2020.01.03经济学人(附参考译文)

Alcohol and health

酒精和健康

A sober brawl

清醒的打击

Alcohol firms promote moderate drinking,but it would ruin them

酒类公司提倡适度饮酒，但这会毁了它们

OF ALL THE substances people intoxicate themselves with,alcohol is the least restricted and causes the most harm.Many illegal drugs are more dangerous to those who use them,but are relatively hard to obtain,which limits their impact.In contrast,alcohol is omnipresent,so far more people suffer from its adverse effects.In2010a group of drug experts scored the total harm in Britain caused by20common intoxicants and concluded that alcohol inflicted the greatest cost,mostly because of the damage it does to

non-consumers such as the victims of drunk drivers.

在所有致醉物质中，酒精受到的限制最少，造成的危害最大。许多非法药物对使用者更危险，但相对较难获得，影响因而受限。相比之下，酒精无处不在，受其负面作用影响的人也就多得多。2010年，一组药物专家评估了最常见的20种麻醉品在英国造成的总伤害，得出的结论是酒精造成的损失最大，主要是因为它对非饮酒人造成的伤害，比如酒驾事故的受害者。

No Western country has banned alcohol since America repealed Prohibition in1933.It is popular and easy to produce.Making it illegal enriches criminals and starts turf wars.In recent years governments have begun legalising other drugs.Instead,to limit the harm caused by alcohol,states have tried to dissuade people from drinking,using taxes, awareness campaigns and limits on where,when and to whom booze is sold.

自1933年美国废除禁酒令以来，没有一个西方国家禁酒。酒既受欢迎又容易生产。把它定为非法只会养肥罪犯，引发地盘之争。近年来，各国政府已开始将其他药物合法化。而为了限制酒精带来的危害，各国尝试通过征税、开展宣传活动以及限制酒的销售地点、时间和对象来劝阻人们不要喝酒。

The alcohol industry has pitched itself as part of the solution.In Britain more than100 producers and retailers have signed a“responsibility deal”and promised to“help people

to drink within guidelines”,mostly by buying ads promoting moderation.However,if these campaigns were effective,they would ruin their sponsors’finances.According to researchers from the Institute of Alcohol Studies,a think-tank,and the University of Sheffield,some two-fifths of alcohol consumed in Britain is in excess of the recommended weekly maximum of14units(about one glass of wine per day).Industry executives say they want the public to“drink less,but drink better”,meaning fewer,fancier tipples.But people would need to pay22-98%more per drink to make up for the revenue loss that such a steep drop in consumption would cause.

酒类行业将自己塑造成解决方案的一部分。在英国，一百多家生产商和零售商签署了一项“责任书”，承诺“帮助人们按指导方针饮酒”，主要是通过发布宣传适度饮酒的广告。但是，如果这些活动真的奏效，它们会损害赞助商的收入。据智库酒精研究所（Institute of Alcohol Studies）和谢菲尔德大学的研究人员所述，英国人喝掉的酒有约五分之二属于超出推荐饮酒量的部分——推荐饮酒量为每周不超过14个单位（大约相当于每天一杯葡萄酒）。酒业

高管说，他们希望公众“少喝酒，喝好酒“，也就是说喝少点、喝贵点。但是，若要弥补消费如此急剧下降而损失的收入，需要人们为每一杯酒多花22%到98%的钱。

Health officials have taken note of such arithmetic.Some now wonder if Big Booze is sincere in its efforts to discourage boozing.In2018America’s National Institutes of Health stopped a$100m study of moderate drinking,which was partly funded by alcohol firms, because its design was biased in their products’favour.And this year the World Health Organisation and England’s public-health authority banned their staff from working with the industry.

卫生部门的官员已经觉察到了这笔帐。有些人现在怀疑酒业巨头是否真的在努力阻止人们酗酒。2018年美国国立卫生研究院（National Institutes of Health）停止了一项耗资1亿美元、由酒类公司提供部分资金的适度饮酒研究，因为研究的设计偏袒这些公司的产品。今年世界卫生组织和英格兰的公共卫生部门已禁止雇员与酒业合作。

Producers are ready to fend off regulators.In1999alcohol firms invested half as much on lobbying in America as tobacco firms did.Today they spend31%more.

生产商已准备好抵挡监管机构的进攻。1999年，酒类公司在美国的游说投入是烟草公司的一半。现在它们在这方面的花费比烟草公司多31%。

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经济学人双语阅读：政治遗传学 人体政治

【经济学人】双语阅读：政治遗传学人体政治 Science and technology 科学技术 The genetics of politics 政治遗传学 Body politic 人体政治 Slowly, and in some quarters grudgingly, the influence of genes in shaping political outlook and behaviour is being recognized 在某些方面，塑造政治前景和行为的基因影响正在慢慢地被人们所接受，虽然还是不情愿。 IN 1882 W.S. Gilbert wrote, to a tune by Sir Arthur Sullivan, a ditty that went I often think it's comical how Nature always does contrive/that every boy and every gal that's born into the world alive/is either a little Liberal or else a little Conservative. 在1882年，W.S吉尔伯特写的一首小诗-是为阿瑟-沙利文爵士的一首曲子而作，我一直认为，大自然的精工雕作是那么可笑/每个出生到这个世界上，并存活下来的男孩和女孩们/不是有一点自由倾向，就是有一点保守。 In the 19th century, that view, though humorously intended, would not have been out of place among respectable thinkers. 在十九世纪，这个观点虽然有一点幽默的意味，但是在那些备受尊敬的思想家眼中，也并不是一无是处。 The detail of a man's opinion might be changed by circumstances. 一个人意见的详细观点可能会由于环境而改变。 But the idea that much of his character was ingrained at birth held no terrors. 但是，这种与生俱来的，由他的性格决定的观念也没什么恐怖的。 It is not, however, a view that cut much ice in 20th-century social-scientific thinking, particularly after the second world war. 然而，它在二十世纪的社会科学思想中没有占到一席之地，特别是二战之后。 Those who allowed that it might have some value were generally shouted down and sometimes abused, along with all others vehemently suspected of the heresy of believing that genetic differences between individuals could have a role in shaping their behavioural differences. 那些认为它有一些价值的人们发出的呐喊，通常会被持不同观点人们的声音所掩盖，有时还会遭到辱骂，和那些对当时的异端邪说----即个体之间的遗传差异在塑造他们各自不同的行为上起了一定的作用----有些猜测的人们一样受到不公平对待。

经济学人双语版 煤炭 未来的能源

Coal 煤炭 The fuel of the future, unfortunately 很不幸，这便是未来的能源 A cheap, ubiquitous and flexible fuel, with just one problem 这是一种廉价、易得且用途广泛的燃料，但仅存在着一个问题 WHAT more could one want? It is cheap and simple to extract, ship and burn. It is abundant: proven reserves amount to 109 years of current consumption, reckons BP, a British energy giant. They are mostly in politically stable places. There is a wide choice of dependable sellers, such as BHP Billiton (Anglo-Australian), Glencore (Anglo-Swiss), Peabody Energy and Arch Coal. 还能奢望更多的好条件吗？这是一种廉价，且便于获娶装运和燃烧的能源。它的储量十分丰富：英国能源巨头BP证实，现有的煤炭储量可供人们维持目前的消耗量长达109年。煤炭资源还大多分布于政治稳定的地区。可靠的煤炭供应商数量众多，如必和必拓、嘉能可，以及皮博迪和阿齐。 Other fuels are beset by state interference and cartels, but in this industry consumers—in heating, power generation and metallurgy—are firmly in charge, keeping prices low. Just as this wonder-fuel once powered the industrial revolution, it now offers the best chance for poor countries wanting to get rich. 其他能源均被国家或者卡特尔寡头所控制，但在煤炭产业当中，其供暖、电力和冶金业的消费者处于绝对主导地位，令价格持续低廉。正如当年这一完美的能源推动着工业革命的发展，现在它也为贫穷国家们提供着发家致富的绝佳机会。 Such arguments are the basis of a new PR campaign launched by Peabody, the world's largest private coal company. And coal would indeed be a boon, were it not for one small problem: it is devastatingly dirty. Mining, transport, storage and burning are fraught with mess, as well as danger. Deep mines put workers in intolerably filthy and dangerous conditions. But opencast mining, now the source of much of the world's coal, rips away topsoil and gobbles water. Transporting coal brings a host of environmental problems. 如此的论断正是皮博迪公司发起的新一轮公关活动的核心内容，而目前该公司是全世界最大的私人煤炭企业。煤炭本该成为上帝的惠泽，而若不是因为这一个小

15年每周经济学人报刊中英文对照讲课讲稿

15年每周经济学人报刊中英文对照

空气污染英国需要采取更多措施来净化污浊的空气 Air pollution空气污染The big smoke雾都 Britain needs to do more to clean up its dirty air 英国需要采取更多措施来净化污浊的空气VISITING Oxford Street, a road teeming with tatty shops and overcrowded with people, is plainly a trial. Less plainly, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a noxious gas, have been found to be around three times higher there than the legal limit. In 2013 the annual mean concentration of NO2 on the street was one of the highest levels found anywhere in Europe. 来到牛津街，你会看到街道两边布满了各式杂乱的商店，而道路上人满为患。行走在这条街上，很明显是个磨练。不为人觉察的是，这里有毒气体二氧化氮(NO2)测出含量超出法定水平的约三倍以上。２０１３年，这条街的NO2年均浓度是欧洲最高之一。 British air is far cleaner than it was a few decades ago. Fewer people use coal-burning stoves; old industrial plants have been decommissioned. But since 2009 levels of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, coarse or fine particles that are linked to lung cancer and asthma, have fallen more slowly. The exact number of deaths caused by dirty air is unknown. But in 2010 a government advisory group estimated that removing man-made fine particulate matter from the atmosphere would increase life expectancy for those born in 2008 by an average of six months. 英国的空气比几十年前干净多了。使用燃煤炉灶的人越来越少；老工业厂已经停产。但自2009年起，氧 化氮、微粒物质、以及与肺癌和哮喘相关的粗、细颗粒含量的下降速度减慢了。因污浊空气所引发的死亡人数是未知的。但2010年，一个政府顾问组估算如果将大气中人为造成的微粒物质除去的话，2008年的出生人口人均寿命将增加六个月。 Much of the slowdown is the result of fumes from diesel cars, which were championed by successive governments because they use less fuel and thus produce less carbon dioxide than petrol cars. In 2001 only 14% of all cars ran on diesel; by 2013 the proportion had increased to 35%. (Greener “hybrid” and electric cars have increased ninefold since 2006, but account for just 0.5% of the entire fleet.) Second-hand cars are particularly noxious, but even newer ones have not been as clean as hoped. Many cars that belched out few pollutants in tests produced more when on the roads. 下降速度放缓的大部分原因在于柴油汽车排放的尾气—这为历任政府所支持，因为柴油汽车耗用更少的能源，比汽油汽车排放更少的二氧化碳。2001年，仅14%的汽车使用柴油。2013年，这个比例上涨到了35%。（更绿色的“混合动力”和电瓶车自2006年以来增加了九倍，但仅占汽车总量的0.5%。）二手汽 车尤其有害，但新车也没所期望的那样清洁。很多车在污染物排放测试中排放量低，车在上路时却排放了更多。 Climate change and geoengineering气候变化与地质工程学Fears of a bright planet 地球发光，令人担心Experiments designed to learn more about ways of geoengineering the climate should be allowed to proceed为更好地利用工程学手段研究气候问题所设计的实验应该获准进行下去。SHINY things absorb less heat when left in the sun. This means that if the Earth could be made a little shinier it would be less susceptible to global warming. Ways to brighten it, such as adding nanoscale specks of salt to low clouds, making them whiter, or putting a thin haze of particles into the stratosphere, are the province of “geoengineering”. The small band of scientists which have been studying this subject over the past decade or so have mostly been using computer models. Some of them are now proposing outdoor experiments—using seawater-fed sprayers to churn out particles of the exact size needed to brighten clouds, or spewing sulphur particles from underneath a large balloon 20km up in the sky.发光的物体放在太阳下面会吸收较少的热量。这就意味着如果让地球发一点光的话，受到全球变暖的影响就会小一些。让地球发光的方式，比方说在低空云层上添加纳米级的盐微粒，让云变得更白，或者是将一层薄的雾状物洒向平流层，这些都属于地质工程学的范畴。过去十年左右研究这一领域的一小批科学家主要使用计算机模型，其中一些人现在提出要做室外实验――就是用装有