新闻周刊:非洲第一个超级大国的到来比你想象的要快(4)

Oil accounts for 97 percent of Nigeria's official exports. Over the past 21 years, the benchmark price of oil has roller-coastered between $17 and $145 per barrel. High oil prices have encouraged fiscally¹ irresponsible policies, like excess spending, vanity public works, subsidized imports of refined petroleum² products, currency manipulation and high levels of protectionism. During boom times, Nigeria splashed around oil money hosting international events like the 2003 All-Africa Games. It spent on grandiose³ projects like the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in the new national capital of Abuja and the Nigerian space program, which has now launched five satellites. During periods of low prices, Nigeria has been forced to borrow.

石油占尼日利亚官方出口的97%。在过去21年里，基准油价一直徘徊在每桶17美元至145美元之间。高油价助长了不负责任的财政政策，比如过度支出、虚荣心强的公共工程、成品油进口补贴、汇率操纵和高度保护主义。在经济繁荣时期，尼日利亚挥金如土，主办了2003年非洲运动会等国际赛事。它把钱花在了宏伟的项目上，比如位于新首都阿布贾的Moshood Abiola国家体育场，以及已经发射了五颗卫星的尼日利亚太空计划。在低油价时期，尼日利亚被迫借贷。

Oil has also been ruinous for the environment. Although progress has been made, there's a long history of less than best practices by international companies, like gas flaring⁴, which contributes significantly to climate change, as well as the environmental disasters caused by bandits who steal oil from pipelines⁵ and entrepreneurs who operate illegal (and dangerous) kerosene⁶ and diesel⁷ refineries⁸ and dump their waste product into the land and waterways.

石油也对环境造成了破坏。尽管已经取得了进展, 但是长期以来，国际公司的最佳实践都不是最好的，比如对气候变化有重大影响的天然气燃除，还有盗贼从输油管道偷油、企业家非法经营(危险的)煤油和柴油精炼厂并将其废弃物倾倒到土地和水道中所造成的环境灾难。。

Another Economic Miracle?

另一个经济奇迹?

OK, here's the shocker. Despite the violence and the red tape and the greed, Nigeria's economic success could match China's. The country could finally live up to its huge potential. And it has the same route to success as China: the economy. That seems almost unthinkable. But it's only because the China we know is the China of 2019. Few of us remember the sleepy panda that was China 40 years ago. We've now seen five East Asian economic miracles, so it's easy to position China as part of a trend. It's hard to imagine an African economic miracle because none of us has ever seen one.

好吧，有个令人震惊的消息。尽管有暴力、繁文缛节和贪婪，尼日利亚的经济成功可以与中国匹敌。这个国家终于可以发挥其巨大的潜力了。它的成功之路与中国相同：经济。这几乎是不可想象的。但这只是因为我们知道的中国是2019年的中国。我们中很少有人记得40年前中国的熊猫。我们现在已经看到了东亚的五个经济奇迹，所以很容易将中国定位为趋势的一部分。很难想象非洲会出现经济奇迹，因为我们都没见过。

1 fiscally   

在国库方面，财政上，在国库岁入方面

参考例句：

• Nor will fiscally stretched governments pump more money into the political equivalent of a leper colony. 财政吃紧的政府也不愿将更多的钱投入这个避之唯恐不及的政治瘟疫区。
• We are more fiscally constrained, which forces us to work smarter and more efficiently. 与F-15相比我们资金上的限制更大了，美女类小游戏，这迫使我们更为精心和有效地工作。

2 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

3 grandiose   

adj.宏伟的，宏大的，堂皇的，铺张的

参考例句：

• His grandiose manner impressed those who met him for the first time.他那种夸大的举止给第一次遇见他的人留下了深刻的印象。
• As the fog vanished,a grandiose landscape unfolded before the tourists.雾气散去之后，一幅壮丽的景观展现在游客面前。

4 flaring   

a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的

参考例句：

• A vulgar flaring paper adorned the walls. 墙壁上装饰着廉价的花纸。
• Goebbels was flaring up at me. 戈塔尔当时已对我面呈愠色。

5 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

6 kerosene   

n.(kerosine)煤油，火油

参考例句：

• It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
• Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电，有煤油灯。

7 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

8 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。