经济学人118:中国煤炭需求增大 黑暗又危险

 　　Business Mining in Indonesia Now you own it, now you don't

　　商业 印尼矿业 时有时无

　　China wants coal. But digging it up is a dirty, dangerous business

　　中国煤炭需求增大，但采煤生意黑暗又危险

　　CHURCHILL MINING, a London-listed firm, announced in May 2008 that it had found 150m tonnes of coal in Indonesian Borneo.

　　2008年5月，伦敦上市公司丘吉尔矿业股份有限公司宣布在印尼婆罗洲勘测到储量为1.5亿吨的煤矿。

　　This was an underestimate.

　　其实这低估了实际储量。

　　The firm now thinks there are 2.8 billion tonnes, making it the seventh-largest undeveloped reserve in the world.

　　如今该公司认为此地储量达到28亿吨，如此其未开发煤矿储量就跃居世界第七位。

　　Alas¹ for Churchill, other people quickly grew interested.

　　不幸的是，很快就有人对此虎视眈眈。

　　The Nusantara Group, a conglomerate² controlled by Prabowo Subianto, a politician, had previously³ controlled the mining in that area.

　　由政客普拉博沃·苏比按托控股的Nusantara Group之前曾掌控该地区采矿业，

　　Six companies affiliated⁴ with Nusantara held licences for six blocks in the East Kutai district of East Kalimantan province, but did not explore for coal.

　　努山塔拉集团旗下的6家公司分别持有东加里曼丹省东库台6个划区的采矿许可证，但从未进行勘测。

　　Those six licences expired between March 2006 and March 2007, after which the district government began offering the mining area to other firms.

　　06年3月至07年3月间，这6个许可证陆续到期。随后，当地政府就将该矿区承包给别家公司。

　　Churchill entered the picture by acquiring a 75% stake in four new licences for the same area, which had been awarded to the Ridlatama Group, an Indonesian company.

　　丘吉尔矿业股份有限公司从Ridlatama Group（一家印尼公司）手中收购了该地区4个新采矿许可75%的股权，由此进入公众视线。

　　In July 2008, two months after Churchill revealed its discovery, the district chief of East Kutai suddenly extended the six expired licences that had been held by Nusantara's affiliates⁵, even though Churchill's local partner had been awarded new licences for the same area.

　　08年7月，也就是丘吉尔矿业公布此发现两个月后，东库台地区的行政长官在明知丘吉尔矿业地方合作伙伴已被授予该地区最新采矿许可证的情况下，突然对努山塔拉旗下公司所持的6个过期许可证进行授权，延长开采期限。

　　Churchill claims that it has since been the target of a campaign to drive it out of Borneo.

　　丘吉尔矿业股份有限公司称自那时起自己就成了靶子，各方竭力将自己逐出婆罗洲。

　　In May 2010 a new district chief of East Kutai revoked⁶ the Churchill-Ridlatama licences, leaving Nusantara-affiliated companies in sole control of the 2.8 billion-tonne reserve.

　　10年5月，新上任的东库台行政长官吊销了丘吉尔矿业股份有限公司所持的采矿许可证，由努山塔拉集团独占那28亿吨煤矿，法院也驳回了丘吉尔矿业股份有限公司的起诉。

　　Courts rejected Churchill's complaints. This week it appealed to Indonesia's Supreme⁷ Court.

　　本周该公司向印尼最高法院提出了上诉。

1 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

2 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

5 affiliates   

附属企业( affiliate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She affiliates with an academic society. 她是某学术团体的成员。
• For example, these security affiliates participated in the floating of 19,000,000,000 of issues in 1927. 例如，这些证券发行机构在1927年的流通证券中，就提供了一百九十亿美元的证券。

6 revoked   

adj.[法]取消的v.撤销，取消，废除( revoke的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It may be revoked if the check is later dishonoured. 以后如支票被拒绝支付，结算可以撤销。 来自辞典例句
• A will is revoked expressly. 遗嘱可以通过明示推翻。 来自辞典例句

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。