经济学人28:法国的钢铁制造 聚焦洛林

 　　Business.

　　商业。

　　Steelmaking in France.

　　法国的钢铁制造。

　　Cross over Lorraine.

　　聚焦洛林。

　　The closure of a steelmaking plant annoys the new president.

　　钢铁厂的关闭令新总统烦恼。

　　AMONG the first visitors to the Elysee Palace after Francois Hollande's victory in the French presidential election last month were trade-union leaders from ArcelorMittal's steel factory at Florange, in Lorraine. The region is the crucible¹ of France's traditional heavy industry: people have been making iron in Lorraine for more than 300 years. But the blast-furnace fires started to go out last year when recession slashed² demand for steel and forced ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker by some distance, to start closing its least efficient plants. By October both Florange's furnaces had been snuffed out, supposedly for a year. Last month the company said they would stay cool for another six months.

　　Francois Hollande上个月赢得法国总统选举后爱丽舍宫的第一批访客中就有来自洛林Florange地区ArcelorMittal钢铁厂的工会领袖。此地是法国传统重工业的熔炉：人们在洛林炼铁已超过300年。但是当去年的衰退严重削弱了钢铁的需求时，高炉的炉火开始熄灭，几乎是世界最大的钢铁厂ArcelorMittal被迫开始关闭它效率不高的工厂。10月份时Florange的高炉已经停产，估计持续一年。上个月公司说他们将再停炉6个月。

　　The unions fear that they will never be fired up again and that steelmaking on a symbolic³ site will come to an end. After the union leaders' visit Mr Hollande asked Arnaud de Montebourg, the minister for productivity, to get an expert to review the prospects⁴ for Florange and to request the governments of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain to "act together vis-a-vis ArcelorMittal"-whatever that means.

　　工会担心公司再也不会恢复生产，具有象征意义的钢铁制造区将终结。与工会领袖会晤后，Hollande先生要求生产部长Arnaud de Montebourg 找一个专家评估Florange的前景，同时要求比利时，德国，卢森堡和西班牙"共同行动vis-a-vis ArcelorMittal"-不管那意味着什么。

　　Union fears are probably well founded: ArcelorMittal has labelled Florange and its plants at Liege, in Belgium, "non-core". The company has already started the cumbersome⁵, two-year process needed under Belgian labour law to close Liege permanently⁶. Although it describes the Florange shutdown as temporary, it plainly wants to close that plant for good too, although it is loth to say so in public.

　　工会的担心可能成真：ArcelorMittal已经把Florange和它在比利时Liege的工厂标记为"非核心"。公司已经开始周转不灵，按比利时劳动法永久关闭Liege需要2年时间。尽管Florange的关闭被说成是暂时的，但很明显公司也想永久关闭该工厂，只是它不愿公开这么说。

　　With overcapacity in Europe and consolidation⁷ worldwide, only modern, coastal⁸ steelworks can compete. Older, inland sites, originally built atop iron-ore mines, are now seeing the world pass them by. Pressure to close less efficient plants has increased since Arcelor and Corus, both European firms, were merged⁹ into the global Mittal and Tata empires in the past five years and since recession put an end to a steel boom.

　　随着欧洲生产过剩和世界范围内的兼并，只有现代化的，位于海边的钢材有竞争力。较老的，位于内陆的，起初建在铁矿附近的钢厂现在已经落伍了。自从两家欧洲公司Arcelor和Corus在过去5年被global Mittal和Tata帝国合并，自从衰退结束了钢铁业的繁荣，关闭效率低下的工厂的压力增加了。

　　But the Florange site has more than just blast furnaces: they employ only about 500 workers out of a total of 2,700. The rest are in rolling mills that prepare finished steel for the car and construction industries or in research and development. With the blast furnaces shut, steel slabs¹⁰ are shipped inland from the company's coastal furnaces at Dunkirk. But that in turn is less efficient than doing everything at integrated coastal sites, such as Dunkirk, which import ore at one end and roll out finished steel at the other. So the fear is that in the long term even the rolling mills at Florange are doomed¹¹.

　　但是Florange不仅仅有高炉：高炉只雇佣了总数2700人中的500人。其余的人轧钢厂工作，轧钢厂生产用于汽车，建筑工业的精炼钢，其中一部分人从事研发工作。高炉被关闭后，钢厚板由公司位于敦刻尔克的海边钢厂运到内陆来。但是那样做与把所有工作都集中于沿海地区相比低效，比如在敦刻尔克，一端输入铁矿石，另一端产出精炼钢。因此令人担心的是长期而言Florange轧钢厂的关闭是不可避免的。

　　Since the first blast furnace closed last summer the workers have been mounting periodic protests in Florange and (occasionally) in Paris. The accession of Mr Hollande's Socialist¹² government has brought them powerful friends, or at least demonstrative ones: Aurelie Filippetti, the minister of culture, turned up outside the mill to toast the protesters with champagne¹³.

　　自从去年夏天第一座高炉关闭以来，工人们定期在Florange和巴黎（偶尔）举行抗议。Hollande先生的社会党政府的上任使他们有了强大的朋友，或至少表明了这一点：文化部长Aurelie Filippetti出现在工厂外用香槟向抗议者敬酒。

　　Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal says it has had no contact with the Elysee Palace. The company, which has its headquarters in London and Luxembourg, employs 300,000 people-20,000 in France, where it is a leading foreign investor¹⁴. Its foreign ownership may be one reason why it is under fire from the new government, but French firms could also be shot at, once this month's parliamentary elections are out of the way. PSA Peugeot-Citr?en, Air France-KLM and Carrefour are on a long list of firms said by unions to be preparing to announce mass redundancies.

　　同时，ArcelorMittal表明他没有接触爱丽舍宫。公司分别在伦敦及卢森堡拥有总部，共雇用了300,000人---20,000人在法国，对法国是个重要的投资者。它的外国投资者身份可能是它被新上台的政府攻击的一个原因，但是一旦这个月的议会选举出现异常，法国公司同样可能被攻击。PSA Peugeot-Citr?en, Air France-KLM和Carrefour公司都在工会传出的准备进行大规模裁员的一长列的公司清单中。

1 crucible   

n.坩锅，严酷的考验

参考例句：

• The alliance had been forged in the crucible of war.这个联盟经受了战争的严峻考验。
• Put the required amount of metal into the crucible.把适量的金属放入坩埚。

2 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

4 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

5 cumbersome   

adj.笨重的，不便携带的

参考例句：

• Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重，操作起来却很容易。
• The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨，搬起来很不方便。

6 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

7 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

8 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

9 merged   

（使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中

参考例句：

• Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
• The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。

10 slabs   

n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片

参考例句：

• The patio was made of stone slabs. 这天井是用石板铺砌而成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The slabs of standing stone point roughly toward the invisible notch. 这些矗立的石块，大致指向那个看不见的缺口。 来自辞典例句

11 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

12 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

13 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

14 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。