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[2008.05.17] Marina marches off 玛丽娜激流勇退

The Amazon
亚马逊
Marina marches off
玛丽娜激流勇退

May 15th 2008
From The Economist print edition
2008年5月15日
摘自《经济学人》印刷版

Brazil’s minister for the Amazon resigns in frustration
护林工作兢兢业业，政治生涯磕磕绊绊


The rainforest’s defeated champion
惨败的雨林保护者

WHEN Marina Silva was appointed minister responsible for preserving the Amazon five years ago, she gave a big boost to Brazil’s standing among the world’s environmentalists. All her adult life, she had been a prominent and uncompromising activist for the preservation of the rainforest, so the choice was a bit like picking a human-rights lawyer to run the police. But on May 14th she resigned—out of sheer frustration. Her departure will now make it a lot harder for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government to convince Amazon-watchers of its determination to slow the rate of deforestation.
五年前，在玛丽娜•席尔瓦 (Marina Silva)被任命为部长负责保护亚马逊地区时，她在使巴西屹立全球环境保护大国之林中给予极大推动作用。在其所有的成年生活中，席尔瓦女士都是一名功勋 卓越和绝不妥协的雨林保护活动家，因此这一任职极象是选择一位人权利律师来管理警察。然而，在5月14日玛丽娜•席尔瓦女士选择了辞职——出于全线崩溃。 现在，席尔瓦女士的辞职将令亚马逊守护者难以相信卢拉政府拥有减缓森林砍伐速度的决心。
 继续阅读“[2008.05.17] Marina marches off 玛丽娜激流勇退”

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[2008.05.17] A new itinerary 全新的行程

Travel and tourism
旅游业
A new itinerary
全新的行程

May 15th 2008 | DUBAI
From The Economist print edition

Both as destinations and as new sources of tourists, emerging economies are transforming the travel industry
既是旅游目的地，又提供新客源，新兴经济正在改变着旅游业

WHEN you arrive at Dubai International Airport, the bus journey from your aeroplane to the terminal building takes almost 15 minutes. This is not because Dubai is inefficient—far from it—but because for a small country it has a huge airport, which is in the throes of expansion. The airport will still be too small to cope with the swelling inflow of travellers, so Dubai’s rulers are building another one, at Jebel Ali, a port town 35km (20 miles) away, which is due to come into full operation in 2017. Designed to handle 120m passengers a year, it is expected to be the world’s busiest airport.
当你到达阿联酋迪拜国际机场时，搭乘机场摆渡车到达航 站楼需要近 15分钟的车程，这并不是因为机场工作效率低下–事实远非如此–而是因为这个小国确实有个面积巨大的机场，而且目前该机场正处在扩建之中。即使如此， 迪拜国际机场的客容量也不足以承载如潮涌来的大量旅客，为此迪拜领导人决定在距现有机场35公里外（20英里）的杰贝勒阿里海港修建另一座机场，预计于 2017年全面投入运营。计划每年承载1.2亿客流量，估计将成为世界上最繁忙的机场。 继续阅读“[2008.05.17] A new itinerary 全新的行程”

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[2008.05.17] Don’t mention the war 勿提战争

Asia.view
亚洲观察
Don’t mention the war
勿提战争

May 14th 2008
From Economist.com
2008年5月14日
摘自《经济学家》网站

What Hu Jintao’s trip to Japan really accomplished
胡锦涛访日的真正成果

THE success of Hu Jintao’s five-day trip to Japan, which ended last weekend, appears to have taken officials on both sides by surprise. It was the longest trip to a single country that Mr Hu has made while in office, and it is only the second time a Chinese head of state has visited Japan. Relations between the neighbours for much of the past two millennia have been marked by brief bursts of mutual admiration interspersed with lashings of trouble, strife and, on occasion, total war.
胡锦涛为时5天的访日之旅于上周末结束，其成功似乎让双方官员都颇感意外。这是胡锦涛上任以来在一国境内停留时间最长的出访，也是第二次有中国国家元首访问日本。两千年来，中日关系变幻不定，两国间有过短暂的互相钦慕，大量的纷争，也爆发过数次全面战争。

Admittedly, Mr Hu’s visit was more fluff than substance. China has now overtaken the United States as Japan’s biggest trading partner, but no new progress was made on the protection of Japanese intellectual-property rights in China, where much is pirated. Nor did China make a firm commitment to curb its carbon emissions or deal with worsening air and water pollution, all of which affect Japan.
应该承认，胡锦涛的访问更多地是一种姿态而缺乏实质性。目前，中国已替代美国，成为日本的第一大贸易伙伴。但是，境内盗版猖獗环境日益恶化的中国在保护日本知识产权的工作上并无新进展；在控制碳排放、治理大气污染和水污染等影响到日本的问题上也没做出坚定承诺。


Let a hundred meterological improbabilities bloom
破出万象新

Above all, Mr Hu and Japan’s prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, were supposed to have settled a potentially explosive dispute over maritime boundaries in the East China Sea. They had agreed in principle to jointly develop gas fields straddling the disputed boundary, but no deal was done.
人们普遍认为最重要的是，胡和福田已解决了可能引发争端的东海边界问题。双方仅在原则上同意共同开发有争议地区的天然气田，但没有就此达成任何协议。

继续阅读“[2008.05.17] Don’t mention the war 勿提战争”

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[2008.05.17] No time to sit back 干预措施，刻不容缓

Disasters in China and Myanmar
中国和缅甸的灾难
No time to sit back
干预措施，刻不容缓

May 15th 2008
From The Economist print edition

China has shown up Myanmar’s generals. But it is not too late for outsiders to help the Burmese
中国已经使缅甸的将军们感到难堪,但对于外界人员而言,救助缅甸民众为时未晚

IT HAS taken another catastrophe, this one in China, to show the generals who run Myanmar how better to respond to a natural disaster. Ten days after a cyclone struck Myanmar (formerly Burma) on May 2nd, the xenophobic junta there had managed to ensure that aid from abroad was still only trickling in and most of what had arrived was not being distributed to those who needed it. The United Nations’ estimates for the dead and vulnerable were rising dramatically. It was then that a devastating earthquake struck western China. President Hu Jintao at once mobilised soldiers and other workers in an all-out rescue effort. The prime minister, Wen Jiabao, arrived in the region within a few hours, making no attempt to play down this “severe disaster” and saying China would gratefully accept international help (see article). The contrast with Myanmar was telling.
又一场灾难告诉缅甸将军们如何应对自然灾害,这次灾难发生在中国.在五月 二号缅甸遭受热带风暴袭击的十天后，伊外的军政府成功地确保外部援助如同细水般流入，并且其中大多数没有分配给灾民们．联合国就死亡与受伤人数的估计急剧 上升．就在这时一场毁灭性的地震袭击了中国西部．胡锦涛主席立即动员士兵和其他人员全力组织营救．温家宝总理在几小时之内赶赴灾区，没有试图掩盖这场＂严 重灾难＂并且声明中国愿意接受国际援助．中国与缅甸政府高下立判。 继续阅读“[2008.05.17] No time to sit back 干预措施，刻不容缓”

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[2008.05.17]Lexington: Why not both? 为何不两人都要？

Lexington
莱克星顿专栏

Why not both?
为何不两人都要？

May 15th 2008 2008年5月15日
From The Economist print edition 经济学人印刷版

The dubious case for a Democratic dream team
组建民主党梦之队的理由令人生疑。

BACK in March Barack Obama compared the Democratic primary to a “good movie” that has lasted “half an hour too long”. The movie has long since gone bad, and half an hour has dragged into an eternity. Surely it is high time to roll out the Hollywood ending.
在三月份，巴拉克奥巴马将民主党初选比作一部“拖长了半个小时的好电影”。这部电影早已变味了，这半个小时也长得似乎无穷无尽。想必该到上演好莱坞式结局的时候了。

继续阅读“[2008.05.17]Lexington: Why not both? 为何不两人都要？”

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[2008.05.10]Economics focus: A tale of two worlds 冰火两重天

Economics focus
经济观察

A tale of two worlds

冰火两重天

May 8th 2008
From The Economist print edition

If emerging economies diverge from America’s, monetary policy also needs to break free
货币政策不独立，新兴经济体就无法真正与美国脱钩

POLICYMAKERS in Washington and London have been losing sleep over the risks of financial meltdown and recession. In sharp contrast, the biggest worry in Beijing, Moscow and other emerging-market capitals is rising inflation. China’s inflation rate has jumped to 8.3% from 2.2% in early 2007; Russia’s is running at 13.3% (see left-hand chart). HSBC forecasts that the average inflation rate in emerging economies will rise to 6.6% this year, its highest in ten years.
最近，华盛顿和伦敦的政策制定者被金融动荡和衰退风险折腾得寝食难安。与之形成鲜明对比的是，中国、俄罗斯和其他新兴国家领导人最担心的却是通胀恶化。中国的通货膨胀率已从2007年初的2.2%跃升到8.3%，俄罗斯更是达到了13.3%（见图左）。汇丰银行（HSBC）估计，今年新兴市场国家平均通货膨胀率将达到6.6%，为十年来最高值。 继续阅读“[2008.05.10]Economics focus: A tale of two worlds 冰火两重天”

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[2008.05.17]Purchasing-power disparity 购买力悬殊

France’s cost of living
法国民众的生活费用
Purchasing-power disparity
购买力悬殊

May 15th 2008 | PARIS
2008年05月15日 巴黎
From The Economist print edition
摘自《经济学人》印刷版

French shoppers want lower prices, but not more competition
法国消费者想要更多低价，而非更多竞争

THAT coffee or cornflakes are cheaper in a German supermarket than a French one is bad enough. That French-owned products, such as Danone yogurt, Vittel water or Riches Monts cheese, are too is an affront. A basket of identical items costs 30% more in France, says a study by La Tribune, a daily.
在德国超市销售的咖啡或玉米片都要比法国超市的更为便宜，这对法国人来说真是糟糕透顶。而法国自家企业生产的产品，例如达能酸奶，维特尔矿泉水或者 Riches Monts奶酪，在德国超市的销售价格也要远远便宜于国内超市，这实在令民众恼怒不堪。据《法国论坛报》的调研显示，同样一篮商品，在法国需要多花费 30%。

继续阅读“[2008.05.17]Purchasing-power disparity 购买力悬殊”

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[2008.05.10] The fuel of power 权力助燃剂

Richard Nixon
理查德·尼克松
The fuel of power
权力助燃剂

May 8th 2008
From The Economist print edition

A fascinating biography argues that Americans supported Richard Nixon because of his anger and resentment, not despite it
一部卓越的传记表明，美国人并不是容忍了尼克松的愤怒与怨恨，相反，正是这种愤怒与怨恨为他赢得了美国人的支持

IS THERE really room for another book on Richard Nixon? In the past two years alone there has been a doorstop of a biography by Conrad Black, a blow-by-blow account of Nixon’s visit to China by Margaret MacMillan and a joint portrait of Nixon and Henry Kissinger by Robert Dallek. And those are only the notable ones.
是否真的还有必要再来一本尼克松传？仅仅过去的两年内，已经有了那么多关于他的作品：康拉德·布莱克所写的仰止之作；玛格丽特·麦克米伦关于尼克松的中国之行那种的翔实记录；罗伯特·达莱克则生动地刻画了尼克松与基辛格的肖像……这还仅仅是作品中最为著名的那些，无名之作更数不胜数。

继续阅读“[2008.05.10] The fuel of power 权力助燃剂”

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[2008.05.17] Days of disaster 灾难里的日日夜夜

China’s earthquake
中国地震
Days of disaster
灾难里的日日夜夜

May 15th 2008 | BEIJING AND DUJIANGYAN
From The Economist print edition

Two natural disasters; two very different responses. We look first at the government’s response to the earthquake in China, then at poor Myanmar
两场自然灾害，两种不同的反应。我们首先关注中国政府对地震的反应，然后再转向不幸的缅甸

“DON’T cry, don’t cry. It’s a disaster, and you’ve survived,” China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, told weeping orphans in a town almost flattened by the country’s worst natural disaster in more than 30 years. Mr Wen’s awkward words may have done little to calm the bereaved children. But amid the huge destruction caused by the earthquake of May 12th, China’s leaders thus far have scored some unusual public-relations successes.

“别哭，别哭，这是一场灾难，你们幸存下来了。”中国总理温家宝在一个几乎被地震夷为平地的镇上安慰哭泣的孤儿，中国遭受了近三十年来最为严重的自然灾 害。温总理笨拙的语言可能对于安慰这些失去双亲的儿童没有太大的作用，但是在5月12日这场地震造成的巨大损失中，中国领导人在这次非同寻常的公众关系处理 上获得了迄今为止最大的成功。

继续阅读“[2008.05.17] Days of disaster 灾难里的日日夜夜”

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[2008.05.10] Myanmar’s misery 缅甸的苦难

Cyclone in Myanmar
缅甸风暴
Myanmar’s misery
缅甸的苦难

May 8th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Despite their appalling government, the Burmese people deserve all the help they can get
缅甸人民不应因其残暴政府而失去他们应得的援助

THE decision by Myanmar’s ruling generals to move their capital in 2005 from Yangon, the country’s biggest city, to the remote mountain fastness of Naypyidaw was as baffling as many of their other policies. Local rumour ascribed it to the advice of fortune-tellers, who foretold revolt and disaster in Yangon.
2005年，缅甸军政府将其首都从其最大城市仰光迁至遥远的山区堡垒内比都。这一决策与他的很多政策一样，令人困惑不已。当地谣传，此举源于算命先生的占卜，他们预言仰光会有叛乱和灾难发生。

继续阅读“[2008.05.10] Myanmar’s misery 缅甸的苦难”