译者：不知悔過的劍
来源：三泰虎论坛 http://bbs.santaihu.com
外文：http://www.newslaundry.com/2012/10/electric-china-part-i/
ELECTRIC CHINA – PART I
令人震惊的中国 – 第一部份
记者：ANAND RANGANATHAN
Grand monuments of steel and concrete and herringbone wooden flooring don’t scare me. Those who have sanctioned them do!
钢铁混凝土建成的雄伟纪念碑、鲱骨式的木制地板并未吓着我。批准这些建设的人倒是吓到了我！
Air China flight 948 touches down at the Beiing International airport and it’s easy to understand that this here is a different sort of Co sm. In fact, it is Capitalism, only that the cap on the splurge is determined by a politburo honcho. Lately, there is no cap, hasn’t been for a decade or more, and the evidence is everywhere.
中国国航948班机在北京国际机场着陆，你很容易理解，这里是一个不同形式的*主义。实际上，它就是zb主义。只是挥霍的上限由政治局的头头们来决定。最近没有限制了，（这种不加限制）都已经十年或更长时间，证据随处可见。
In develo societies the airport is there for a reason: to cast the first impression on a visitor. In China, it is there to awe you beyond measure, to make you feel small and insignificant, to raise the level of airport-envy in you to unimaginable heights. It is there to tell you that Socialism is dead, that the two ideologies, Capitalism and Co sm, are in truth bedfellows, joined at the hip.
在发展中社会，机场的存在是有理由的：目的是给旅客留下第一印象。在中国，它是用来使你敬畏万分，使你感到渺小和微不足道，将你的嫉妒水平上升到难以想像的高度。它述说着社会主义已死，而两种意识形态－－zb主义和*主义，已经事实上同床共枕，形影不离。
The Beiing airport is like the boiler room of a vast ship, with hundreds of workers busy polishing its every working part – and this is a strange analogy, for the visitor has been escalatored straight down into the profundity of China’s soul, to see the inner workings of its body, its knotted intestines, to admire the glisten of this sweat, and to think that this ship, this miraculous ship, that will carry the weight of the world for the foreseeable future, this ship will never sink.
北京国际机场就像是一艘巨型船里的锅炉舱，数百位工人忙碌着擦亮它的每一个工作部件——这是一个奇怪的比喻，游客已经被深深地被昇华到中国的灵魂深处，去看它内部的运作，错综复杂的内部结构，仰慕那闪光的辛劳汗水，想想这艘船，这一艘奇迹之船，在可预见的未来支撑起整个世界的重量，这艘船将永不沉没。
China is the new Titanic, and at least for now, there ain’t no iceberg for miles in every direction.
中国是一艘崭新的泰坦尼克号，至少目前是如此，而且每个方向数英里远的地方并无冰山。
But where are the people? This is supposed to be the world’s most populous country, for heaven’s sake!
Are they all entombed comfortably in the climate-controlled ambience of their Audis and Porsches?
Are they all playing Nintendo and Xbox inside their newly-acquired plush houses?
Was state-sponsored prosperity a wicked trick to keep them busy indoors and avoid the unwelcome sight of citizens collecting in public squares?
Today they do Tai Chi, tomorrow they may clamour for their rights and freedom. No, no, we aren’t having that!
但是人都哪儿去了？据说这里是世界上人口最稠密的国家呀，天哪！
他们是不是在奥迪和保时捷的空调环境中“安乐死”？
他们是不是在新购置的豪宅里玩着任天堂和Xbox？
还是说国家推动的繁荣是一场顽皮的恶作剧，目的是让人们在室内忙得不可开交，避免市民在公共广场聚集这一不受欢迎的情景？
今天他们打太极，明天他们可能呼吁要权利和自由。
The absence of crowds has made me forget the overwhelming presence of bling. I’m sure there’s something else more assaulting to the senses just round the corner, something that’ll make me forget even the Chinese crowd puzzle. Ah yes, here it is! The bus journey – Beiing to Tianin: non-stop, fast, smooth, uneventful.
Ever stared at a blank wall for two continuous hours? Ever watched the paint dry? That’s what this bus journey seems like to an Indian.
看不到拥挤的人群，使我忘却了华丽（机场）的压倒性存在。我敢肯定，有种更能冲击感官的东西就要出现，这种东西甚至将使我忘记中国人群的（消失）之谜。啊哈，就在这里！这趟从北京到天津的巴士之旅，直达，快速、顺畅、平安无事。有试过连续两小时盯着一面空白的墙壁吗？有过无聊透顶的经历吗？这趟巴士之旅在一名印度人看来就是如此。
Seeing this new China through the window of a tax (an Audi A6 naturally) makes you realise why folks affix “great” in front of objects and nations when they do. The outskirts of Tianin resemble the African savannah where thousands of steel giraffes have come for their evening thirst-quenching. The giant cranes move their necks up and down, this way and that, and hundreds of men in yellow helmets work the earth to gold. They aren’t digging for it, though. Instead, brick by brick, steel girder by steel girder, they are forging it, for future Chinese generations to reap the harvest.
通过出租车(当然是奥迪A6)车窗往外看这个新中国，你会明白为什麽人们会在物体和国家前面加上“伟大”这个修饰词。 天津的郊区类似非洲大草原，数以千计如长颈鹿般的起重机，在夜以继日地忙碌着。巨型起重机上下移动，左右摇摆，数百名戴着黄色头盔的工人在“淘金”。不过他们不是在挖金，而是一块块砖叠起来，一根根钢梁架起来，为的是中国的世世代代能够收获成果。
Economists and business tycoons have written tomes on the Chinese miracle, on her mind-numbing growth statistics. But only when you tour this savannah do you realise what all is happening in the world beyond coalition politics and Coalgate. Imagine a 100 Rockefellers tilling the earth, contemplate a 1000 Ambanis pacing about the dusty construction sites, and you get close. And then you realise that, somewhere in the recesses of this wealth, this comfort, this planning for the future, a Chinese Steve Jobs has just been born.
The doctor has held him up for show and smacked his bottom and he’s wailed out a 100 new game-changing ideas. The Co unist Bloc has transformed into a glass and concrete block, and all that money, all those trillions that China has been feeding her insatiable pet, a poodle called infrastructure, has finally paid off. The next stage is here and now.
经济学家和商业钜子们已就中国奇迹令人难以相信的统计数据写下了成篇著作。但是只有当你到此“大草原” 一游时，你才会知道世界上正发生着远超联盟政治和煤炭门的事情。想像一下，有100个洛克菲勒在耕耘，仔细想想有1000个安巴尼在尘土飞扬的建筑工地上踱步，你走近看看。然後你会发现，这种财富，这种舒适，着眼于未来的这种规划，在它们的深处，中国的史蒂夫·乔布斯正在悄然诞生。
博士把他举起来秀，打他屁股，他哭着说出100个改变游戏规则的创意。*主义阵营已经转变成“玻璃和混凝土”阵营，数以万亿计的资金被用于喂养一个贪得无厌的宠物，一个叫做基础设施的贵宾犬，这些投入最终见了成效。下一阶段就要看这里的了。
Once inside the room of my hotel, and the contents of the mini-fridge examined with a keen eye, I relax and turn on the TV, only to scamper immediately for the nearest towel. The logo on the top left corner of the screen reads “CCTV” and it takes a while for my mind to register that the images being played out on the screen of a handsome man are not of me but a news presenter of CCTV, or China Central Television, their Doordarshan counterpart. Phew! This means that the eye of the little sparrow in the painting by the wardrobe is indeed the eye of the little sparrow. Still, I undress watchfully – there’s no knowing if the Moroccan mirrors all around me are two-way or not.
一进入酒店房间，用敏锐的眼光搜索了一遍迷你冰箱里的物品后，我才放心的打开电视，立即去拿最近的毛巾。电视屏幕左上角出现了"CCTV"的标示，好一会后我才反应过来，即屏幕上的英俊男子不是我，而是CCTV新闻主持人，相当于全印电视台的同行。唷！这意味着衣柜上油画里小麻雀的眼睛的确是小麻雀的眼睛。不过，我脱衣服时还是很谨慎——很难知道四周摩洛哥风格的镜子是否是双向的。
（译者注：CCTV也是英文监控摄像头的缩写）
CCTV is as state-controlled as DD, and I cannot comment more on this subject for the simple reason that I can’t understand a word of what is being said. If it’s any consolation, whatever is being said is being said very forcefully, more than what Shammi Narang ever managed in all the years that he read his two-page news handouts. The CCTV studio, though, is incomparably plusher than the DD one. Their sports presenter – I know he is a sports presenter because a badminton racket and a shuttle have appeared mysteriously to the right of this man – looks a teenager compared to Dr Narottam Puri, who is in two minds currently as to whether he should retire or pop off.
I press the remote and find three more CCTV channels, none of them thankfully of the closed-circuit variety. People are talking incredibly fast, and animatedly, which can sometimes happen when you are explaining the finer principles of Higgs Field, but not badminton, please. Worse, there is no BBC to put a friendly arm round my shoulder.
CCTV跟全印电视台一样是国家控制，我无法多加置评，理由很简单，在说什麽我一句也听不懂。如果说有心里慰藉的地方，那就是不管说什麽，说得强而有力，胜过Shammi Narang(注：全印电视台配音员)设法在这些年来所读过的两页新闻讲义。CCTV的演播室比全印电视台(DD)更豪华，他们的体育播报员 – 我之所以知道他是体育播报员，因为这个人右边神秘地出现羽毛球拍和羽毛球。– 这人跟Narottam Puri比起来就像青少年，后者总是三心两意，不知道是否该退休。
我按遥控器，又发现CCTV的三个频道，谢天谢地都不是监控摄像。人们说话快得难以置信，相当有活力，这在你解释希格斯机制的精细原理时才有时会出现，而不是在谈论羽毛球时。更糟糕的是，找不到能“敞开双臂友好拥抱你”的BBC频道。
Just when I think it’s all hopeless, my attention is drawn towards China Daily, the English edition newspaper that is arranged on the “working desk” next to my gift – a scary-looking letter opener. For those who wouldn’t have guessed, China Daily, too, is state-controlled, which begs the question why we don’t have a Doordarshan Newspaper. Is it because most of our newspapers are in any case state-controlled?! Here at least, one isn’t assaulted with birth and death anniversary centre-spreads. The state control is much more overt, in fact entirely so. The newspaper is brimming with the sort of language a four-star army general and not a dishevelled editor would employ.
就在我认为一切都无望时，我的注意力被吸引到中国日报，一份被安排放在“办公桌”上我的礼物——看上去可怕的开信刀边上的英文版报纸。那些猜不到的人殊不知，中国日报也是国家控制，这引出了一个问题，为什麽我们没有全印电视台的报纸？难道是因为我们的报纸都由国家控制的？！
至少这里不会用中心跨页式(centre-spreads)的生卒年纪念日来侵犯（读者）。国家控制是更明显的，其实是完全控制。报纸充斥着四星陆军上将的那种豪言壮语，而不是被披头散发的编辑所采用的。
The issue concerns the Diaoyu Islands that Japan has “purchased” cheekily and now owns “officially”. China insists the islands have “always” been their property. Here is the editorial (China Daily, September 11, 2012) or bits of it that would make Shekhar Gupta roll down his kurta sleeves and bow in admiration:
这个问题是关于日本厚颜无耻地“购买”钓鱼岛，现在还将其“国有化”。
中国坚持该岛的所有权“自古以来”就属于他们。这里有社论 (中国日报，2012年9月11日)：（Shekhar Gupta看了后会佩服得五体投地的）
“The Japanese Government has thrown down the gauntlet before China.”
Good. That’s pleasantries over and done with.
引言：「日本政府挑战中国。」
很好，这是圆满结束的寒暄。
“China should take it up with an iron resolve and crush any Japanese act of aggression…If being reasonable is no longer the right way to deal with the Japanese, we must prepare for a worse, and perhaps the worst scenario, no matter how reluctant we are to do so.”
Clearly, this is one of those editorials that get better with every disbelieving scan, where each new sentence is perhaps a code for the infantry to place the next field gun into position and crank up the barrel.
引言：「中国应该坚决粉碎日本的任何侵略行为...如果理智不再是对付日本人的正确方式，我们必须做更坏准备，可能是最坏的情况，无论我们多麽不情愿。」
很明显，这是经不可置信的审视後发表的社论之一，每一句话对士兵来说都可能意味着把另一门野战炮定位好，并抬高炮管。
“…Concrete actions are needed to show we won’t retreat an inch…”
“…A thief is never a legitimate owner of stolen property…”
"...必须采取具体行动，以表明我们寸土不让..."
"...盗贼从来没有窃盗财产的合法所有权..."
And here is the war cry the jaws-drawn soldiers on the frontline are waiting for:
“…Japan should prepare to face the consequences of its actions.”
这个是前线士兵所等待的战争口号：
"...日本应该准备面对其行动带来的後果。"
The rest of the Daily is full of Op-ed pieces extolling the virtues of the Chinese foreign policy. It would be a brave man or woman who’d lampoon the editor of a Chinese newspaper like we do ours. Keep walking Shekhar!
中国日报的其余版面充满了专栏文章，赞颂中国外交政策的优点。谁要是敢像我们讽刺编辑一样去讽刺中国报纸编辑，那就够爷们了。德拉谢卡尔，坚持走下去！
I bow a touch and decide to risk Tianin without the comforting and guiding hand of my Google map. It can’t be all that difficult. The city is, after all, first world now. Once you’ve narrowly avoided death while crossing the road – traffic runs in the “wrong” direction here – a whole new world is waiting.
我决定不借助谷歌地图探索天津，而是来次亲身冒险。这并没有多么的困难。毕竟这个城市现在属于第一世界了。一旦你过马路时侥幸躲过死亡时（这里的交通方向搞“错”了）【译者注：印度是靠左行驶的】——那么一个全新的世界在等着你。
The Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s fine documentary Chung Kuo – Cina (1972), that gives a glimpse of China, its art and culture, its people, its cities and collectives, now seems like the “before” pic in a hair-gain advert. What I see before me is definitely the “after”. The transformation is mind-boggling. The bicycles on the streets in Chung Kuo have been replaced with BMWs, the dirt roads with perfectly banked tarred ones, and goodness knows how many millions of trees have been hacked to make way for the unending vista of twinkling skyscrapers. I feel like an alien that’s landed in an alien land.
意大利导演米开朗基罗·安东尼奥尼的精美纪录片 – 中国 (1972)，给了一窥中国的机会，它的艺术和文化、它的人民、它的城市和集体主义，现在似乎看起来像毛发增生广告里的“前一个”画面（即头发未长出来的画面）。我所看到的绝对是" 后一个"画面。这一巨变是令人难以置信的。纪录片里街上的自行车已经换成了宝马，泥泞的道路已经用柏油完美舖平，天知道有多少成千上万的树为了给无止境建设的摩天楼让路而被砍掉。我感觉自己好像一个外星人降落在一个外星领土上。
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