经济学人158:英国陷入无政府状态

 　　Riots in Britain

　　英国骚乱

　　Anarchy¹ in the UK

　　英国的乱局

　　A bout² of violent mindlessness that has shaken Britain’s sense of self—and may be exportable

　　极端的无知动摇了英国的自我意识，并可能祸水外流

　　Aug 13th 2011 | from the print edition

　　SHAME was the first response of many people in Britain to the riots that started in the Tottenham neighbourhood of London on August 6th, skipped across the capital in the following days and nights and spread to Manchester, Birmingham and many other cities. Alongside the shame, there was a jolting³ bafflement. The law-abiding majority suddenly saw that some of their compatriots were happy to torch cars and buildings, loot shops, and attack firemen and ambulance crews. The confidence trick at the heart of the social order was violently laid bare: it turns out that if sufficient numbers of criminals want to create havoc⁴ on the streets, they can. In the absence of internal, moral restraints, external ones can only do so much.

　　许多英国人对该国骚乱的第一反应是羞耻。这场骚乱8月6日始发于伦敦托特纳姆地区，在随后几天里掠过首都蔓延到曼彻斯特、伯明翰和其他一些城市。人们在羞耻之余，还深感困惑。那些守法的大多数突然看到，一些国人竟乐于焚烧汽车和房屋、劫掠商店以及袭击消防员和救护人员。社会秩序深层的骗局昭然若揭：原来，如果意图在街头制造大破坏的罪犯足够多，那么他们就能达到目的。当缺乏内在道德制约的情况下，外在制约的作用仅此而已。

　　The world watched London in fascinated amazement⁵. Other nations tend to regard Britain as enviably orderly and law-abiding, at least compared with many of its more excitable continental⁶ neighbours. That peaceable image is only partly justified⁷: contagious⁸ rioting has broken out before, typically during the summer, including in the 1980s, when Tottenham and some of the other flashpoint areas this week last erupted. This time, however, the complexion⁹ of the trouble is different from those earlier flare-ups. In its sheer mindlessness, it was, in a way, even more depressing.

　　全世界都惊异地看着伦敦。其他国家往往对英国的遵纪守法颇为羡慕，认为英国至少强于它的一些更易冲动的大陆邻邦。而它的这种平和形象只是部分才有正解：四处蔓延的骚乱先前已然爆发过，它们通常发生在夏季，其中就包括1980年代的那场骚乱，那是本周托特纳姆和其他一些“火药桶”地区最近一次骚乱。然而这次困局与早期的那些冲突不同，从其十足的无知一面来看，它在某种程度上更让人忧虑。

　　Moral malaise

　　道德痼疾

　　This week’s multiplying riots had some common features—looting, arson¹⁰, attacks on the police—but they spanned different places, races, ages and sexes. Race was not the defining issue, as it was in many of the disturbances¹¹ of the 1980s. One of the first to appear in court for looting was a 31-year-old teaching assistant: hardly an identikit hooligan. That left politicians free to project their own rationales on the carnage.

　　本周愈演愈烈的骚乱具有一些共性——抢劫、纵火、袭警——但它跨越了不同地区、种族、年龄和性别。同1980年代的历次骚乱一样，种族并未在这次骚乱中扮演关键角色。法庭上出现的第一个被控抢劫罪的人是一个31岁的助教：他几乎不是一个通常意义上的街头恶棍。这让政客们对这场残杀的原因莫衷一是。

　　For some on the left, the real villain¹² was the government’s public-spending cuts. This view is given superficial support by the fact that the 1980s outbreaks happened during the “Thatcher cuts”. But it is still a lazy fantasy. It might be comforting to think of the riots as an extension of a familiar debate—and to argue that the underlying¹³ ills can be easily remedied with a little more state largesse—but there is little reason to do so. Unlike the riots in Britain in the 1980s, Los Angeles in 1992 or France in 2005, these were not overtly¹⁴ political or racial. And since the cuts have barely bitten yet, that explanation doesn’t wash.

　　对于左派的一些人来说，真正的祸根就是政府削减公共支出的举动。这一观点貌似得到1980年代“撒切尔紧缩（Thatcher cuts）”期间爆发骚乱这一事实的佐证，但这仍是不求甚解的想法。他们将骚乱看做一场常见的论战的延伸，并主张多给一些国家救济就能轻松祛除病根，这种看法可能令人感到欣慰，但其理由却基本上站不住脚。与1980年代发生在英国、1992年发生在洛杉矶或2005年发生在法国的骚乱不同，这场骚乱并不具有明显的政治性或种族性。既然财政削减几乎尚未造成不良后果，这个解释也就经不起推敲了。

　　But the right’s knee-jerk response—that this is criminality, pure and simple, and that to seek a deeper explanation is to excuse the culprits—is also wrong. There is clearly a cadre of young people in Britain who feel they have little or no stake in the country’s future or their own. The barriers that prevent most youngsters from running amok—an inherent sense of right and wrong; concern for their job and education prospects¹⁵; shame—seem not to exist in the minds of the rioters. Britain needs to try to understand why that is so.

　　但右派的第一反应——这是十足的犯罪行为，查找更深层原因就是为罪犯开脱——也是错的。英国显然有很多年轻人对国家或自己的前途漠然置之。阻止大多数年轻人胡作非为的条条框框——固有的是非感、对工作和教育前景的挂虑、羞恶之心——似乎对这些暴徒形同虚设。英国需要设法搞清楚为什么会这样。

　　It is unlikely that the closure of, say, a local youth club has caused that alienation¹⁶. Perhaps it has something to do with the changing nature of the economy and consequent shortage of low-skilled jobs, or the long crumbling¹⁷ of family structures and discipline. Technology, too, may have had a role, for BlackBerrys were widely used to summon mobs. Digital communications have tipped the balance of power away from the authorities towards the streets, as they did in the Arab spring; but in Britain, the effect has been terrifying rather than inspiring.

　　诸如关闭地方性青年俱乐部一类的事件不可能导致这种疏离。可能这与经济的多变性和由此带来的低技能工作的短缺，或由来已久的家庭结构和纪律的解体有关。技术也可能在其中扮演了角色，因为黑莓手机曾被广泛用于召集暴民。数字通讯打破了权力的平衡，当局的权利已让渡于街头政治，这在阿拉伯革命中可见一斑。但在英国，数字通讯的作用与其说鼓舞人心，不如说令人震惊。

　　If technology is a major factor, perhaps such scenes will be replicated¹⁸ in other countries. On the other hand, a peculiarly British set of conditions may be at work. Near-American levels of inequality may have combined with laxer European attitudes to criminal justice to create an incendiary mix of rage and boldness. Whatever the reasons, a moral malaise has gripped a minority of young Britons, a subgroup that is nevertheless big enough to terrorise and humiliate¹⁹ the country.

　　如果技术是主要因素，那么这种场景将会在其他国家重演。另一方面，英国的特殊国情可能发挥了作用，其不平等程度与美国接近，而在刑事司法上却采取了更为宽松的欧洲式态度，两个因素若合在一起很容易使人们因一点不公，就大发雷霆之怒，四处煽风点火，并采取鲁莽的行动。不论是何原因，有一件事是肯定的，即少数英国年轻人染患了道德痼疾，这个群体的数量虽少却足以让这个国家受到威胁和羞辱。

　　The thin blue line

　　警察

　　David Cameron, the prime minister, recalled Parliament to discuss the crisis, declaring that pockets of Britain were “frankly sick”. Politicians will no doubt come up with all manner of responses over the weeks to come. Job-creation and welfare schemes will surely play a part in the debate. But the immediate²⁰ focus was on policing, and why, especially on the first few nights of trouble and particularly in London, the police seemed unable to cope.

　　首相卡梅伦召回议员商议危机事宜，他宣称有些地方的英国人“脑子显然有病”。政客们无疑会在未来几周提出各种应对措施，创造就业机会计划和福利计划谅必在争论中占有一席之地，但当前关注的焦点是治安问题和为什么警察似乎不能应付骚乱，尤其是头几个晚上的骚乱和发生在伦敦的骚乱的问题。

　　The spark for the initial incident in Tottenham was a fatal shooting by police officers; some hooligans cited resentment²¹ of the police as a motive²². But as the violence spiralled and spread, the main criticism levelled at them—particularly London’s Metropolitan²³ Police—was that they were too soft. That criticism was partly justified. The Met was caught out by the scale of the unrest and unable to respond quickly enough. In some parts of the capital the police were outnumbered, outmanoeuvred and unable or unwilling²⁴ to prevent looting.

　　托特纳姆骚乱是由警方射杀了一名男子引起的。一些街头恶棍称自己的动机源自对警察的不满。但随着暴力急剧升温和四处蔓延，他们——特别是伦敦警察署的警察——则主要被指责过于软弱。这种批评在一定程度上是正确的。伦敦警察署对危机的规模准备不足，疲于奔命，不能足够快速地应对。在首都的一些地区，暴徒在数量上超过警察，警察无计可施，不能或不愿阻止抢劫行为。

　　With suitable reinforcements and better tactics, they and other forces performed better on subsequent nights. Nevertheless, there were widespread calls for much more draconian²⁵ measures. One opinion poll suggested a third of respondents favoured the use not only of rubber bullets but of live ones. The imposition of curfews and the deployment²⁶ of the army were discussed but thankfully not implemented²⁷.

　　由于适当的增援和更高明的战术，他们和其他警察部队在随后的几个晚上表现得更加出色。然而，各界普遍呼吁加强严管力度。一项民意测验显示，三分之一的应答者支持使用橡皮子弹甚至实弹。强制实行宵禁和部署军队也被讨论过，幸好没有施行。

　　Thankfully, because that sort of response would make Britain a different place from the open, liberal country most of its citizens want it to be. Yet one message of this week’s events is that the reality of modern Britain doesn’t quite live up to that hope. The widespread assumption that, for all their inequalities and fissures²⁸, the country and its capital are fundamentally orderly and harmonious²⁹, has been revealed to be complacent³⁰. The cracks in British society—economic and moral—have opened up, and they are deeper than they seemed.

　　真是谢天谢地，因为那种应对措施将使英国悖离于其大多数公民所期待的那种开放、自由的国家。而本周骚乱的要旨是现代英国的现实并没有完全达到期待的标准。尽管英国和其首都存在不平等和社会裂痕，但普遍认为它们从根本上讲是秩序井然和和谐的，而今这个看法被证明不过是自以为是而已。英国社会的裂痕——经济和道德上的——已经扩大，其深度超过想象。

　　The riots have been bad for Britain’s already stuttering economy. They have been ruinous for the people whose homes and businesses have been damaged and destroyed. They have tarnished³¹ Britain’s image around the world. But most of all, they have been desperately³² disorienting for the country’s own sense of itself.

　　这场骚乱对英国已然迟滞的经济来说无异于雪上加霜。一些人的住宅和公司也遭到了损毁，这对于他们来说是灾难性的。骚乱也玷污了英国的国际形象，但最糟糕的是，它使英国严重地迷失了自我感的方向。

1 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

2 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

3 jolting   

adj.令人震惊的

参考例句：

• 'she should be all right from the plane's jolting by now. “飞机震荡应该过了。
• This is perhaps the most jolting comment of all. 这恐怕是最令人震惊的评论。

4 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

5 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

6 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

7 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

8 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

9 complexion   

n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格

参考例句：

• Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
• Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。

10 arson   

n.纵火，放火

参考例句：

• He was serving a ten spot for arson.他因纵火罪在服十年徒刑。
• He was arraigned on a charge of arson.他因被指控犯纵火罪而被传讯。

11 disturbances   

n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍

参考例句：

• The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the disturbances at the prison. 政府成立了一个委员会来调查监狱骚乱事件。
• Extra police were called in to quell the disturbances. 已调集了增援警力来平定骚乱。

12 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

13 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

14 overtly   

ad.公开地

参考例句：

• There were some overtly erotic scenes in the film. 影片中有一些公开色情场面。
• Nietzsche rejected God's law and wrote some overtly blasphemous things. 尼采拒绝上帝的律法，并且写了一些渎神的作品。

15 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

16 alienation   

n.疏远；离间；异化

参考例句：

• The new policy resulted in the alienation of many voters.新政策导致许多选民疏远了。
• As almost every conceivable contact between human beings gets automated,the alienation index goes up.随着人与人之间几乎一切能想到的接触方式的自动化，感情疏远指数在不断上升。

17 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

18 replicated   

复制( replicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Later outplant the seedlings in a replicated permanent test plantation. 以后苗木出圃栽植成重复的永久性试验林。
• The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed. 噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。

19 humiliate   

v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace

参考例句：

• What right had they to bully and humiliate people like this?凭什么把人欺侮到这个地步呢？
• They pay me empty compliments which only humiliate me.他们虚情假意地恭维我，这只能使我感到羞辱。

20 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

21 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

22 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

23 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

24 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

25 draconian   

adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的

参考例句：

• You can't expect the people to obey such draconian regulations.你不能指望人民服从如此严苛的规定。
• The city needs a draconian way of dealing with robbers.这个城市需要一个严苛的办法来对付强盗。

26 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

27 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

28 fissures   

n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Rising molten rock flows out on the ocean floor and caps the fissures, trapping the water. 上升熔岩流到海底并堵住了裂隙，结果把海水封在里面。 来自辞典例句
• The French have held two colloquia and an international symposium on rock fissures. 法国已经开了两次岩石裂缝方面的报告会和一个国际会议。 来自辞典例句

29 harmonious   

adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的

参考例句：

• Their harmonious relationship resulted in part from their similar goals.他们关系融洽的部分原因是他们有着相似的目标。
• The room was painted in harmonious colors.房间油漆得色彩调和。

30 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

31 tarnished   

（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏

参考例句：

• The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。
• His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

32 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。