂志双语阅读：Motor ways and wherefores 公路及其来龙去脉 Britain's roads 英国公路 Motor ways and wherefores 公路及其来龙去脉 Jun 18th 2009 From The Economist print edition On Roads: A Hidden History. 公路：一段被埋藏的历史 EVERY industry is susceptible to fads, even publishing. Quirky histories have had a long run. Cod, quinine, redheads, potatoes-even gerbils-have all had a book or two devoted to them. In theory, the offbeat subject matter provides an unusual angle from which to examine things with a wider appeal (the potato book, for instance, ventures into global migration patterns, social reform and high finance). But it can be a tricky formula to get right. 任何产业都会受到潮流影响，出版业也不例外。很早开始，就出现了稀奇古怪的书籍。鳕鱼，奎宁，红法 人，马铃薯甚至沙鼠等都有一两本研究其的书籍。这些稀奇古怪的主题为人们审视事物提供了全新的视角， 同时也更具吸引力。(以马铃薯的介绍书籍为例，书中大胆探讨全球人口迁移模式，社会改革及巨额融资等 问题)然而“曲径通幽”的方法也未尝不可。 Happily Joe Moran's history of Britain's roads mostly manages to pull it off. The book is a ramble through the place of roads in British culture. Its approach is broadly linear, from the building of the first motorways in the 1950 s to the anti-road protests of the 1990 s and the paralysis of today. There are amusing diversions along the way: musings on the spiritual significance of motorway service stations to itinerant rock bands and the interesting observation that homing pigeons often follow man-made roads to their destinations. 令人高兴地是，乔治默林关于英国公路史一书差不多成功的诠释了这一点。这本书是对公路在英国文化中 影响的一些闲谈。其采用直述的方式，从上世纪 50 年代建成第一条高速公路，到 90 年代的反公路抗议， 再到如今的公路瘫痪问题。书中同时穿插着一些搞笑的成分，如：思考高速公路服务站对于巡回乐队的深 层意义，及关于家鸽可以顺着公路飞到目的地的有趣发现。 The nearest the book comes to a central thesis is charting the creeping disenchantment with modernity that characterised the second half of the 20th century. Cars and roads have always had detractors (Mr Moran quotes G. K. Chesterton praising Britain's “splendid parochialisms”and complaining about “motor-car civilisation… roaring on at last to the capture of the solar system”). But for most of the 20th century, most people saw roads as heralds of a shinier, happier future. There was much angst in the 1930 s, for instance, about the speed with which fascist Italy and Germany were building them, leaving muddled, democratic Britain in the dust.

这本书中心论题，主要是人们对 20 世纪后半段现代化特征的缓慢觉醒。汽车及公路总不乏反对者。(默林 先生引用 G. K.切斯特顿的话来赞扬英国“令人瞠目的短浅目光”并抱怨“汽车是最后一个加入太阳能系统的 成员”)但总观上个世纪，大多数人都将公路看做是充满光辉及幸福的未来使者。而在上世纪 30 年代，存在 很多忧虑。例如：有关意大利及德国等法西斯国家修建公路，提高车速，将糊涂的民主制国家英国远远抛 在脑后。 After the war had reassured Britons that perhaps democracy wasn't so bad after all, the enthusiasm increased. Reporting on the opening of the M1, the motorway that links London with Yorkshire, one newspaper confessed to feeling “sentiments too deep for tears”. Others reported breathlessly on the ease with which they were suddenly able to zoom about the country (these being the days before speed limits, one reporter claimed to have driven the new road at 157 mph in an Aston Martin). 战争结束后，英国人重新确认，或许民主制没有那么糟，于是，他们的热情提升了。当连接伦敦和约克郡 的 M1 高速公路的通车时，一家报社坦露：“太过激动，都流不出眼泪了”；而另一家报道，对于一下子可 以轻松体验在英国公路上飞驰，感到不可思议(这一切都发生在限速之前，一报道者称他曾开着一辆阿斯顿 马丁，以 157 公里每小时的速度在新修公路上奔驰)。 But enthusiasm soon turned to hatred. The first road protests popped up in the 1970 s. By the 1990 s they were media events, with protesters camped in tree-houses or warrens inspired by the tunnels of the Viet Cong. Some were muddled Luddites, others were angry locals whose houses were slated for demolition. But, as Mr Moran points out, much of the anger was directed at technocrats whose promises have spectacularly failed to come true. When elevated motorways were being built, their architects promised that people could be housed in flats carved out of the support stanchions. The areas beneath would become parks, greening the city by banishing its traffic into the sky. But it never happened that way. Half a century later, when one member of parliament suggested housing disruptive families in vandalism-proof steel containers tucked away “beneath the motorway flyover”, the roadways' fall from grace was complete. 但很快，热情就转变为了愤恨。最早的公路抗议出现在上世纪 70 年代，90 十年代，发展到了中等规模， 抗议者们受越共隧道的启发，在树上小屋或者狭窄街区驻扎安营。其中一些是混乱的卢德份子，其他则是 当地一些房屋面临拆迁的愤怒的居民。然而，正如默林所说，大多数愤怒的矛头都直指技术官员们，因为 他们的承诺无一兑现。空中高速兴建之际，设计师们向人们承诺，他们可以住进由支柱凿成的公寓里。而 下面地面将变成公园，通过将公路交通“赶”到空中，城市将得到了绿化。但这一设想并未变成现实。半个 世纪之后，当一国会议员提出，将恶意捣乱的家庭成员安置在高速公路桥下的大铁柱里面时，公路的光鲜 彻底不复存在了。 Mr Moran tries hard to avoid taking sides, although the reader may suspect that his sympathies may lie more with the protesters than the road-builders. His even-handedness, though fair, occasionally becomes frustrating. There is a discussion at the end of the book about what the correct road-building policy should be. Mr Moran lists the problems of every approach: naively building roads simply creates more traffic, while forcing people to pay for them is politically almost impossible. But he offers no solutions of his own.

默林努力饰演中立的角色，尽管读者还是认为他对反对者的同情多于对公路建造者。他不偏不倚的态度， 尽管公道，偶尔也会令人泄气。书的最后谈到，怎样的公路修建政策才算正确。默林列举出了每套方法所 面临的问题：单纯建造公路只会使交通更加拥挤，而政治上强制人们为其买单几乎是不可能的。但他自己 并没有提出解决方法。 Nevertheless, this is a pleasant book. Read it before a long journey, and you may regard the boring old motorway with a new appreciation. 不管怎样，这是本好书。在你要开始一段长途旅行之前，读一读它，或许你会对无聊又年旧的高速公路产 生新的兴趣。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Mr Nepal lucks out 内帕尔侥幸成功 Nepal's political crisis 尼泊尔政治危机 Mr Nepal lucks out 内帕尔侥幸成功 May 28th 2009 | KATHMANDU From The Economist print edition But his country, of the same name, is struggling 内帕尔侥幸赢得了选举，但是与他同名的祖国，动荡仍未结束 ON MAY 23rd Madhav Kumar Nepal, the communist son of a Hindu priest, became Nepal's new prime minister. He succeeds Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the country's former Maoist leader-the main protagonist in a decade-long guerrilla war-who resigned on May 4 th, leaving the government in limbo. Mr Nepal has the support of 21 of the 24 political parties in Nepal's assembly; but this is scarcely democratic progress. The Maoists, who won 38% of the assembly's seats in the country's first post-conflict election last year, do not support him. Nor did Mr Nepal win either of the two seats he contested in the poll. 5 月 23 日，马达夫•库马尔•内帕尔，这个印度牧师的儿子，一个共产主义者，成为了尼泊尔的新任总理。 他接替的是曾指挥了 10 年游击战的前毛主义领导人普什帕•卡马勒•达哈勒，后者在 5 月 4 日辞职，使政府 处于群龙无首的状态。内帕尔赢得了尼泊尔国民大会 24 个政党中 21 个党派的支持，但这可不代表什么民 主进步。曾在去年举行的战后第一次选举中赢得国民大会 38%席位的毛主义，并不支持内帕尔。选举时， 内帕尔也没有赢得毛主义那两席的支持。 Among many threats to his new government, the Maoists loom large. Mr Dahal, who resigned after he was foiled in an effort to sack an old enemy, Nepal's army chief, General Rookmangud Katawal, has said they remain committed to democracy. Yet the Maoists had until last week stopped the assembly functioning since their chief's resignation. And they still demand that the president, Ram Baran Yadav, should reverse his decision to veto

General Katawal's sacking. Backed by Mr Nepal and his allies, who consider the army a last defence against the Maoists, Mr Yadav will not do this. On May 24th the Maoists spurned an invitation to join the new government. 毛主义是内帕尔新政府面临的最大威胁。达哈勒辞职前曾试图解除尼泊尔军队参谋长鲁克曼古德•卡特瓦尔 的职务，但以失败告终，辞职后，他表示，毛主义永远会对民主保持忠诚。但自其在上周卸任后，毛主义 就退出了国民大会。他们还要求总统拉姆•巴兰•亚达夫改变决定，革卡特瓦尔将军的职。但亚达夫有内帕 尔及其政治联盟撑腰呢，在他们眼里，军队就是用来对抗毛主义的最后一道防线，所以亚达夫不会轻易屈 服。5 月 24 日，毛主义轻蔑地拒绝了加入新政府的邀请。 With luck, it may survive for a while. It might even try easing the country's severe power and fuel shortages. That would quell some of the growing discontent at the failure of any party to deliver on its election promises. But the early signs are not promising, with Mr Nepal's coalition partners bitterly feuding over the division of cabinet spoils. 如果运气好的话，新政府也许能持续上一段时间，兴许可以减轻一下严重的能源燃料短缺问题，或许还能 履行一下竞选时的承诺，缓和民众的不满情绪。但是新政府的初期迹象就表明，前景不是那么乐观的：在 内阁席位的分配问题上，内帕尔的同盟伙伴们已经像仇人一样争执得分外眼红了。 More important, there seems little prospect of this government making much progress on the assembly's two main tasks-shepherding a complicated peace process and drafting a new constitution. Under Mr Dahal's more solid government, including the Maoists, Mr Nepal's UML (for Unified Marxist-Leninist) and other parties, these were daunting: the thorniest issue of the peace process, the fate of 23,000-odd former Maoist fighters, led indirectly to its demise. (Some of these fighters are to be recruited into the army; but General Katawal, to the Maoists' fury, has resisted this.) And if Mr Nepal's government cannot resolve these issues, it had better make way for one that can. 更重要的一点是，新政府似乎没有能力完成国民大会的两项任务：引领复杂的和平进程，以及起草新宪法。 达哈勒的前政府凝聚了毛主义、内帕尔的联合马列以及其他政党的力量，连这样一个更为稳定的政府，在 复杂的和平进程问题及 23000 名前毛主义战士的安置问题上(一部分战士本来是要被招募进尼泊尔军队，但 遭到了卡特瓦尔的否决，这令毛主义者出离愤怒)，都败下阵来。如果内帕尔政府不能解决这些问题的话， 那它最好还是让位吧。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Chasing ghosts 追逐战争幽灵 Banyan Chasing ghosts 追逐战争幽灵 Jun 11th 2009 From The Economist print edition The notion that geography is power is making an unwelcome comeback in Asia

地理就是权力的观念正在不受欢迎地回归亚洲。 A CENTURY ago the ideas of an American naval officer, Alfred Thayer Mahan-pal of Teddy Roosevelt, inventor of the term “the Middle East”, advocate of American expansionism in Asia and father of the modern American navy-were much in vogue among military strategists and great-power leaders. Now they are back in fashion again, this time among Asia's rising powers. 一个世纪以前，阿尔弗雷德•赛耶•马汉的海权思想在军事战略家和大国领导人之间非常流行。马汉是罗斯 福总统的好友，“中东”这个词的发明人，现代美国海军之父，他鼓吹美国在亚洲进行扩张。现在，他的思 想再度风行，这一次是在亚洲正在崛起的强权之间。 Mahan was a founding father of geopolitics, in particular the notion that geography-poring over maps-should inform foreign policy more than any other consideration. It was the wine-dark sea that interested him most. His book, “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History”, was self-fulfilling, helping sea power shape history, though not for the better. Mahan concluded that command of seaborne commerce was the key to winning wars, and that what was needed was an “overbearing power on the sea which drives the enemy's flag from it”. Wilhelm, the German Kaiser, loved the book, once saying he was trying to learn it by heart. The naval arms race between Germany and Britain that followed was both catastrophic and avoidable. 马汉是地缘政治学、尤其是地理观念的创始人，他认为研习地图是制定外交政策的精髓，应当超过任何其 他考虑。他的书《海权对历史的影响》，已经自我应验，并塑造了海上强国们的历史，虽然不是朝着更好 的方向。马汉认为，对于海上贸易的控制是赢得战争的关键，因此需要“压倒性的海军力量使敌人的旗帜从 大海上消失”。德意志皇帝威廉喜欢这本书，他说他曾经用心地学习它。后来德国与英国之间悲惨的海上军 备竞赛，原本是有可能避免的。 The understanding of sea power has since evolved, yet Mahan is now hugely admired in Asia's two most populous powers. Banyan was recently in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, run by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think-tank. It seems Britain's former naval dominance of Asia has been forgiven or forgotten (or perhaps is recalled with admiration), for this forum is where defence types now get together with old friends and future foes. And whenever Banyan prodded a military man from India or China, out leapt a Mahanite.

对海权的理解随后不断演进。如今，马汉在亚洲人口最多的两个国家之间获得巨大认同。最近，笔者在新 加坡参加了一个伦敦智库-国际战略研究所主办的香格里拉对话。防务领袖们与新仇旧友共聚一堂，从前英 国对亚洲的海上统治似乎已经被原谅或者遗忘了(或许是被羡慕的回忆起)。每当笔者刺激一个印度或者中 国军人，得到的回应总是马汉式的。 For China's strategic planners, securing sea lanes against hostile powers has become perhaps the chief preoccupation. For India's, it is the growth of China's presence in its backyard, in and around the Indian Ocean. In both countries Mahan is pressed into service in one planning paper after the next. James Holmes and Toshi Yoshihara of the United States Naval War College have followed the uses and abuses of Mahan. He is often selectively quoted, suppressing his equal emphasis on peaceful commerce. There is also this dictum: “Whoever controls the Indian Ocean dominates Asia. This ocean is the key to the seven seas in the 21st century. The destiny of the world will be decided in these waters.”Both Chinese and Indian papers quote it. But it is a fabrication; Mahan never wrote it. 对于中国的战略规划者来说，防范怀有敌意的国家，保障海上通路的安全也许已经成为当务之急。而印度 最关心的，是中国在印度后院-印度洋不断成长的军事存在。这两个国家，把马汉的思想写进一本又一本的 计划书。美国海军战争学院的詹姆斯•霍姆斯和古原俊井长期跟踪马汉思想的运用与滥用，发现他经常被选 择性地引用，他对于和平贸易同样程度的强调被压制了。中国和印度的报告都引用过他的格言-“得印度洋 者得亚洲，在 21 世纪，印度洋是七大洋的中枢，世界的命运将由海洋决定”。然而，这话是编造的，马汉 从来没说过。 That Asia should be looking to the sea makes sense. Threats to the two biggest countries historically came from their Central Asian hinterlands. But in terms of the spread of commerce, culture, religion and empire, Asia's is a largely maritime history, carried on the monsoon winds. Asia's modern “miracle”-economies plugged into globalised networks of supply and demand-is essentially a littoral story too, even when it falters, as now. A remarkable sight in Singapore is possibly the largest fleet ever gathered: hundreds of supertankers and bulk carriers from around the world, lying idly at anchor. 亚洲需要合理地面对海洋。历史上，亚洲最大的两个国家的威胁来自中亚地区。但随着商业、文化、宗教 与帝国的扩张，亚洲的威胁变成是随着季风而来的航海运动。当前颇有些步履蹒跚的现代“亚洲奇迹”，其 经济根植于全球供应链网络，从本质上说，亚洲奇迹也是一个沿海地区的故事。新加坡一个引人注目的景 象是：从世界各地来的几百艘超级油轮与货轮懒洋洋地停泊在这里，这也许是史上最大的船队集合。 Despite the global slump, Asian growth continues. More than four-fifths of crude oil bound for China crosses the Indian Ocean before passing through the narrow Malacca Strait. Vast ship-borne imports of iron ore, coal and bauxite make up other raw ingredients for Chinese growth. India imports four-fifths of its oil, mostly from the Persian Gulf, plus liquefied natural gas from Qatar and Indonesia. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Robert Kaplan, an American journalist, whose poring over maps also suggests Mahanite tendencies, describes the whole Indian Ocean seaboard as “a vast web of energy trade”. Global energy needs are expected roughly to double by 2030, with India and China accounting for nearly half of the new growth in demand. Maritime security concerns are inevitable and legitimate.

尽管全球衰退，亚洲的增长还在持续。超过五分之四的运往中国的原油，在通过狭窄的马六甲海峡之前， 需要经过印度洋。除了石油以外，大量的铁矿石、煤和铝土矿通过船运进口，提供中国经济增长所需的原 材料。印度五分之四的石油需要进口，主要来自波斯湾，它还从卡塔尔和印尼进口液化天然气。在研习了 地图之后，美国记者罗伯特•卡普兰也倾向于马汉的观点，他在《外交》杂志上把印度洋海岸描述成“一个 巨大的能源交易网络”。到 2030 年，预计全球能源需求差不多要翻一番，而印度和中国占了新增需求的一 半。它们对于海洋安全的顾虑是必然的，也是合理的。 The danger comes when concerns are amplified or imagined, and hitched to Mahanite prescriptions. The chief threats to peace in Asian waters come from non-state or pariah-state actors: Somali pirates, North Korean nuclear smugglers, water-borne jihadists, drug-and people-traffickers. For Chinese strategists, however, the threats are still America and India. In Singapore Robert Gates, America's defence secretary, met his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, to reassure them in the face of North Korea's nuclear bluster. Yet a Chinese general disapproved of the meeting and bluntly told Banyan that America's alliances in North-East Asia were intended to threaten China. 然而，当各种顾虑被夸大或者想象出来，再辅之于马汉的办法来解决问题，危险就来临了。亚洲海域和平 的主要威胁来自被边缘化国家的各色人等：索马里海盗、朝鲜的核武器走私者、海上的圣战分子、毒贩子 和人贩子等。然而，中国的战略家们仍然认为威胁来自美国和印度。在新加坡，美国国防部长罗伯特•盖茨 会见了日本防卫大臣和韩国国防部长，再次承诺美国将保护它们免于朝鲜的核威胁。但一位中国将军不喜 欢这次会议，他坦率地告诉笔者，美国在东北亚的军事联盟意图威胁中国。 Too much latitude 百家争鸣 Other strategists gaze at maps and conjure up evil shapes. For Japanese imperialists (also Mahan fans), the Korean peninsula was a dagger at Japan's heart; for Chinese strategists it is a threatening “bridgehead”. As for the Indian subcontinent, it is, in this Chinese analysis, “akin to a massive triangle reaching into the heart of the Indian Ocean” or, like Japan and Taiwan, “a giant and never-sinking aircraft-carrier”. India, in turn, espouses its own “Monroe doctrine”, demanding that outsiders keep out of its backyard. So it decries China's “string of pearls”(roads, pipelines and ports being built in friendly countries around the Indian Ocean) as a provocation. Rivalry is helping drive a build-up of naval arms: three new aircraft-carriers for India; new destroyers, submarines and hints of an aircraft-carrier programme for China. 其他战略家们盯着地图，脑子里浮现出各种有害的影像。日本的帝国主义者，也是马汉的粉丝，把朝鲜半 岛看成日本心头的一把刀。中国的战略家，则把它看成是有威胁的“桥头堡”。在中国人的分析中，通过近 乎大三角的印度次大陆，可以到达印度洋的中心，而日本和台湾则是“巨大的、永不沉没的航空母舰”。相 反，印度信奉印度版的“门罗宣言”，它要求外人从它家后院-印度洋离开。因此，印度谴责中国的“珍珠链 战略”是一种挑衅。后者在印度洋沿岸的友好国家中修建了许多道路、管道和港口。这种敌对态势促进了海 军装备的建造：印度要新造 3 艘航母；中国建造新的驱逐舰、潜艇，并表示将开始建造航母。 Mercifully, it is not all preordained to end in a rerun of 1914. The task of economic development concentrates Chinese and Indian minds at home. Smaller Asian navies are expanding as a counterbalance to the big powers, and they have an interest in keeping hands off the choke-point of the Malacca Strait. And America remains the

defining force in Asia, able for now to enforce the peace. But, even if history never repeats itself, the persistence of Mahan's doctrines suggests the past likes to have a try. 幸好，1914 再度上演并非命中注定。经济发展的任务仍然让中国和印度的注意力集中在国内。其他亚洲小 型海军的扩张，只是为了保持与大国的军事平衡，它们愿意把手从马六甲海峡的瓶颈处移开。而美国在亚 洲保有决定性的军事力量，现在仍然能够维持亚洲的和平。虽说历史永远不会重演，马汉学说的持续发酵， 也许会给悲剧再来一次的机会。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Some are on their own 自力更生 Canadians abroad 身在他乡的加拿大人 Some are on their own 自力更生 Jun 11th 2009 | OTTAWA From The Economist print edition The judges clash with the politicians 法官与政客的矛盾 FOR the past year Abousfian Abdelrazik, who is a citizen both of Canada and of Sudan, his country of origin, has lived in the lobby of Canada's embassy in Khartoum, unable to travel home and too frightened to venture outside. The Sudanese government, which twice imprisoned and released him without charge, wants him gone and even offered at one point to foot the bill. The Canadian government professes publicly that he is free to come home and is providing him with food and shelter. But each time he has seemed to be about to return, ministers have come up with further obstacles. 在过去的一年里，生于苏丹、具有加拿大和苏丹两国公民身份的 Abousfian Abdelrazik 一直住在加拿大驻喀 土穆大使馆的门厅里，无法返回家乡，甚至由于恐惧而不敢出门。苏丹政府曾两次对他关押又无条件释放， 甚至一度主动为他支付费用，只是想让他离开这里。加拿大政府公开表示他可以随时回家，并给他提供食 物和住处。但每次当他似乎要回家的时候，部长们就会设法阻碍。 On June 4th a federal judge, drawing a parallel between Mr Abdelrazik's predicament and that of the main character in Franz Kafka's novel “The Trial”, ordered Stephen Harper's Conservative government to help him return to his family in Montreal within 30 days. Abdelrazik 所处的困境与 Franz Kafka 的小说《审判》里的主人公如出一辙，6 月 4 日加拿大联邦法院一纸 裁决，下令 Stephen Harper 的保守党政府在 30 天内帮助他返回蒙特利尔家中。 It is the third time this year that a court has instructed the government to help a Canadian in trouble abroad. In each case, the court has found that the plaintiff's constitutional rights were being infringed. The government seems to

have a policy of helping only those Canadians in trouble abroad whom it does not have reason to see as undesirable. 这是今年以来法院第三次指令政府帮助远在他乡、身处困境的加拿大人。法院发现，每个案件中原告的宪 法权利都遭到了侵害。似乎政府的施助政策所针对的加拿大人只限于那些深处异国、陷入困境、又未列入 不受欢迎之列的人。 Thus it decided not to persist with an appeal for clemency nor to seek the repatriation of Ronald Smith, a convicted murderer on death row in a Montana jail. It argued that Canadians do not want murderers walking their streets. In fact, repatriated prisoners generally serve their full term in a Canadian prison. Abiding by the court ruling, it has now sought clemency for Mr Smith. 于是，对于关押在蒙大拿监狱、因杀人罪被宣判死刑的 Ronald Smith,加拿大政府决定不再坚持上诉为其减 刑，也不再要求对其实施遣返。他们认为加拿大人不希望杀人犯出现在他们的街道上。事实上，被遣返的 罪犯一般会在某个加拿大的监狱度过整个刑期。 With Mr Abdelrazik and Omar Khadr, imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay since 2002, the Conservative government is following a course set by its Liberal predecessors. The decision not to help Mr Abdelrazik return to Canada was first taken by a Liberal government in 2004. Similarly, neither government requested Mr Khadr's repatriation-which a court ordered in April. 对于自 2002 年起就关押在关塔那摩湾的 Abdelrazik 和 Omar Khadr,加拿大保守党政府遵循的是其前任自由 党政府所设定的程序。2004 年自由党政府首次做出拒绝帮助 Abdelrazik 返回加拿大的决定。同样，虽然法 院在 4 月指令对 Khadr 实施遣返，但双方政府都没有提出请求。 Mr Harper's people have sometimes gone to considerable lengths to aid Canadians abroad. They helped repatriate Brenda Martin, a Canadian convicted of money laundering in Mexico. They chartered ships to evacuate Canadians stranded in Lebanon when war broke out between Israel and Hizbullah in 2006. 有时，加拿大人付出了相当努力去帮助在异国的同胞。他们帮助在墨西哥犯有洗钱罪的 Brenda Martin 遣返 回国。2006 年以色列与真主党的战争爆发后，他们还租船帮助被困在黎巴嫩的加拿大人撤离。 Some Canadians, including leaders of immigrant communities, think the government should be less selective. The court decisions may achieve that result, but in a way the critics dislike. 包括移民团体领导人在内的一些加拿大人，认为政府应当不那么挑剔。法院判决也许产生了这样的结果， 但在某种程度上导致了负面的评论。 If anything, the judges seem to have prodded the government into a firmer line. It is arguing in the court of appeal in the Khadr case that Canada has no legal duty to protect its citizens once they leave the country. The judge acknowledged that Mr Abdelrazik had associated in Canada with two people later arrested on terrorism charges. Mr Khadr is accused of killing an American soldier in Afghanistan when he was still a minor. Mr Harper may reckon enough Canadians agree with him. 无论如何，法院的判决似乎促使政府的态度更加坚定。在 Khadr 一案的上诉法院，加拿大政府辩称他们没 有法定义务去保护离开本国的公民。法官证实了 Abdelrazik 在加拿大曾有过联系的两个人后因被指控犯有

恐怖主义罪行而遭到拘捕。Khadr 被指控于尚未成年时在阿富汗杀死了一名美国士兵。加拿大总理 Harper 大概认为会有足够多的加拿大人支持他的意见。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Old problems in the new south 苏丹南部的老问题 Violence in south Sudan 南苏丹充斥着暴力 Old problems in the new south 苏丹南部的老问题 Jun 2nd 2009 From Economist. com Southern Sudan is becoming bloodier than Darfur 现在，苏丹南部地区正变得比西部的达尔富尔地区还血腥 ACCORDING to the United Nations special envoy to Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, violent conflict has killed more people in recent months in south Sudan than in Darfur. Mr Qazi is not trying to play down the awfulness of the situation in Sudan's western region, where about 300,000 have died as result of fighting since 2003 and more than 2.5 m have been displaced. Rather, he was drawing attention to the sad fact that the south is now slipping back into its pristine state of widespread insecurity from which it was supposed to have been rescued by a peace deal in 2005. 据联合国派往苏丹的特使阿斯拉夫•卡奇(Ashraf Qazi)介绍，近几个月来，暴力冲突在南苏丹地区造成的死 亡人数已经超过达尔富尔地区。卡奇的这一言论并不是试图淡化苏丹西部地区的糟糕形势。自 2003 年伊始， 西部地区的斗争冲突已经导致大约 30 万百姓丧生和 250 万人流离失所。恰恰相反，他是在提醒大家注意一 下可悲的现实-苏丹南部重回到原来大范围的不安全状态。然而，这一普遍不安状态本应该在 2005 年的和 平协议框架下得到挽救。 Most of the recent deaths in the south have been caused by inter-tribal fighting, usually linked to land rights. As the rainy season arrives in different parts of Africa's largest country, so the traditional competition for the best grazing areas for cattle and other livestock becomes more intense. Central Sudan, particularly in the state of

Southern Kordofan, has been hit by heavy fighting recently. Last week it was reported that perhaps as many as 250 people had been killed in clashes between the Rizeigat and Misseriya, two Arab nomadic tribes that populate the area around the Nuba mountains. 最近，南部地区的大多数伤亡事件是由部落之间的抢夺地盘而引起的。当雨季相继光临苏丹-这一非洲最大 国家的不同地区的时候，也是部落间为自己牛群和其他牲畜抢占最好放牧区激烈之时。最近，此类的激烈 争夺在苏丹中部，特别是南科尔多凡省，已经上演。上周，据报道大约 250 人在里宰加特部落(Rizeigat)和 弥斯瑞雅部落(Misseriya)冲突中丧生。这两部落同属阿拉伯游牧部族，并且同住在努巴山附近。 These sorts of tribal fights over access to the best grazing lands have been at the heart of many of Sudan's bloody wars. Up to the 1980 s, such conflict was well managed by local inter-tribal councils. Such forums used to resolve how far the nomadic tribes, or pastoralists, would be allowed to bring their cattle through the lands of settled farmers. The marauding herds would cause a lot of damage as they passed through the farmers' fields; but inter-tribal councils worked out the compensation that the nomads had to pay to the farmers as a result. 苏丹大多数的血腥战争都是诸如此类的为抢夺最好游牧区的部落冲突。直到上世纪 80 年代，这种冲突才在 部落间委员会的管理下得到改善。委员会通常讨论的是解决游牧部落或牧民能得到多大程度的许可以驱赶 牛群经过定居农民土地的问题。那些被掠夺来的牲畜在穿越农民的土地时会给他们带来很大的损失。最终， 委员会商讨出一个赔偿机制既牧民必须赔付定居农民的损失。 This system, however, broke down in the 1980 s after the terrible drought and famine of the early 1980 s, during which some nomadic tribes lost as much as 80% of their livestock. Furthermore, many of the Arab tribes were now armed, for their own political purposes, by the Islamist politicians in the central government in Khartoum. This made the young nomads much less inclined to use old peaceful arbitration methods; now the armed nomads could just shoot their way through. 但是，这一机制在 80 年代初的一场可怕的干旱和灾荒的冲击下被打破。在那场灾难中，一些游牧部落失去 了多达 80%的牲畜。此外，中央政府的伊斯兰政客们已经将许多阿拉伯部落武装起来，当然这些部落也有 自己的政治目的考虑。这使得年轻一代的牧民越来越不愿意诉诸于古老的和平仲裁方式；现在，这些被武 装的牧民只能用枪杆子来实现他们的目的。

But it is dispiriting that these clashes still happen, and on the scale of the past few weeks. In recent years the UN and international NGOs have tried to revive the old tribal arbitration systems, even demarcating the seasonal migration routes with clearly marked poles. Yet still the fighting continues, in the south, in the centre and in Darfur. 然而，令人失望的是这样的冲突仍然发生，并且在过去几周里出现规模型爆发。近年来，联合国和国际非 政府组织已经试图去恢复那种古老的部落仲裁制度，甚至用显而易见的标志杆来划定雨季时期的迁徙路线。 但是，在苏丹南部、中部及达尔富尔地区的冲突依然继续。 The problems in the south have been compounded by other factors. The government of south Sudan, based in Juba, has suffered from the falling price of oil. This means that almost their only source of revenue has dropped by about half over the past year. As a consequence, the government's old guerrilla army has not been paid for months, teachers have been on strike, and the money for new roads, hospitals and schools has all but dried up. This has provoked more tension as the southern tribes begin to compete for a dwindling pot of money. None of this bodes well for a peaceful national election, supposed to be the first time in four decades that the country has voted as one, that is scheduled to be held next February. 在其他因素的影响下，苏丹南部的问题一直是非常复杂。位于朱巴(Juba)的南苏丹政府(south Sudan)深受油 价下跌之苦。这意味着几乎是他们唯一的收入来源在过去的一年里缩水了一半。结果，政府的游击队伍好 几个月都没领到薪水，教师一直在罢工，新道路、医院和学校的建设资金也没了着落。此时，南方部落之 间为分享逐渐减少的一点钱而开始的争夺引发了更紧张的局势。苏丹将在明年的二月份举行全国大选，这 将是其四十年来首次作为一个完整的国家进行全民投票选举。但是，目前的所有形势给选举的和平气氛带 来了不妙的预兆。

经济学人杂志双语阅读：A merry dance 愉快的舞蹈 North Korea v South Korea 朝鲜对韩国 A merry dance 愉快的舞蹈 May 21st 2009 From The Economist print edition Ever more isolated, North Korea's Kim Jong Il still calls the tune 朝鲜的金正日仍然在发号施令，变得越来越孤立 PRICKLY and isolated, North Korea has few enough connections to the outside world. So why keep snapping them, one by one? On May 15 th, it announced that it was unilaterally tearing up wage and other agreements governing the Kaesong industrial zone, a joint North-South business project just inside North Korea. South Koreans, it says, can either lump it or leave. The 100 or so South Korean firms that employ 38,000 North Koreans and generate millions of dollars a year for the cash-strapped regime of Kim Jong Il are making contingency plans to bring their people home. 朝鲜同外界很少联系，变得很孤立。所以要对他们一个一个地保持严厉？5 月 15 日，朝鲜宣布单方面撕毁 治理开城工业区的工资和其它协定，一个南北联合的业务项目正好在内。韩国说，或者免强忍受或者离开。 大约 100 个韩国公司雇用了 38,000 个朝鲜人，同时一年可为现金紧张的金正日政体提供数百万美元，而金 正日却正在准备应变计划来把他的民众带回国。 This row joins a veritable conga of others, and not just with South Korea. Mr Kim has told the United Nations Security Council to say sorry for a mild wrist-slapping it gave him after he defied an earlier council injunction and in April (with only partial success) tested a long-range rocket. And the regime now says it will “never”return to six-party talks that have sought to end its suspect nuclear programmes in return for more aid, trade and better relations with America, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.

此次争吵不仅发生在朝韩之间，还加入了康加人。朝鲜于 4 月份试验了一枚远程导弹(只有部分成功)，这 违反早些时候委员会禁令，金先生为这样一个温柔的决裂对联合国安理会表示道歉。朝鲜政体目前表示他 将永远不返回六方会谈，不得不寻求终止令人猜疑的核计划以换取更多的授助，贸易和同美国、韩国、日 本、中国及俄罗斯更好的关系。 Instead Mr Kim is building a new long-range missile testing pad. Ominously, there is new activity, too, at a site used in 2006 for a nuclear test. The other five parties to the nuclear talks, under the guise of showing patience, seem at a loss as to what to do. 相反，金先生正在建立一个新的远程导弹试验台。更糟的是在 2006 年进行核试验的地点还有一个新的活跃 的试验。核谈判的另外五方，伪装的很有耐心，看起来不知所措不知道该做些什么。 Mr Kim is a past master at extorting aid using threats. He is clearly not unclenching his fist to grasp the hand extended by Barack Obama earlier this year. Yet Mr Kim's fit of belligerence may be aimed less at testing America's new president than at showing “strength”to shore up his regime, argues Mark Fitzpatrick of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. One reason perhaps is that South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, has taken a firmer line than his predecessor, expecting reciprocity-such as more family reunions between the Koreas-if more than just humanitarian food aid is to flow northward. Another possible reason is that Mr Kim's own ill-health seems to have led to jockeying for position among his three sons and their supporters. 金先生在使用威胁勒索授助方面是一个老手。他很清楚今年早些时候奥巴马同他持续的握手没能撬开他的 拳头。然而金先生好战的性格更多的是为了试探美国的新总统，其次是展示实力来支持他的政党，位于伦 敦总部的国际战略研究所 Mark Fitzpatrick 表示。 North Korean officials nowadays make little secret of their wish to be recognised as a nuclear-weapons power. They want America to treat with them, they say privately, just as it does with nuclear-capable India which, though it has kept its bombs and ignored global anti-nuclear rules, last year won exemption from nuclear-trade restrictions with help from America's outgoing Bush administration. Another negotiating ploy? Or Mr Kim now determined to strut his stuff regardless? 现在朝鲜官员他们希望被承认拥有核武器的力量，这已不是秘密。他们私下说，尽管他持有炸弹和不顾全 球反核规则，他们想让美国对待他们，就像对待拥有核能力的印度一样，去年，印度在美国即将离职的布 什政府的帮助下，获得核贸易限制免税。那另一种谈判策略？或者金先生现在已经决定不顾后果的大显其 身手了？ 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Prudence can win 谨慎为上 Africa's economies in the downturn 艰难时局中的非洲经济 Prudence can win

谨慎为上 May 28th 2009 From The Economist print edition The IMF says some African countries can spend their way out of recession 国际货币基金组织(IMF)表示，一些非洲国家有望走出衰退阴霾 WHEN demand collapses in an economy, the governments of rich countries can try to compensate by spending more of their own money. But poor countries have rarely risked such counter-cyclical fiscal expansion. Limited cash, and worries about debt, usually mean they must cut spending rather than increase it when times are tough and revenues dip. 当一个经济体的需求轰然倒塌，那些富国的政府可以通过消费更多内部资金来弥补，但贫穷国家很少敢于 承担这样的反周期财政扩张的风险。现金有限，债务之忧，通常意味着在收入减少的艰难时局下，这些国 家只能通过削减开支来弥补，而不是(像富国那样)增加开支。 This could change if the IMF has anything to do with it. Recent missions of the Fund to Tanzania and Mozambique have explicitly advocated fiscal stimuli. This is rather new for the IMF, which has rarely advocated loosening purse strings in poor countries. But its economists believe that some sub-Saharan Africa countries are better placed to implement fiscal expansion in this crisis than in previous ones. 如果 IMF 出手相助的话，这种情况或许也能改变。近期 IMF 对坦桑尼亚和莫桑比克的援助显而易见在主张 财政刺激。这对于总是向贫穷国家宣扬勒紧钱袋的 IMF 而言着实是件新鲜事儿。但 IMF 的经济学家们还是 坚信，比起以往的那些金融危机，这次，一些撒哈拉以南的非洲国家还是更应采取财政扩张的政策。 This is not because government revenue is unaffected. Government finances in such countries as Angola, Botswana, Chad, Congo and Nigeria, which rely heavily on the export of commodities, are being pummelled. In general, budgetary targets in the region are increasingly not being met as economic activity slows. 这当然不是因为政府的收入并未受到影响，相反，像安哥拉，博茨瓦那，乍得，刚果和尼日利亚这些高度 依赖于商品出口的国家，他们的政府收入如今正深受重创。总之，随着经济活动的日益萧条，这些地区的 预算目标越来越难以达到。 Still, the IMF argues that declining revenue is less of a constraint now than before. Growth averaging 6.5% a year between 2004 and 2008, together with buoyant commodity prices, meant that African governments were flush with cash during the boom. But instead of overspending in good times, as they had historically tended to do, some, such as Tanzania and Mozambique, wisely built up their reserves. This may stand them in good stead now that times are tough. Debt relief has also helped: three-fifths of sub-Saharan African countries have what the IMF considers sustainable debt positions, adding to an argument for fiscal expansion. 然而，IMF 仍坚持目前(非洲国家)收入的减少并不像过去这么令人束缚。2004~2008 年间平均 6.5%的年增 长，加之于上涨的商品价格，都意味着非洲国家的政府在这段萧条时期依旧国库充裕。但一些国家，如坦 桑尼亚和莫桑比克，他们并未像过去那样常常在经济形势大好的情况下肆意挥霍，而是明智地加强了资金 的储备。这就使得他们即使在时局艰难之时仍能立于不败之地。另外，债务减免也起到了一定的作用。撒

哈拉以南 3/5 的非洲国家都拥有 IMF 所谓的可持续债务，这又为他们的财政扩张增加了一个理由。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：In need of some snake-blood 蛇血之渴 Vietnam's economy In need of some snake-blood 蛇血之渴 Mar 5th 2009 | HO CHI MINH CITY From The Economist print edition A rescue plan for exporters 出口业者救助方案 BUSINESS is booming for at least one Vietnamese entrepreneur: an old lady in a traditional conical hat whose tiny roadside stall faces the infant Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange. To make her wares she decapitates small green snakes with a pair of scissors and drains the blood into a plastic bottle. Many Vietnamese men believe that drinking snake-blood enhances both good fortune and sexual prowess. The vendor, who also peddles pet turtles, says she is selling more of the stuff these days. “People are so worried about the future.” 至少对于一位越南商人而言，生意蒸蒸日上：这位头戴斗笠的老妇将她的路边小摊位设在初创未久的胡志 明证券交易所对面。她制造商品的过程便是将小青蛇的头部剪掉，之后将蛇血引入一个塑料瓶中。许多越 南男子相信饮用蛇血既能带来好运，又能壮阳。据这位同时还出售宠物龟的摊主说，近日来蛇血的销量增 加，因为“人们对未来忧心忡忡”。 The global slowdown is casting a lengthening shadow over Vietnam's once-booming export-driven economy. Sales of more conventional consumer goods have slumped as the fast-growing middle class has stopped spending. Electronics shops say that Tet new-year holiday sales were down by as much as 50% compared with last year. The carmakers' trade association reports that sales tumbled by 68% year-on-year in January. 全球经济减速正在给越南这个一度兴旺的出口驱动型经济体笼罩上长长的阴影。由于快速增长的中产阶级 停止了消费，更多的传统型消费品销量大跌。电子类商店反映越南新年假期中它们的销量与去年同期相比 缩水了 50%。而汽车制造商同业公会则公布 1 月份汽车销量同比下降 68%。 Like China, Vietnam has used manufacturing for export to transform a stale, closed economy. Last year it overheated. The government earned some plaudits for calming rampant inflation, which reached a year-on-year peak of 28% in August. But Vietnam is badly exposed to the sharp drop in demand in the West. Exports fell by 5.1% year-on-year in the first two months of 2009, with electronic goods down by 13.7% and shoes by 7.3%. 与中国一样，越南也利用出口制造业对僵化而封闭的经济进行转型。去年经济出现过热，政府因为控制住 了在八月份曾一度达到同比 28%这一峰值的剧烈通货膨胀而赢得过一些喝彩。而如今越南却得面对西方国

家需求骤降这一严重局面。2009 年前两个月，出口额同比下降 5.1%，其中电子类产品出口下降 13.7%，鞋 类出口下降 7.3%。 That is why government is now trying to relight the fire it had previously doused. It plans to boost spending this year by 23% (almost 100 trillion dong, or $6 billion, about 6% of GDP). Of this about $1 billion will subsidise loans to cash-strapped exporters. In the scheme's first month, commercial banks lent some 93 trillion dong, says the central bank. 这也就解释了为何政府试图令余烬重燃。它计划将本年度的财政支出扩大 23%，(接近 100 万亿越南盾，合 60 亿美元，约占国内生产总值的 6%)其中约 10 亿美元将用于向那些资金紧张的出口商提供贷款补贴。中 央银行表示，在计划的头一个月里，商业银行放出约 93 万亿越南盾的贷款。 An estimated 500,000 workers lost their jobs last year, and the government reckons a further 400,000 may be laid off in 2009. These are daunting numbers in a young country that needs 1 m new jobs every year to absorb its growing workforce, now around 45 m people. Like China, Vietnam does not have much of a state social-safety net. Laid-off factory workers tend to return to the countryside and rely on their extended families. But farmers will find it harder to cope without the money factory workers have been sending home. The prices of their produce, such as rice and coffee, have been falling. 据估测，去年已有五十万工人失业，政府预测在 2009 年还将有四十万人下岗。对于一个每年需新增一百万 个就业岗位以吸收不断增长的、已达到四千五百万的就业大军的年轻国家而言，这些数据十分可怕。与中 国一样，越南也缺乏国家社会保障体系。被解雇的工厂员工往往选择返回农村老家，依赖大家庭维持生计。 但失去了往日工人寄回家中的资金后，农民们也觉得日子更不好过了。诸如大米和咖啡等农产品的价格一 路走低。 Many economists believe that what Vietnam, like China, needs are not measures to sustain supply but incentives to increase domestic demand: investment in infrastructure, but also in health care and education, saving for which suppresses consumer spending. Vietnam's GDP expanded by 6.2% in 2008, the slowest rate for nine years. Most observers, including the IMF, think it will be lucky to reach 5% this year. Yet the government's target is still 6.5% and Nguyen Tan Dung, the prime minister, has predicted that the economy will start to pick up as early as May. As

weeks go by, that makes him sound more like a seller of snake-oil than of snake-blood. 许多经济学家认为越南与中国一样，需要的并不是保持供给的措施，而是要设法刺激内需的增长：除了基 础设施投资外，还要在医疗卫生以及教育方面投入资金，民众正是因为后两者的顾虑而选择将钱存入银行， 而不是送到商家手中。2008 年越南国内生产总值增长了 6.2%，这是 9 年来的最低值。而包括国际货币基金 组织在内的大部分观察家都认为今年若能增长 5%就已经算是幸运的了。但越南政府的目标仍然定在 6.5%， 总理阮晋勇预测最早从五月份起，经济就能回暖。但随着时间的推移，这一论断听上去使他更像是一个蛇 油小贩，而不是能为大家带来蛇血的人。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Back to the future?回归未来？ Iran's presidential election 伊朗总统选举 Back to the future? 回归未来？ Feb 12th 2009 | CAIRO From The Economist print edition A belligerent president is at last being challenged by a pragmatic reformist 一个好斗的总统最终遭到了一个务实改革者的挑战 MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, Iran's president, faces a disgruntled people, an election in June, and now a strong new challenger for his job. This week Muhammad Khatami, a jovial, 65-year-old reformist cleric, who is more softly spoken and gentler-looking than the incumbent, finally decided to throw his turban into the ring. He previously served two terms as president, from 1997 to 2005. 伊朗总统内贾德面临的是不满的民众、六月份举行的大选，现在更有位强大的对他职位的新挑战者。本周， 穆罕默德•哈塔米，一位和善的 65 岁改革派教士(比教士更细声细语和温和)，终于决定参加大选。从 1997 年 2005 年，他曾两次连任伊朗总统。 At the time, Mr Khatami's double electoral triumph was seen as a rebuke to the harder ideologues who had dominated revolutionary Iran's hybrid theo-democracy. His fractious reformists, however, proved no match for the conservatives entrenched in the power structure. Not only did they block most reforms. They also succeeded in pinning blame for their failure on the reformists themselves and in alienating enough voters to pave the way for Mr Ahmadinejad's ascent. 当时，哈塔米两次选举获胜被视为对强硬意识形态拥护者的痛斥，他们曾控制了革命的伊朗的混合神权民 主。然而，哈塔米派改革激进，同权利架构中已确立地位的保守派格格不入。保守派不仅阻碍大部分改革， 而且成功地将自己的失败归罪于改革者，并离间了足够选民，为内贾德的上台铺好了路。 Mr Khatami's return to the fray raises the hopes of the many Iranians who have chafed under Mr Ahmadinejad's

rule. His spendthrift public-works programmes, fuelled by high oil prices and designed to impress the poor, have instead sparked high inflation that has eroded middle-class purchasing power. A harsh clampdown on dissent, combined with tightened rules for “Islamic”behaviour and the belligerent language that has provoked international hostility, have stoked grim memories for many of the darker days immediately after the Islamic revolution of 1979, a time of economic hardship, diplomatic isolation and drastically reduced personal freedom. 哈塔米加入大选，使许多恼恨内贾德统治的伊朗人有了希望。在高油价支撑和取信穷人下，内贾德启动了 很多挥霍性的公共工程项目，但却导致了高通胀，降低了中产阶层的购买力。对不同政见者的残酷压制、 更严格地实施“伊斯兰”式统治，以及好斗的语言激起了国际社会的敌意，也挑起了人们对随着 1979 年伊斯 兰革命而来的许多黑暗日子的糟糕记忆，那是一个经济艰难、外交孤立和人身自由大幅减少的时代。 Mr Ahmadinejad's populism still wins admirers and gets the backing of the hawkish security apparatus and the courts. But simmering public discontent and the rising anxiety that has followed the oil-price collapse now worry even his fellow conservatives, to the point where it is not clear whether the president will end up as their favoured candidate in June. Other contenders, such as Ali Larijani, the parliament's speaker, could get the crucial blessing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has so far favoured Mr Ahmadinejad's conservatism but has been known to make pragmatic concessions to public opinion in the name of “preserving the revolution”. 内贾德的平民论仍然获得了崇拜者，并得到了鹰派安全部门和法庭的支持。但即将爆发的公愤和随油价下 滑而增长的不安，现在也使他的保守派同党感到担忧。扼要地说，六月份最后当选的总统是否是他们中意 的那个现在也不清楚。诸如议长拉里贾尼等其他竞争者，还能从最高领袖哈梅内伊那里得到庇佑。哈梅内 伊到现在还看好内贾德的保守主义，但在“保留革命“的名义下，也据说向公众做了一些务实性的让步。 The recent softening of Mr Ahmadinejad's tone regarding Iran's biggest foreign-policy challenge, relations with America, may be an opening gambit in the looming election campaign as much as it is a simple response to early overtures from President Barack Obama. “The Iranian nation is ready for talks, but in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect,”Mr Ahmadinejad told the crowd in Tehran's Freedom Square during celebrations for the Islamic revolution's 30th anniversary, on February 10 th. In the same speech, he proclaimed Iran a superpower, trumpeting its development of nuclear and rocket technology as symbols of national virility. Mr Ahmadinejad, it seems, is out to prove that his punchy chauvinism, rather than Mr Khatami's quiet diplomacy, will win the Islamic Republic its rightful place in the sun. 近来，在针对伊美关系这个伊朗最大的外交政策挑战时，内贾德声调也缓和了许多。但这可能是他在迫在 眉睫的竞选运动中的公开策略，或者是他对美国总统奥巴马前期试探的简单回应。2 月 10 日，在纪念伊斯 兰革命 30 周年集会时，他对德黑兰自由广场上的群众说：“伊朗准备谈判，但必须在相互尊重的公平气氛 中进行。 ”在同一演说中，他宣称伊朗是一个超级大国。大肆宣扬核技术和火箭技术的发展是国家壮大的 标志。内贾德似乎不能证明他强烈的沙文主义，而是哈塔米平静的外交政策，能为伊朗伊斯兰共和国在阳 光下赢得理应享有的地位。

经济学人杂志双语阅读：Not by aircraft alone 并不仅仅依赖航空业 Statewatch: Washington 华盛顿州 Not by aircraft alone 并不仅仅依赖航空业 Jun 25th 2009 | SEATTLE From The Economist The recession hit late but hard in Washington state 华盛顿州的经济衰退来的迟,但来的狠! WASHINGTONIANS like to point out that they are home to the largest building, by volume, in the world, a Boeing hangar in the Puget Sound north of Seattle. But Boeing and Washington, where the aerospace company was founded 93 years ago, have long had a love-hate relationship, and if the firm, still the state's largest private employer, appeared last year to be saving Washington from the recession sweeping the rest of the country, those hopes died in September. 华盛顿州人喜欢夸耀他们那儿拥有世界上体积最大的建筑-位于西雅图北部 Puget Sound 的波音公司的飞机 厂房。但是，波音，这个有着 93 年历史的航空航天制造公司，却和它的所在地-华盛顿州之间有着长长的 一段“又爱又恨”的关系，去年，人们都寄希望于这家目前该州最大的私营企业，能让华盛顿州在这次席卷 全国的经济衰退中独善其身，然而，这场美梦只做到 9 月份就结束了。 They did so with one of the machinists' strikes for which Washington, where the union-friendly closed shop is legal, has an unfortunate reputation. Boeing's assembly lines ground to a halt. Within weeks the wider economic crisis arrived in the state with full force. A local bank, Washington Mutual, known throughout the state as “WaMu”, became America's biggest banking failure. Starbucks and the other local notables looked glum. Even Microsoft began laying off workers. By May the state's unemployment rate was running at the national average of 9.4%. 一场机械师的罢工使波音公司的生产线停产了。华盛顿州有一个不好的名声-倾向于保护工会的封闭式的企

业，在该州是合法的。 (译者按:这可能是说，在华盛顿州，由于工会组织工人罢工而导致工厂停产，使企业主蒙受损失，在法律上 是倾向于保护工会利益的) 几周之后，更大更猛的经济危机浪潮向该州猛扑而来。一家当地银行，在该州被称为“WaMu”的华盛顿州 互惠银行，沦为了美国最大的破产银行。星巴克以及当地其它的一些声名显赫的大企业，都显得一蹶不振。 甚至微软也开始裁员了。到今年 5 月份，华盛顿州的失业率已经达到了全国的平均水平-9.4%。 In a state that has no income tax, the resulting shock to consumers had immediate ramifications, as sales-tax receipts plummeted. Tax “leakage”to neighbouring states such as Idaho or Oregon, which has an income tax but no sales tax, may be increasing as people who live on one side of the border shop on the other. Since Washington's tax set-up is regressive-“the most unfair tax system in the country”, according to Lisa Brown, the Democratic leader of the state Senate-it is the poor who are clobbered hardest. And Washington has had to grapple with a budget deficit now larger in proportion to its population than even California's. 华盛顿州不征个人所得税，这样就给了当地消费者以极大的灵感，直接产生的后果就是-消费税收入显著减 少。消费税“漏”进了邻近的几个州，比如爱达荷州或俄勒冈州，这些州要交个人所得税，但是不征消费税， 这样就造成很多华盛顿州的居民跑到这些州去消费。 因为华盛顿州的税制结构是递减式的-这被州参议院的民主党领袖 Lisa Brown 抨击为“全国最不公平的税赋 体制”-它使穷人受到更多的盘剥。(译者按：可能是指，收入越多，所交的税占收入的比例就越小；收入越 低，要交的税占收入的比例就越高)现在，华盛顿州已经不得不和财政预算赤字做斗争，它的人均预算赤字 甚至已经超过了加州。 Relatively speaking, though, Washington is still in good shape, says Michael Parks, the editor of Marple's, a north-western economic newsletter. Neighbouring Oregon, more dependent on technology hardware as opposed to software and on the timber business, which crashed along with house construction, is much worse off, its jobless rate second only to Michigan's. And the entire Pacific north-west is suffering far less than the “sand states” (California, Nevada and Arizona) from foreclosures and bad mortgages. 相对来看，华盛顿州的形势大体上良好，《Marple》的编辑 Michael Parks 说，这是一家位于该州西北部地 区的经济新闻类杂志。而相邻的俄勒冈州的情况则糟糕的多，它在经济上更加依赖于硬件制造而非软件开 发，以及木材产业-已经跟随房地产业一同崩溃了。俄勒冈州的失业率紧随密歇根州而排在第二位。整个西 北太平洋沿岸地区所遭受的损失远远小于那些“沙之州”(加州，内华达和亚利桑那州)在次贷危机中所蒙受的 损失。 Washington's economy tends to move according to its own cycles. One is the aerospace cycle, and Boeing, whatever troubles its airline customers are having, still has a backlog of orders. Another is the global economy. Washington is the country's most trade-dependent state, with one in four of its residents directly or indirectly reliant on trade, according to Dick Conway, an economist in Seattle. As America exported its recession to the world, Washington has imported it back in.

华盛顿州的经济有它自己的变化周期。一个是航空业的经济周期，无论波音公司的客户遇到怎样的麻烦， 它仍然拥有相当的数量的积压订单。另外一个就是全球经济的变化。华盛顿州经济的贸易依赖度是全国最 高的，西雅图的经济学家 Dick Conway 说，全州四分之一的居民直接或间接依赖于贸易。当美国把经济衰 退出口给全世界后，华盛顿州却又把它进口了回来。(译者按：可能是说，世界经济衰退，全球贸易额减少， 也造成了华盛顿州的贸易收入减少) The good news is that all this trade is now far more diverse than it was in the 1980 s, when the entire state was in effect a “company town”. If Boeing, which in a fit of sulkiness moved its headquarters to Chicago earlier in the decade, were now to relocate even its assembly out of state-possibly to the South, where its European rival Airbus has already set up shop-Washington's various distinct economies could absorb the shock. 而好消息是，现在的贸易种类远比 1980 年代更加多元化，当时整个州就好像是一个“工厂的生活区”。假如 10 年前波音公司一个不高兴，把总部搬去了芝加哥，甚至现在又要把它的工厂全部迁出华盛顿州，可能是 搬去南方的某个地方，它的竞争对手欧洲的空中客车公司已经在那儿建了厂。华盛顿州依靠自身多元化的 各种独一无二的产业经济，也能化解这种冲击。 In particular, the Puget Sound economy around Seattle is home to an impressive cluster of world-beating companies. Besides Microsoft and Starbucks, there is the online retailer Amazon and offline retailers such as Nordstrom and Costco. With its views of Mount Rainier, its nearby nature and the water playground of the Sound itself, not to mention the lack of income taxes, the area is likely to be a perennial favourite of bosses and entrepreneurs. 尤其是在西雅图周边的 Puget Sound 经济圈，已经产生了一大批引人瞩目的具有全球竞争力的大公司。除了 微软和星巴克，这里还有网络零售商亚马逊公司，以及像 Nordstrom 和 Costco 这样的零售企业。就算没有 免征个人所得税这项优势，雷尼尔山的无限美景，加上它周边的天然水上运动场，华盛顿州也足以吸引那 些名商巨贾们了。 Spokane, in the state's east, is the de facto service centre for inland Washington, Idaho and Montana, an area that once considered becoming its own state, “Columbia”. The rural parts have the most fertile farmland in America outside of California's Central Valley, thanks to their volcanic soils. Washington is the country's largest producer of apples, raspberries, plums and hops. It makes good wines and a wheat vodka that locals swear is the world's best.

As Mr Parks points out, much of Washington's economic history is about making comebacks, starting with the shift from making bombers during the second world war to making commercial aeroplanes thereafter. One or two more shifts may already be under way. 位于华盛顿州东部的 Spokane 市，实际上已成为该州内陆地区，以及爱达荷州和蒙大拿州的服务业中心。 这一片地区还曾经一度被考虑过要独立成为一个州: “哥伦比亚”。因为富含火山岩土壤，华盛顿州的乡村拥 有除加州中央谷之外全国最肥沃的农场。这里的苹果，山莓，李子和啤酒花的产量居全国之冠。华盛顿州 还出产优质的葡萄酒和被当地人认为是世界上最好的用小麦酿造的伏特加酒。Parks 先生指出，华盛顿州的 经济史预示了它将能够从经济衰退中复苏，比如它在二战中生产轰炸机转变为到后来生产商用飞机，类似 这样的经济转型已经逐步开始了。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：New York's new casino 纽约市新的赌场 New York's new casino 纽约市新的赌场 A break at last 最后的突破 Jun 11th 2009 | SOUTHAMPTON, NEW YORK From The Economist print edition An Indian tribe moves closer to federal recognition and to gambling 印第安人部落更接近联邦政府的认可和赌博业 MOST New Yorkers are aware that Peter Minuit bought Manhattan from the local Indians for $24-worth of beads and trinkets in 1626. Some know Broadway is a former Indian trail, and that neighbourhoods, like Canarsie and Maspeth, are named for tribes long gone. Few realise, though, that there is an 800-acre (324-hectare) Indian reservation virtually on New York City's doorstep in Southampton, a town in the posh Hamptons. This beach area is where New York's rich have their summer homes. But unlike their wealthy neighbours, who come via high-end realtors, the Shinnecock Indian Nation say they are the children of a goddess who caused the land to form beneath her feet. 大多数纽约人都知道，曼哈顿是 Peter Minuit 在 1626 年用价值$24 的珠子和饰物买来的。一些人知道百老 汇是是以前印第安人部落的小路，例如 Canarsie 和 Maspeth 是以消失很久的印第安人部落的名字命名的。 虽然很少人知道有一个 800 英亩(324 公顷)印第安的储备用地，这块地坐落在纽约市门口,美丽的 Hamptons 的一个镇。这个海滩区是纽约富人们的避暑天堂。但不像他们富裕的邻居一样，来到这里居住通过购买豪 宅，辛纳科克印第安人的传说是，他们是创造她脚下土地的女神的后代。 Even though the Shinnecocks are the oldest self-governing tribe in America and have been recognised by New York state since colonial times, they have struggled since 1978 to be federally recognised. The tribe moved a step

closer on May 26th when a federal judge ruled that the Department of the Interior must make a decision by December 15 th. The tribe meets the necessary criteria, so it could have federal status by mid 2010. Gordell Wright, one of the tribe's three elected trustees, observes most New Yorkers think of Indians in historical terms; but “we are here and our problems are contemporary,” he says. Housing is the biggest. Because members do not individually own the land on the reservation, they are not eligible for mortgages or building loans. Often several generations of a family live in one house. Others live in trailers. Federal recognition will give the tribe access to loans from the Housing and Urban Development department. 即使 Shinnecocks 部落是美国最古来的自治部落，并自殖民时代以来他们已被纽约州认可，自 1978 年以来 他们一直争取得到联邦政府的承认。部落更接近这一目标，在 5 月 26 日一名联邦法官裁定，内政部必须在 12 月 15 日作出裁决。部落符合必要的标准，以致到 2010 年中旬它得到联邦地位。 Gordell Wright,三个部 落当选受托人之一，指出大多数纽约人了解印第安人在历史的层面，但“我们在这里,我们的问题是当代的，” 他说。住房是最大问题。因为部落成员不单独拥有保留土地，他们没有资格获得抵押贷款或建设贷款。常 常一家几代人生活在同一个房子。其他人生活在拖车里。联邦承诺 Shinnecocks 部落将获由住房和城市发展 部提供的贷款。 With federal recognition will come new powers. The tribe will be able to pass and enforce laws through its own police department and court system. It will be able to collect taxes. And it will be able to enter the gambling business. The Shinnecock Nation would like to open a Class III gambling facility-one with slot machines and casino games and tables. It is unlikely its Southampton neighbours would go for a casino in their posh town, so the tribe will probably look elsewhere. The Belmont Racetrack, on the border with Queens, is one hot contender. But any site not on the reservation will need state and federal approval. Federal recognition will be a big help with that. 联邦政府的承诺将带来新的权力。该部落将能通过自己的警察部门和法院系统审议和执行法律。部落将能 够收税。甚至将来能够进入赌博业。辛纳科克民族想新建第三类赌博设施如:老虎机和赌博游戏和表格。这 不像它的邻居那样在他们美丽的镇子里赌博，因此该部落将目光转移到其他地方。在皇后区的边界上的 Belmont Racetrack 是一个热门的竞争者。但是不再保留用地上的选址将需要州政府和联邦政府的批准。联 邦许可将对此非常有益。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Tough enough?够不够强硬？ Lexington 列克星敦 Tough enough? 够不够强硬？ May 28th 2009 From The Economist print edition

Barack Obama must pass the telephone test 巴拉克奥巴马必须要通过“午夜凶铃”的考验 Illustration by KAL FIFTEEN months ago, at the height of the battle for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton unleashed her most powerful weapon, a telephone call. “It's 3 am and your children are safe and asleep,”a voice intoned. “But there's a phone in the White House and it's ringing. Something is happening in the world.”Barack Obama might be able to give a pretty speech. But was he “tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world”? 十五个月之前，民主党提名的斗争进行到白热化时，希拉里•克林顿使出了她的杀手锏-“午夜凶铃”。“凌晨 三点钟，当你的孩子们都安全地熟睡时”一个声音吟诵道“但是白宫里面的一个电话机正在铃声大作。世界 上又出事了。”奥巴马也许又要做一个漂亮的演说。但是他是否“经过考验并准备好来引领一个危险的世 界”？ The telephone has been ringing off the hook of late, as hostile governments tweak the new administration, to see what it is made of, and Republican politicians raise doubts about Mr Obama's national-defence credentials. On Memorial Day North Korea tested a nuclear bomb, following up with a few ballistic missiles for good measure. (The North Koreans were kind enough to give the administration a heads-up, in case the Mr Magoos of the intelligence establishment missed the fireworks.) On May 21st Dick Cheney delivered a televised speech accusing the administration of unravelling “some of the very policies that have kept our people safe since 9/11”. The day before that, the Iranians tested long-range missiles. 最近“午夜凶铃”总是响个不停，那些敌对政府想把美国新一届政府拧开看看里面是什么馅儿的，共和党人 则对奥巴马的国防体系表示怀疑。在阵亡将士纪念日，朝鲜试射了核武器，另外接连发射了弹道导弹。(朝 鲜还够贴心地发出预警，免得情报机构的脱线先生们错过了精彩表演)五月二十一日，迪克切尼作了电视演 说，责难政府没有阐明“一些自 911 以来保护人民安全的非常政策”。就在一天之前，伊朗试射了远程导弹。 All this has put Mrs Clinton's question from last February back at the heart of American politics. Conservative websites are buzzing with comparisons between Mr Obama and Jimmy Carter. “Jimmy Carter took a little over

three years to create the image of the US as a confused and soft power,”argues Bahukutumbi Raman on Forbes. com. “Obama is bidding fair to create that image even in his first year in office.”Some Democrats are also whispering that they are worried about the comparison. Mr Carter's weakness on foreign policy locked the Democratic Party out of the White House for over a decade. Mr Obama needs to prove that he is capable of doing the “daddy things”(defending the country) as well as the “mommy things”(appointing empathetic Supreme Court justices). 这一切都把克林顿夫人去年二月提出的问题放在美国政治核心。保守党的网页喧嚣着将奥巴马和吉米•卡特 进行对比。“吉米•卡特用了三年多一点的时间塑造了一幅美国作为一个困惑并软弱政府的形象。卡特在对 外政策上的软弱使民主党人被排斥在白宫外长达十多年。奥巴马需要证明他有能力来做“爸爸的事情”(保卫 国家)同时也能做好“妈妈的事情”(任命善解人意的最高法院大法官) How much truth is there that Mr Obama is flunking the telephone test? The problem with North Korea is that it is not a fair test of anything. It is easy to mock the finger-wagging from Susan Rice, Mr Obama's ambassador to the United Nations, about violations of international law, as the perfect example of pusillanimous liberalism. 说奥巴马先生没有通过“午夜凶铃”的考试又多少是真的呢？朝鲜问题无论如何都不是一个公平的测验。很 容易将奥巴马的联合国大使苏珊赖斯对朝鲜违背国际法的谴责嘲笑为是懦弱的自由主义的一个绝好的例 子。 But where would “toughness”get America? It would be hard to make the Hermit Kingdom any more isolated than it already is. Cutting off American aid would produce mass starvation without depriving the ruling elite of its luxuries. It might also risk destabilising a country that has many thousands of artillery pieces and rockets aimed at Seoul. George Bush tried toughness, including branding North Korea a member of the “axis of evil”, before returning to softer policies. 但是，强硬又会将美国引向何方呢？那将会使这个遁世王国更加孤立。切断美国的人道主义援助将会带来 大规模的饥荒，却不能剥落统治精英们的奢侈生活。这也会冒险让一个国家将成千上万门大炮和火箭炮对 准首尔。乔治布什尝试过强硬，包括将朝鲜命名为“邪恶轴心”，而之后却也转回更为怀柔的政策。 Mr Cheney's critique of Mr Obama's naivetéis a much fairer test than Kim Jong Il's fireworks. But in fact Mr Obama passes the Cheney test fairly well, providing a well-calibrated combination of toughness and strategic innovation. He may have made a lot of noise about talking to America's enemies. He may have abandoned Bush-era phrases such as “the war on terror”. But he has done little to unwind that war. 切尼对奥巴马幼稚的批评比起金正日的试射是一个更加公平的测验。但事实上奥巴马很好地通过了切尼的 测验，他提出了一个更为精准的结合强硬和战略革新的组合体。他可能已经对美国的敌人喋喋不休；他可 能已经放弃了布什时代的一些字句，诸如“反恐战争”，但是他却对结束那场战争所做甚少。 He has embraced Mr Bush's policy of gradually withdrawing combat troops from Iraq. He has increased the number of troops in Afghanistan by around 20,000. He has also stepped up drone attacks on what the American army calls the “Af-Pak”region. Far from abandoning the war on terror, Mr Obama is shifting its central front from Iraq to Afghanistan, and doing what he can to sell it better. That hardly counts as naive doveishness.

他接受了布什逐步从伊拉克撤出野战部队的政策。他已经把在阿富汗的部队增加到 20000 人。他也派遣无 人侦察机去那些被美国军队称之为“Af-Park”的地区。奥巴马远远不是放弃了反恐战争，而是将战争的中心 前线从伊拉克转到阿富汗，并且做那些他能够做的更好的事情。这很难算所“天真的鸽派” Mr Cheney concentrated his heaviest rhetorical fire on Mr Obama's opposition to “enhanced interrogation”. But such opposition is hardly a sign of wimpishness. Large numbers of military and former military officers, including David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, and John McCain, a man who was brutally tortured by the North Vietnamese, have come out strongly against practices such as waterboarding, for both practical and moral reasons. The information that such techniques produce is often tainted, and the damage that they do to America's image around the world is immense. 切尼将他的唇枪舌剑集中在奥巴马反对“酷刑”上。但这种反对不是懦弱的标志。很多军方官员和前军方官 员，包括中央司令部长官戴维•彼得雷乌斯和曾经被越南酷刑折磨过的约翰•麦凯恩，都对诸如水刑之类的 酷刑提出过强烈的反对。严刑逼供出来的信息经常是有缺陷的，而且他们对美国在全世界形象的破坏是巨 大的。 Living with Mr Kim 与金共舞 Still, it would be wrong to imply that Mr Obama has passed the telephone test with flying colours. The president is paying the price for raising expectations about the power of diplomacy to absurd heights. So far Mr Obama's charm offensive has produced plenty of warm words but few practical concessions. The Europeans have refused to stimulate their economies as much as America would like, or to send a significant number of troops to Afghanistan. Iran has become even noisier about its desire to go on enriching uranium. Mr Obama is now finding out, as the Bush administration did before him, that some regimes are not susceptible to American policies, hard or soft, wise or dumb. 但这也不意味着奥巴马通过了“午夜凶铃”的考验并大获全胜。总统正在为将对外交的期望值提升到一个荒 谬的高度而买单。截至目前，奥巴马的魅力攻势产生出了大量的温暖话语，但是很少的实际让步。欧洲拒 绝向美国一样刺激他们的经济，也不愿意向阿富汗派出大量军队。伊拉克甚至闹着渴望要继续他们的铀浓 缩。奥巴马现在发现，正如之前的布什政府一样，一些政权不那么容易受美国政策的影响，无论是强硬的， 还是怀柔的，英明的或者愚蠢的。 Mr Obama is also guilty of doing too little to prepare for life with North Korea. The administration has paid remarkably little attention to the country. Mr Obama's special representative for North Korean policy has retained his job as a university administrator. The top East Asia specialist at the State Department has still not been confirmed, though that has more to do with the Senate's sloth than with Mr Obama's negligence. 奥巴马对没有为与朝鲜共存的生活做好准备而心虚。政府对这个国家的关注明显太少了。奥巴马朝鲜政策 的特别代表还在一所大学工作。国务院的东亚问题专家到现在也还没有确定，尽管比起奥巴马的疏忽，这 些更多的是由于参议院的懒惰引起的。 The administration has pulled off a short-term coup by shifting public attention from North Korea to the Supreme Court, at least for a while. But Mr Kim and his kind will not disappear. Mr Obama needs to fill the gaps in his

administration as quickly as possible. He also needs to lower expectations about what can be achieved by replacing one American president with another. The 3 am call is still the one that can make or break a presidency. 政府已经采取一个短期的妙计将公众的注意力从朝鲜转移到最高法院，至少是暂时地。但是金正日和他那 些妙主意并没有消失。奥巴马需要尽快填补政府的缺口。他也得降低对更换一个美国总统能够带来什么成 就的期待。午夜 3 点的电话铃仍然能够成就或者毁掉一个总统。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：大不列颠哥伦比亚沦为南美哥伦比亚？ Drug gangs in Canada 加拿大贩毒团伙 British Columbia or Colombia? 大不列颠哥伦比亚沦为南美哥伦比亚？ May 28th 2009 | VANCOUVER From The Economist print edition Organised crime brings fear to Vancouver's streets 有组织犯罪使得温哥华人心惶惶 WHILE campaigning for an election on May 12th in which he was easily re-elected, Gordon Campbell, the premier of British Columbia (BC. province, had a personal brush with violent crime. As he was being interviewed by a reporter at a Vancouver hotel, a woman with a gun ran by, having robbed a jeweller. The premier's bodyguard hustled him to safety; the robber was later arrested. But the incident should have reminded Mr Campbell that crime worries voters almost as much as the recession. 五月十二日，大不列颠哥伦比亚省省长戈登.堪贝拉(Gordon Campbell)在进行一场胜券在握的选举，但是一 桩暴力犯罪事件搅乱了他的好心情。当时，他正在温哥华酒店接受记者采访，一个抢劫了一件珠宝的女人 持枪刚好从他身边逃窜。省长的保镖迅速冲过去保证他的安全；稍后，劫犯也被抓住了。然而，这桩事件 本应该让坎贝拉先生引起重视的是，犯罪几乎和经济衰退同样让选民们深感忧虑。 Canada remains one of the world's safest countries but in recent years Vancouver, BC's largest city, has gained notoriety for gun crime, especially among drug gangs. Since 1997 nearly 450 gangsters have been killed there. The surge in shootings is “directly related”to a crackdown on gangs in Mexico and the United States, says Pat Fogarty, a senior officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Recent arrests by the three countries' police forces have disrupted a Mexican-run cocaine distribution chain, leaving Vancouver's street dealers fighting to secure their supplies. “The price goes up and the guns come out,”says Mr Fogarty. 加拿大仍然是世界上社会治安最好的国家之一。但近年来，大不列颠哥伦比亚省最大的城市，温哥华，却 因为尤其是在贩毒团伙中的枪支犯罪，声名狼藉。从 1997 年起，就有近 450 名匪徒被击毙。加拿大皇家骑 警的高级官员帕特.佛德锑(Pat Fogarty)说，枪击案数量的急剧上升与墨西哥和美国严厉打击犯罪团伙有“直

接关系”。近来，三个国家出动警力，抓获罪犯，已经打乱了墨西哥经营可卡因的散毒链。这就使得温哥华 的毒品供应商们不得不为了保证他们的供货量而大肆争斗。佛德锑先生说，“毒品价格上涨，枪击事件自然 增多了。” Vancouver has become a distribution hub in a global drugs trade stretching to Asia and Europe. Local gangs ship out cannabis, amphetamines and ecstasy made in BC, importing cocaine, heroin and guns for the Canadian market. Around 135 gangs are thought to be fighting over a business worth an estimated C$7 billion ($6.2 billion) a year. 温哥华已经俨然成为全球毒品集散中心，毒品交易已经延伸到亚洲和欧洲。本地的犯罪团伙运出在温哥华 本地制造的大麻，安非他明以及摇头丸，然后进口可卡因，海洛因和枪支在温哥华市场出售。有关当局认 为，每年大概有 135 个犯罪团伙为了估计价值 62 亿美元的毒品生意而争斗。 That they do so in broad daylight demonstrates the feckless response of the provincial government and police, despite reports dating back more than 30 years giving warning of the growth in organised crime. Rob Gordon, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, says attempts at creating an agency to curb the gangs have repeatedly failed. Two such agencies have been disbanded since 1998 because of conflicts among the various participating police forces. The current effort at collaboration, led by the Mounties, is also “riven with conflict”, he says. 尽管 30 多年前就有报道警告有组织的犯罪增加，但如今这些犯罪团伙在光天化日之下的所作所为只能显示 出省政府和警察机关的软弱无能。西蒙菲莎大学的犯罪学家，罗布.戈登(Rob Gordon)称，创建一个专门的 部门来控制这些犯罪集团的想法再三的失败了。自从 1998 年起，有两个这样的部门已经被解散了。因为不 同警力的参与会产生很多内部矛盾。他说，现在由皇家骑警领导的共同合作的努力也因为矛盾而分裂。 Despite great public concern over crime, it got little attention in the election. Mr Campbell's Liberals and the opposition New Democrats promised more police and prosecutors. But neither, says Mr Gordon, appeared to have a long-term strategy to control organised crime. 尽管广大公众都对有组织的犯罪团伙感到十分忧虑，但这个问题还是没有在选举中引起重视。坎贝拉先生 的自由党和反对派新民主党都保证会增加警力和公诉人。然而，戈登(犯罪学家)先生说，两党都没有部署 一个长期的策略来控制有组织犯罪。 Despite some recent high-profile arrests of gangsters, Vancouver's local police admit they are not winning the war. They complain of having fewer officers per head of population than other big Canadian cities. The provincial government is planning a C$20 m cut in annual spending on police and the courts by 2012. The gangsters, by contrast, are well funded and have little trouble replacing those lost in shoot-outs. 虽然，最近高调曝光抓获了一些犯罪分子，但温哥华警察局承认他们并没有赢得这场战争的胜利。他们抱 怨说，就平均来看，自己的警力比加拿大其他大城市都少。省政府正在计划，在 2012 年使警局年度开支减 少 2000 万加元。相反，这些匪徒不仅有大量的资金支持，而且有充足的人力来替代那些死于枪战中的匪徒。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：California's budget crisis 加州预算危机 California's budget crisis

加州预算危机 No gold in state 没有金子的淘金州 May 21st 2009 | SAN FRANCISCO From The Economist print edition Voters reject a ballot they could not comprehend 选民拒绝他们不理解的投票 Hair-raising stuff 令人发指的人 AT ONE point during his desperate campaign for six ballot measures meant to reduce California's gaping budget deficit, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor, pleaded with voters not to make California “the poster child for dysfunction”. But on May 19th they did exactly that. 州长阿诺德施瓦辛格有一次在其为了通过六项旨在减少加州日益扩大的预算赤字而拼命的投票表决活动 中，恳请选民不要让加州变成“机能障碍的典范”。但是在本月 19 日，他们却确实成为了典范。 Confused and bored by the wonky and tangled wording on the ballot, most voters ignored the election entirely. Those who did turn out rejected all measures except one that freezes legislators' pay during budget-deficit years-a ritualised form of venting general anger. Mr Schwarzenegger, already unpopular before this crisis, may well now be remembered as a failure. On election day, he fled the state for the more flattering photo opportunity of joining Barack Obama in the White House Rose Garden to announce tighter national fuel-efficiency standards for cars. 选票上歪曲混乱，令人困惑又无聊的文字让很多选民干脆完全忽视它。那些投了票的选民只赞成一项，即 在预算赤字期间冻结议员工资-这成为一种发泄群体愤怒的渠道。在这次危机之前已经不得人心的施瓦辛格

现在作为失败者被牢牢记住了。在选举当天，他离开加州，到白宫的玫瑰花园同巴拉克奥巴马一起宣布更 严格的全国能源使用效率标准，只为了一个更讨人喜欢的上镜机会。 As a result of California's election, the state now faces a $21.3 billion gap between revenues and spending. Life, which has been no picnic for many in this state since the recession began, is about to get a lot worse. There have already been two rounds of budget cuts since last autumn. A third, savage, round must now follow. 加州选举的结果就是该州现在面临 2130 万的收支差。即使遇到经济危机，这里的生活也一直跟波澜不惊， 但是现在情况就要开始恶化了。经过去年秋天了两轮削减开支，凶猛的第三轮又要跟上了。 Mr Schwarzenegger has already hinted at the cuts he will propose to the legislature. The easy part is to release prisoners. California's 33 prisons, with about 168,000 inmates, many of them locked up because of inflexible sentencing laws passed by voters, are scandalously overcrowded. Mr Schwarzenegger is thinking about freeing 38,000 people. Half of them are undocumented immigrants whom he would transfer to federal custody. 州长施瓦辛格暗示他已向议会提议削减开支。最简单的部分就是释放囚犯。加州 33 座监狱关着 16 万 8 千 个囚犯，人满为患，很多都是因为选民通过的刚性判决关进来的。州长施瓦辛格这在考虑释放 3 万 8 千名 囚犯。其中半数是未登记的移民，将会被送去联邦拘留所。 But “the real money is where the pain is”, says Jean Ross of the California Budget Project, a research firm in Sacramento. In health care, for instance. Just as Mr Obama is trying to give more people access to medical care, California will be taking it away: by cutting funding for Medi-Cal, the state's programme for the poor, and changing eligibility rules for another programme so that 225,000 children are likely to lose coverage. And this at a time when many of their parents are losing their jobs and their employer-sponsored insurance. 但是，“真正的钱才是痛处所在。”加州预算项目，一个萨克拉曼多的研究公司的吉恩罗斯说道。比如说卫 生保健。正当总统奥巴马设法让更多的人能够接受到医疗保健，加州却正在向相反的方向努力。削减加州 医疗保险这个扶贫项目基金，修改另一个项目的合格标准，这可能会导致 22 万 5 千名儿童可能失去庇护。 而这段时间正是他们的父母们失去工作和雇主赞助保险的时候。 Other programmes, from help with birth-control and HIV-prevention to counselling against drug abuse and domestic violence, will be made smaller or eliminated altogether. Child-welfare programmes will be cut by 10%. This means fewer investigations into allegations of child abuse and less supervision of foster care, even as more children are likely to be abused in difficult economic times, says Linda Canan at the Napa County Health and Human Services Agency. 其他一些从帮助节育和防止艾滋病，到反对滥用药物和家庭暴力咨询的项目都会被缩小规模或全部取消。 儿童福利项目削减 10%。这意味着对虐待儿童和缺少抚养监护投诉的调查会减少，然而在经济困难时期会 有更多的儿童被虐待，来自那帕县卫生和人类服务机构的琳达贾楠说道。 Cuts in the education budget will probably shorten the school year by a week, require teachers to be laid off and cause classes to get bigger. The University of California, a network of ten campuses, will face cuts equivalent to 50,000 fewer students and perhaps 5,000 fewer staff.

教育预算的削减很可能会让学年减少一个星期，这就要求部分教师下岗，造成班级规模扩大。拥有是个校 区的加利福尼亚大学将面对相当于 5 万名学生及大约 5 千名教师的预算削减。 It doesn't end there. A plan, previously rejected, to drill for oil off the coast near Santa Barbara will be revived. And a statewide yard sale will be held. State properties, from a big coliseum in Los Angeles to concert halls and fairgrounds, will be auctioned off. Even the San Quentin prison, built during the gold rush and housing the state's death row, may go. Jeff Denham, a Republican state senator who votes resolutely against any attempt to raise taxes, has for years wanted to move the prison to a cheaper place inland in order to sell its “ocean-front property”in the bay north of San Francisco. He may now get his way. 这还没结束，在圣巴巴拉沿海开采石油这项之前被否决的计划将重新启用。还会举行全州范围内的宅前销 售。从杉矶大型游乐场到音乐厅和露天游乐场都会被拍卖掉。就算是建于淘金热时期，现在关押着加州死 囚的圣昆汀监狱也榜上有名。坚决反对任何加税举动的共和党州参议员杰夫德纳姆这几年来都想要将监狱 搬到较便宜的内陆地区，以便卖掉其在旧金山北海岸的近海资产。现在他总算如愿以偿了。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Milestones 里程碑 New Acropolis Museum opens Milestones 里程碑 Jun 25th 2009 | ATHENS From The Economist print edition A new tribute to the Parthenon 向帕特农神庙致敬

Reuters AS GREECE'S first Socialist culture minister in 1981, the late Melina Mercouri, a flamboyant actress best known for playing a golden-hearted prostitute in a film called “Never on Sunday”, decided to make her mark in politics by campaigning for the return of the Elgin marbles from the British Museum (BM). 已故的梅莲娜.梅尔库丽是位美艳的女星，代表作《别在星期天》，她在影片中饰演了一位善良的妓女。1981 年，梅尔库丽作为希腊首位社会文化部长决定努力从大英博物馆索回埃尔金大理石雕以此在政界留下美名。 Mercouri's pleas to officials in London were ignored, but she scored two successes. First, the fifth-century-BC sculptures that Lord Elgin, a British diplomat, removed from the Acropolis temples in 1801-05 and later sold to the BM have become more widely known as the Parthenon marbles-the name chosen by Mercouri to highlight where they came from. More important, her campaign added fuel to an international debate over who owns cultural property, whether ancient Greek or ethnic African, that has burned ever since. 英方对梅尔库丽的诉讼熟视无睹，但她的确有两点做的不错。第一点，1801-05 年间，英国外交大臣埃尔金 勋爵公元前 5 世纪的雕像从卫城神殿不翼而飞，随后被大英博物馆购买，成了大家所熟知的帕特农神庙大 理石-梅尔库丽之所以这样命名这些大理石是为了强调它们的出处。更重要的一点是，她的努力为国际社会 对于文化财产所有权的讨论注入了活力。无论是古代希腊还是非洲族裔在文化财产所有权方面都遍体鳞伤。 On June 21st a new museum opened in Athens to display the Parthenon sculptures and other finds from the Acropolis hill, fulfilling Mercouri's promise that Greece would one day build a suitable home for the Parthenon frieze and other exiled masterpieces of classical art. At the opening ceremony-attended by JoséManuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and Koichiro Matsuura, director-general of UNESCO, the UN agency for cultural heritage-Antonis Samaras, the current Greek culture minister, made a point of condemning the 19 th-century “looting”of treasures from the Acropolis. Also present were representatives of committees in 17 countries that campaign for the marbles' return, as well as the deputy chairman of the BM's board of trustees. 6 月 21 日，雅典新博物馆开馆，馆内展示帕特农神庙的雕塑以及其他来自卫城山的雕塑，梅尔库丽当年的

承诺得以兑现。她曾表示希腊有朝一日定会为帕特农雕塑和其他遗失在外的古典艺术杰作修建一个像样的 博物馆。出席博物馆开幕式的有欧盟委员会主席巴罗佐、联合国教科文组织(联合国负责文化遗产的部门) 总干事松浦晃一郎-希腊文化部长安东尼斯∙萨马拉斯在致辞中对 19 世纪雅典卫城的“掠夺”事件进行了谴 责。出席开幕式的还包括来自 17 个国家委员会的代表，他们都呼吁大理石能够回归雅典博物馆，此外，大 英博物馆董事会副主席也参加了开幕式。 The euro 130 m ($180.5 m) new Acropolis Museum, a stack of glass-and-concrete boxes designed by Bernard Tschumi, a Swiss-born architect based in New York, together with Michael Photiadis, his Greek associate, is uncompromisingly modern. Its glittering bulk, squeezed into a narrow plot beneath the Acropolis hill, contrasts sharply with shabby blocks of flats nearby and the pale-coloured rocky slope. Some Athenians complain it is simply too big for the site. Yet both Greek and foreign visitors seem delighted by the museum's spacious, daylight-filled interior. 卫城博物馆耗资 1.3 亿欧元(1.805 亿美元)，由现居美国的瑞典裔设计师伯纳德•屈米和希腊设计师 Michael Photiadis 联手完成，博物馆大量运用玻璃与混凝土为原料，现代感十足。博物馆外观耀眼夺目，位于卫城 山脚一块狭窄的地基上，与周边破败的一幢幢公寓和苍白的山脊形成了鲜明的对比。一些雅典人抱怨不该 在这么有限的地基上修建这样庞大的博物馆。不过，前来参观的希腊与国外来访者似乎对博物馆内部的宽 敞明亮异常满意。 In the first-floor gallery, free-standing marble statues of men, women and horses glow against a background of grey concrete walls and columns. Floor-to-ceiling windows are made of thick crystalline glass embedded with mineral particles to cut out glare. Mr Tschumi says, “The marble reflects light, but the concrete absorbs it… the use of daylight is fundamental to this museum.” 第一层展馆内，借助灰色水泥墙壁与圆柱的衬托，使得随意摆放的男女以及马匹的大理石雕像熠熠生辉。 从地面到天花板的大型晶质玻璃中混合了矿物颗粒以使得光线变得柔和。屈米先生说：“大理石反光，而水 泥则吸收光线… … 阳光的运用对于博物馆而言非常重要。” Glass floor-panels in connecting spaces illuminate an excavation in the basement of the museum (soon to be opened to visitors) of houses and streets in an Athens neighbourhood dating from early Christian times. 与博物馆地下室(很快就会向游客开放)连接处为玻璃地板，可以看到雅典的房屋与街道，这些地区的历史 可以追溯到早期基督教时代。 The caryatids, five larger-than-life-size female statues that supported a porch on the Erechtheum temple on the Acropolis, survey the museum's lobby from an internal balcony. An empty space has been left for the sixth, which is in London. 五座比女性真人略大的女像柱被安放在内部的阳台，审视着整个博物馆大厅，这些女像柱曾支撑着伊瑞克 提翁神庙的门廊。还有一个雕像的位置空缺着，等待着伦敦方面物归原主。 Mr Tschumi's showpiece is the top-floor Parthenon gallery, a cool glass box with a spectacular view that mirrors the dimensions and orientation of the temple itself. Below, projected on the wall, is a digitised video animation of elegant korai statues (pictured above).

屈米先生最经典的设计就是顶层的帕特农神庙馆，在这个完全由玻璃建造的展厅里，你可以通过反射看到 神庙本身的构造和方向，景观壮丽。在下面的墙壁上，有数字投影的生动图像，影像中呈现优雅的希腊女 孩雕像。(见上图) The frieze, a mix of honey-coloured marble panels and glaring white plaster casts of pieces in the BM, shows a procession of worshippers carrying offerings to Athena, the temple goddess. It is mounted at eye level on a grey concrete wall, an arresting display that could almost be an installation in a contemporary art show. 中楣由蜜色的大理石面板和耀眼的白色石膏(部分仍在大英博物馆的艺术品的复制品)构成，雕刻的是一行 礼拜者向女神雅典娜进献供品的画面。映衬着灰色水泥墙背景，与视线平行，如同当代艺术展上展品般引 人注目。 Dimitrios Pandermalis, the museum's director, says, “We thought about leaving gaps for pieces that are in London, but we eventually decided that the casts would give continuity while making it quite clear how the frieze has been divided.” 博物馆主管 Dimitrios Pandermalis 说：“我们最初的想法是将未归还的艺术品的位置空出来，但最终决定既 保留其内容完整性，又要对其实际的'不完整'一目了然。” By comparison with Athens, the BM's display, which amounts to half the remaining frieze, and which was improved in 1998, now looks a little tired. Alexandros Mantis, a Greek expert on the ancient Acropolis temples, also points out that the frieze, which ran around the exterior of the Parthenon, is arranged in London around the interior of a gallery, which is architecturally and aesthetically wrong. 如今展示在大英博物馆的另一半中楣，尽管 1998 年翻修过，但与新博物馆中楣比较起来就显得有些老旧了。 希腊卫城古代神庙专家 Alexandros Mantis 也指出，这些中楣是帕特农神庙的外部装饰，而大英博物馆则将 其在馆内展示，无论从建筑学角度还是审美角度都不合理。 For the Greeks, criticised in the past for not having a suitable place to display the Acropolis sculptures, the inauguration of the new museum is the strongest possible argument for repatriating the marbles. 若过去批评希腊没有适当的地方来展示这些卫城雕塑的话，那么现在新博物馆的落成必将成为声讨归还文 物的最有力的筹码。 Moreover, it fulfils a widespread belief that architectural sculpture should be displayed as close as possible to the building it once decorated. Atmospheric pollution rules out placing the sculptures back on the temple itself. But the Parthenon gallery in the new museum is 300 metres and a single glance away from the temple. 此外，广泛的看法是用于建筑物的雕塑应该尽可能的靠近其最初的展区，这个愿望也得以实现。虽然由于 大气污染不可能再将这些雕塑放回原神庙，但新博物馆的帕特农展馆距离神庙只有 300 米，瞥一眼就可以 看到了。 However, Neil MacGregor, the BM director, is as passionate (and as eloquent) about keeping the marbles in London as the Greeks are about getting them back. Mr MacGregor argues that they have belonged to a unique collection for more than 200 years, in a museum that attracts more visitors than any other in the world, rather than just to one nation's history.

尽管如此，大英博物馆的馆长 Neil MacGregor 想要保住这些雕塑的热情(与辩才)也丝毫不逊色于想要寻回 它们的希腊人。MacGregor 先生说，这些雕塑在大英博物馆已有 200 年的历史了，早已被编入了特别的展 别，况且大英博物馆吸引的游客人数为世界之最，它展示的也并非一个民族的历史。 An eventual solution-though probably not one that will happen on Mr MacGregor's watch-would be to send the marbles back to Athens on loan and accept the Greek offer to provide a series of temporary exhibitions of classical art to fill the gallery. But that would require the Greeks to recognise British ownership of the sculptures in London, something Mr Samaras says would be “impossible”. 最终的解决方案-或许和 MacGregor 先生的预期不同-就是雅典可以通过借代的方式运回这些大理石雕塑， 并且可以按照他们的意思在一系列的古典艺术展上展出这些雕塑，但先决条件是希腊认可伦敦对于这些雕 塑的所有权。希腊文化部长萨马拉斯先生表示这是“痴人说梦”。 With mutual prickliness running high, the stand-off looks set to continue. In the meantime, though, Athenians and their visitors can be proud of their stunning new piece of architecture, filled with indisputably great art. 双边在此敏感问题上针锋相对，僵局还会持续下去。但与此同时，雅典人和他们的游客尽可对这令人叹为 观止的新博物馆感到自豪，这里无疑汇集了最伟大的艺术。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：The last judgment 最后的审判 Bagehot 白芝浩 The last judgment 最后的审判 Jun 25th 2009 From The Economist print edition What the new inquiry into the Iraq war can and can't achieve 布朗宣布就伊拉克战争展开新一轮调查，结果未卜 Illustration by Steve O'Brien

AT THE end of “The Italian Job”, do Michael Caine and his gang survive? What was Jack the Ripper's real identity? Was Britain's involvement in Iraq an absolute debacle, and if so, who was responsible? Wherefore do the wicked prosper? 电影《大淘金》(The Italian Job)片尾，迈克尔•凯恩及其同伙活下来了吗？“开膛手杰克”的真实身份到底是 谁？英国卷入伊拉克战争是彻头彻尾的大失败吗？如果答案是肯定的，谁该为此负责？那些当初决意参战 的家伙如何还能在台上欢蹦乱跳？ Which of those is the odd one out? Actually, that was a trick question: none of them is. The question about Iraq shares a quality with the others. It will never be answered definitively and to universal satisfaction-including by the new inquiry cack-handedly announced by Gordon Brown. But that limitation does not mean, as some carpers argue, that it is mistake to hold it at all. 以上这些问题哪一个与众不同？实际上，这问题挺棘手：没有那个问题与众不同。关于伊拉克的那个问题 和其他两个具有共性。对于这个问题，永远不会有确定的答案，永远不会有让所有人满意的答案-包括这次 戈登•布朗笨头笨脑地宣布将就伊拉克战争进行新一轮调查。调查诚然具有局限性，但这不意味着那些吹毛 求疵者的观点是正确的，他们认为进行这样的调查本身就是个错误。 Britain should be prepared for what the inquiry under Sir John Chilcot, a retired civil servant, is unlikely to achieve. Even without Mr Brown's stipulation that it wouldn't “apportion blame”(later finessed by David Miliband, the foreign secretary), it probably wouldn't have done. Such probes, whether into foreign entanglements or agricultural blight, tend not to blame anybody very much. They are conducted by bigwigs in suits; they interview other besuited bigwigs, typically find them well-meaning and conclude that any shortcomings were inadvertent or systemic. This is not always because the inquiries are stitch-ups; caste and unconscious sympathy also contribute. 这一在退休公务员约翰•考特爵士(Sir John Chilcot)领导下的调查很能将无功而返，英国民众应该做好心理准 备。甚至如果没有布朗许诺将不会“分摊责任”(后经外交大臣大卫•米利班德(David Miliband)优雅处理)，调

查很可能还没有启动。这种调查，无论是针对外交纠葛，还是农业虫害，都不是真要问责。调查往往由那 些西装革履的要人们来执行。他们会找同样西装革履的要人们来谈一谈，然后发现对方是个大好人，最终 得出结论：所有的问题都是疏忽大意或者系统性带来的。这并不总是因为调查都是在修修补补；等级制度 和无意识做出的同情也是背后的原因。 As the carpers point out, there have already been assorted Iraq reviews in Britain, both independent and parliamentary. There have been more in America, congressional and otherwise, and elsewhere. Journalists have written books and memoirs, as have participants in the fighting and the pre-war diplomacy. Previous British reports, which concentrated on the government's use of intelligence, have been dismissed as whitewashes. 正如吹毛求疵者指出的那样，关于伊拉克战争的调查在英国五花八门，有独立调查，也有议会进行的调查。 这样的调查在美国就更多了，有美国国会做出的调查，还有别的地方进行的调查。记者们也写作出版了相 关的书籍和回忆录，就好像他们参与了这场战争以及战前的外交斗争。以往英国的调查主要关注政府的情 报使用情况，这些调查被认为不过是一桶粉饰错误的白色涂料而已。 In fact, on that most controversial and intricate of questions, much that is shaming and scandalous is already known. The omission of caveats and subjunctives; the extrapolations from thin and dated intelligence; the infamously misrepresented “45-minute”claim; the blinkered misreading of crucial evidence on Iraq's nuclear programme: the whole shoddy repertoire of mistakes and techniques that made a hunch about Saddam Hussein seem urgent is painfully well documented. It was partly documented by a committee under Lord Butler, of which Sir John was a member, though its criticisms were swaddled in blandly conciliatory prose and so derided. Whether Tony Blair or others “lied”about the Iraqi threat may remain known only to them; more a theological issue than one soluble by Sir John. 事实上，对于那些最具争议性、最错综复杂的问题，众人皆知其中的不光彩和倒胃口。故意略去情报中暗 含的假设及警告不提；推断出的结论都是基于单薄而过时的情报；臭名昭著的“45 分钟”论断充满误导；对 伊拉克核计划关键证据存在狭隘误读：得出解决萨达姆•侯赛因刻不容缓这一结论背后使用了哪些方法，存 在哪些错误，整个卑劣的决策过程都已经形成调查报告。巴特勒勋爵领导的调查委员会得出了部分调查报 告，约翰•考特爵士也是这个调查委员会的一员。调查报告中的批评和嘲讽都处理得不温不火，满是调和色 彩。至于布莱尔或者其他人有没有在伊拉克威胁这一问题上“撒谎”只有他们自己知道。在约翰•考特爵士看 来，与其说这是一个有答案的问题，不如说这根本就是个神学问题。 It is likewise doubtful that there will be further revelations concerning the government's motive, and the related matter of timing-that is, when exactly Mr Blair committed Britain to participating in the war. Maybe freshly available cabinet documents or diplomatic traffic will shed new light. But when he gives his evidence, Mr Blair will surely regurgitate his familiar messianic-Manichean shtick, plus his view that American power is best steered by working alongside it. It can be hard for anyone to recollect his motives at a distance; memory often sanitises and ennobles, even in much more trivial cases than the launching of a devastating war. Mr Blair is not likely to say, “OK guys, you got me-I did it out of lust for glory and infatuation with George Bush.” 同样，关于政府决策动机和相关的时机选择(即，布莱尔何时决定英国参加伊拉克战争)，进一步的爆料也

不太可能。也许从最新得到的内阁文件或外交活动可以看出些蛛丝马迹。而在作证时，布莱尔必将再次以 烂熟于心的救世主形象示人，他也必将老调重弹，鼓吹只有和美国合作，才能最好地操控美国霸权。任何 人试图在多年之后还能再回想起布莱尔的动机都是困难的，记忆常常会自我清洁和拔高，甚至对于比发动 毁灭性战争更“渺小”的事情也是如此。布莱尔不大可能会承认，“好吧，您是对的-我这么做是出于对荣耀 的渴望，出于对布什的追随。” Act in haste, redact at leisure 调查仓促上马，报告撰写从容不迫 Those are causes for scepticism. But there are others for thinking the inquiry necessary. Iraq has sorely strained the covenant between the armed forces and the country they defend. It has left deep grievances among ordinary soldiers and top brass about funding, equipment and manning levels, some of them voiced by General Sir Richard Dannatt, the outgoing head of the army, this week. Even though several of these worries, too, have already been investigated, Sir John's panel could offer a valuable overall verdict on whether Mr Blair's government put Britain's money where his mouth was, and if not, why not. That may have cautionary implications for defence strategy more broadly. 这些都是怀疑论出现的原因。当然，还有其他认为调查有必要的原因。驻伊英军和他们所保护的伊拉克之 间关系日益紧张。在普通士兵乃至高级军官中间，对资金、装备和人员的抱怨之声不绝于耳，本周即将离 任的陆军总参谋长理查德•丹纳特(Richard Dannatt)将军曾提及其中一些抱怨之声。尽管其中一些抱怨已经进 行了调查，约翰爵士(Sir John)领导的调查小组还将就布莱尔政府有没有把钱花在刀刃上进行全面评判。如 果没有把钱花在刀刃上，还要调查背后的原因是什么。此举可能对国防战略有更广泛的警示意味。 Then there are the errors and missed opportunities of the reconstruction effort, some of which General Dannatt also discussed. Why, before the war, were the conditions in Iraq after it so catastrophically misjudged? An analysis of those failures-and of how far British politicians and commanders were prisoners of policies dreamed up in the Pentagon-might inform future decisions on whether and when to go to war as a junior partner. 再一个就是重建工作中存在的错误和错失的机会，丹纳特将军也谈到了其中一些。为什么对战前伊拉克的 状况会有灾难性的误判？对判断失误的分析-在多大程度上，英国的政治家和军队指挥官们成为五角大楼政 策的俘虏？-可能会为英国今后以“次级合伙人”身份决策参不参加、何时参加一场战争提供参考。 Perhaps most importantly, if intangibly, there is that other fractured covenant, between government and the people. The Iraq war is a great national welt of grief, shame and mistrust. Some of the damage-the deaths, most obviously, but also the impact on Britain's international standing and security, and on the Labour Party's moral authority-cannot be salved by Sir John. But in a ceremonial, almost primitive way, some of the rancour might be lessened, if the process is overwhelmingly conducted in public. That now seems probable, despite Mr Brown's initial, indefensible preference for a closed version: with Mr Bush departed and Saddam dead, the case for privacy was always piffling. One of the other criticisms of Mr Brown's botched proposal, however-that the inquiry should take less than the year he suggested, and report before the general election-is mistaken. It will take at least a year for it to do a thorough, therapeutic job.

可能最重要的是，政府和人民之间产生了无形的裂痕。伊拉克战争是一道巨大的民族伤口，撒在伤口上的 是悲痛、耻辱和不信任。某些伤痛-最明显的是，战死的士兵。还有对英国国际地位和安全、对工党的道德 权威的影响-是无法由约翰爵士修复的。而如果调查能在公众眼皮子底下进行，至少在形式上，政府和人民 之间的裂痕会初步弥合。这样的公开调查现在看来很可能要进行了，尽管布朗开始倾向于不公开调查：随 着布什卸任和萨拉姆被绞死，隐私这一因素变得微不足道了。对布朗弥合裂痕计划的其他批评-如，调查时 间应该短于他建议的一年，并在大选之前公布调查报告-是错误的。要彻底调查、修复裂痕至少需要一年的 时间。 In 2003 one of the firmest grounds for thinking Saddam was up to no good was that he acted guilty, even when the invasion was on his doorstep. In 2009 one good reason to favour an inquiry is that Mr Brown has behaved so shiftily over it. (What happened in Iraq should stain his record, and his conscience, almost as much as Mr Blair's, for all he might like it to be or seem otherwise: he may have been the only other individual who could have kept Britain out.) It may not, in the end, find the current or former prime minister guilty. But it is still a vital undertaking. 在 2003 年，甚至到入侵伊拉克的前夜，人们认为萨达姆不得好死最重要的理由是因为他犯下了严重罪行。 到 2009 年，支持调查最重要的理由在于布朗对此心怀鬼胎(伊拉克发生的一切可能会玷污布朗的履历和良 心，如同玷污布莱尔的履历和良心一样，尽管布朗可能不希望这样：他很可能是除布莱尔之外，唯一能让 英国不参战的人物。)也许最后人们会发现现任和前任首相都不罪过，但调查仍然很重要。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：It is far from over 远未结束 Iran's crisis 伊朗危机 It is far from over 远未结束 Jun 25th 2009 From The Economist print edition Street anger may be fizzling, but infighting at the top could yet harm the regime more 众愤日趋残喘，高层内讧方可致命 AFP

AFTER just a week of heart-stirring popular defiance has Iran's new-found spirit of liberty already been broken? The demonstrations in the wake of what still seems to have been a fraudulent election victory for the country's gruesome incumbent president inspired awe; but as The Economist went to press their size appeared to have sharply dipped. The expression of dissent in rallies in a string of cities around the country seems to have subsided. It is still too soon to say whether some fresh incident may reignite mass anger in the near future, bringing millions back onto the streets, even forcing a rerun of the election. But the authorities, the security forces and their militia thugs, the baseej, sadly seem to have cracked enough heads to squash any immediate hope of setting aside a dodgy election, let alone ending rule by clerical fiat. 在伊朗，振奋人心的公众示威运动持续了一周。然而，伊朗人民刚刚觉醒的自由精神，已经就此消失了吗？ 伊朗现任总统令人发指，他在刚过去的总统大选中的取胜，如今看来仍很可能是由幕后操纵所为。随之而 来的群众示威运动让人肃然起敬。但在本刊(The Economist)出版时，示威规模已大不如前。伊朗全国上下 在各大城市举行了群众集会，他们发表异议的呼声现在似乎正趋于平静。然而现在妄下定论还为时尚早。 也许即将发生的一些新鲜事就可以使大家重燃怒火，再次成千上万的涌入街头，甚至带来一场重选。遗憾 的是，那些当权者、安全部队和民兵暴徒(又名“伊朗民兵抵抗组织”)，他们对杀戮似乎仍未过瘾，任何一丝 想要废除这一虚假选举的念头都会受到压制，更别提结束神职统治了。 However, the courage of millions of ordinary Iranians will not have been in vain. The old establishment has not yet won and the crisis is far from over (see article). That is because the balance of power has shifted against the status quo. 但是，数百万伊朗平民显露出的勇气不会白费。旧的权利当局并没有胜利，他们面临的危机也远未结束。 权利重心已经背离现状发生转变。 Whatever the true result of the election, it is now plain that there is a vast constituency, even if it is not yet provably a majority, crying out for freedom. Mir Hosein Mousavi, the so-far-thwarted chief challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had been duly vetted by the clerical authorities as a proponent of their rule. But many of the millions who voted for him plainly hoped he would offer more freedom. As the old ruling circle has turned against him, even threatening him with imprisonment, he has boldly refused to bow out. 不管选举的真实结果如何，至少现在看来，我们知道大量选民-即使没有证实是大多数-正迫切的渴望自由。 米尔•侯赛因•穆萨维(Mir Hosein Mousavi)目前在选举中遭遇阻扰，他是现任总统默罕默德•艾哈迈迪

(Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)的最大竞争者。伊朗神职权利当局按程序审查了穆萨维，并称他也是他们统治的拥 护者。但是投票支持他的数百万选民发出明确的呼声，希望他能给予人民更多的自由。尽管旧的统治集团 和他敌对，甚至威胁要将他关押，穆萨维也还不示弱，勇敢坦白自己绝不会退出竞争。 The legitimacy of the Islamic Republic has been spectacularly tarnished, both at home and abroad. Its claim to act as a beacon for Muslims, especially oppressed ones, in the region and around the world, has been ridiculed. Most dramatically, the position of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been sorely undermined. Once he posed as standing above the electoral fray, but he has now firmly come down on the side of repression and electoral fraud. 这个伊斯兰共和国的法制性在国内国外都遭到极大地玷污。伊朗一直以来宣称要做世界所有穆斯林国家的 灯塔，特别是对那些受压迫的穆斯林而言，如今这让人看起来很可笑。最戏剧性的一幕是，伊朗最高领袖 阿亚图拉•阿里•哈梅内伊(Ayatollah Ali Khamenei)的威信受到了极大削弱。他一度对此次选举冲突摆出一副 置身事外的姿态，而现在却坚决的斥责镇压群众和选举舞弊的那方。 Perhaps the most damaging feature for the ruling clergy is the struggle that has broken out-for the first time so publicly-at the very top of the power structure. Forces loyal to Mr Khamenei and his bellicose president are now pitted openly against reformers and pragmatists backed by a former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, hitherto considered Iran's second-most-powerful man, who, with another former president, Muhammad Khatami, a frustrated reformer, has outspokenly backed Mr Mousavi. So, even if the security forces manage to keep the dissenters off the streets, a bitter argument over the leadership of the ruling system will rage on. That battle may itself weaken if not topple the regime. 对这位执政教士来说，最具破坏性的一面可能就是，在伊朗最高统治阶层有史以来第一次爆发的如此公然 的斗争。忠于哈梅内伊及和他一起好战的总统的军队，现在公开和改革者及实用主义者-由前总统阿克巴尔 •哈什米•拉夫桑贾尼(Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani)支持-为敌。到目前为止，拉夫桑贾尼被认为是伊朗的第二把 手，他和另一位失意的改革派前总统默罕默德•哈塔米(Muhammad Khatami)一起，都直言宣布支持穆萨维。 因此，就算安全部队设法驱散掉抗议群众，围绕统治体系的激烈争论也会持续下去。如不能推翻现有政体， 这场争斗可能就会自己平息。 The world must watch and wait 静观其变 Much as reform is to be desired, there is in truth little that outsiders can do to bolster the reformers. Barack Obama has rightly expressed greater outrage as the crisis has worsened. So have the leaders of Europe. But the American president has also been right to resist the temptation to call for the regime's downfall or take sides in the power struggle, let alone back Mr Mousavi for the presidency. That would play into the hands of those Iranians already trying to paint the challenger and his supporters as tools of the conspiratorial West. Plainly, business as usual cannot yet resume. But Mr Obama's prime aim is to persuade Iran to stop getting a nuclear weapon. To achieve that, he must still, sooner or later, seek to re-engage with Iran's government, whether it is led by a Holocaust-denier or a reforming Islamist who, when all is said and done, shares his rival's desire for Iran to obtain a nuclear capability.

尽管渴望变革的声音十分强烈，但想支持改革派，局外人能做的其实并不多。奥巴马和欧洲其他领导人一 起，对这场危机的日益加重表示愤慨，他这样做是正确的。但他做的另一件正确的事是，美国挡住了种种 诱惑，没有要求现任政权垮台或在这场争斗中偏袒任何一方，更别说支持穆萨维当选总统了。如奥巴马那 样做的话，必定正中某些伊朗人的下怀。那些人会抓住所有可趁之机，迫不及待的将胆敢挑战总统权威的 穆萨维及其他的支持者描绘成受西方指使的阴谋工具。很明显，往日的平静还需很长一段时间方可恢复。 但奥巴马的首要任务是劝阻伊朗的核武器计划。为达此目的，他早晚也必须和伊朗政府重新开始交涉，不 管那时的伊朗政府是由一位否认大屠杀的恶人执掌，还是一个要求改革的伊斯兰信徒。毕竟，说到底这位 信徒和他的对手同出一辙，也希望伊朗拥有核武器。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：It may make life easier and cheaper 生活简捷，物价低 廉 East Africa gets broadband 东非享受网络宽带之乐 It may make life easier and cheaper 生活简捷，物价低廉 Jun 18th 2009 | NAIROBI From The Economist print edition A new telecoms revolution in the offing 一次新的通信革命即将上演 THE Horn of Africa is one of the last populated bits of the planet without a proper connection to the world wide

web. Instead of fibre-optic cable, which provides for cheap phone calls and YouTube-friendly surfing, its 200 m or so people have had to rely on satellite links. This has kept international phone calls horribly overpriced and internet access equally extortionat and maddeningly slow. 人口众多的非洲之角是地球上最后一块没有实现适度网络联接的地区。该地区约 2 亿的人口通过卫星链接 上网，而不是使用光纤电缆(这种方式可以让人们廉价地电话通话，并进行网上冲浪。)这导致了该地区国 际电话费价格过高，网络收费居高不下，且网速慢得让人抓狂。 But last week, in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, a regional communications revolution belatedly got under way when Kenya's president, Mwai Kibaki, plugged in the first of three fibre-optic submarine cables due to make landfall in Kenya in the next few months. They should speed up the connection of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as bits of Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, to the online world. Laying the cable cost $130 m, mostly at the Kenyan government's expense; Mr Kibaki hailed the event for bringing “digital citizenship” to his countrymen. 但是上个星期，在肯尼亚的 Mombasa 港口，总统 Mwai Kibaki 接入第一个光纤海底光缆(一共有 3 个这样的 光缆)的那一刻就表示着一个迟迟未到来的地区性通讯革命终于来临了。剩下的光缆将在接下来的几个月登 陆肯尼亚。这些光缆将会加快布隆迪，卢旺达，坦桑尼亚，乌干达的网速，同时也将加快索马里，埃塞俄 比亚和苏丹一些地区的链接速度。铺设这些光缆花费了 1.3 亿美元，而肯尼亚政府负担了大部分的资金。 Kibaki 对光缆的铺设高度赞扬，申称他的国民将会享受“数字公民”的待遇。 The new cable will compete with the other two to be welcomed onshore, perhaps later this year. The hope is that the high bandwidth and fierce competition between the three cables will slash costs and help create new business. With a mass of young English-speakers only an hour or two ahead of Europe's time zones, east Africa should, with luck, be well-placed to compete with India and Sri Lanka for back-office work for Western companies. Broadband, say its promoters, will transform the lives of millions in countries such as Kenya and Sudan, almost as dramatically as mobile telephones have done-all the more so because of the parlous state of east Africa's more old-fashioned infrastructure, especially roads and railways. 今年年底，其它两条光缆线也可能会在陆上修建。它们将和目前新建成的光缆线争相媲美。人们希望，这 三条光缆线提供的高速宽带，以及之间激烈的竞争将会削减成本，帮助创建新的商业。东欧拥有大量的能 用英语会话的年轻人，其时区仅比欧洲提早 1 到 2 个小时。因此，幸运的话，东非将会占据优势，与印度 和斯里兰卡同台竞争，争取获得西方公司的后台工作。光缆推行者表示，宽带将会改变肯尼亚及苏丹等国 上百万人民的生活，这就如同移动电话带来的变革一样。考虑到东非老旧基础建设的岌岌可危的状况，尤 其是道路和铁路，改变的程度将会更加显著。 A few call centres have already got a toehold in the market and expect to expand fast when the cables arrive. Security experts say cybercrime and junk mail may increase too. Still, mobile telephones, not internet cafés, will continue to grow the fastest. The number and quality of handsets should rise. In a couple of years even fairly poor east Africans may be getting knowledge, news and entertainment on robust versions of existing Apple iPhone and Palm Pre models. That, in turn, may prove to be a political as well as economic boon, as information gets shared “horizontally”, among people rather than “vertically”via media outlets run by the political and commercial elites.

一些呼叫中心已经占据了市场，并有望在光缆建成之时得到迅速的发展。安全专家表示，网络犯罪和垃圾 邮件也会随之增加。但是就目前来看，移动电话将会继续快速发展，而网吧。于此同时，手机的数量及质 量也都会得到提高。在未来的几年间，甚至是极其平困的东非人民也可能从现在功能强大的苹果 Iphone 和 Palm Pre 设备上获取知识，新闻和娱乐消息。从经济和政治的角度上说，这都将是惠及大众的。因为，人 们可以在群众中“横向”分享信息，而不是通过由政治和商业精英控制的传媒“纵向”地获取信息。 Rwanda may emerge as a winner. Its president, Paul Kagame, has long identified the internet as a key to his country's development, offering concessions to software companies setting up there. But Kenya also wants to cash in. It has abolished sales tax on computers and in last week's budget ended the sales tax on new mobile phones. It has also let businesses write off bandwidth purchases in the hope of dominating the regional internet market. That may make other countries push companies to drop their prices. 卢旺达可能会成为收益者。该国总统 Paul Kagame 长期以来就认为网络的普及将推动该国的发展，并向当 地的软件公司提供一些列的特许权。但肯尼亚也希望对其投资。该国取消了购买电脑的销售税，并且在上 周的预算中停止了对新移动电话交易征收的销售税。同时，肯尼亚也让企业减记购买宽带的费用，期望此 举能帮助该国主导地区的英特尔网市场。这也许会使其它的公司同样降低它们的定价。 This is all good news for the often embattled east African consumer. But there is a worry over whether the cables will be properly maintained. Some people fear that the wires may be dug up. But few mobile-phone masts have apparently been stolen, so maybe the cables will survive. One idea in Kenya is to recruit spear-carrying Masai herdsmen to graze their cattle and goats on top of the twittering fibre, just as they already guard the oil pipeline that runs across their pastures. 对于生活在战争绵绵的东非人民来说，这无疑是一个好消息。但同时也存在这样的担心，即光缆是否能得 到恰当地维护。一些人担心光缆线路将会被挖掘盗走。但是迄今为止，还没有人偷盗移动公司的天线杆。 这样看来，光缆线路应该不会遭到盗窃。肯尼亚认为，手拿矛枪的 Masai 牧人目前已经在保护穿越牧场的 石油管道。同样也可以雇佣这些牧人，让他们沿着传输信息的光缆的上端放牧牛羊等家畜。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Regrettable facts 遗憾的事实 Australia and anti-Indian violence 澳大利亚的反印度裔暴力活动 Regrettable facts 遗憾的事实 Jun 18th 2009 | SYDNEY From The Economist print edition Thuggery mars a burgeoning friendship 谋杀事件损害了两国迅速发展的友谊

Making a stand in Mumbai BELYING its name, Harris Park is neither leafy nor green. It is a gritty western Sydney suburb, where Indian students have recently taken to the streets in protest against some of the worst ethnic-based attacks Australia has seen. As young Indian men gather by the local railway station, police converge further down the street and arrest two non-Indians. Asked about the wave of violence against their community, two Indians lower their voices. “Lebanese,”says one. Others wonder if the answer may be more complicated. 与其名字不同，哈里斯帕克并不是一处植被繁盛，绿意盎然的地方。最近，在这个位于悉尼西部郊区的地 方，印度裔学生走上街头抗议澳大利亚有史以来最严重的针对种族的袭击活动。正当学生们在当地火车站 聚集时，警方在街道另一头逮捕了两名非印裔人。当被问及这股反对他们社区风潮的始作俑者时，两名印 度人压低了声音，其中一个说“黎巴嫩人.”其他人则怀疑整个事件远没有这么简单。 The violence sprang to public notice when two Indian men were attacked with screwdrivers in Melbourne last month. One was robbed. Both ended up in hospital. A demonstration of about 2,000 Indian students in Melbourne called for stronger police action. They claimed the attacks fitted into a wider pattern of violence over the past year against Indians in Australia. The Melbourne attacks came as a firebomb was hurled in Harris Park through the window of a house where young Indians lived. One suffered bad burns. On June 8th two more Indians were attacked near a Harris Park restaurant, where Indian community leaders had gathered, prompting two successive nights of demonstrations in the suburb. The Indian press accused Australia of racism. Amitabh Bachchan, a Bollywood superstar, refused an honorary doctorate from a university in Brisbane. 上月在墨尔本两名印度人被凶手用螺丝刀袭击致死，其中一人被抢。这次暴力事件引起公众的广泛关注。 大约 2000 名印度学生在墨尔本举行游行示威要求警方采取更为严厉的措施。他们声称此次袭击与自去年以 来在澳大利亚发生的针对印度裔族群的各种暴力行为的性质如出一辙，在上次袭击事件中一处印度青年人 居住的房屋被人投掷燃烧弹，造成一人严重烧伤；6 月 8 日，又有两人在哈里斯帕克饭店附近遭到袭击， 此前印度裔族群领袖在该饭店集会，决定举行持续两晚的游行活动。印度媒体指责澳大利亚种族歧视，宝 莱坞巨星阿米特巴·巴赫卡安因此拒绝了布里斯班一所大学授予的荣誉博士头衔。 Over the past 40 years Australia has received waves of immigrants from Vietnam, Lebanon and other parts of Asia

and the Middle East. Most have settled peaceably. Indians are the latest to arrive. In the decade to 2006 the number of Australian residents born in India almost doubled. India was the third-fastest-growing source of immigrants, after New Zealand and China. 过去的四十年里，来自越南、黎巴嫩、中东和其他亚洲地区的一批又一批的移民来到澳大利亚，他们中大 多数人都已经平静的定居下来。而来自印度的移民最晚到达，截至 2006 年的十年间，出生于印度的澳大利 亚居民的数量增加了近一倍，印度成为继新西兰，中国之后，移民增长速度排在第三位的国家。 There has also been a big increase in students coming from India, especially in courses for skills where qualifications offer a fast track to permanent residency. Since 2006 Indian enrolments in such “vocational”courses jumped by 161%, reaching 52,000 last year. Many Indian students have fanned out from inner-city student quarters to private colleges in the suburbs, and to places like Harris Park where rents are cheaper, and crime rates higher. In recent years Indians have displaced Lebanese as the suburb's biggest ethnic group. 来澳印度学生的数量也有大幅增长，尤其集中在那些能够轻易取得永久定居权的技能类专业上。2006 年以 来，此类“职业教育”的印度学生的入学率大幅增长了 161%，去年达到 52000 人。许多印度学生从市里的学 生住地迁至郊区的私立大学，以及像哈里斯帕克这样租金便宜，但犯罪率偏高的地方。近些年，印度裔已 经取代黎巴嫩裔成为郊区最大的少数民族族群。 Initially, police said the motive for the glut of attacks on Indians was robbery: students going home from night jobs carrying money and mobile phones were “soft”targets. Later, they conceded that some attacks were race-based. Many Indian students privately blame Lebanese youths, who may well be jobless gang-members. But at Billu's Indian Eatery and Sweet House, a Harris Park gathering point, Aruna Chandrala, an Indian community leader, carefully avoids censure. “It's a law-and-order issue,”she says. “The students are saying 'Enough is enough'.” 起初警方声称这些针对印度人的袭击的动机是抢劫：下夜班回家的学生往往携带现金和手机，容易使他们 成为袭击目标。后来警方不得不承认有一些袭击是针对种族的。许多印度学生私下怪罪黎巴嫩裔青年人， 他们很多人都是无业游民。但是在比鲁斯印度甜点餐厅，哈里斯帕克的一个印度人聚集地，印度族群领袖 阿鲁娜.钱德拉小心翼翼地避开了这种责难，“这是一件有关法律和公共秩序的问题，学生们高喊'够了！够 了！'”。 It has also become a diplomatic embarrassment for Australia, at a time when it has been seeking to boost relations with India to what Stephen Smith, Australia's foreign minister, calls “the front rank of our international partnerships”. Kumari Selja, India's tourism minister, has cancelled a planned visit to Australia in July. And Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, has said he is “appalled” at the violence, calling some of it racially motivated. 此次事件在外交上也给澳大利亚造成了压力。目前，澳大利亚正寻求与印度建立一种被澳大利亚外交部长 斯蒂芬.史密斯称为“最重要国际伙伴”的双边关系，而印度旅游文化部长库马里.赛利亚已经取消了定于七月 份访问澳大利亚的计划，印度总理辛格也表示他对此暴力事件感到“惊恐”，并称其带有种族主义动机。 Kevin Rudd, his Australian counterpart, dismissed race as a motive, and called the violence “just a regrettable fact of urban life”. About 20 Australians, he pointed out, had been assaulted or murdered in India over the past decade. That is a good debating point: but not one that will help persuade Indian parents that Australia is a safe place to

send their children. 而澳大利亚总理陆克文否认种族问题导致此次暴力事件，并将它称为“城市生活中令人遗憾的事实”。他同 时指出，过去 10 年间有大约 20 名澳大利亚人在印度遭到袭击或被谋杀。这的确是一个好论点，但不足以 让印度的家长们相信澳大利亚是一个安全的国度，并说服他们把孩子送去那里。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Good game?游戏有益？ the behavioural effects of video games 电动游戏的行为学影响 Good game? 游戏有益？ May 28th 2009 From The Economist print edition Playing video games can make you a better person 电动游戏帮助玩家成为更好的人 VIDEO games get a bad press. Many are unquestionably violent and, as has been the way with new media from novels to comic books to television, they have been accused of corrupting the moral fabric of youth. Nor are such ccusations without merit. There is a body of research suggesting that violent games can lead to aggressive thoughts, if not to violence itself. But not all games are shoot-'em-ups, and what is less examined is whether those that reward more constructive behaviour also have lingering impacts. That, however, is starting to change. Two studies showing that video games have a bright side as well as a dark one have been carried out recently. 大众对电动游戏颇有微词。不可否认，非常多的电动游戏都充斥着暴力色彩，因而也就难以逃脱败坏青少 年道德观的指责，重蹈了小说、漫画、电视等新媒体的覆辙。不过这些指责并非毫无根据。大量的研究结 果表明，暴力游戏即使不会使玩家有暴力的行为，也会让他们产生暴力的想法。然而，并非所有的游戏都 是打打杀杀，有些游戏褒奖积极的行为，他们是否对玩家也有潜移默化的影响？这个问题却乏人关注。最 近有两项研究表明电动游戏瑕瑜互见，优缺点并存。 One, to be published in June by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, was conducted by Douglas Gentile, of Iowa State University's media research laboratory. He and his colleagues tested the effects of playing so-called “pro-social”games on children and young adults in three countries. 《实验社会心理学杂志》六月份刊发了其中一项研究。这项研究由爱荷华州立大学媒体研究实验室的 Douglas Gentile 及其同事共同进行。他们针对来自三个国家的孩童和青年玩家，检测所谓的“亲社会”游戏 对他们产生的影响。 A group of 161 American students played one of six games for 20 minutes. Some were given “Ty 2”or “Crash Twinsanity”, both of which involve cartoonish fighting and destruction. Others were assigned “Chibi-Robo!”,

which involves helping characters in the game by doing their chores, or “Super Mario Sunshine”, in which players clean up pollution and graffiti. A third group, acting as a control, played “Pure Pinball”or “Super Monkey Ball Deluxe”, both of which involve guiding a ball through mazes. 其中 161 位美国学生为一组，玩六款游戏其中之一，时间长 20 分钟。第一小组分派到“Ty 2”或“Crash Twinsanity”游戏，这两款涉及卡通人物的对打和破坏行为。第二小组分到“Chibi-Robo!”，一款帮助游戏中 的主人公完成任务的游戏，或“Super Mario Sunshine”，一款由玩家清理污物和街头涂鸦的游戏。第三小组 则作为对照，玩两部球出迷宫的游戏-“Pure Pinball”或“Super Monkey Ball Deluxe”。 Their games over, the participants were asked to choose 11 of 30 easy, medium or hard shape-based puzzles for a partner to complete, and told that their partner would receive a $10 gift voucher if he could complete ten of them. Those who had been playing pro-social games were significantly more likely to help their partner by selecting easy puzzles. The opposite was true for those assigned violent games. 游戏结束后，参与者从 30 款难度分别为简单、中等、困难的拼图游戏中挑选 11 款，选一位搭档让其完成。 同时告知搭档如果能够完成其中的 10 款游戏，便可奖励 10 美元的礼券。结果显示，“亲社会”游戏的玩家 明显比暴力游戏的玩家更可能为其搭档挑选简单的拼图。反过来说，暴力游戏的玩家确实更可能会为其搭 档挑选难度高的游戏。 The other parts of Dr Gentile's study looked at established behaviour. In one, a group of 680 Singaporeans aged 12-14 were asked to list their three favourite games and state the number of hours they played. They were then given questionnaires, the answers to which suggested that those who spent the longest playing games which involved helping others were most likely to help, share, co-operate and empathise with others. They also had lower scores in tests for hostile thoughts and the acceptance of violence as normal. In the second, Japanese aged 10-17 were asked how much time they spent playing games in which the main character helps others. When questioned three to four months later, those who played these types of games the most were also rated as more helpful to those around them in real life. Gentile 博士的其他部分研究观察的是定型行为。第一部分实验中，680 位 12 至 14 岁的新加坡玩家为一组， 要求每人列出三部最喜欢的游戏，且说明玩游戏持续的时间，然后再进行问卷调查。从问卷的答案中便可 一窥倪端：进行助人游戏时间最长的玩家最有可能帮助、同情他人，与他人分享。在敌意思想和暴力正常 化的测试中，这些玩家得分也较低。第二部分实验的研究对象是 10 至 17 岁的日本玩家，他们被要求告知 花费在帮助他人的游戏上的具体时间长短。调查三四个月后，观察到经常玩助人游戏类型的玩家在现实生 活中也是更愿意帮助身边周围的人的。 Screened for virtue 瑕不掩瑜 These two, later, parts of Dr Gentile's study might, of course, just be proving that nice people prefer pro-social games. But a second controlled experiment, by Tobias Greitemeyer of the University of Sussex, in England, and Silvia Osswald of Ludwig-Maximilian University, in Munich, confirms the gist of Dr Gentile's conclusions. In this piece of research (to be published later this year, also in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology), Dr Greitemeyer and Dr Osswald asked 46 German students to play one of two classic games. In the pro-social one,

“Lemmings”, the aim is to protect rodents from various dangers. By contrast “Tetris”acted as a neutral control. In this game players rotate falling shapes so that they slot neatly together instead of saving self-destructive furry animals. Gentile 博士的后面两部分研究只是证明与人为善的人更喜欢玩“亲社会”游戏。而由英格兰苏赛克斯大学的 Tobias Greitemeyer 和慕尼黑大学的 Silvia Osswald 进行的第二个对照试验却确证了 Gentile 博士的实验结论 的要点。在这次研究(研究结果将于今年下半年同样刊发在《实验社会心理学杂志》上)中，Greitemeyer 博 士和 Osswald 博士邀请了 46 位德国学生，参与两部经典游戏。其中一部“Lemmings”，属亲社会的类型，游 戏主旨是保护啮齿目动物免于各种不同危险。相对拯救自我灭亡的毛皮动物，另外一部游戏“Tetris”的内容 则相反，属于中性对照试验，玩家在游戏中旋转下降的不同方块，使模型排列整齐。 Playtime over, the students were asked to say what happens next in three incomplete stories involving a driver and a cyclist who narrowly miss colliding; two friends, one of whom is unapologetic despite being repeatedly late; and a diner speaking to a restaurant manager after waiting for an hour to be served and then having food spilt on him. Those who had played “Lemmings”suggested endings in which the characters in the stories exhibited significantly fewer aggressive thoughts, responses and actions than the ones suggested by the “Tetris”players. 游戏时间结束，参与的学生针对 3 个不完整的故事进行故事接龙：第一个故事与一位司机和一位骑自行车 的人在车祸中死里逃生；第二个故事中，有两个朋友，其中一个多次迟到，但至今未曾表示歉意；最后一 个故事是一个用餐者，等了一个小时才上菜，现在因为被食物泼溅到而和餐厅经理理论。在“Lemmings”的 玩家续讲的故事中，故事人物表现出的想法、反应和行为的暴力程度都显著少于“Tetris”玩家。 The upshot of both studies is that video games are like any other medium. Feed the user with aggressive thoughts and you risk making him aggressive. Feed him with the milk of human kindness and the opposite will probably happen. No great surprise, perhaps. But a salutary reminder both that the older generation should not rush to judgment on youthful habits it does not understand, and that the medium is not always the message. 两项研究的结论都表明电动游戏与任何其他媒体无异，都会让玩家产生暴力的想法，不过暴力与否完全则 取决于玩家自身。电动游戏或是美德之源，亦或是暴力邪恶的深渊，这个结论可能并无新意。但是年长的 一代不能理解年青一代的习惯时，并不应该轻率地下结论；而且媒体也只是一种信息媒介，并非总代表信 息本身，意识到这两点就是大有裨益了。 经济学人杂志双语阅读：Ding dong! Empowerment calling 叮咚！灌能在召唤 Face value 票面价值 Ding dong! Empowerment calling 叮咚！灌能在召唤 May 28th 2009