经济学人:几内亚人的火星生活(2)

 The importance of Guinea to China is clear. 几内亚对中国的重要性显而易见。

The authorities in Beijing have promised the government a $20bn loan—twice the country's GDP—to be paid to Guinea in instalments over 20 years, 北京当局承诺为几内亚提供200亿美元的贷款（这是几内亚GDP的两倍），并将在20年内分期付给几内亚

to secure access to its bauxite¹. But SMB's rapid expansion has come at a cost. 以换取铝土矿资源。但SMB的迅速扩张也是有代价的。

A report published in October by Human Rights Watch, an international advocacy group, 一家国际宣传组人权监察站在10月发布的一份报告称

said that the Guinean government has allowed SMB to bypass environmental safeguards. 几内亚政府允许SMB绕开环境保护措施。

"The focus on growth has been at the expense of the local peoples' environment and livelihoods," says Jim Wormington, one of the group's researchers. “专注增长一直都是以当地人的环境和生计为代价的，”该组织研究员之一吉姆·沃明顿说道。

Although SMB employs more than 17,000 people directly or indirectly², 虽然SMB直接或间接雇佣了17000名员工，

many locals say the new job opportunities are not enough to compensate³ for the environmental damage. 但当地人表示新的工作机会并不足以补偿环境的破坏。

SMB says it has paid all its taxes and done the proper environmental checks. SMB表示公司缴纳了所有的税，并做了适当的环境检查工作。

The situation around the mines is nonetheless grim. 尽管如此，矿区周围的情况依旧严峻。

SMB gave hundreds of villagers a one-off payment for access to their land but many villages are perilously⁴ perched near wide roads over which lorries pass day and night. SMB向数百位村民一次性付款买下了他们的土地使用权，但是很多村庄位于危机四伏地宽阔公路附近，日夜仰望卡车从眼前穿过。

Many villagers say they lack proper access to clean water because the mining operations have blocked or polluted rivers. 很多村民表示他们缺乏干净的水资源，因为采矿作业阻断或污染了河流。

SMB says it builds wells for the villages, and supplies water in tankers⁵ until they are completed. SMB表示公司为村民建了井，并供应大量用水直到这些井口建好为止。

But a government commissioned audit⁶ in May 2018 said that SMB conducted "no monitoring of the environment" 但是2018年5月的一份政府委任审计报告显示，SMB执行的是“环境无监测”准则

and that the consortium lacks equipment to monitor air or water quality. 并且该公司缺乏监控空气或水资源质量的设备。

There are some signs of improvement: SMB says that it began an environmental monitoring programme this year. 也有一些改善的迹象：SMB表示今年公司开始了一项环境监控项目。

But little of the money SMB pays in charges and taxes is reinvested locally by the central government. 但是SMB缴纳的费用和税款很少被中央政府用于当地的再投资。

Mr Bouzigues says that when the consortium built a health centre it took the government about two years to send a doctor to man it. Bouzigues表示当公司建了一个家健康中心后，政府花了约两年时间才派了医生过来坐诊。

In an interview with The Economist⁷ in April he admitted that SMB itself could do more to improve locals' lives and that he personally wants to do better. 今年四月在与本刊的采访中，他承认SMB本身可以做更多来改善当地人的生活，而他个人也希望可以做得更好。

Guinea could in theory industrialise if it moved to processing bauxite instead of exporting it raw. 理论上，几内亚可以变成工业化国家，只要他们转向铝土矿加工，而不是原材料出口。

SMB does have plans to build Guinea's first refinery⁸, by 2022. Whatever happens, Boke's residents will find themselves at the mercy of the search for this prized material. SMB确实计划截止2022年建立几内亚的第一家精炼厂。不管出现什么情况，博凯大区的居民都将发现他们受到了搜寻这种有价值材料的摆布。

"We can't just leave. We have nowhere to go," says Mr Kalissa, looking out over the red earth. “我们不能就这样离开。我们无处可去，”卡利萨看向那片红色的红壤说道。

 

1 bauxite   

n.铝土矿

参考例句：

• Aluminum is made from bauxite.铝是从铝土矿中提炼出的。
• The United States was vulnerable to shortages of chrome,bauxite,and platinum.美国的弱点是缺少铬、矾土和铂。

2 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

3 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

4 perilously   

adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地

参考例句：

• They were perilously close to the edge of the precipice. 他们离悬崖边很近，十分危险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It'seemed to me that we had come perilously close to failure already. 对我来说，好像失败和我只有一步之遥，岌岌可危。 来自互联网

5 tankers   

运送大量液体或气体的轮船[卡车]( tanker的名词复数 )； 油轮； 罐车； 油槽车

参考例句：

• They should stop offloading waste from oil tankers into the sea. 他们应当停止从油轮上往海里倾倒废弃物。
• The harbour admits large tankers and freighters. 这个港口容得下巨型油船和货轮。

6 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

7 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

8 refinery   

n.精炼厂，提炼厂

参考例句：

• They built a sugar refinery.他们建起了一座榨糖厂。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。