2020年经济学人 尽在掌控--疫情让西方政府加大干预力度(3)

Other changes may be less clear-cut, but will be hard to undo¹ because they were backed by powerful constituencies even before the pandemic. One example is the further unpicking of the euro-zone pact² that is supposed to impose discipline on the member-states’ borrowing. Likewise, Britain has taken its railways under state control—a step that is supposed to be temporary but which may never be retracted³.

其他的变化可能不那么明确，但也很难撤销，因为它们甚至在疫情之前就得到了强大选民的支持。一个例子是欧元区协议的进一步瓦解，该协议旨在对成员国的借贷施加约束。同样，英国已经将其铁路置于国家控制之下——这一举措本应是暂时的，但可能永远不会收回。

More worrying is the spread of bad habits. Governments may retreat into autarky. Some fear running out of the ingredients for medicines, many of which are made in China. Russia has imposed a temporary ban on exporting grain. Industrialists⁴ and politicians have lost trust in supply chains. It is but a small step from there to long-term state support for the national champions that will have just been bailed⁵ out by taxpayers⁶. Trade’s prospects⁷ are already dim; all this would further cloud them—and the recovery. And in the long term, a vast and lasting⁸ expansion of the state together with dramatically higher public debt is likely to lead to a lumbering⁹, less dynamic kind of capitalism¹⁰.

更令人担忧的是坏习惯的传播。政府可能会退回到自给自足的状态。一些人担心药品的成分即将用尽，其中许多都是中国制造的。俄罗斯暂时禁止粮食出口。工业家和政治家已经对供应链失去了信任。对于那些刚刚得到纳税人纾困的国家冠军企业来说，这只是一小步。贸易前景已经暗淡；所有这些都将进一步给他们和经济复苏蒙上阴影。从长远来看，政府的大规模持续扩张，加上公共债务的大幅增加，可能会导致一种缓慢、缺乏活力的资本主义。

But that is not the biggest problem. The greater worries lie elsewhere, in the abuse of office and the threats to freedom. Some politicians are already making power grabs, as in Hungary, where the government is seeking an indefinite state of emergency. Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, appears to see the crisis as a chance to evade¹¹ a trial for corruption¹².

但这还不是最大的问题。更大的担忧存在于其他方面，滥用职权和对自由的威胁。一些政客已经在争权夺势，比如在匈牙利，政府正在寻求无限期的紧急状态。以色列总理本雅明?内塔尼亚胡似乎将这场危机视为逃避腐败审判的机会。

The most worrying is the dissemination¹³ of intrusive¹⁴ surveillance. Invasive data collection and processing will spread because it offers a real edge in managing the disease. But they also require the state to have routine access to citizens’ medical and electronic records. The temptation will be to use surveillance after the pandemic, much as anti-terror legislation was extended after 9/11. This might start with tracing tb cases or drug dealers¹⁵.

最令人担忧的是侵入性监控的传播。侵入性的数据收集和处理将会扩散，因为它提供了控制疾病的真正优势。但它们也使得政府能够定期查看公民的医疗和电子记录。在疫情之后，人们很可能会倾向于使用监控手段，就像9/11之后反恐立法被延长一样。这可以从追踪结核病病例或毒贩开始。

Surveillance may well be needed to cope with covid-19. Rules with sunset clauses and scrutiny¹⁶ built in can help stop it at that. But the main defence against the overmighty state, in tech and the economy, will be citizens themselves. They must remember that a pandemic government is not fit for everyday life.

很可能需要监控来应对covid-19。带有“落日条款”和内部审查的规则可以帮助防止这种情况的发生。但在科技和经济领域，对抗这个政治上过于强势的国家的主要防御力量将是公民自己。他们必须记住，疫情期间的政府并不适合恢复正常后。

1 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

2 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

3 retracted   

v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回

参考例句：

• He made a false confession which he later retracted. 他作了假供词，后来又翻供。
• A caddy retracted his statement. 一个球童收回了他的话。 来自辞典例句

4 industrialists   

n.工业家，实业家( industrialist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This deal will offer major benefits to industrialists and investors. 这笔交易将会让实业家和投资者受益匪浅。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has set up a committee of industrialists and academics to advise it. 政府已成立了一个实业家和学者的委员会来为其提供建议。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 bailed   

保释，帮助脱离困境( bail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Fortunately the pilot bailed out before the plane crashed. 飞机坠毁之前，驾驶员幸运地跳伞了。
• Some water had been shipped and the cook bailed it out. 船里进了些水，厨师把水舀了出去。

6 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

7 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。

8 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

9 lumbering   

n.采伐林木

参考例句：

• Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
• Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

10 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

11 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

12 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

13 dissemination   

传播,宣传,传染(病毒)

参考例句：

• The dissemination of error does people great harm. 谬种流传，误人不浅。
• He was fully bent upon the dissemination of Chinese culture all over the world. 他一心致力于向全世界传播中国文化。

14 intrusive   

adj.打搅的；侵扰的

参考例句：

• The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
• Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。

15 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

16 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。