发布于

A web of sound
发声网页

Talk about that
网站，说一说

Jun 18th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Websites that use the spoken word will empower the illiterate
发声网站，让文盲也可以上网

THE internet, wonderful though it is, reinforces one of life’s fundamental divisions: that between the literate and the illiterate. Most websites, even those heavy with video content, rely on their users being able to read and—if interactive—write. Building your own site certainly does.

英特网，自是精彩纷呈，同时也加剧了那些受教育的人和文盲之间在人生里的根本分歧。大多数网站，即便是那些加载了大量视频文件的网页，也需要浏览者具备阅读的能力，如需进行互动还要求浏览者会打字。要是想建立个人网站就更是如此了。 继续阅读“”

发布于

Argentina’s mid-term election
阿根廷中期选举

The glass empties for the Kirchners
虚位以待

Jun 18th 2009 | BUENOS AIRES
From The Economist print edition

Recession and political mistakes by the first couple point to a change in the balance of power. But will Argentina at last acquire a more coherent opposition?
经济衰退和第一夫妇犯下的政治错误共同指向了权利结构的洗牌。但阿根廷最终是否可以得到一个更加团结的反对派呢？


继续阅读“”

发布于

Corporate hedging gets harder
公司对冲愈难

The perils of prudence
慎亦生祸

Jun 18th 2009
From The Economist print edition

The credit crunch has made it much more difficult and expensive for firms to hedge their risks

信用紧缩使得公司对冲风险变得更为不易且成本更高。

WARREN BUFFETT, one of the world’s most famous investors, once called derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction”. Central bankers worry that those sold “over the counter”, meaning outside exchanges, threaten the stability of the whole financial system. Yet firms that rely on derivatives to limit their exposure to swings in commodity prices, interest rates or exchange rates cannot get enough of them—literally.

世界上最著名的投资家之一，WARREN BUFFETT（沃伦·巴菲特）曾经把衍生品叫“金融大规模杀伤性武器”。 央行官员担心这些衍生品的“柜台销售”， 意指他们是在所外交易，会威胁整个金融系统的稳定。 然而，有的公司靠衍生品来减低大宗商品的价格， 利率， 或汇率大幅波动的影响，这些公司对这些衍生品是如饥似渴却又求之不得。   

Several firms using derivatives in an attempt to manage such risks have suffered huge losses of late, on paper at any rate. Among the hardest hit have been airlines, many of which paid to protect themselves from higher fuel prices last year when the oil price peaked at $147 a barrel. Because oil now costs much less, many have had to write down the value of those contracts, even if they are not due to be settled for years. The losers included Cathay Pacific Airways, which made paper losses of close to $1 billion, Ryanair, Air France-KLM and Southwest.

几家公司想用衍生品来对付上述风险， 近来蒙受巨大损失。 各个公司账面的损失各有不同。损失最惨重的当属航空公司了，很多航空企业在去年原油价格升至每桶147美元的时候买入了衍生品以期对冲未来可能进一步升高的油价。 但是因为现在油价大跌，尽管这些合同还要好几年才会到期，很多公司也不得不因为这些浮亏而记提账面损失。亏失的公司有 Cathay Pacific Airways (国泰航空)， 它账面损失近十亿； 还有Ryanair （瑞安航空），Air France-KLM （法国航空- KLM） 和 Southwest （西南）.
继续阅读“”

发布于

Lynching in Kenya
肯尼亚的私刑

A routine crime
犯罪已习以为常

Jun 18th 2009 | NAIROBI
From The Economist print edition

Mob justice is alarmingly common but few seem to mind
暴民的裁决普遍到骇人听闻，但好像没几个人在意

A LYNCHING took place recently outside an ironmonger’s shop in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. It was close to one of the city’s fancier shopping centres, early in the morning, with commuters streaming down the road on foot. A man had his mobile phone stolen but managed to lay a hand on the thief just long enough for the crowd to close in. His two accomplices waded in to rescue their man but the mob engulfed them. Stones rained down. Boulders crushed their heads and chests. Then the crowd moved on, became commuters once more, and the police removed three bodies.

近日，在肯尼亚首都内罗毕一家五金商店外，发生了一场私刑。该商店地处城市繁华的购物中心，当时正值大清早，上下班的人川流不息。一人的手机被偷，但他一只手托住了贼，正好让人群将贼围住。贼的两个同伙见状赶忙插手营救，但是暴民把他们仨都吞没了。石块如雨点般落下。巨大的石块砸碎了他们的脑袋和胸膛。之后，人群若无其事地继续前行，赶路上班去了。警察拖走了三具尸体。
继续阅读“”

发布于

榕树下

Kim family saga: third and final act
金氏传奇：第三幕（终幕）
Jun 18th 2009
From The Economist print edition

North Korea’s dictator is on the way out; take aim at his successor
朝鲜大独裁者金正日渐行渐远，谁会是其继任者？

BRUTAL, pot-bellied and unpredictable: the same adjectives are always together on the larder shelf when editorial writers describe Kim Jong Il. But how helpful are they any more? There’s no quibbling over Mr Kim’s brutality. He runs his country like a gulag, and a Kim-made famine killed a twentieth of the population in the 1990s. As for pot-bellied, the description no longer holds, since, after a presumed stroke last summer, the Dear Leader looks frail, and as gaunt as his underfed subjects.

提到金正日，报刊社论主笔不约而同地用到这几个形容词：野蛮残忍、大腹便便、捉摸不透。可这几个词现在还适用吗？金正日的野蛮残忍毋庸置疑。朝鲜在他统治之下无异于一座集中营，20世纪90年代金氏政权治下的大饥荒夺去了朝鲜1/20人口的生命。至于金正日大腹便便，不再适用了，去年夏天中风之后，这位敬爱的领袖看起来虚弱不堪，骨瘦如柴，一如他食不果腹的子民们。

继续阅读“”

发布于

Animal testing

Suffering for science
为科学牺牲

May 7th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Europe votes for better regulation of animal experiments
欧洲投票决定进一步规范动物实验。

FIFTY years ago, William Russell, a classics scholar, and Rex Burch, a microbiologist, outlined how the use of animals in scientific research could be made more humane. They wanted scientists to restrict the use of animals, to refine their experiments to minimise distress and to replace testing on animals with alternative techniques. Although the “3Rs” have become a guiding principle, the number of animals used today remains far higher than Russell and Burch would have accepted. Finally, that may be changing. On May 5th the European Parliament voted to update the rules on the use of animals in research.
50年前，杰出学者威廉•罗素和微生物学家雷克斯•伯奇共同概述了如何更人道地把动物用于科学实验中。他们提出“3R原则”，即减少动物使用量（replace testing on animals）、改善试验方法以减轻动物痛苦(refine their experiments to minimise distress)和用非活体动物实验替代动物实验(replace testing on animals with alternative techniques)。尽管该理论已经成为了实验动物用于科学研究的指导原则，但现今社会使用的动物数量却远远超过两人可接受的范围。现在，这种情况可能终于要改变了。本月五日，欧洲议会投票决定要更新动物实验规则。
继续阅读“”

发布于

Iraq’s children
伊拉克儿童

Saving the orphans
救救孤儿们
Jun 4th 2009
From The Economist print edition

                                                                                   Panos

BLESSED with courage, humanity, a Lebanese background and the support of a British newspaper, Hala Jaber had the credentials to spell out the true ugliness of “collateral damage” in the Iraqi war. When the Sunday Times, among other newspapers, established a fund to help injured civilians, Ms Jaber and her photographer husband Steve set out to find stories that would pierce hearts and empty wallets. It was an all too easy commission.

Hala Jaber完全有能力和资格揭露伊战对平民的伤害中所蕴含的真实的丑恶性，因为她不仅有着黎巴嫩的背景，并富有勇气和人性，还得到了英国报纸的支持。星期日泰晤士报，和其他报纸一起成立了一个基金会帮助受伤的平民，Jaber女士和他的摄影师丈夫史蒂夫出发寻找刺痛心灵和倾尽钱财的故事。实在是一个太简单的任务。

继续阅读“”

发布于

Middle East & Africa

Israel and America

A test of friendship
友谊考验

Jun 11th 2009 | JERUSALEM
From The Economist print edition

Picking up the gauntlet thrown down by Barack Obama
奥巴马发飙,内塔尼亚胡接招…


Big bad Obama wants to blow their house down

IN AN interview before his address to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4th, President Barack Obama urged honesty in the American-Israeli dialogue. “Part of being a good friend is being honest,” Mr Obama said. On June 14th it will be Binyamin Netanyahu’s turn. The Israeli prime minister is due to give his reply to Mr Obama’s unwelcome demands that Israel freeze settlements, accept the principle of the two-state solution and get on with negotiations with the Palestinians to bring it about.

6月4日,美国总统巴拉克.奥巴马在埃及开罗面向对穆斯林世界发表讲话. 而在此之前的一次访谈中,奥巴马敦促美以对话中应相互”坦诚”. “做为好朋友,坦诚相待是题中之义.”奥巴马说. 6月14日就要看本雅明.内塔尼亚胡的了. 奥巴马要求以色列冻结定居点修建,接受两国原则,同时与巴勒斯坦谈判以促成协议. 以色列总理即将就上述几点做出回应.

继续阅读“”

发布于

Lexington


The underworked American
偷懒的美国人
Jun 11th 2009
2009年6月11日
From The Economist print edition
译自经济学人印刷版
Children are exceptions to the country’s work ethic
孩子们是美国工作伦理的例外

AMERICANS like to think of themselves as martyrs to work. They delight in telling stories about their punishing hours, snatched holidays and ever-intrusive BlackBerrys. At this time of the year they marvel at the laziness of their European cousins, particularly the French. Did you know that the French take the whole of August off to recover from their 35-hour work weeks? Have you heard that they are so addicted to their holidays that they leave the sick to die and the dead to moulder?

美国人总喜欢自诩自己为工作奉献一切。他们对自己饱受折磨的工作时间、被挤榨的假期以及时不时打扰黑莓手机津津乐道。在今年的这个时候，他们就开始对他们欧洲特别是法国的表兄弟们的懒散表示惊讶。“你知道吗，法国人是把整个八月份都用来休假，以作为对他们‘每周35小时’工作的疗养？你听说吗，他们沉醉于假期，而把病的放到死，死的放到腐烂？”
继续阅读“”