经济学人115:核工业可能被判缓刑 重启核电站?

 　　Business Business under Japan's new government Are nukes back?

　　商业 日本新政府背后的交易 重启核电站？

　　The nuclear industry may get a reprieve¹

　　核工业可能被判缓刑

　　ELECTION victory celebrations in Japan are usually sober affairs: no booze, the obligatory² "Banzai!", and the endearing habit of holding aloft a fresh sea bream, which is a good-luck charm and a tasty ingredient for soup to ladle out to supporters.

　　日本人庆祝大选胜利向来淡定：不必酒宴相庆， 只需大呼"万岁！"，这被视为好运的呼声，以及令人喜爱的习俗：奉上一条新鲜的海鲤，烹制出美味的海鲤汤，供支持者们伏惟尚飨。

　　Not so on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

　　东京证券交易所也不例外。

　　Jubilation³ at the landslide⁴ win of Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on December 16th raised share prices to the rafters.

　　12月16日自民党主席安倍晋三以压倒性的胜利赢得选举，股价以涨幅收盘。

　　The markets were celebrating a slide in the yen⁵, which may make ailing⁶ Japanese exporters such as Sharp, an electronics firm, more competitive.

　　市场则以日元贬值来庆祝这场胜利，这样可以让病态的日本出口企业，如电子公司夏普，更具竞争力。

　　Sotto voce, there was also joy that Japan's "nuclear village" appears to be back in business.

　　嘘！这同样对日本 "核村庄"回归经营状态是个喜讯。

　　During earlier decades in power, LDP governments backed nuclear energy to the hilt, brushing aside worries about safety.

　　自民党政府在早期几十年的执政期间，就曾置民众对完全问题的担心于不顾，不遗余力地支持核能。

　　In the two days after the election the shares of Tokyo Electric (TEPCO), the owner of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, surged by 56%.

　　大选过后的两天时间里，拥有福岛第一核电站的东京电力（TEPCO），其股价飙涨了56%。

　　Investors⁷ bet that the new government would allow Japan's reactors⁹, almost all of which have been idle since being struck by an earthquake in 2011, to restart.

　　投资者们打赌说新政府会重启因受2011年地震打击而闲置的日本核反应堆。

　　That may be wishful thinking.

　　这恐怕有些痴心妄想了。

　　Mr Abe may want to steer¹⁰ clear of the sensitive nuclear issue until upper-house elections in mid-2013.

　　在2013年中期举行上议院选举之前，安倍首相可能不愿谈及原子能这样的敏感话题。

　　If so, a time frame agreed with TEPCO's 77 banks for restarting the first of its seven Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors in Niigata prefecture may be missed.

　　若真是这样，与东京电力77家银行达成的关于重启位于新泻县七个柏崎刈羽核反应堆中一个的时间期限可能错过。

　　TEPCO says each stalled reactor⁸ costs it 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in lost profit each year.

　　东京电力公司表示，每一个停顿反应堆造成每年损失100亿日元（约合12亿美元）利润。

　　Furthermore, the nuclear industry now has an independent watchdog, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, which is showing teeth.

　　此外，核工业现在已经有独立的监管部门，呲牙相向的原子能规制委员会。

　　Its investigators¹¹ have so far issued seismic¹² warnings against two nuclear power plants, which may lead to their permanent mothballing.

　　迄今为止，其调查人员已经对两个核电站发布了地震预警，这可能导致这两个核电站永久封存。

　　By law, even an LDP government should be unable to boss the watchdog around.

　　根据法律，即使自民党政府亦无权指挥监管部门围着政府转。

　　Yet a share-price rally may still be warranted.

　　然而股价反弹可能仍然言之过早。

　　TEPCO's share price is barely a tenth of what it was before the disaster.

　　东京电力的股价只不过是灾难前的十分之一。

　　That reflects a genuine fear that the company may go bust¹³.

　　这也反映出对该公司可能破产确实存在担忧。

　　Surely, investors mutter, the LDP remains¹⁴ chummy enough with Japan's nuclear utilities not to let any of them collapse¹⁵ into bankruptcy¹⁶?

　　确实，投资者们揣度的是，自民党与日本原子能事业亲密无间的关系就不会放任他们中的任何一家公司倒闭吗？

1 reprieve   

n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解

参考例句：

• He was saved from the gallows by a lastminute reprieve.最后一刻的缓刑令把他从绞架上解救了下来。
• The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.本应停运的铁路线获准多运行6 个月。

2 obligatory   

adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的

参考例句：

• It is obligatory for us to obey the laws.我们必须守法。
• It is obligatory on every citizen to safeguard our great motherland.保卫我们伟大的祖国是每一个公民应尽的义务。

3 jubilation   

n.欢庆，喜悦

参考例句：

• The goal was greeted by jubilation from the home fans.主场球迷为进球欢呼。
• The whole city was a scene of jubilation.全市一片欢腾。

4 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

5 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

6 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

9 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

10 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

11 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

13 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

16 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。