拿来主义

Unemployment soars to 8.5 pct.; 13 million jobless

失业书高达8.5%,1300万失业者

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unemployment zoomed to 8.5 percent last month, the highest in a quarter-century, as employers axed 663,000 more workers and pushed the nation's jobless ranks past 13 million. The hard times were only expected to get harder -- a painful 10 percent jobless rate before long.

华盛顿消息 -- 上个月未就业人数猛增到8.5%，25年来最高的一次裁员663000多员工，导致失业人数高达1300万。预期还会更加糟糕，不久后将增长到10%。

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The current rate would be even higher -- 15.6 percent -- if it included laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have had to settle for part-time work because they can't do any better. That's the highest on record for that number in figures that go back to 1994.

目前的失业率还将继续增高，可能达到15.6%，如果失业工人由于不能找到好的工作所以不再去寻找工作，或者只做些兼职，失业率的恐怕会超过1994年。

"Even if the economy continues to show signs of improvement, businesses will cut jobs and trim fats to stay lean and mean," said Sung Won Sohn, economist at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University, Channel Islands.

California 洲际大学的商务学院的经济学家Sung Won Sohn说：“虽然国家经济显现出回升的迹象，就业率还是会急剧下降”。

So far, the public has shown great hopes for the economic policies of new President Barack Obama. But those could fade quickly with more months of layoffs. In Europe for an economic summit, Obama called Friday's unemployment report a "stark reminder" of a need for action at home and abroad.

一直以来，公众都在期盼着奥巴马心得经济政策，但是伴着失业率的增长逐渐失望，在欧洲经济大会上，奥巴马称周五的失业率报告预示了事情的严重性，需要国内外各界积极采取行动。

The recession may well end later this year -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and many private analysts see that possibility -- but rehiring historically doesn't get going until after an economic recovery is picking up steam. The jobless rate is expected to reach 10 percent by year's end.

联邦副主席Ben Bernanke和很多分析师认为目前的衰退可能年底变好，但是经济复苏重新就业率也不会升高，失业率年底可能达到10%。

The stock market generally bottoms out before a recovery gets under way, too, and stocks now have risen for four straight weeks.

股票市场也将跌倒谷底，现在股票连续四周上升。

The Dow Jones industrials rose 39.51 points on Friday after surging 216 points on Thursday and closed above 8,000 for the first time in nearly two months.

The Dow Jones继周二达到216点，周五上升了39.51点。在最近的两个月第一次超过8000点收盘

Small comfort to millions of laid-off workers. The Labor Department report underscored the recession's toll: a spike in the jobless rate from February's 8.1 percent and a net loss of 5.1 million jobs since December 2007, almost two-thirds of them in just the past five months. And economists say an additional 2.4 million jobs will disappear through the first quarter of next year.

As the downturn eats into companies' sales and profits, they are laying off workers and resorting to other cost-saving survival measures that also hit employees, the report showed. Those include holding down hours and freezing or cutting pay.

"It's an ugly report, and April is going to be equally as bad," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "I couldn't see any rays of sunshine. Nothing."

The average work week in March dropped to 33.2 hours, a record low. And nearly a quarter of the unemployed have been out of work for six months or more, the highest proportion since the steep 1981-82 recession.

Margaret Barnett, 55, of Villa Rica, Ga., knows about that. She has been looking for work since she was laid off from a plastics distributor when the recession began in December 2007. She checks job listings every day at an employment agency and thumbs through the classified section of the local newspaper. But no luck.

"It's more people advertising that they need work than people hiring," Barnett said.

And hundreds of thousands of out-of-work Americans soon will exhaust their unemployment benefits in the coming weeks. Congress extended benefits twice last year to a total of 46 to 59 weeks.

Many who have been lucky enough to keep their jobs are seeing their paychecks shrink.

Average weekly earnings declined to $614.20 in March from $615.05 in February. If earnings keep falling, that would give consumers another reason to pull back spending, which would further weaken the economy.

But there have been some positive economic signs recently. Orders placed with U.S. factories actually rose in February, ending six straight months of declines, the government reported Thursday. Earlier in the week, there were better-than-expected reports on construction spending and pending home sales.

And last week a report showed that consumer spending -- an engine of the economy -- rose in February for the second month in a row -- after a half-year of declines.

Still, there was plenty of bad news in the details of the new report. For example, January's job losses were revised much higher, to 741,000 from 655,000, making them the worst in a single month since 1949.

In March, the number of unemployed people climbed to 13.2 million. The number of people forced to work part time for "economic reasons" rose by 423,000 to 9 million. Those are people who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or who were unable to find full-time work.

Most economists expect monthly job losses to continue for most if not all of this year.

However, they are expecting that reductions in the current quarter won't be as deep as the roughly 685,000 average monthly job losses in the January-March period.

Job losses were widespread last month. Construction companies cut 126,000. Factories axed 161,000. Retailers cut nearly 50,000. Professional and business services eliminated 133,000. Leisure and hospitality cut 40,000. Even the government cut jobs -- 5,000 of them.

Education and health care were among the few industries showing any job gains.

There was more bad news for workers in service industries -- hotels, retail, health care and such. An index of services activity shrank for a sixth straight month, according to the Institute for Supply Management, a Tempe, Ariz.-based trade group of purchasing executives.

Bernanke said the recession could end later this year, setting the stage for recovery, if the government is successful in bolstering the banking system. Banks have been clobbered by the worst housing, credit and financial crises to hit the country since the 1930s.

The Fed chief said Friday he expects to see a "gradual resumption of sustainable economic growth." But he didn't say when.

To brace the economy, the Fed has slashed a key bank lending rate to an all-time low and has embarked on a series of radical programs to inject billions of dollars into the financial system.

And the Obama administration has launched a multi-pronged strategy to turn the economy around. Its $787 billion stimulus package includes money that will flow to states for public works projects, help them defray budget cuts, extend unemployment benefits and boost food stamp benefits.

Still, skittish employers announced more job layoffs this week.

3M Co., the maker of Scotch tape, Post-It Notes and other products, said it was cutting 1,200 more jobs. Health care products distributor Cardinal Health Inc. said it would eliminate 1,300 positions. Semiconductor equipment maker KLA-Tencor Corp. said it would cut about 600. And Caterpillar said it was speeding up layoffs -- cutting more than 1,000 jobs at an Illinois plant two weeks ahead of schedule.

"The philosophy seems to be cut massively now and ask questions about whether too much has been done later," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.

AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report.

       哈哈，有幸再次和道长合作，一起搭建翻译平台。

       坚持，两天一篇博客，我基本上是有空就翻译。

       主要翻译一些经济新闻类的文章。

By Howard Chua-Eoan

Dark clouds had been gathering over the economy for most of the year, but by Saturday September 13, a storm seemed to break. Suddenly, we learned that Lehman Brothers, one of the pillars of American investment banking, was on the verge of bankruptcy. Its survival depended on being bought by Bank of America, but BA bought Merrill Lynch instead, and Lehman went pffft. Simultaneously, insurance giant AIG announced it was in so much trouble (over underwriting the bad decisions of big banks) that it needed to be bailed out. And suddenly years of stupidly easy mortgages came back and broke the banks that issued them. Now, the dole queue was forming and first in line for the bailout were those we assumed knew all about making money. The bad times had begun, and you could feel them in the value of your home, your 401k, your job, the endowment at your kids' schools, your credit cards — and, of course, in the auto industry, in construction, in retail and all over the economy. Saturday September 13 marked the beginning of a deluge of depressing news to put a damper on the Holidays.

一整年，经济上的黑云都在密集，但是直到9月13号，风暴才来临。突然，我们了解到，作为美国投资银行的标志，兄弟银行快要破产了。它被美国银行购买，得以存活，但是美国最终决定买了Merrill Lynch，而Lehman只能玩完。同时，保险业巨人AIG宣布，它陷入了巨大的麻烦，需要保证金。并且，突然多年的次信贷来了打乱了银行并困扰了他们。现在，领养救济金的长队已经形成，并且排在前面的是那些我们都知道的造钱的家伙。灾难时刻来了，并且你在家里也能感觉到他，你的工作，你孩子学校的捐助，你的信用卡，并且，当然还有，在自动工业里，在建筑业里，在零售业和整个经济中。913制造了整个开端，从此周末头条都成了坏消息。

Less than two weeks ago, on election night, John McCain pledged to do "all in my power to help [Barack Obama] lead us through the many challenges we face." On Monday, McCain travels to Chicago to discuss ways he can fulfill that promise in a private meeting with the President-elect.
不到两周前，在选举之夜，John McCain起誓道：“我将用我所有的力量来帮助Obama来领美国 ，尽管我们面临很多挑战。”在周一，McCain前往Chicago去讨论怎样来履行他在与被选总统的私人的会议上的承诺。

There were some who doubted the sincerity of McCain's pledge, coming so soon after the end of a campaign that featured a series of personal attacks on Obama. But it pays to remember that the self-styled maverick was never very comfortable as the standard bearer of a party that he had opposed so many times on so many issues. And the party long felt the same way. (See pictures of Obama's family tree.)
有一些人怀疑McCain的誓言的真实性，这很快就来了，在竞选之后，Obama面临了一系列的人身攻击。但是这个很重要：作为政党的标准继承者，他那自我的风格从来都没有舒服过，所以，他在许多场合都反对过很多次。而且这个政党也很多时间报以相同的感觉。

Last Friday brought notice that the relationship between the two would soon be returning to form when South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint became the first high-profile Republican to lay the blame for his loss on McCain himself. "We have to be honest, and there's a lot of blame to go around," DeMint told a GOP gathering in Myrtle Beach. "But I have to mention George Bush, and I have to mention Ted Stevens, and I'm afraid I even have to mention John McCain." DeMint then offered a list of McCain's anti-conservative apostasies, including his support for campaign finance reform, immigration reform and legislation aimed at combating global warming.
上周五，有一个消息说：他俩的关系将很快公之于众，当Sounth Carolina Sen.Jim Demin成为第一个高级共和党的高职，把责备都留在McCain他自己。“我们必须真诚，有许多来自己各个方面的批评，”DeMint在Myrtle Beach的一个集会上讲。“但是我必须提醒Bush，我也必须提醒Ted Stevens，别外我也恐怕也必须提醒John McCain。”之后DeMint提供了一个列表：McCain的反对保守党的的资料，包括他对财政改革的演讲，移民改革和立法的目标在于保护全球变暖。

The items on DeMint's list of lament read like talking points to jump start Monday afternoon's conversation in Chicago between McCain and Obama. According to an Obama aide, the president-elect views McCain as a potential ally on the kind of reform issues where the two men share broad agreement. "There are areas of general agreement and beliefs — on immigration, earmark reform, energy, climate change, government reform, spending reform," says the aide. "Where there's agreement on both sides, they want to figure out ways they can work together."
DeMint的列表上的条目读起来像是取自周一下午的McCain和Obama谈话，根据Obama的一个助手，总统选举把McCain当作一个政治同盟，在各种改革言论上，当这个两个人公布言论。“有各种各样的一般性的协议和信仰，在移民，身份改革，能源，气候变迁，政府改革，经费改革方面”，这个助手说。“当双方达到协议 ，他们想计算出他们在一起的工作方式。”

Sources close to McCain say their man wants to leave the campaign behind and return to the role he forged for himself on Capitol Hill as the leading reformer and bi-partisan legislator in the Senate. "John isn't one to wallow in defeat, at least not publicly," says a Republican consultant who knows McCain well. "He lost. It's over. Work is all he really knows, and getting back to work will help him move past losing. And the patriot in him is telling him to help this new president out."
最后的消息来自己MCain，说他们的人想把集会放在最后，并发挥他伪造的角色为他自己，在Capitol Hill,作为一个领导重建者和党人立法者在立法部。“John不是一个在挫折中打滚的人，至少不在公众面前，”一个共和国顾问说，他知道McCain Well。“他失败了，他完了。他所真正了解的工作，重新回到工作将有助于他离开过去的人失败。而且爱国人士告诉他去帮助这个新总统出局“。

Evidence of both sides' sincerity can be found by looking at who were the middle men involved in setting up the meeting. When McCain called Obama to concede defeat the night of Nov. 4, the two men talked about getting together. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina's other senator and the person Cindy McCain calls her husband's "best friend," followed up on that call in a conversation with Rahm Emanuel, Obama's choice to be his White House chief of staff. Then Obama spoke directly with Graham, and out of that came the decision to hold the meeting soon. (See pictures of Obama's campaign.)
关于双方真诚的证据能找到，通过查看谁是建立这个会议的中间人。当McCain打给Obama，承认在10月4号那天晚上受挫，这两个人在一起谈了很多。Lindsey Graham,South Carolina的其它的参议员和Cindy McCain本人打给他的丈夫的最好的朋友，在那个电话之后的方谈话中，Obama选择成为白宫的主人。然后Obama直接和Graham谈，之后决定也就定下来了。

By meeting with McCain so shortly after the election, Obama is demonstrating both magnanimity and self-confidence. But his move is also based on self-interest. Obama is keenly aware of the fact that, despite increased Democratic majorities in both the Senate and the House, he cannot enact the kind of sweeping legislative overhaul he envisions without the help of Republicans. Energy reform, climate control legislation, health care reform — all are too big to be passed by partisan majorities, especially if Obama wants to retain his post-partisan, president-of-all-the-people mantle.
通过选举之后这个简短的会面，Obama表现出来大度和自信。但是他的离开也是基于自我爱好。Obama敏锐地注意到，尽管在参议院和白宫的民主选举都过了半数，他依然不能藐视立法，没有共和党的帮助。能源改革，气候控制立法，卫生改革，都太大了而少不了共和党的参与，尤其是当Obama想保留他过去的党人，保护他所有的以前的关系。

"The question becomes, is it the McCain running for president that we're getting, or the McCain free from the shackles of running for president. We think it's the latter," says a Democratic official. "McCain becomes a power center. The fact is, we don't have 60 votes [in the Senate]. Barack is of a reform mind, and so is McCain. And you can cut through a lot of the crap if they work together."
当下的问题是，McCain正在为总统作最后的努力，还是McCain摆脱了脚镣跑向总统。我们认为应该是后者，“一个民主党职员说。”McCain成为一个权力中心，事实是，我们没有那60张选票。Barack是个改革派，McCain也是。如果他们一起工作，他们能够一起努力，能过许多许多的机会“。

Dec 13th 2007 | XIANGHE
From The Economist print edition

The “Strategic Economic Dialogue” fails to produce much strategy or dialogue
"战略经济对话“并不能够产生多少战略和对话

WHEN Hank Paulson left Goldman Sachs to become America's treasury secretary last year, one of the few perks of the job was the chance to put his impressive links with China to good use in the service of his country. He had, after all, visited China at least 70 times.
去年当Hank Paulson离开Goldman Sachs成为美国财政部的秘书长，能提起人胃口的工作就是有机会在为国家服务的良好作用下把他和中国鲜明地联系起来。他已经，总共，至少访问中国70次。

Diplomacy on behalf of a bulge-bracket investment bank has proved to be far easier than dealmaking between Washington, DC, and Beijing, however. That, at least, is the conclusion from the third round of the cabinet-level Strategic Economic Dialogue between December 12th and 13th.
然而，代理一家有野心的投资银行被证明比处理美国和中国的交易要容易得多。那至少是在12日到13日召开的第三轮部长级经济战略对话所得到的结论。
With China's massive trade surplus emerging as populist fodder for presidential candidates in America, and just one more round of the talks—in the midst of the presidential campaign—scheduled before a change of administrations, the discussions needed to show some substance. They produced precious little.
当与中国的贸易过剩已经成为美国总统竞选的最流行的话题，而关于这个话题更多的是－总统竞选的核心－事先说好在得到管理员的机会之前，辩论需要展示出一些更加实质性的东西。但是，他们做到的很少。

The meetings have always been an odd balance between the need to show immediate trade concessions, “deliverables” to use the Treasury phrase, and what both sides would say were the more important goals—progress towards stronger economic ties. Perhaps this was too ambitious a goal; perhaps the differences between China and America are too large; or perhaps Mr Paulson is weaker when separated from the intense brain trust that worked for him at Goldman. Whatever the case, the treasury secretary has struggled.
这个会议总是达到这种奇怪的平衡，在有金子般的言论来表达，展示即时交易许可的需求，和对双方而言都是最重要的目标－达到更好的经济联系。也许这是一个远大的目标；也许中国和美国之间的差异太大；或者也许是Paulson先生从他那在高曼为自己工作的紧张大脑中分出来就不行了。不管怎样，财政部秘书陷入了困境。

From the beginning, the talks have tripped up over China's efforts to restrain the yuan's rise against the dollar. Mr Paulson raised the issue again this week. Far from offering a sympathetic response, Chen Deming, China's incoming commerce minister, cited the weakness of the dollar as a bigger threat than the yuan is to the world economy.
从一开始，会谈便陷入在中国抑制人民币对美元的增值上。这星期，Paulson先生提出了他的言论。远不另人满意的做出这样的回应，陈德铭，中国商务部总长，列举了美元的贬值将是一个更严重的危机，相比于人民币之于世界经济。

The proclaimed progress whiffed of empty symbolism. On the eve of the discussions, Mr Paulson attended the opening of a New York Stock Exchange office in Beijing, something China permitted a year ago when its boom in initial public offerings was just beginning. Now, with share prices surging in Shanghai and China's regulators pressing domestic companies to list at home, opportunities for an American exchange are less clear-cut. Elsewhere, Chinese officials were not in a particularly conciliatory mood. They railed at America for taking a dispute over intellectual property to the World Trade Organisation. Reflecting their displeasure, it emerged during the talks that China would suspend the import of American movies—the 20, that is, that are not already banned.
宣布的进展也仅仅是空洞的象征意义。在会议开始之前，Paulson先生参加了北京的纽约基金交易发布会，中国一年前许可的，在吸纳公共资金方面的发展正在开始。现在，因为上海的股市动荡，中国调控强制国内公司在国内上市，这样美国贸易的机会也不容乐观。在别的地方，中国政府也不是特别的顺心。他们拦在美国人面前要为在进入WTO的知识产权而争辩。不过令他们失望的是，在会谈中中国应该停止引入美国电影－出现了20次，这本应该被禁止的。

There was one bright spot. Michael Leavitt, America's health secretary, unveiled a plan to allow both countries to make surprise safety inspections of each other's factories producing food, medical devices and drugs. Although this may take years to organise, it would be more efficient than border checks and should improve safety standards. Perhaps it helped that in forging a deal to reduce risk, Mr Leavitt's own background in financial services was in insurance, not investment banking.
还有一个明显的污点。Michael Leavitt,美国的卫生部秘书揭露了一份计划允许两国双方都去做各自生产食品，制药设备和药品的公司的安全调查。当然这件事可能需要几年去运作，但这个比边界检查要有效，并且可以提高安全标准。这个可能有助于建立事务来减少危机，因为Michael Leavitt先生在经济服务中的本职工作是保险，而不是投资银行。

Dec 13th 2007 | BANGUI
From The Economist print edition

A small European force runs into big problems in central Africa
欧洲的一个小部队在中非遭遇了大麻烦

THE idea of sending several thousand European Union (EU) soldiers and a bunch of UN policemen to protect 400,000 displaced civilians and Sudanese refugees from Darfur who have been sheltering in eastern Chad seems well-intentioned, as does sending a handful more to the remote north of the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR). Here, too, civilians are being terrorised by local rebels and by some from neighbouring countries who use swathes of the CAR's lawless terrain for rest, transit and launching attacks.

把数千的欧盟士兵和一队欧盟警察派去保护从Darfur来的的流浪者和苏丹难民，他们现在Chad东部安顿。这个主意听起来还是不错的，而且把意思已经多次表示给了偏北的邻居中非共和国（CAR）。
这里也一样，难民们被当地叛军袭击，同样的一些来自邻国的一些结织，他们利用CAR的一些偏远地带的便利进行休整，运输和发动攻击。
But a proposed EU-led mission is fraught with complications. It was supposed to be up and running by the end of the year but is far behind schedule. The latest hitch is a lack of helicopters, essential for ferrying 3,700 soldiers and 300 UN police around 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 square miles) of Africa's harshest terrain. Some diplomats think the deployment will be postponed until next May.
但是由欧盟领导人提议的使命是充满纠纷的。他传闻会被启动并在今年年底结束，但是远远落后于日程表。最近他们绊在了缺少直升机上，尤其是在非洲的边远地区200，000平方公里的范围里运送3，700名士兵和300名欧盟警察。一些外交家认为将会推迟到明年五月才展开部署。

Even if the force gets there, it is not clear how it will operate. In UN-speak, it will have a “multi-dimensional presence”. The soldiers and police are meant to stop Darfur's violence spreading west by sealing the border. They must also protect the civilians who have fled and the aid workers looking after them in Chad. How they will do this is fuzzy. The mission's UN Chapter 7 mandate could theoretically let it go on the offensive to stop attacks. Or it could simply monitor the situation.
即使部队到达了那里，也不清楚如何开展行动。欧盟发言人表示，这将是一个多方位的展示。士兵和警察意味着要关闭边境来停止Darfur地区的暴力扩散到西边。他们也必须保护那些流浪的难民，有援助者在Chad照看他们。他们如何来做是不明确的。任务的七章命令理论上可以使叛乱者停止袭击。或者他们只是简单地监控局势。
Given the force's limitations, the latter is likelier. A report issued by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reckons the EU would need over 10,000 men and a lot of air power. Instead, the force will hope its mere presence will be a deterrent.
由于力量的限制，后者更有可能。 美国麻省技术研究所的报告指出欧盟需要10，000名士兵和更多的空中力量。相反，部队更希望他们可能的表现只是制止一下而已。

Due to be led by an Irishman, the bulk of its soldiers will be French, plus some Austrians, Dutchmen, Poles and Swedes. But herein lies another problem. France can provide these troops as it already has a base in Chad, a former colony. It is already embroiled in existing conflicts in both Chad and the CAR, another former possession. So the humanitarian intent and neutrality of the EU force is being queried.
由于领导者是一个爱尔兰人，其余的组成将是法国人，普鲁士人，加上一些澳洲人，荷兰人，波兰人和瑞典人。但是这儿出现了另一个问题。法国人能够提供这些军队因为他们在Chad已经有了一个基地，一个早期的殖民地。在Chad和CAR中它都被叛卷进了现在的纠纷中，CAR是他的另一个早期的财产。所以人道主义的意图和欧盟军队的中立受到了质疑。

France has, for instance, been using special forces to fight rebels in the CAR's north-east. The proposed EU force in that country will, in fact, consist of these same 200-odd soldiers merely swapping berets. In Chad, France gives logistical and intelligence help to a disliked president, Idriss Déby, in his battle against rebels in his country's east; some, in turn, have declared war on France and have warned the EU that its force will be treated as the enemy because of France's participation in it.
法国人马上派遣专门的力量平定叛军，在CAR的东北部。提案中的欧盟力量在那个国家的意愿，理实上是由相同的200多名士兵组成，仅仅是交换了一下贝雷帽。在Chad，法国对一个不受欢迎的总统提供了后勤和情报上的支持，Idriss Déby，在他的国家东边与叛军的战斗中；其中一些，反过来对法国宣战，并警告欧盟，他们的军队会被视为敌人，因为有法国人的参与。

The CAR's government, on the other hand, is keen for anyone to come and help control the country's lawless north. Villagers, businessmen trying to ply their trade and even the rebels operating there say that they, too, want stability. But those who have fled the region's violence are sceptical about what the soldiers will really be able to do. “I hear things on the radio about this force but let's see what happens,” says Mamadou Yusuf, an elderly Sudanese refugee from Darfur who fled to a camp in the north-east of the CAR. “For now we are staying here.”
另一方面，CAR的政府渴望有人来帮助控制国家北部的失控地区。村民，商人尽力去多做他们的交易，甚至在那里活动的叛军说，他们也想要安定。但是那些已经逃离该地区的武装让人怀疑这些士兵到底能做什么。“我在收音机里听说了他们这些军队的一些事情，让我们看看接下来会发生什么？”，Mamadou Yusuf，一个年长的来自Darfur的苏丹难民这样说，他逃到了CAR东北部的一个宿营地。“现在，我们就待在这里."

Total global remittances from workers to their families will reach $318 billion in 2007, up from $170 billion in 2002. Most of the money goes to developing countries, which will receive $240 billion this year—more than double the value of foreign aid. The three countries getting the most are India, China and Mexico, which together account for nearly a third of remittances to the developing world. However, Mexico has been affected by the economic slowdown in the United States and its previous rapid growth of inflows slowed to a trickle this year. The largest recipient region is Latin America and the Caribbean, but since 2002 transfers to Europe and Central Asia have increased the fastest.

2007年来自工人的汇款，被寄到他们的家里，将达到3180亿元 ，从2002年的1700亿美元。这些钱的大部分用来发展国家，今年这将达到2400亿美元，是国外援助的两倍以上。有三个国家占了大多数，分别是印度，中国和墨西哥，他们加起来占了发展中国家近三分之一的汇款。但是，墨西哥一直受美国经济增速放缓的影响，他以前的调整增长今年已经变得缓慢。最大的受援区是拉丁美洲和加勒比地区，但是从2002年起到欧洲和中亚的旅行者是最多的。

Dec 13th 2007 | NAIROBI
From The Economist print edition

A bitter old row shows no sign of fading

苦难的双方没有迹象表明让步

“SHOULD Eritrea launch another war, we will make certain it will never ever dream of entertaining or thinking about war again.” So said Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, in a recent speech to Parliament. His country did not seek war, he stressed. But if Eritrea launched a “suicidal” attack, it would be driven into the sea.

如果Eritrea发动另一场战争， 那么我们将确认他们再也不会梦想着有趣的事或者想像一下战争。埃塞俄比亚的总理梅莱斯 泽纳维，在最近的一次议会上这样说。他的国家没有要求战争，他强调。但是如果Eritrea如果发动一场“自我毁灭”的战争，他们会被赶入大海。

Eritrea has heard it before. Ethiopia tried to drive it into the sea at Massawa between 1998 and 2000, and failed. Instead, 70,000 on both sides died in trench warfare; a stalemate led to a truce. This time Mr Zenawi's belligerence comes as the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission wound up business this month, with no agreed demarcation. In 2002 it awarded the disputed village of Badme to Eritrea. Ethiopia rejected the verdict, and has since used diplomatic verbiage to obfuscate and stall.

Eritrea早就听他这么说了。Ethiopia试图把他赶到大海中在1998到2000年期间，但是没有得逞。 相反，双方7万人都死在了战壕里，僵持不下导致了停战。因为这个月Eritrea-Ethiopia双方会谈会结束交易，这时候泽纳维先生的好战性来了，没有同意划界。在2002年，他得到了有争议的Eritrea 巴德梅村。Ethiopia拒绝接受判决，并通过外交冗节来模糊和拖延它。

Eritrea naturally took the commission at its word but under its authoritarian president, Issaias Afwerki, has alienated just about every sympathiser. As his rule has become harsher and more erratic, the border issue has loomed larger in Eritrea's national psyche. Mr Afwerki may disgust his compatriots by torturing and imprisoning his critics. But he knows Eritreans will back him over Badme.
Erithrea很自然地会意他的话，在独裁总统Issaias Afwerki的统治下，已经差不多疏离了他所有的支持者。由于他的统治，国家已经变得更加严厉和混乱，而且在边界问题上已经折射出了Eritrea国家的民族心理。Afwerki总统拷打和监禁他的反对者已经使的国人生厌。但是他知道通过巴德梅人民会回到他的身边。

The border is more militarised than ever. According to the International Crisis Group, a think-tank, Eritrea has 4,000 troops inside a supposedly demilitarised buffer zone and a further 120,000 dug in along its side of the craggy border that is 1,000km (621 miles) long. On its side, Ethiopia has 100,000 troops.
边境的军事冲突比以前更加严重。 根据国际危机小组的一个智囊团指出，Eritrea拥有4000军队在拟定的非军事缓冲地带，并且想得到更多的120，000土地而不是他原来边界的1000公里（621英里）长。在这种情况下，Ethiopia拥有了10万军队。
A UN monitoring force is meant to pack up next month but may stay on. The tension gives both countries an excuse to spend more on guns and spies, some to be turned on domestic enemies. Neither country can afford such things. Ethiopia, at least 75m-strong, is bogged down in Somalia and fighting separatists in the Ogaden desert; Mr Zenawi says he is putting Ethiopia's defence budget up by 17% to $390m. Eritrea, with only 5m people, simply cannot keep up.

联合国监测力量本来已经收拾行李了，但下月可能继续留任。军事紧张使这两个国家找借口花费更多来增加武力和间谍，有些已经流入国人反对者的手中。没有哪个国家能够承担起这样的事情。Ethiopia至少750万美元的预算扔进了欧加登沙漠的索马里在和分裂分子的战斗中，泽纳维说，他要把Ethiopia的国防预算增加17％，到39亿。Eritrea根本没有办法与之跟进，他只有500万人口。

Dec 6th 2007
From The Economist print edition

A less crunched corner of Europe

那么至少在欧洲的一个角落

HAPPY bank shareholders are a rare breed in Europe this year, but the industry can still point to some pockets of contentment. Greek banks have outperformed their euro zone brethren, notching up impressive gains in revenue, profit and share prices. Reporting quarterly results, a painful experience elsewhere, has by and large been a pleasant task. National Bank of Greece (NBG) boasted a 66% year-on-year increase in net profit for the first nine months of the year; Eurobank EFG saw earnings grow by 29% in the same period.
这一年在欧洲，快乐的银行股东，是很难得的，但行业仍然指向了一些让人知足的口袋。希腊银行已超越其欧元区兄弟，在收入，利润和股票价格上得到了从容可观的收益。报告季度业绩在其他地方是一个痛苦的经历，这里已经改变并是一个愉快的任务。希腊的国家银行（ NBG）报下了较前一年增加66 ％的纯利，只是今年的头九个月; 而在同一时期欧洲银行的EFG收入只增长29 ％ 。

Immaturity, in various forms, explains their success. Greek banks have little direct exposure to the subprime-related instruments that have tripped up sophisticates in other markets. The domestic market, although decelerating, still has plenty of scope for growth, thanks to generally benign economic prospects and comparatively shallow levels of private credit, which is expanding by about 20% annually. “Greece is somewhere in between a mature and an emerging market,” says Nicholas Nanopoulos, Eurobank's boss.
通过各种形式说明他们的成功，是不成熟。希腊银行已很少直接暴露给次信贷相关的状况下，它已经在其他地区的市场跌得久经世故了。国内市场，虽然是减速的，仍然有不少增长空间，多亏普遍不错的经济前景和比较低水平的私人信贷，其扩大了约20 ％ 。 "希腊是在成熟和新兴的两个市场之间" ，eurobank的主管，尼古拉nanopoulos说 。

The countries that fringe Greece are more dynamic still: Bulgaria and Romania are expected to post loan growth of 50% this year, for example. Greek banks have not only built up sizeable retail operations in nearby Balkan markets, but are also busily planting flags in further-flung bigger markets such as Turkey and Ukraine. Both NBG and Eurobank have more branches in south-eastern Europe than in Greece itself. Finansbank, NBG's Turkish franchise, will account for around 30% of NBG's earnings this year alone. Eurobank expects to derive more than a third of its profits from its regional activities in 2010, up from an expected 7% this year.
国家促使希腊更有活力：保加利亚和罗马尼亚预计邮政贷款将增长50 ％ ，以今年为例。希腊银行不仅在附近的巴尔干市场建立了庞大的业务网点，但也正忙着在进一步广泛分布的较大规模的市场上插旗，如土耳其和乌克兰。nbg和eurobank双方在东南欧洲都有比在希腊本身更多分行。finansbank ，nbg的土耳其特权，将占到仅今年一年30 ％左右的nbg 收入。eurobank预计在它的区域活动将获得超过三分之一的利润，而不是原来在2010年预期的7 ％。

    The credit crunch is not passing by without a trace, however. A drawn-out seizure in the credit markets would harm the banks' growth prospects: although overall loan-to-deposit ratios for Greek banks are relatively low, their dependence on wholesale funding has increased over the past couple of years. The effects of a global economic slowdown would ripple into south-eastern Europe. Economics aside, political risk still clouds the outlook in the Balkans and beyond.
    信贷紧缩不会毫无原由地发生了。在信贷市场很高的扣押将不利于银行的增长前景：虽然整体贷存比率在希腊银行中是比较低的，它们在过去数年对大量资金依赖增加了。全球经济增长放缓的影响将波及到东南欧洲。在巴尔干，经济学之外，政治风险仍然阴云密布。
    But there is no shortage of optimism. The bigger banks' extensive retail networks provide a useful hedge against liquidity problems in capital markets. Capital ratios at Greek banks are high, enabling further acquisitions in the surrounding region: Piraeus Bank submitted an offer to buy Kreditprom, a Ukrainian bank, last month. And yet, once the dust settles, Greek banks are themselves likely to become targets for predators: there are few other ways to gain a substantial presence in Europe's most promising markets.
    但是有一点我们并不缺乏乐观。大的银行的广泛的业务网络对冲流通问题可以提供一种有用的隔离作用，在资本市场。在希腊银行的资本比率高，有利于在周边地区的进一步收购：在上个月，比雷埃夫斯银行提交了一份报告，打算购买乌克兰的一家银行：kreditprom 。然而，一旦尘埃落定，希腊银行本身也可能成为大鳄的目标：在欧洲最有前途的市场，没有几个其他方式来获取大量存在。

Dec 6th 2007 | ALMATY
From The Economist print edition

Violator becomes arbiter

违规者变成仲裁者

    FOUR years of intense diplomacy bore fruit on November 30th when the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) awarded its rotating chairmanship in 2010 to Kazakhstan. Since the decision, made at a meeting in Madrid, Kazakhstan's people have been treated to euphoric outbursts by their usually reserved top officials. Kanat Saudabayev, the state secretary (government spokesman), credited the remarkable achievement above all to the extraordinary wisdom of Kazakhstan's people when they elected the “truly God-sent Nursultan Nazarbayev” as their president in 1991.
    11月30日，四年的紧张外交有了结果，当欧洲的（欧安组织）安全与合作组织选出其在2010年的轮值主席，为哈萨克斯坦。自从在马德里的其中一个会议上做出这一决定，哈萨克斯坦的人对他们通常预留的高层官员欣喜若狂。 国务秘书（政府发言人） ，kanat saudabayev ，记入了这一显著的成就，首先是哈萨克斯坦人民的非凡的智慧，，正是他们在1991年选出"真正上帝派遣纳扎尔巴耶夫"作为他们的总统。

    Such reverence to Kazakhstan's authoritarian head of state may well be a precondition of political longevity. But it is hardly what one would expect to hear in a country ready to lead a 56-member organisation that monitors human rights and elections. Human Rights Watch, a lobbying group, said the choice of Kazakhstan would undermine the integrity of the OSCE's human-rights principles.
    这样尊敬哈萨克斯坦的国家元首可能是长期政治一个先决条件。但是是很难有什么人会期待听到一个国家愿意率领一个56人组成的组织，其可监测人权和选举。人权观察组织的游说集团说，选择哈萨克斯坦将有害于欧安组织 '人力人权原则。

Indeed, the OSCE itself has so far failed to judge a single election in Kazakhstan free and fair. Yet the Kazakhstani leadership has now pledged to uphold and to strengthen its principles, in Mr Saudabayev's words, “from Vancouver to Vladivostok”. Kazakhstan will become the first former Soviet republic to chair the OSCE. Dosym Satpayev, an independent political analyst, reckons its poor human-rights record and spotty democratic credentials were trumped by geopolitical calculation and hopes of energy co-operation with the oil-rich country.
事实上，欧安组织本身至今仍无法判断在哈的选举是自由和公平的。然而，中哈领导人已承诺已经在坚持和加强其原则，用议员saudabayev的话说，是"从温哥华到符拉迪沃斯托克" 。哈萨克斯坦将成为第一个前苏联加盟的共和国来主持欧安组织 。dosym satpayev ，一个独立的政治分析家估计，其恶劣的人权记录和质量参差不齐民主证书莫须有的，根据地缘政治计算，以及加强与石油资源丰富的国家的联系的愿望。

    Mr Satpayev says that denying Kazakhstan the coveted honour might have alienated its leaders and driven it into closer ties with China, with which it is already linked through the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, a security forum. Or it might have nudged the country even more firmly into the camp of Russia, Kazakhstan's staunchest supporter in OSCE decision-making councils. The chairmanship was the price paid to keep Kazakhstan on good terms with the West and to avoid further antagonising Russia, which is already squabbling with America over the course the OSCE should take.
    议员satpayev说，拒绝哈萨克斯坦令人垂涎的荣誉有可能疏远其领导人并把他带给与中国的更密切的关系，它已经通过上海合作组织被联系在一起，其不过是一个安全论坛。或者,欧安组织的决策局,可能已经把国家更加坚定地送给俄罗斯的营地，哈萨克斯坦最坚定的支持者。担任主席所付出的代价是，保持哈萨克斯坦与西方的良好的关系，并避免进一步与俄罗斯敌对，这已是与美国争吵超过的过程中，欧安组织应进行的议程。
    Whatever happened behind the scenes in Madrid, the political elite in Kazakhstan is jubilant that, as it sees it, the country has at last been accepted as an equal player in global affairs because of its democratic and free-market reforms. However, Marat Tazhin, the foreign minister, has stressed the great weight on Kazakhstan's shoulders if it is to live up to the OSCE's obligations. He promised a change of the election law by 2010 and a freer press. With Kazakhstan facing greater international scrutiny, the opposition may at least now have a chance to have its voice heard. Even so, Mr Satpayev concludes, “The OSCE has won tactically, but lost strategically.”
    无论在幕后马德里发生了什么，在哈萨克斯坦的政治精英都是欢呼的，因为它看来，因为它的民主和自由市场改革，该国已在去年被接受为一个在全球事务中平等的地位。不过，外交部长赛塔任，已经对哈萨克斯坦强加了巨大的压力，如果承担起欧安组织 '的义务。他许诺在2010年改变选举法，以及更大的的新闻自由。哈萨克斯坦将面临着更大的国际社会的监督，所以在野党可能，至少现在有机会拥有自己的声音。即便如此，satpayev先生得出结论， " 欧安组织在战术上赢了，但在战略上输了" 。