【原文标题】China faces a series of daunting internal challenges
【登载媒体】华盛顿邮报
【来源地址】http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/china-faces-a-series-of-daunting-internal-challenges/2011/12/05/gIQAYx6qXO_story.htm
【译 者】武大郎
【翻译方式】人工
【声 明】欢迎转载，请务必注明译者和出处 bbs.m4.cn。
【译 文】
China has to find a way to continue its rapid growth without choking to death. Literally.
中国必须寻找持续快速发展的新路，以免走入死胡同。
When I landed in Beijing last week, the sky was a brownish miasma through which distant landmarks were only faintly visible. The moment I stepped outside the city’s vast international airport, I noticed an acrid hint of burning coal in the all-too-palpable air. The next day, when I went to see the Great Wall, China’s most famous cultural treasure was wreathed in a gauzy shroud of pollution.
当我上周到达北京时，天空布满了褐色的烟雾，远处的标志几不可见。当我迈出首都国际机场时，我注意到在近乎可见的空气中充满了刺鼻的烟煤味道。第二天，当我去长城时，我发现这座中国最著名的文化瑰宝被笼罩在一层淡淡的灰幕之中。
In Shanghai, the story was much the same. The city seemed to hide itself in an obscuring haze. Skyscrapers revealed themselves suddenly; you got close enough and all at once a huge building appeared. It was as if the architecture had decided to play hide-and-seek.
在上海，情况大同小异。整个上海看起来就像藏在一片模糊的雾霭之后。摩天大楼时隐时现；而当你走的足够近时，一座巨大的建筑又会突现在眼前。看起来，这些建筑特别喜欢玩捉迷藏的游戏。
Even Hong Kong’s skies were grayish rather than blue when I landed here Sunday. The last time I visited the city, about 15 years ago, the sky was crystalline. Locals say that smog from the churning factories of southern China often drifts over Hong Kong — nothing like the pall that encloses Beijing and Shanghai, but enough to notice.
在我周日到达香港时，甚至那里的天空也带着一丝灰色而非明澈的天蓝。15年前，我也曾到过香港，那时的天空明澈如水晶一般。当地居民说，在中国南部，那些忙碌的工厂中产生的烟尘常常会漂到香港，虽然不像环绕北京上海的烟雾那么大，但也浓到了肉眼可见的程度。
Pollution is just one of the mega-problems this country must solve as it continues its unprecedented pace of development. One-plus weeks in China does not an expert make. But my solid first impression is that, for the foreseeable future, the authoritarian Chinese leadership is going to have to focus attention and resources inward. What they’re attempting is a high-wire act extraordinaire.
中国要想继续保持当前这种前所未有的发展速度，污染只是必须解决的大问题之一。我仅在中国呆了一周多的时间，所说的很多地方不一定正确，但给我留下很深的第一印象的是，在可预见的未来里，专制的中国将会把更多的精力与资源放在国内。他们努力所做的是一件如走钢丝般非凡的事情。
China now has the world’s second-largest economy, but it also has 1.4 billion people, an estimated 500 million living in dire poverty. Per-capita gross domestic product is just $4,300 a year, compared to about $47,000 in the United States. In glittering Shanghai, where celebrity chefs serve a Gucci-clad clientele in establishments along the historic Bund, I walked through a maze of alleys where the tiny, run-down homes lack even indoor plumbing.
中国目前是世界第二大经济体，但他们同时也拥有14亿的人口，并且有大约500万的人口处于极度贫困中。他们的人均国民生产总值只有每年4300美元，这同美国的47000美元形成了鲜明的对比。繁华的上海，在那历史悠久的外滩上，名厨们为那些身着名牌地位高贵的客人提供着各式各样的服务，而我在那些迷宫般的小巷中穿行时，却发现里面那些狭小破烂的房屋甚至连室内卫生间都没有。
Keeping the gap between rich and poor from becoming a permanent chasm — and a source of social unrest — is another of the daunting challenges that China faces. The government has raised the minimum wage and moved toward establishing a more effective social safety net. But even if the current pace of economic growth can be sustained, turning China into a middle-class nation will take decades. 贫富悬殊往往是社会动乱之源，因而防止贫富差距进一步增大是当今中国面对的另一个严峻挑战。政府已经在提高最低工资标准，并不断推动建立一个更加有效的社会安全网络。但即使能够保持当前的经济发展速度，中国要变为一个中产阶级的国家仍需数十年。
The rich are reportedly feeling vulnerable. Wags in the capital gossip about tycoons who have sent their families — and their money — abroad. Just in case.
据报道说富人们正在变的敏感，出于以防万一的心态，他们在企业大亨已将家人和财产运往海外的传言中摇摆不定。
China also has to manage an unceasing flood of migration from the countryside to the cities. According to the 2010 census, the Chongqing metropolitan area is home to nearly 29 million people; Shanghai, 23 million; Beijing, 20 million; Chengdu, 14 million; Guangzhou, 13 million. There must be housing for all these people, and sewer and electricity lines to service their sprawling neighborhoods, and police protection. Oh, and jobs.
另外，中国还得面对奔流不止的农民工进城热潮。根据2011年的人口普查数据，重庆市区住有2900万人；上海住有2300万人；北京住有2000万人；成都住有1400万人；广州住有1300万人。对于这么多人口，一定要提供住房给他们，还要为广阔的街区建设相配套的下水管道和电力线，并提供足够的警力保护。对了，还得给所有人找到工作。
There is also the issue of corruption. Dingli Shen, a professor at Shanghai’s elite Fudan University, said that the Chinese understand when officials are greedy, but not too greedy. Some government and Communist Party officials, he said, are “now on the brink of unreasonable greediness.”
还有腐败问题。复旦大学教授沈丁立说,当官员小贪时人民还能理解，但现在有些政府和党内官员“已经近乎贪得无厌了”。
But according to Shanghai pollster Victor Yuan, the government is doing fairly well. Yuan has been doing opinion research in China for nearly 20 years, and he told me that, according to recent polling, about 65 percent of Chinese citizens believe the government is responsive to their needs.
Yuan said the public’s top concerns are inflation, housing prices, health care, education and unemployment, in that order. His research indicates that the rich-poor gap is a bigger issue for the struggling middle class than it is for the genuinely impoverished. You may want to take all this with a grain of salt, however, because while Yuan conducts privately sponsored surveys, he has also done some work for the government.
但是根据上海民意调查者阮德贤所说，政府现在做的还算不错。阮德贤在中国做民意调查已有近20年时间，他告诉我说，根据最近的一项调查，约有65%的市民认为政府能够回应他们的需求。他说，目前公众最关心的领域按顺序排的话，包括通货膨胀、房价、卫生保健、教育和失业问题。他的研究表明，与贫困阶层相比，不断努力往上爬的中产阶级更加关心中国的贫富差距。你可能只把这些当作饭后茶余的谈资，但阮德贤不只进行个人组织的调查，他还为政府做过一些工作（因此其数据有很大可靠性）。
Still, I find it fascinating that an authoritarian regime values polling at all. Yuan said local governments use his research to measure various agencies’ performance, using the results to determine which programs are working and which officials deserve promotion.
不过，我还是觉得一个专制政权这么重视民意调查是件很有意思的事情。阮德贤说，当地政府用他的调查研究结果来衡量各个部门的表现、判断哪些方案在起作用以及决定人员的升迁。
I spoke with entrepreneurs, executives and even intellectuals who genuinely believe that the Chinese system, though undemocratic, is delivering amazing results.
我和一些企业家、高管甚至一些知识分子都聊过，他们大部分都认为，尽管中国的体制并不民主，却带来了很多惊人的成果。
I think the most visible test will be how China deals with the noxious pollution that is a woeful fact of daily life. What legitimate government fails to secure for its citizens the right to breathe?
Watch the air.
我认为最直观的考验就是中国如何应对这些有害的污染物，它们已经成为日常生活中令人堪忧一件事。抬头看看天空，若一个合法的政府连其市民呼吸的权利都无法保障，那还算什么政府？
狗仔卡
发表于 2011-12-7 21:19
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千斤顶
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楼主
发表于 2011-12-7 21:48
