Seize the moment

把握疫情瞬間

　　Following the pandemic is like watching the climate crisis with your finger jammed on the fast-forward button. Neither the virus nor greenhouse gases care much for borders, making both scourges global. Both put the poor and vulnerable at greater risk than wealthy elites and demand government action on a scale hardly ever seen in peacetime. And with America’s leadership as scornful of the World Health Organization as it is of the Paris climate agreement, neither calamity is getting the coordinated international response it deserves.

　　疫情的不斷蔓延就像氣候危機的逐步惡化，但幾乎是以一種快進的方式發(fā)展的。病毒和溫室氣體都不受邊界限制，使得這兩大危機蔓延全球。相較于富裕的精英人群，它們給窮人和弱勢群體帶來了更大的危險。這兩種危機迫使政府采取大規(guī)模行動，這在和平時期是沒有的。由于美國蔑視世界衛(wèi)生組織(WHO)和《巴黎氣候協(xié)議》，這兩場災難都沒有得到應有的協(xié)調國際反應。

　　The two crises do not just resemble each other. They interact. Shutting down swathes of the economy has led to huge cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions. In the first week of April, daily emissions worldwide were 17% below what they were last year. The International Energy Agency expects global industrial green-house-gas emissions to be about 8% lower in 2020 than they were in 2019, the largest annual drop since the second world war.這兩場危機不僅有共通之處，而且還相互影響。大批企業(yè)的關閉極大地減少了溫室氣體的排放。與去年同期相比，今年4月第一周的全球(溫室氣體)日排放量低了17%。國際能機構(IEA)預計，與2019年相比，2020年全球工業(yè)將減少約8%的溫室氣體排放量，這是自二戰(zhàn)以來最大的年度降幅。

　　That drop reveals a crucial truth about the climate crisis. It is much too large to be solved by the abandonment of planes, trains and automobiles. Even if people endure huge changes in how they lead their lives, this sad experiment has shown, the world would still have more than 90% of the necessary decarbonization left to do to get on track for the Paris agreement’s most ambitious goal, of a climate only 1.5°C warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution.6此次降幅揭示了氣候危機這一重要的事實。氣候危機太嚴重了，因而不能僅靠放棄使用飛機、火車和汽車來解決。這項令人傷感的實驗表明，要實現(xiàn)《巴黎協(xié)定》中“氣候比工業(yè)革命前僅暖1.5攝氏度”這一巨大目標，即使人們極大地改變生活方式生活方式，還仍舊要完成世界范圍內90%以上的必要脫碳工作。

　　But as we explain this week the pandemic both reveals the size of the challenge ahead and also creates a unique chance to enact government policies that steer the economy away from carbon at a lower financial, social and political cost than might otherwise have been the case. Rock-bottom energy prices make it easier to cut subsidies for fossil fuels and to introduce a tax on carbon. The revenues from that tax over the next decade can help repair battered government finances. The businesses at the heart of the fossil-fuel economy—oil and gas firms, steel producers, car makers—are already going through the agony of shrinking their long-term capacity and employment. Getting economies in medically induced comas back on their feet is a circumstance tailor-made for investment in climate-friendly infrastructure that boosts growth and creates new jobs.Low interest rates make the bill smaller than ever.

　　然而，正如我們本周解釋的那樣，此次疫情既揭示了未來挑戰(zhàn)的規(guī)模，并為政府方針政策的實行提供了寶貴的機會。和已有的政策相比，現(xiàn)在推行的政策能夠以更低的財政、社會和政治代價來實現(xiàn)經(jīng)濟的低碳化。最低能源價格使得削減化石燃料的補貼和征收碳稅變得更加容易。在未來十年里，通過對二氧化碳征稅取得的稅收收入有助于恢復遭受重創(chuàng)的政府財政。石油和天然氣公司、鋼鐵生產(chǎn)商、汽車制造商是化石燃料經(jīng)濟的核 心企業(yè)，已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷了長期產(chǎn)能和就業(yè)萎縮的痛苦。讓經(jīng)濟良性停滯，是為投資氣候友好型基礎設施而營造出特定環(huán)境。對基礎設施的投資可以促進就業(yè)機會的增長和創(chuàng)新，同時低利率會使成本達到有史以來最低。

　　(選自《經(jīng)濟學人》2020年5月23日)

　　點評

　　1.Seize the moment把握疫情瞬間

　　點評：文章標題反映全文主題，從最后一段可知，作者認為新冠疫情既是挑戰(zhàn)，也是機遇。原譯“把握疫情瞬間”忽略了語言語境，改譯為“抓住機遇”。

　　2.Following the pandemic is like watching the climate crisis with your finger jammed on the fast-forward button.疫情的不斷蔓延就像氣候危機的逐步惡化，但幾乎是以一種快進的方式發(fā)展的。

　　點評：Following和watching均有“觀察、關注”之意，與氣候危機相比，新冠疫情歷時較短，因此才會有“按快進鍵”之說，原譯理解錯誤。

　　3.And with America’s leadership as scornful of the World Health Organization as it is of the Paris climate agreement, neither calamity is getting the coordinated international response it deserves.由于美國蔑視世界衛(wèi)生組織(WHO)和《巴黎氣候協(xié)議》，這兩場災難都沒有得到應有的協(xié)調國際反應。

　　點評：“Paris climate agreement”是專有名詞，一般譯作“巴黎協(xié)定”，更何況第三段也再次提及了該協(xié)定，原譯前后不一致�！癓eadership”意為“帶頭”而非“領導”，原譯漏譯了該詞。

　　4.They interact. Shutting down swathes of the economy has led to huge cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions.大批企業(yè)的關閉極大地減少了溫室氣體的排放。

　　點評：“Swathes of the economy”的字面意思是“經(jīng)濟中的大量”，原譯“大批企業(yè)”不夠準確，因為新冠疫情中關閉的不僅有企業(yè)，還有許多事關國計民生的行業(yè)，如小商店、影院、景區(qū)等，這些行業(yè)的關閉也會影響碳排放。

　　5.That drop reveals a crucial truth about the climate crisis. 此次降幅揭示了氣候危機這一重要的事實。

　　點評：在“a crucial truth about the climate crisis”這一短語中，about the climate crisis是a crucial truth的定語，原譯處理成了同位關系，過于粗心。

　　6.Even if people endure huge changes in how they lead their lives, this sad experiment has shown, the world would still have more than 90% of the necessary decarbonization left to do to get on track for the Paris agreement’s most ambitious goal, of a climate only 1.5°C warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution.這項令人傷感的實驗表明，要實現(xiàn)《巴黎協(xié)定》中“氣候比工業(yè)革命前僅暖1.5攝氏度”這一巨大目標，即使人們極大地改變生活方式生活方式，還仍舊要完成世界范圍內90%以上的必要脫碳工作。

　　點評：此句語法結構復雜，原譯理解基本正確，但中文表達邏輯不夠清晰，語言不夠精練。如“this sad experiment”其實指的是“此次新冠疫情”，翻譯時應將隱喻譯出，原譯不夠靈活。

　　7.Getting economies in medically induced comas back on their feet is a circumstance tailor-made for investment in climate-friendly infrastructure that boosts growth and creates new jobs.讓經(jīng)濟良性停滯，是為投資氣候友好型基礎設施而營造出特定環(huán)境。對基礎設施的投資可以促進就業(yè)機會的增長和創(chuàng)新

　　點評：“Medically induced comas”的字面意思是 “因醫(yī)療導致的逗號”，“逗號”有“停頓、暫停”之意，結合情景語境和語言語境，此處指“因新冠疫情導致經(jīng)濟停擺”，原譯理解錯誤。