翻译 经济类 中英双语 2.doc

Banyan
菩提

Japan and the uses of adversity
日本之灾，焉知非福?

The rest of Asia watches with horror, pity and admiration
亚洲各国带着惊骇、同情与钦佩之情关注着

Mar 17th 2011 | from the print edition

FEW bright spots illuminate the bleak sequence of calamities unfolding in Japan. But here are two: the quotidian, stoic heroism with which so many Japanese have responded to devastating loss and terrifying danger; and the outpouring of sympathy and support for them from around the world. In the many parts of Asia where anti-Japanese sentiment runs deep, the disasters may even mark a turning-point in attitudes, bringing a new respect and warmth to perceptions of Japan.

灾难接二连三地降临到日本人的头上，何处寻觅光明来驱散笼罩他们心头的愁云惨雾哪？其实光明离我们并不遥远。如此众多的日本人身处这场毁灭性的灾难和极端险境之中，他们表现出镇定与坚忍，这种平凡的英雄主义可以说是一种带给人们希望的光明；世界各地的人们对他们的不幸所表达出来的同情与支持使我们见到了另一缕阳光。在亚洲许多地区反日情绪根深蒂固，而这场灾难甚至可以成为标志着他们态度上的一个转折点，他们现在带着尊重与温情来看待日本，这是一种全新的感觉与认知。

Hostility towards the country in what bankers call “ex-Japan Asia” has fluctuated, and, especially in China, has at times been manipulated by governments. But it has never vanished. It has three roots. One is the legacy of Japan’s imperialist past and its begrudging, half-hearted apologies for wartime atrocities. Second are simmering territorial disputes with China, Taiwan and South Korea over tiny islets in the East China Sea, and the fisheries and oil-and-gas fields around them.

在银行家们称之为“除日本之外的亚洲”国家，特别是在中国，对日本的敌视态度时起时伏，有时也受到各国政府的操纵。但这种敌视态度从来没有消失过。这种情绪有三个根源。其一是日本的帝国主义历史遗产和它对战时暴行的勉强与半心半意的道歉。其二是日本与中国（大陆）、台湾和韩国在东海一些小岛归属上长期存在的领土争端及这些小岛周围的渔业和油气田纠纷。

Third is plain envy of Japan’s efficiency, wealth and power, mixed with resentment at the arrogance they are sometimes seen as fostering. That Japan is a huge aid donor and investor in developing Asia has mitigated but not eradicated these prejudices, which have also withstood two decades of economic stagnation punctuated by a huge disaster—the Kobe earthquake of 1995. Japan’s present emergency, however, may have a more lasting impact. It is more multifaceted and comes after a further 16 years of relative Japanese decline, including its recent ceding to China of its status as the world’s second-largest economy.

其三是这些国家对日本效率、财富和实力毫不掩饰的妒忌，再加上他们对日本傲慢态度的反感。而日本人认为这种对日本的反感情绪有时是人为培养出来的。日本对亚洲发展中国家的巨额援助与投资虽然使这些偏见有所减少，但无法消除人们的这种观念。在日本经济增长停滞的二十年间（1995年的阪神大地震后也曾有过短期的经济起飞）这些偏见始终存在。然而，目前日本这种非常时刻产生的影响却可能长期持续下去。在日本经济经历了16年来的相对下降，最近又将其世界第二大经济体的位置拱手让与中国之后，这场灾难更是带来了多方面的影响。

Even now there have been a few vile, jubilant voices among Japan’s neighbours. The chinaSMACK website reported a microblogger who greeted the earthquake with the pithy remark: “Splendid!” A blogger in Taiwan—an assistant to a member of parliament—criticised donations to Japan, and indulged in racist abuse of Japanese “dogs”. Less grotesquely, a Malaysian newspaper published an insensitive cartoon of a popular Japanese manga hero, Ultraman, fleeing a tsunami.

即便在现在这种情形下，在日本的邻国还是出现了某些无耻的幸灾乐祸之声。chinaSMACK网站报道了一个微博作者用“太好了！”这样简练的语言表达其对这场地震灾难的喜庆之情。台湾的一个博主（一名立法院“立委”的助手）在他的博客中反对向日本提供捐款，并肆意用种族歧视的语言辱骂日本人为“狗”。一家马来西亚报纸登载了一幅漫画，画面上是广受欢迎的日本卡通英雄人物奥特曼在海啸的追逐下落荒而逃。这确实有些麻木不仁了，这场灾难可不是搞笑的题材。

All of this, however, met fierce criticism. One comment on the Chinese “Splendid!” post was “What’s wrong with you?” The Taiwanese blogger’s boss and the Malaysian newspaper were quick to apologise. And the cruelty was not just an Asian phenomenon. There was equally offensive rubbish on Facebook out of America, calling the catastrophes retribution for a 70-year-old act of infamy at Pearl Harbour.

然而上述言行都遭到了激烈的批评。对中国出现的上述“太好了！”的言论，一个跟贴评论道：“你脑子灌水了？”上述台湾博主的老板和这家马来西亚报纸都很快进行了道歉。而冷酷的言行并不只出现在亚洲国家。在美国的“脸书”网站上也同样有这类令人不快的胡说八道，称这场灾难是对日本70年前的珍珠港恶行的报应。

Away from the nastier fringes of the internet, the typical reaction, in Asia as elsewhere, has been of appalled sympathy. As the tsunami of sludge swept over north-eastern Honshu on March 11th crowds gathered, transfixed by the pictures, in front of television sets in shops, bars, stations and airports. Since then it has become more apparent how many lives might have been lost, what hardship survivors are enduring, and what peril they face from the risk of a deadly nuclear disaster. Japan’s past hardly seems relevant any more, except for the memory that it is the only nation to have suffered nuclear attack.

除了互联网上偶尔还会蹦出一些这类令人厌恶的言论外，亚洲国家民众与世界其他地方一样，他们普遍对灾区人民表示极为同情。当3月11日海啸的浊流横扫本州东北部时，聚在商店、酒吧、车站和机场的电视机前的人们被直播的画面惊得目瞪口呆。从那时起，人们逐渐了解了这场灾难带来的惨重生命损失、幸存者所遭受的苦难和一场致命的核灾难所带来的巨大危险。人们除了想到日本曾是唯一遭受过核武攻击的国家外，似乎已经不再提及它的过去。

Beyond pity at seeing residents of a rich, proud country scavenging for food, hoarding bottled water and huddling for shelter on schoolroom floors, it was hard not to feel admiration as well. Chinese and Indian websites were agog at the orderliness of the Japanese, even those now homeless and even as the nuclear panic mounted. They noted the lack of looting. Some drew unfavourable comparisons with their own people and governments. An article on one Chinese site, Caixin, referred both to the earthquake in China’s Sichuan province in 2008, when some 70,000 people died, and to the way schools in Japan have been used as shelters. In the Sichuan earthquake many schools collapsed. Parents blamed corruption and shoddy construction.

看到一个富裕而骄傲国家的居民四处寻找食物、储藏瓶装饮用水和避难于学校教室，在地板上缩成一团的情形，除了同情之外很难不感到钦佩。中国和印度的网站为日本人遵守秩序的表现而感动。即使那些现在无家可归者，即使是处于核恐慌之中，日本人也是秩序井然。他们指出，灾难中没有出现抢劫现象。有些帖子将此与本国人和政府在这种情况下的表现进行了比较，得出了批判性的结论。一家叫做“财新”（Caixin）的中国网站上登载了一篇文章，既提到2008年发生在中国四川省的地震，当时约有7万人死亡，也提到在日本学校被用作避难所的做法。在四川省的那场大地震中，很多学校的校舍出现倒塌。学生家长们指责腐败和豆腐渣工程（夺走了他们孩子的生命）。

This popular response was matched by official warmth. Like China’s during the relief effort that followed the Sichuan earthquake, Japan’s foreign relations have improved. It has been on bad terms with China since a row last September over the Senkaku islands. But China has donated aid and, at his annual press conference on March 14th, Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, made a point of giving a message of support for Japan, recalling its help to China in 2008. Similarly, the disasters have led to a rapprochement with Russia, with which relations have also been fraught over a territorial dispute. Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, has offered aid in the form of energy and ordered officials to speed up an oil-and-gas project on the island of Sakhalin to meet future Japanese demand.

中国公众对这场地震灾难的反应与官方展示的温情相一致。就像中国在四川地震后的救援行动中对外关系得到改善一样，日本与邻国的关系也出现回暖。自去年九月就尖阁列岛（钓鱼岛）的归属问题爆发争执以来，日本与中国一直不睦。但（这次震后）中国给予了援助。而且温家宝总理在他3月14日举行的年度新闻发布会上特别发出了对日本给予支持的信息，并回顾了2008年日本给予中国的帮助。同样，这次灾难使日本与俄罗斯的关系也得到修好，两国的关系也是由于领土争端而始终不快。俄罗斯总理弗拉基米尔•普京已经提出向日本提供能源援助，并命令负责此事的官员抓紧在萨哈林岛建设石油和天然气项目，以满足日本今后的需求。

Russia’s offer may be based on the assumption that Japan will have to pare back its reliance on nuclear energy. And that is another lesson that Asian observers of Japan’s crisis have taken home: if even Japan—so well-organised and disciplined, so well prepared for disaster and so experienced in nuclear power—can come so close to catastrophe, what nuclear risks are their own countries running? Despite criticism of Japan’s handling of the nuclear crisis, many Chinese or Indians suspect their own authorities are no more competent or transparent.

俄罗斯这种表态可能是基于日本将不得不逐步削减依赖核能的假设。这是亚洲各国观察日本这场危机后得到的另一个教训：如果连日本这样组织良好、纪律严明、准备充分、在核电方面经验丰富的国家都近于发生一场核灾难，他们自己国家面临的核风险又会有多大哪？尽管对日本在处理核危机上的批评之声不绝于耳，许多中国人或印度人对他们本国政府在这方面的能力或透明度抱有更大的疑问。

Meltdown
福岛核灾难的后遗症

Yet China is building almost as many nuclear power plants as the rest of the world combined. India, too, has big plans to expand its nuclear-power industry. Like China and Japan, it is prone to earthquakes. This week both India and China announced safety reviews. Neither is likely to call a permanent halt to further expansion. The world has tended to approve of their plans. Both countries at present rely heavily on coal for electricity generation, which both will be boosting hugely in coming decades. The alternative to nuclear expansion may be more coal, and higher carbon emissions. It is hard to look on the bright side for long.

然而中国正在建设的核电站数量几乎与世界其他国家和地区在建核电站的数量加在一起差不多。印度也雄心勃勃地计划扩大其核电工业。与中国和日本一样，印度也位于地震多发区。本周印度和中国都宣布要对本国的核电项目进行安全审查。这两个国家似乎都不可能永久停止核电规模的扩大。而全世界都倾向于赞同他们的计划。目前两国都严重依赖于煤电，而两国在未来几十年里都会出现发电量激增的局面。如果不扩大核电规模，就只能加速发展煤电，碳排放量也会因此而增加。从长期来看，很难对减少核电抱乐观的态度。