经济学人:东非骆驼 又快又有味儿

 　　Middle east and Africa: East African camels: Speedy and tasty

　　中东和非洲：东非骆驼：又快又有味儿

　　The camel trade is increasingly lucrative¹.

　　骆驼贸易越来越获益。

　　“Allahu akbar!” the boys shout gleefully from atop their camels, the reins² of others held in their raised fists, their backs to the setting sun.

　　“真主至大！”一群男孩坐在骆驼背上开心地喊着，高举的拳头里攥着其它骆驼的缰绳，背向夕阳而行。

　　Beside them a metal-fenced racing³ track cuts through the pancake-flat desert.

　　不远处，金属栅栏围起的赛道穿过薄饼般平坦的沙漠。

　　Every dawn and dusk the camels are trained to run on this plain outside Kassala, a city in eastern Sudan.

　　这块大平地位于苏丹东部城市卡萨拉的城外，那些骆驼每天早晚都在这儿接受赛跑训练。

　　Their owners hope they will catch the eye of the wealthy Emiratis who visit several times a year to buy the fastest mounts for multi-million-dollar prize races in Dubai.

　　养骆人都希望自家的骆驼能够吸引一些富有的阿联酋人的注意，那些有钱人一年会来这好几次，购买跑得最快的骆驼去参加迪拜的百万美元骆驼赛。

　　The Rashaida, a tribe that migrated to Sudan and Eritrea from Saudi Arabia in the mid-19th century, are renowned⁴ for breeding some of the world’s speediest racing camels.

　　拉舍达是19世纪中叶从沙特阿拉伯移居到苏丹和厄立特里亚的一个部落，以培育世界上跑得最快的比赛骆驼而闻名。

　　They are also in famous for trafficking Eritreans who cross the border, around 30km (20 miles) from Kassala, in the hope of eventually reaching Europe.

　　他们也因贩卖厄立特里亚人而臭名昭著，那些被拐的人原本是想穿越卡萨拉30千米（20英里）外的边界并最终抵达欧洲。

　　Emiratis buy between 100 and 300 young camels a year from the village of Abu Talha, some for as much as $80,000, says Hamed Hamid, a mustachioed patriarch.

　　大胡子族长Hamed Hamid称，阿联酋人每年从Abu Talha村中购买100到300匹小骆驼，有些卖到8万美元一匹。

　　There are around 800 racing beasts in a settlement of 1,200 people, he estimates, and many more are being raised for slaughter⁵.

　　据他估算，1200户人口的村子里约有800匹比赛骆驼，供宰杀的骆驼数量更多。

　　“The camels are everything. They give us milk, meat and trade,” Mr Hamid says, as his wife brews⁶ tea and coffee over hot coals under a starry⁷ sky.

　　Hamid说：“骆驼就是一切。它们为我们提供骆驼奶、骆驼肉，并带来贸易机会”，他说这话时，他的妻子正在热炭上煮着茶和咖啡，头上是满天的繁星。

　　Although the Rashaida are traditionally nomadic⁸, many have settled in villages like Abu Talha, a jumble⁹ of earthen-walled or brightly painted concrete houses.

　　尽管拉舍达人是传统的游牧民族，但很多人已在如Abu Talha之类的村庄中定居下来，村庄里杂乱排布着泥墙房或色彩鲜艳的混凝土房。

　　They have also adapted to the United Arab Emirates’ ban on child jockeys, after the state was censured¹⁰ by the UN in 2005.

　　2005年，联合国谴责阿拉伯联合酋长国让儿童当骆驼骑师，随后阿联酋出台相关禁令，拉舍达人也已经接受了这个禁令。

　　Boys still train some camels, but others are whipped along by miniature robots dressed in jockey silks and given orders remotely from white Toyota pickup¹¹ trucks.

　　虽然仍有少量骆驼由男孩带领着训练，但大部分骆驼已由微型机器人打鞭驱策，这些机器人穿着彩色丝绸骑师服，远程接收随行的白色丰田皮卡的指令。

　　Each month the villagers sell around 200 baby camels to Saudi Arabia and 120 adult ones to Egypt for human consumption, says Mr Hamid, pointing out a large female that will fetch as much as 25,000 Sudanese pounds ($1,525 at the black-market exchange rate) .

　　Hamid说，每个月村民向沙特阿拉伯售出约200匹骆驼幼崽，向埃及售出约120匹成年骆驼以供食用。据他透露，一匹大的母骆驼能卖2.5万苏丹镑（以黑市汇率计算约合1，525美元）。

　　Livestock¹² is a big and growing business all over east Africa, in considerable part fuelled by the Gulf’s increasing appetite for meat.

　　在整个东非地区，牲畜贸易都是大买卖，近年来发展迅速，很大程度上源于海湾国家对骆驼肉的需求上涨。

　　Live Sudanese animal exports more than trebled to $670m between 2010 and 2013 (the most recent years for which the World Bank has data) .

　　2010年至2013年间（这是世界银行的最新数据），苏丹的活牲畜出口额翻了三倍多，达6.7亿美元。

　　More than 70% were sheep, demand for which surges around the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when they are ceremonially slaughtered¹³.

　　其中70%以上是羊，羊的需求量会在穆斯林古尔邦节来临之际大涨，因为那时候这些羊会作为节日祭品宰杀。

　　In 2015 Somalia sold 5.3m animals, worth $384m; livestock counts for 40% of that fractured country’s GDP.

　　2015年，索马里售出530万头牲畜，价值3.84亿美元；牲畜业占到这个支离破碎的国家的国内生产总值的40%。

　　Other Sudanese may sneer¹⁴ that the Rashaida’s new cars and houses have been bought with the proceeds of people-smuggling.

　　其它苏丹人可能会嘲笑拉舍达人的新车子新房子是贩卖人口赚来的。

　　But there is plenty of money to be made in the legitimate¹⁵ business of exporting livestock.

　　但事实上，不少钱是通过牲畜出口贸易合法赚来的。

　　1.plenty of 大量；许多

　　例句:Are there plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet?

　　你的饮食中新鲜果蔬充足吗？

　　2.exchange rate 汇率

　　例句:We've got a fairly unfavourable exchange rate at the moment.

　　眼下汇率对我们不利。

　　3.adapted to 适应

　　例句:When he moved to france, the children adapted to the change very well.

　　他移居法国后，孩子们很能适应这个变化。

　　4.in the hope of 怀着...的希望

　　例句:He was studying in the hope of being admitted to an engineering college

　　他努力学习，希望能被一所工程学院录取。

1 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

2 reins   

感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带

参考例句：

• She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。

3 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

4 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

5 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

6 brews   

n.（尤指某地酿造的）啤酒( brew的名词复数 )；酿造物的种类；（茶）一次的冲泡量；（不同思想、环境、事件的）交融v.调制( brew的第三人称单数 )；酝酿；沏（茶）；煮（咖啡）

参考例句：

• He brews beer at home. 他在家里酿造啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They produce the country's best brews of beer. 他们生产该国的佳酿啤酒。 来自辞典例句

7 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。

8 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

9 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

10 censured   

v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的过去式 )

参考例句：

• They were censured as traitors. 他们被指责为叛徒。 来自辞典例句
• The judge censured the driver but didn't fine him. 法官责备了司机但没罚他款。 来自辞典例句

11 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

12 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。

13 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 sneer   

v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语

参考例句：

• He said with a sneer.他的话中带有嘲笑之意。
• You may sneer,but a lot of people like this kind of music.你可以嗤之以鼻，但很多人喜欢这种音乐。

15 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。