经济学人56:朝鲜的饥荒,让他们吃玉米皮

 　　Hunger in North Korea

　　朝鲜的饥荒

　　Let them eat maize¹ husks

　　让他们吃玉米皮

　　The politics of hunger in a brutal² place

　　野蛮之地的饥荒政治

　　May 12th 2011 | SEOUL | from the print edition

　　IT IS the time of year when the previous harvest has been nearly eaten and the next one has just been planted. Time, in other words, to worry about North Korea’s perennially³ hungry masses.

　　现在是那种青黄不接的时候。换句话说，是为朝鲜长期存在的吃不上饭的平民感到焦虑的时候了。

　　North Korea had long grown dependent on food handouts⁴ from its estranged⁵ brother, South Korea, and from the United States. But the South’s current president, Lee Myung-bak, has taken a tougher line, tying assistance to less provocative⁶ behaviour by Kim Jong Il’s nuclear-tipped regime. So Mr Kim’s envoys⁷ have travelled further afield of late, reportedly doing the rounds of Europe.

　　长期以来，朝鲜依赖失和的兄弟——韩国——和美国的救济。但是，韩国现任总统李明博采取了强硬路线，要想得到救助，金正日亲核政权就必须变得更加温和。所以，最近金正日的特使不远万里，据报道现在欧洲进行活动。

　　The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is now preparing to distribute emergency aid to 3.5m North Koreans suffering from “severe malnutrition⁸”. Programme officials are concerned about the possibility of a famine on the scale of the one in the mid-1990s, in which over 1m died. They blame a series of shocks, including the coldest winter in years, widespread flooding and an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among livestock⁹. Some 297,000 tonnes of cereal and 137,000 tonnes of fortified¹⁰ blended food must reach the most vulnerable.

　　联合国世界粮食计划署正准备对350万经受“严重营养不良”的朝鲜人发放紧急救援。计划署官员们担心上世纪90年代中期导致100多万人死亡的饥荒可能再次发生。他们认为一系列的冲击——包括数年严冬、肆虐的洪水、牲畜的口蹄疫爆发是导致饥荒的主要原因。约297000吨谷物以及137000吨加强的混合食品必须送达那些最脆弱的人们。

　　With murky¹¹ data, and diplomats¹² and foreign-aid staff restricted in where they may travel, not everyone agrees with the WFP’s assessment¹³. Certainly, estimating North Korea’s food needs has long been a politicised business. A member of South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party, Yoon Sang-hyun, says that the North is hoarding¹⁴ 1m tonnes of rice, playing up a shortfall in order to get aid on the cheap. Some say Mr Kim wants the aid in order to announce a bumper¹⁵ harvest in 2012. That year is the 100th anniversary of North Korea’s founder¹⁶, Mr Kim’s father, Kim Il Sung. Something approaching paradise has long been promised to North Koreans for 2012.

　　考虑到数据模糊不清，加之对外交官和外国援助人员可能访问之地加以限制，并非每个人都与世界粮食计划署的评估意见一致。当然，长期以来，评估朝鲜的粮食需求一直是带有严肃政治性的事情。韩国执政的大国家党成员尹尚铉（Yoon Sang-hyun）称，朝鲜囤积有100万吨大米，夸大短缺是为了廉价获取援助。一些人则认为，金正日需要这些援助，为的是好在2012年宣布丰收。2012年是朝鲜建立者金正日父亲金日成100周年诞辰。朝鲜一直承诺在2012年会出现一种接近天堂般的生活。

　　The South’s unification minister, Hyun In-taek, also suspects North Korea of exaggerating its troubles for political gain. Certainly, he says, starvation has begun to overshadow other topics that the South would rather discuss, namely denuclearisation and the North’s refusal to apologise for last year’s shelling of Yeonpyeong island and the presumed sinking in March 2010 of a naval¹⁷ corvette. This is apparently¹⁸ a view shared by Daily NK, an activist¹⁹ network and news source which says that the price of rice in the black market has actually fallen by around half in recent months.

　　韩国统一部部长玄在泽（Hyun In-taek）也怀疑朝鲜夸大困难为的是寻求政治利益。他说，毫无疑问，饥荒问题使韩国可能会讨论的其它议题黯然失色，这些议题即朝鲜的无核化以及朝鲜拒绝为去年向延坪岛发射炮弹及2010年3月韩国海军护卫舰沉没一事道歉等。显然这也是与Daily NK共有的一个观点。Daily NK是一个激进分子网络，是“大米在黑市的价格在近几月实际下降了一半左右”的新闻来源。

　　Others, such as Good Friends, a South Korean Buddhist²⁰ charity long working in the North, insist the situation is very bad—and that tuberculosis²¹ is on the rise owing to malnutrition. Rimjingang, a magazine with reporters secretly stationed in North Korea, says that in North Pyongan province by the Chinese border even the army is going hungry.

　　其它如长期在朝鲜工作的佛教慈善团体“好朋友”（Good Friends）则认为，情况相当糟糕，并且由于营养不良，肺结核感染正在增加。有记者秘密驻扎在朝鲜的杂志《Rimjingang》称，在与中国交接的平安省，甚至军队也发生饥荒。

　　Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, both at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC, say that even though the WFP has overstated the case, “all indicators²² point to a deteriorating²³ food-security situation”. What is more, they take issue with Mr Lee’s belief that withholding²⁴ aid will temper the North’s behaviour. Rather, they argue, the response will merely be for the hermit²⁵ kingdom to “hunker down and tighten²⁶ repression”. The regime has been consistent chiefly in showing complete disregard for its people.

　　华盛顿彼得森国际经济研究所（Peterson Institute for International Economics）的斯蒂芬·哈格德（Stephan Haggard）和马库斯·诺兰（ Marcus Noland）称，即便世界粮食组织高估了情况，“所有迹象表明一种粮食安全情况正在恶化”。此外，他们反对李明博“扣留援助将软化朝鲜行为”的观点。他们甚至认为，神秘王国（朝鲜）的反应不过是“顽固坚持、加强镇压”。朝鲜政权大体上一直漠视它的人民。

　　But arguing is pointless. Widespread malnutrition and starvation in at least some parts of the country is a reality in North Korea. For Jimmy Carter, the former American president, who visited Pyongyang recently, the fault lies mainly with South Korea and the United States. That is presumably tonic²⁷ to the real culprit for the hunger, the chubby²⁸ Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il.

　　但是，争论毫无意义。至少在朝鲜部分地区存在普遍的营养不良和饥荒，这是现实。最近访问过平壤的美国前总统吉米·卡特认为，错误在韩国和美国一边。这一消息对饥荒背后真正的罪犯——圆胖的亲爱领袖金正日——而言，大概是一剂补药。

1 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

2 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

3 perennially   

adv.经常出现地；长期地；持久地；永久地

参考例句：

• He perennially does business abroad. 他常年在国外做生意。 来自辞典例句
• We want to know what is perennially new about the world. 我们想知道世上什么东西永远是新的。 来自互联网

4 handouts   

救济品( handout的名词复数 )； 施舍物； 印刷品； 讲义

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后，他仍然很骄傲，不愿接受施舍。

5 estranged   

adj.疏远的，分离的

参考例句：

• He became estranged from his family after the argument.那场争吵后他便与家人疏远了。
• The argument estranged him from his brother.争吵使他同他的兄弟之间的关系疏远了。

6 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

7 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

8 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

9 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

10 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

11 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

12 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

14 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

15 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

16 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

17 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

18 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

19 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

20 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

21 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

22 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

23 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

24 withholding   

扣缴税款

参考例句：

• She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
• The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。

25 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

26 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

27 tonic   

n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的

参考例句：

• It will be marketed as a tonic for the elderly.这将作为老年人滋补品在市场上销售。
• Sea air is Nature's best tonic for mind and body.海上的空气是大自然赋予的对人们身心的最佳补品。

28 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。