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【中文标题】中国高铁是否在引路铁路的发展？ 【原文标题】Are China’s high-speed trains heading off the rails? 【登载媒体】华盛顿邮报 【来源地址】http://bbs.m4.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=3093477&;rpid=4391480&ordertype=0&page=1#pid4391480 【译者】逆卷炎灵（三流翻译，请多指教） 【翻译方式】人工 【声明】本翻译供Anti-CNN使用，未经AC或译者许可，不得转载。 【译文】 By Keith B. Richburg, Saturday, April 23, 8:53 PM
文：Keith B. Richburg 4月23，周六，下午8:53
BEIJING — China’s expanding network of ultramodern high-speed trains has come under growing scrutiny here over costs and because of concerns that builders ignored safety standards in the quest to build faster trains in record time.
北京——中国不断扩充现代化的高铁网络，成本过高，建筑者无视安全标准，一味追求速度和时间记录，这些都受到了公众的密切关注。
The trains, a symbol of the country’s rapid development, have drawn praise from President Obama. But what began in February with the firing and detention of the country’s top railway official has spiraled into a corruption investigation that has raised questions about the project’s future.
铁路是一个国家繁荣发展的象征，奥巴马总统对此赞口不绝。然而二月以来，中国一名高级铁道官员陷入腐败调查，辞职并被拘留，我们不得不对高铁建设项目的未来感到担忧。
Last week, the new leadership at the Railways Ministry announced that to enhance safety, the top speed of all trains was being decreased from about 218 mph to 186. Without elaborating, the ministry called the safety situation “severe” and said it was launching safety checks along the entire network of tracks.
上周，新任铁道部领导人发言称要加强安全建设，铁路的最高时速从218公里降至186公里。部长称安全问题“十分严峻”，他们正准备对整个铁路网进行安全检查，详细的情况没有透露。
The ministry also announced it would reduce ticket prices to boost lagging ridership and would slow construction of high-speed lines to avoid outpacing public demand.
铁道部还称他们会通过降低票价，缓解乘客少的问题，并降低建设高铁的速度，防止供过于求。
With the latest revelations, the shining new emblem of China’s modernization looks more like an example of many of the country’s interlinking problems: top-level corruption, concerns about construction quality and a lack of public input into the planning of large-scale projects.
根据最近被披露的情况，那些闪耀着光芒的中国现代化的符号，看起来更像是这个国家一系列问题的表现：高度腐败、建筑质量低下以及在大型项目中缺少对公众意见的参考。
Questions have also arisen about whether costs and public needs are too often overlooked as the leadership pursues grandiose projects, which some critics say are for vanity or to engender national pride but which are also seen as an effort to pump up growth through massive public works spending.
仍有人提出问题，领导们追求宏伟的项目，是否忽视了建设成本和公众需求？一些批评指出，这只是为了面子，提高民族自豪感，但这仍可以看作是利用公众投资搞发展的方式。
The Finance Ministry said last week that the Railways Ministry continued to lose money in the first quarter of this year. The ministry’s debt stands at $276 billion, almost all borrowed from Chinese banks.
上周，财政部长称铁道部在今年第一季度持续亏损。铁道部的债务达到2760亿，几乎全是从中国的银行借的。
“They’ve taken on a massive amount of debt to build it,” said Patrick Chovanec, who teaches at Tsinghua University. He said China accelerated construction of the high-speed rail network — including 295 sleek glass-and-marble train stations — as part of the country’s stimulus spending in response to the 2008 global financial crisis.
在清华大学任教的程致宇（Patrick Chovanec）说：“他们耗费大量债务建了它。”他说中国为了应对08年的金融危机，刺激消费，其中一部分措施就是加快建设高铁网络，包括295个玻璃加大理石材质的高级火车站。
Zhao Jian, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and a longtime critic of high-speed rail, said he worries that the cost of the project might have created a hidden debt bomb that threatens China’s banking system.
赵建，北京交通大学教授，一直以来批评高铁，他担心高额的建设费用可能会引起一个隐蔽的债务炸弹，威胁中国的银行系统。
“In China, we will have a debt crisis — a high-speed rail debt crisis,” he said. “I think it is more serious than your subprime mortgage crisis. You can always leave a house or use it. The rail system is there. It’s a burden. You must operate the rail system, and when you operate it, the cost is very high.”
“在中国，我们会有一次债务危机——高铁债务危机”，他说：“我认为这比次贷危机要更为严重。不管你用不用它，铁路系统就这样。这是个负担。你不得不运作铁路系统，一旦你运作起来，费用是高昂的。”
Part of the cost problem has been that each segment of the system has been far more expensive to build than initially estimated, which many trace directly to the alleged corruption being uncovered, including a flawed bidding process.
其中一个关于成本的问题就是，每段铁路的花费都远远超过了最初的预期，这可能是由所谓的腐败或者有瑕疵的投标程序直接引起的。
After the railway official, Liu Zhijun, was detained by the Communist Party’s disciplinary committee, stories began trickling out about how a businesswoman in Shanxi province set up an investment company that took kickbacks from firms awarded contracts on the project.
在铁道官员刘志军被纪检委拘留后，一个山西女商人设立投资公司，靠项目中标合同吃回扣的故事逐渐浮出水面。
In March, government auditors found several problems with the construction of the Beijing-to-Shanghai line, including fake invoices that more than a dozen companies used for construction materials and supervisors at some construction companies who lacked professional engineering licenses.
三月份的时候，政府审查员发现北京至上海一线的建设中有些问题，比如给20多个建材公司虚开发票，某些建筑公司的监督人居然没有专业工程师执照。
The revelations have led to questions about safety and whether corrupt subcontractors cut corners to line their pockets.
这些事实，让我们发现诸多问题，比如安全问题，那些走后门的合同是否让官员们中饱私囊了呢。
Train line construction requires the use of high-quality fly ash in the concrete. Chinese media reported allegations that some contractors might have used lower-quality ash that had been mixed with other substances.
火车线路的建设所用的混凝土需要高质量的粉煤灰。中国的媒体曾经报道过，一些建筑商可能使用了劣质的灰，混着其他的物质。
Chinese officials have proudly noted that their bullet trains were the world’s fastest on rails. But the slower speeds announced last week would put them on a par with European and Japanese trains. Trains and tracks wear out more quickly at faster speeds, and high-speed tracks need to be straighter.
中国官方对他们的高速列车引以为豪，而上周的降速公告让它们的速度跟欧洲、日本一样了。速度越快，火车和车轨的磨损就越多，高速下的铁轨必须更直。
In announcing the safety checks, officials said that in some places, villagers had built pigpens beneath bridges holding high-speed tracks, causing a potential hazard. They also cited concerns about people and dangerous materials being too close to the tracks, increasing the risk of casualties.
在安全检测中，官员称在某些地方，村民在高铁架桥下建猪窝，会导致潜在的危险。他们还引证公众的关注，铁轨中使用的危险材料，这些都增加了人员伤亡的风险。
For now, the high-speed trains appear to have few riders, mainly because ticket prices are considered exorbitantly high for most Chinese.
目前，高速列车似乎鲜有乘客，主要是因为票价对大多数中国人来说太高了。
China is the world’s second-largest economy in gross domestic product terms. But most Chinese are still relatively poor, with an estimated per capita income of $4,300, below the world average, according to the International Monetary Fund.
就国内生产总值来说，中国是世界第二大经济体。但许多中国人仍相对贫穷，据国币货币基金组织估测，中国人均收入为4300美元，低于实践平均值。
Many of those riding trains are migrant workers, who return annually to their home villages. But for most of them, even the cheapest tickets are unaffordable.
乘坐火车的大部分是外来民工，每年都要回到家乡。但对他们来说，即使最便宜的票也付不起。
During February’s annual migration, officials noticed that the high-speed trains were largely empty. But the slow trains on those lines have been taken out of use, giving people few choices. As a result, the highways were clogged and more people rode long-distance buses.
在二月春运中，官员们注意到高速列车大部分是空的。但一般的火车则供不应求。这直接导致了公路的堵塞，多数人选择做长途大巴。
Now that the Railways Ministry has announced lower ticket prices, it remains to be seen whether the bullet trains will earn money.
既然铁道部已经宣布要降价，高速列车能否赚钱，让我们拭目以待吧 | 
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发表于 2011-5-3 11:19
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