Seize the moment

把握疫情瞬间

　　Following the pandemic is like watching the climate crisis with your finger jammed on the fast-forward button. Neither the virus nor greenhouse gases care much for borders, making both scourges global. Both put the poor and vulnerable at greater risk than wealthy elites and demand government action on a scale hardly ever seen in peacetime. And with America’s leadership as scornful of the World Health Organization as it is of the Paris climate agreement, neither calamity is getting the coordinated international response it deserves.

　　疫情的不断蔓延就像气候危机的逐步恶化，但几乎是以一种快进的方式发展的。病毒和温室气体都不受边界限制，使得这两大危机蔓延全球。相较于富裕的精英人群，它们给穷人和弱势群体带来了更大的危险。这两种危机迫使政府采取大规模行动，这在和平时期是没有的。由于美国蔑视世界卫生组织(WHO)和《巴黎气候协议》，这两场灾难都没有得到应有的协调国际反应。

　　The two crises do not just resemble each other. They interact. Shutting down swathes of the economy has led to huge cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions. In the first week of April, daily emissions worldwide were 17% below what they were last year. The International Energy Agency expects global industrial green-house-gas emissions to be about 8% lower in 2020 than they were in 2019, the largest annual drop since the second world war.这两场危机不仅有共通之处，而且还相互影响。大批企业的关闭极大地减少了温室气体的排放。与去年同期相比，今年4月第一周的全球(温室气体)日排放量低了17%。国际能机构(IEA)预计，与2019年相比，2020年全球工业将减少约8%的温室气体排放量，这是自二战以来最大的年度降幅。

　　That drop reveals a crucial truth about the climate crisis. It is much too large to be solved by the abandonment of planes, trains and automobiles. Even if people endure huge changes in how they lead their lives, this sad experiment has shown, the world would still have more than 90% of the necessary decarbonization left to do to get on track for the Paris agreement’s most ambitious goal, of a climate only 1.5°C warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution.6此次降幅揭示了气候危机这一重要的事实。气候危机太严重了，因而不能仅靠放弃使用飞机、火车和汽车来解决。这项令人伤感的实验表明，要实现《巴黎协定》中“气候比工业革命前仅暖1.5摄氏度”这一巨大目标，即使人们极大地改变生活方式生活方式，还仍旧要完成世界范围内90%以上的必要脱碳工作。

　　But as we explain this week the pandemic both reveals the size of the challenge ahead and also creates a unique chance to enact government policies that steer the economy away from carbon at a lower financial, social and political cost than might otherwise have been the case. Rock-bottom energy prices make it easier to cut subsidies for fossil fuels and to introduce a tax on carbon. The revenues from that tax over the next decade can help repair battered government finances. The businesses at the heart of the fossil-fuel economy—oil and gas firms, steel producers, car makers—are already going through the agony of shrinking their long-term capacity and employment. Getting economies in medically induced comas back on their feet is a circumstance tailor-made for investment in climate-friendly infrastructure that boosts growth and creates new jobs.Low interest rates make the bill smaller than ever.

　　然而，正如我们本周解释的那样，此次疫情既揭示了未来挑战的规模，并为政府方针政策的实行提供了宝贵的机会。和已有的政策相比，现在推行的政策能够以更低的财政、社会和政治代价来实现经济的低碳化。最低能源价格使得削减化石燃料的补贴和征收碳税变得更加容易。在未来十年里，通过对二氧化碳征税取得的税收收入有助于恢复遭受重创的政府财政。石油和天然气公司、钢铁生产商、汽车制造商是化石燃料经济的核 心企业，已经经历了长期产能和就业萎缩的痛苦。让经济良性停滞，是为投资气候友好型基础设施而营造出特定环境。对基础设施的投资可以促进就业机会的增长和创新，同时低利率会使成本达到有史以来最低。

　　(选自《经济学人》2020年5月23日)

　　点评

　　1.Seize the moment把握疫情瞬间

　　点评：文章标题反映全文主题，从最后一段可知，作者认为新冠疫情既是挑战，也是机遇。原译“把握疫情瞬间”忽略了语言语境，改译为“抓住机遇”。

　　2.Following the pandemic is like watching the climate crisis with your finger jammed on the fast-forward button.疫情的不断蔓延就像气候危机的逐步恶化，但几乎是以一种快进的方式发展的。

　　点评：Following和watching均有“观察、关注”之意，与气候危机相比，新冠疫情历时较短，因此才会有“按快进键”之说，原译理解错误。

　　3.And with America’s leadership as scornful of the World Health Organization as it is of the Paris climate agreement, neither calamity is getting the coordinated international response it deserves.由于美国蔑视世界卫生组织(WHO)和《巴黎气候协议》，这两场灾难都没有得到应有的协调国际反应。

　　点评：“Paris climate agreement”是专有名词，一般译作“巴黎协定”，更何况第三段也再次提及了该协定，原译前后不一致。“Leadership”意为“带头”而非“领导”，原译漏译了该词。

　　4.They interact. Shutting down swathes of the economy has led to huge cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions.大批企业的关闭极大地减少了温室气体的排放。

　　点评：“Swathes of the economy”的字面意思是“经济中的大量”，原译“大批企业”不够准确，因为新冠疫情中关闭的不仅有企业，还有许多事关国计民生的行业，如小商店、影院、景区等，这些行业的关闭也会影响碳排放。

　　5.That drop reveals a crucial truth about the climate crisis. 此次降幅揭示了气候危机这一重要的事实。

　　点评：在“a crucial truth about the climate crisis”这一短语中，about the climate crisis是a crucial truth的定语，原译处理成了同位关系，过于粗心。

　　6.Even if people endure huge changes in how they lead their lives, this sad experiment has shown, the world would still have more than 90% of the necessary decarbonization left to do to get on track for the Paris agreement’s most ambitious goal, of a climate only 1.5°C warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution.这项令人伤感的实验表明，要实现《巴黎协定》中“气候比工业革命前仅暖1.5摄氏度”这一巨大目标，即使人们极大地改变生活方式生活方式，还仍旧要完成世界范围内90%以上的必要脱碳工作。

　　点评：此句语法结构复杂，原译理解基本正确，但中文表达逻辑不够清晰，语言不够精练。如“this sad experiment”其实指的是“此次新冠疫情”，翻译时应将隐喻译出，原译不够灵活。

　　7.Getting economies in medically induced comas back on their feet is a circumstance tailor-made for investment in climate-friendly infrastructure that boosts growth and creates new jobs.让经济良性停滞，是为投资气候友好型基础设施而营造出特定环境。对基础设施的投资可以促进就业机会的增长和创新

　　点评：“Medically induced comas”的字面意思是 “因医疗导致的逗号”，“逗号”有“停顿、暂停”之意，结合情景语境和语言语境，此处指“因新冠疫情导致经济停摆”，原译理解错误。