2020年经济学人 疫情下的租房驱逐保护令(3)

Although the CDC order is doubtless well-intended, whether it will be judged legal is still uncertain. The latitude¹ given to public-health officials to contain an epidemic² is broad, but this kind of action has no recent precedent³. Without any immediate⁴ compensation for lost rental⁵ payments, landlords will be left with mounting bills. Arguably, this stands awkwardly with the constitutional guarantee that “private property shall not be taken for public use, without just compensation”. Indeed, there is already a lawsuit⁶ against the city and state eviction⁷ moratoriums⁸ introduced in Seattle, Washington, on this ground. One of the plaintiffs in that case is owed $14,000 from two tenants¹⁰ who stopped paying rent in April.

毫无疑问，美国疾病控制与预防中心发布禁止驱逐令是出于善意，但该法令能否被判定为合法仍是未知数。美国政府给了公共卫生官员很大的自由度去控制疫情，但发布禁令的行为最近没有先例。如果不立即补偿租金损失，房东将面临越来越多的账单。可以说，这与宪法规定的“不给予公平赔偿，私有财产不得充作公用”格格不入。实际上，在华盛顿西雅图已经由此发起了一场针对华盛顿州和西雅图市的禁止驱逐令的诉讼。此案中，有两名房客欠下原告1.4万美元，他们从4月份停止支付租金。

Tenant⁹ advocates and landlord-lobby associations, usually at loggerheads, agree on one thing—they would rather the federal government footed the bill. The stimulus¹¹ proposal created by Democrats¹² in Congress would set aside $100bn to help pay for six months of back-rent and late fees, but its actual passage looks improbable. Others would like to go further. Housing Justice for All, a New York group, would like all housing costs (including utilities) incurred¹³ during the epidemic to be “automatically forgiven and never owed”. Left-leaning state legislators have introduced a bill that would do almost exactly that.

租户律师和房东游说协会争执不下，但他们对一件事统一了意见，就是他们宁愿联邦政府来买单。民主党在国会提出了刺激方案，提议政府拨款1000亿美元，帮助支付六个月的欠租和滞纳金，但这项方案实际通过的可能性不大。其他的组织希望更进一步。纽约一个名为“人人享有住房公正”的组织希望，疫情期间的所有住房费用（包括水电费）都能够“自动免除，绝不拖欠”。左倾的州立法者提出了一项法案，几乎可以实现上述的希望。

Nothing spurs policy innovation quite like a crisis. During the second world war America imposed extraordinary rent controls covering more than 80% of the national rental stock. Today, some would like to supplant¹⁴ national rent control with national rent cancellation¹⁵.

没有什么能比危机更能刺激政策创新了。二战期间，美国对全国80%以上的房屋实行了特别租金管制。今天，有些人想用取消国家租金来取代国家租金管制。

1 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

2 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

3 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

4 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。

5 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

6 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

7 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

8 moratoriums   

正式的延缓，暂停( moratorium的名词复数 )

参考例句：

9 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

10 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

11 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

12 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

14 supplant   

vt.排挤；取代

参考例句：

• Electric cars may one day supplant petrol-driven ones.也许有一天电动车会取代汽油驱动的车。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

15 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。