The Economist 经济学人 经济学家 中文版

Germany’s tax debate
德国税收争论
Whether or when to cut
税收热议

May 22nd 2008 | BERLIN
From The Economist print edition

An argument about tax cuts causes divisions within as well as between parties
一场关于减税的争论不仅在党际，而且在党内造成了分歧

GERMANY’S grand coalition is supposedly a union of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and their left-leaning foes, the Social Democrats (SPD). Lately, it has been more like an irascible marriage between those who wish to cut taxes fast and those who do not. Most CDU deputies in the Bundestag want tax cuts. The SPD chief, Kurt Beck, even says his party will cook up cuts of its own. But barring the way are the CDU chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the SPD finance minister, Peer Steinbrück. They want to keep a promise to balance the federal budget by 2011. Tax cuts in this parliament? “Not while I’m around,” growls Mr Steinbrück.
德国的大联合政府一般认为是中间偏右的基督教民主联盟（CDU）和他们的左派对手社会民主党（SPD）的联合。但最近，这 个政府变得更像是减税支持者和反对减税者之间暴躁的联姻。众议院的大部分CDU成员希望减税。SPD领导科特贝克甚至说要设计他们自己的减税方案。但是挡 在他们前面的是CDU成员首相安吉拉默克尔，和SPD成员财政部长施泰因布吕克。他们想在2011年之前恪守平衡联邦预算的承诺。在这届议会减税？“只要 我在就别想，”施泰因布吕克吼道。 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Whether or when to cut 德国税收热议”

Asia.view
亚洲观察
Reconstructing Afghanistan
重建阿富汗

May 20th 2008
From The Economist print edition

The lessons of earlier Asian nation-building efforts
早期亚洲国家重建的教训

AP/美联社

A big tent would be better
大点的帐篷都比这好

NEARLY seven years after the toppling of the Taliban, Afghanistan’s future is still up for grabs. Despite tens of thousands of foreign troops, and billions of dollars in aid, the country remains stricken by poverty and insurgency.
推翻塔利班已近七年了，可阿富汗依旧前途未卜。数以千计的外国军队和几十亿美元的援助也于事无补，这个国家仍深受贫困与叛乱之苦。 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Reconstructing Afghanistan 重建阿富汗”

Cluster weapons
集束武器
Blown away
烟消云散

May 22nd 2008
From The Economist  print edition
2008年5月22日《经济学人》印刷版

Bemoaning nasty weapons is one thing. Deciding how to ban them is another
非人道武器，谴责不等于禁止

A cluster bomb’s Cambodian legacy
柬埔寨集束炸弹受害者

IT HAS worked with landmines. Can a conscience-stricken world now pull off the same trick with cluster munitions? These blast an area with bomblets: handy in the heat of war, but often leaving a lethal legacy of unexploded ordnance afterwards. Campaigners say that by far the majority of casualties are civilians.
地雷禁令业已施行。良心发现的世界诸国能否同样禁止集束武器？集束武器引爆后，霰弹能造成大面积杀伤：战争之际确为杀人良器，但未爆炸的霰弹亦是致命残留。禁令支持者指出，迄今为止，集束武器贻害的大多为平民。
继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Blown away 烟消云散”

NEW FILM
电影新作

The whipcracker is back
策马扬鞭，英雄归来
http://www.ecocn.org/
May 22nd 2008
From The Economist print edition
http://www.ecocn.org/
Indiana Jones returns with a steely secret weapon
携带冷酷铁血的“秘密武器”，印第安纳·琼斯系列回归银幕
http://www.ecocn.org/
AP/美联社

The real star 真正的明星
http://www.ecocn.org/
HARRISON FORD may be 65, but he still wields a prehensile bullwhip with aplomb and his punches sound as though they might fell an elephant.
年近六十五岁的哈里森·福特，依旧沉着挥舞着他那收放自如的长鞭，声声鞭鸣置地有声,力量十足仿佛可以将大象击倒在地.
继续阅读“[2008.05.22] The whipcracker is back 策马扬鞭，英雄归来”

Computer animation
电脑动画

Tall tales
离奇故事

May 22nd 2008
From The Economist print edition

The rollercoaster, rags-to-riches story of a remarkable animation studio
非同凡响的动画工作室是如何白手起家，平步青云的。

Breaking the mould
打破陈规

PIXAR’S characters—whether the heroic toys of “Toy Story”, the father and son fish of “Finding Nemo”, the insects in “A Bug’s Life” or the rat-chef of “Ratatouille”—are full of yearning; for a child to play with, a lost family member, or to become something that seems far out of reach. The small company that imagined them is just the same. Right from the beginning, Pixar, officially a computer-hardware business, secretly dreamed of a more creative life making feature films.
从《玩具总动员》中神勇的玩具 兵，到《海底总动员》里的父子鱼；从《虫虫总动员》中的小昆虫，到《美食总动员》里的老鼠大厨，皮克斯创造出的角色总是对未来满怀期待：期待着能够一起玩 耍的小伙伴，期待着失去的亲人重新团聚，期待着拥有看似无法企及的身份。这其实也是这家小公司对自身的期许。成立伊始的皮克斯公司的正式业务是电脑硬件， 然而却暗暗怀着制做长篇电影的梦想。
继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Tall tales 离奇故事”

The world economy
世界经济
Inflation’s back
通胀归来

May 22nd 2008
From The Economist print edition

Double-digit price rises are about to afflict two-thirds of the world’s population
两位数的通胀将会困扰全球三分之二的人

RONALD REAGAN once described inflation as being “as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit-man”. Until recently, central bankers thought that this thug had been locked up for life. Thanks to sound monetary policies, inflation worldwide had stayed low in recent years. But the mugger is back on the prowl.
罗纳德里根曾经这样形容通货膨胀—“它如强盗般凶猛，武匪般骇人，杀手般致命”。直到最近，中央银行都以为这个恶棍已经被终身囚禁起来。由于合理的货币政策，这些年全球范围内的通货膨胀维持在一个较低的水平。但这个暴徒现在已经悄然潜回。 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Inflation’s back 通胀归来”

the coming days
未来几日
The week ahead
本周展望
May 25th 2008
From Economist.com
《经济学人》网站

One more test for the junta in Myanmar, and other news of the coming week
缅甸军政府再次面临考验，及未来一周其它新闻

AP/美联社

• IF THE military leaders of Myanmar dare to take it, an opportunity arises on Tuesday May 27th to nudge their wretched country in a slightly less desperate direction. By that date the junta is supposed to announce whether the detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, will be released from house arrest. The Nobel laureate has been in detention for a dozen of the past 18 years. But in the aftermath of the cyclone, which has claimed perhaps 130,000 lives—partly as a result of the government’s decision to delay foreign aid—it seems more likely that her detention will be extended for another year.
For background see article
人们认为，缅甸军政府会在5月27日周二，宣布是否释放被囚禁的反对派领导人昂山素姬。如果缅甸军政府领导人有勇气抓住这一机会，他们不幸的国家就会走 上一个不那么令人绝望的方向。在过去的18年中，诺贝尔和平奖获得者昂山素姬被囚禁了12年。但由于缅甸遭遇风暴袭击，她很可能会被再关押一年。此次风暴夺走了约13万人的生命，缅甸军政府迟迟不肯接受外国援助是导致这一惨剧的部分原因。　　背景知识详见文章
继续阅读“[2008.05.25] The week ahead 未来一周展望”

Txt msgng in Frnc
短信用语横行法国
Parlez-vous SMS?
法语短信你懂吗？

May 22nd 2008 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition

A new threat to the French language
法语要面对新威胁

THE baccalauréat exam season approaches, and with it ritual agonising over the standard of French spelling. These days, fingers are pointed not only at progressive teaching, the decline of the dictée or the legacy of May 1968. The new culprit is text-messaging.
法国高考日益临近，随之而来的是学生的法语拼写水平令人忧心忡忡。近日来，人们千夫所指的不再是教育改革问题，听写水平下降，或是1968年五月学潮的余波。最新的罪魁祸首就是短信用语。
继续阅读“[2008.05.22]Parlez-vous SMS? 法语短信你懂吗？”

Politics this week
本周政治要览

May 22nd 2008
2008年5月22日
From The Economist print edition
摘自《经济学人》印刷版

China observed three days of national mourning for those killed by the recent earthquake in the province of Sichuan. The number of dead or missing climbed above 70,000, and 5m people were reported to be homeless.
为表达对四川地震遇难者的深切哀悼，中国举行了为期三天的全国哀悼日。目前，死亡人数和失踪人数已达7万之多。另据报道，当前有500万人无家可归。详见文章

Three days of national mourning were also declared in Myanmar, where the estimate of casualties from the cyclone on May 2nd was raised to 78,000 dead and 56,000 missing. An agreement reached by South-East Asian foreign ministers should help the inflow of aid. But the risk of a secondary catastrophe, of disease and starvation, remained high.
缅甸也宣布举行为期3天的全国哀悼日。据估计，自5月2日遭受强热带风暴袭击以来，缅甸国内的死亡人数已上升到7.8万人和失踪人数已达5.6万人。东南亚各国外长达成协议以帮助援助物资顺利进入缅甸。不过，缅甸再次面临疾病和饥饿等灾害的风险依然很高。详见文章 　　 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Politics this week 本周政治要览”

Vietnam
越南
Shooting the messenger
向报信者开炮

May 22nd 2008 | BANGKOK
From The Economist print edition

The press fights back as two graft-busting reporters are arrested
当两名检举贿赂的记者被捕后，媒体展开反击

THE leaders of Vietnam’s Communist Party say they are conducting a “no holds barred” crackdown on corruption in public life. They implore the country’s newspapers to sniff out and expose the fiddles of officials. In February the party chief, Nong Duc Manh, praised the press for unmasking graft and thereby fulfilling “the people’s desires”. The most notable case was a scandal at the transport ministry in 2006 in which newspapers revealed how officials had gambled around $750,000 of public money on the outcomes of football matches. In the clean-up that followed, the head of a road-building department at the ministry was jailed, along with seven others.
越共领导人声称他们“毫不留情”的打击公共政治中的腐败行为。他们请求报纸寻 找并披露官员的污点。2月份党的总书记农德孟对媒体揭露腐败的行为进行了表彰，称媒体实现了“人民群众的心愿”。最值得注意的是报纸在2006年披露的交 通部丑闻，官员们挪用75万美元公款赌球。在接下来的惩处中，公路建设部门的负责人和其他七名官员入狱。 继续阅读“[2008.05.22]Shooting the messenger 向报信者开炮”