天下事以難而廢者十之一，以惰而廢者十之九。
Famine in Yemen
葉門饑荒
An avoidable tragedy
一場可以避免的悲劇
To avert mass starvation, warring parties must let in aid
交戰各方必須提供援助以避免大規模饑荒
英文選自1003《經濟學人》Leaders版塊
譯：Giulietta，Maggie 審：Matthew
The war in Yemen seems to play on an endless loop. Atrocity follows atrocity. The government is backed by a Saudi-led coalition that bombs civilians; the Houthi rebels are backed by Iran, and recruit children and fire shells indiscriminately into cities. Efforts to make peace go nowhere. A swap of 1,081 prisoners, agreed on at the end of September, raised only faint hopes. A similar exchange, involving 15,000 detainees, was arranged in 2018 but never fully implemented. The loop is unbroken.
葉門的戰爭似乎循環往復沒完沒了。 暴行肆虐不斷。 政府得到了沙特政府的支持去轟炸平民；胡塞叛軍得到了伊朗的支持，他們招募兒童，不分青紅皂白地向城市發射炮彈。推進和平的努力毫無進展。 9月底達成的交換1081名囚犯的協議只帶來了微弱的希望。 在2018年也有一次類似的人質交換，涉及了15000個被拘留者，但那次交換從未充分的實施。而這種循環沒有中斷。
■單詞釋義
avert/əˈvɜːt/
【v.】 If you avert something unpleasant, you prevent it from happening. 防止
atrocity/əˈtrɒsɪtɪ/
【n.】An atrocity is a very cruel, shocking action. 暴行
■積累
play on an endless loop沒完沒了
faint hopes微弱的希望
In the past six years the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and gravely harmed millions more. Now it is escalating again. Civilians died in August in greater numbers than in any other month this year. The economy is collapsing, covid-19 is spreading unchecked and a rusting tanker off the western coast, laden with roughly 1.1m barrels of oil, risks causing an ecological catastrophe (see Middle East & Africa section).
在過去六年裡，衝突已造成數萬人死亡，數百萬人受到嚴重傷害。 現在它的再次升級。 今年8月份的平民死亡人數更大，超過了其他任何一個月。經濟在崩潰，covid-19肆無忌憚地蔓延，西海岸一艘裝載著大約110萬桶石油的生鏽油輪，很有可能造成生態災難（見中東和非洲部分）。
■單詞釋義
unchecked/ʌnˈtʃɛkt/
【adj.】 If something harmful or undesirable is left unchecked, nobody controls it or prevents it from growing or developing. 未受遏制的; 未加制止的
tanker/ˈtæŋkə/
【n.】 A tanker is a very large ship used for transporting large quantities of gas or liquid, especially oil. 油輪
■積累
Be laden with裝載
Amid this litany of suffering, Yemen’s most pressing problem is famine. About two-thirds of its 30m people need food aid. Many millions, the UN says, are on the brink of starvation. It should be possible to feed them. International bodies have sounded the alarm; relief groups know what to do. The question is whether Yemen’s rich neighbours, who have sustained the fighting with arms and money, will have the decency also to sustain the country’s people with food and medicine— and whether the war’s stubborn and self-interested combatants will allow the aid to get through.
在這一連串的苦難中，葉門最緊迫的問題是饑荒。 3000萬人中，大概有三分之二的人需要糧食援助。聯合國說，數百萬人正處於飢餓的邊緣。按道理來說我們應該是有能力去援助他們的。國際機構敲響了警鐘；救援組織知道該怎麼做。 問題是葉門的那些富裕鄰國，他們用武器和金錢支撐到了戰爭結束，他們是否有正義感去資助葉門人民食物和藥物，還有是否那些頑固和自私的戰鬥人員會讓援助送到葉門人民手上。
■單詞釋義
decency/ˈdiːsənsɪ/
【n.】Decency is the quality of following accepted moral standards. 正派
■積累
litany of 一連串
sound the alarm敲響警鐘
relief groups救援組織
Two years ago the UN requested billions of dollars for the relief effort. It was a good time to ask. The Saudis were eager to repair their image, tarnished by the war and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which led the coalition’s ground war in Yemen until last year, was also on a publicity drive. Along with Kuwait, they both gave generously. As a result, countless lives were saved.
兩年前，聯合國要求撥款數十億美元用於救災。 這是個好時機。 沙特人渴望修復他們因戰爭和殺害持不同政見的記者Jamal Khashoggi而受損的形象。 去年，在葉門領導了聯盟的地面戰爭的阿拉伯聯合大公國(UAE)也在做公關宣傳。他們同科威特一樣，慷慨解囊。 最後救了無數人的性命。
■單詞釋義
tarnish/ˈtɑːnɪʃ/
【v.】If you say that something tarnishes someone's reputation or image, you mean that it causes people to have a worse opinion of them than they would otherwise have had. 玷汙; 損壞 (名聲或形象)
dissident/ˈdɪsɪdənt/
【adj.】Dissident people disagree with or criticize their government or a powerful organization they belong to. 持不同政見的
■積累
repair their image修復他們的形象
Lately the Saudis, Emiratis and Kuwaitis have had other priorities. Saudi Arabia hosted an international pledging conference in June, after it vowed to give $500m this year (down from $750m last year). The kingdom has since lowered its commitment to $300m—better than the UAE, which so far this year has pledged nothing. 「It is particularly reprehensible to promise money, which gives people hope that help may be on the way, and then to dash those hopes by simply failing to fulfil the promise,」 says Mark Lowcock, the UN’s emergency-relief co-ordinator.
最近，沙烏地阿拉伯、阿聯和科威特有一些其他需要優先處理的事情。今年6月份，沙烏地阿拉伯主辦了一場國際認捐會議，而在此之前曾承諾今年要捐贈5億美元(去年為7.5億美元)。自此以後，沙特王國已將其承諾資金削減至3億美元。這一金額比阿聯要多，但阿聯今年迄今未做出任何承諾。聯合國緊急救援協調員馬克•洛科克(Mark Lowcock)表示:「承諾提供資金特別應該受到譴責，因為它給人們帶來了希望，讓他們覺得援助可能就在路上，然後又因為未能兌現承諾導致人們的希望破滅。」
■單詞釋義
dash /dæʃ/
【v.】If an event or person dashes someone's hopes or expectations, it destroys them by making it impossible that the thing that is hoped for or expected will ever happen. 使破滅 [journalism]
reprehensible /ˌrɛprɪˈhɛnsəbəl/
【adj.】If you think that a type of behaviour or an idea is very bad and morally wrong, you can say that it is reprehensible. 應受斥責的; 應該譴責的
■積累
pledging conference 認捐大會
be on the way 在前往……的路上；往……的途中
The resulting decline in Yemenis receiving food aid is being aggravated by the coalition, which has cut off fuel supplies to Houthi-controlled areas. Its blockade has pushed up prices and shut down vital services for lack of fuel. Saudi Arabia deposited $2bn in Yemen’s central bank in 2018. Now it is nearly all gone and the currency is collapsing, making food, most of which is imported, even less affordable. Neither do Saudi Arabia’s alleged air strikes on farms help Yemen’s harvest.
由於聯軍切斷了對胡塞控制區的燃料供應，導致能夠得到糧食援助的葉門人變少。葉門的封鎖使得物價升高，而且由於缺乏燃料，一些重要的服務被迫停止。沙烏地阿拉伯在2018年向葉門央行存入20億美元，現在幾乎沒有了，貨幣也在崩潰，這使得大部分依靠進口的食品變得更加負擔不起。而沙烏地阿拉伯宣稱的對農田的空襲，也無助於葉門的收成。
此處的『』farms『』翻譯為了「平民」，經過查閱資料得知2019年9月沙特聯軍空襲葉門，造成了包括平民在內的人員傷亡，不知道此處作者是否暗指此次事件？還是另有他意？
根據後文harvest這個詞可以看出，這個地方想說明農田受到了破壞而沒有好的收成，所以farms翻譯為「農田」會更符合邏輯。
■單詞釋義
coalition /ˌkəʊəˈlɪʃən/
【n.】A coalition is a group consisting of people from different political or social groups who are cooperating to achieve a particular aim. 聯盟
alleged /əˈlɛdʒd/
【adj.】An alleged fact has been stated but has not been proved to be true. 指稱的
■積累
shut down 停工，關閉
air strikes 空襲
Saudi Arabia, desperate for a face-saving way out of the war, may be turning the screws on the Houthis. Starving the north is unlikely to work. But the Houthis will not like the loss of revenue—they themselves divert aid and sell it for profit. They even tried to impose a 2% levy on aid shipments. To ensure food reaches the right people, the UN wants to introduce a biometric ID system. The Houthis, though, are loth to cede control.
沙烏地阿拉伯渴望在戰爭中保全面子，這可能會對胡塞武裝施加壓力。讓北部的人們挨餓不太可能奏效。但胡塞叛軍又不想有收入損失——因此他們自己將援助轉移並出售以獲取利潤。他們甚至試圖對援助貨物徵收2%的稅。為了確保食物送到真正需要的人手中，聯合國希望引入生物識別系統。然而，胡塞叛軍不願意放棄控制權。
■單詞釋義
screw/skruː/
【n.】A screw is a metal object similar to a nail, with a raised spiral line around it. You turn a screw using a screwdriver so that it goes through two things, for example, two pieces of wood, and fastens them together. 螺釘
cede /siːd/
【v.】If someone in a position of authority cedes land or power to someone else, they let them have the land or power, often as a result of military or political pressure. (迫於軍事、政治壓力) 割讓; 讓出 (領土、主權)
■積累
face-saving 保全面子的
turn the screws on 施加壓力
Neither the government nor the Houthis seem to care about the people they hope to rule any more than their backers do. To prevent famine would not take much—more money from the Gulf states, a lifting of the blockade and co-operation from the Houthis. Alas, if the belligerents were at all moved by the suffering of Yemenis, the war would have ended long ago.
政府和胡塞叛軍似乎都不關心他們希望統治的人民，就像他們支持者所做的那樣。為了防止饑荒，海灣國家並不必提供更多的資金，只要解除封鎖並與胡塞進行合作。唉，如果交戰雙方都能被葉門人民所受的苦難所觸動，這場戰爭早就結束了。
■單詞釋義
famine /ˈfæmɪn/
【n.】Famine is a situation in which large numbers of people have little or no food, and many of them die. 饑荒
belligerent/bɪˈlɪdʒərənt/
【adj.】A belligerent person is hostile and aggressive. 好鬥的
■積累
a lifting of the blockade 解除封鎖
對於定語從句或非限定性定語從句。
在處理英文定語從句或者非限定性定語從句的時候，我們要定量的去做翻譯。有的時候需要前置，有的時候這需要單獨成句，加相應的關係詞。定量的標準則是從句中單詞少於或等於10個則將其前置翻譯。例如：
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which led the coalition’s ground war in Yemen until last year, was also on a publicity drive.
去年，在葉門領導了聯盟地面戰爭的阿拉伯聯合大公國(UAE)也在做公關宣傳。
Now it is nearly all gone and the currency is collapsing, making food, most of which is imported,...
現在幾乎沒有了，貨幣也在崩潰，這使得大部分依靠進口的食品...
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