2011年考研英语二阅读 Text 4 原文翻译及答案解析

Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project's greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a "Bermuda triangle" of debt, population decline and lower growth.

欧盟能否成功？不久前，这个问题听起来还很奇怪。如今，就连该项目最热情的支持者们也在谈论欧洲大陆面临的“百慕大三角”——债务、人口下降和增长放缓。

As well as those chronic problems, the EU faces an acute crisis in its economic core, the 16 countries that use the single currency. Markets have lost faith that the euro zone's economies, weaker or stronger, will one day converge thanks to the discipline of sharing a single currency, which denies uncompetitive members the quick fix of devaluation.

除了这些长期问题，欧盟在其经济核心——使用单一货币的16个国家——面临着一场急性危机。市场已经失去信心，认为欧元区经济体无论强弱，总有一天会因共享单一货币的纪律而趋同，这种纪律剥夺了不具竞争力的成员国通过货币贬值来快速解决问题的机会。

Yet the debate about how to save Europe's single currency from disintegration is stuck. It is stuck because the euro zone's dominant powers, France and Germany, agree on the need for greater harmonisation within the euro zone, but disagree about what to harmonise.

然而，关于如何拯救欧洲单一货币免于解体的辩论陷入了僵局。陷入僵局是因为欧元区的主导力量——法国和德国——都同意在欧元区内加强协调的必要性，但在协调什么方面存在分歧。

Germany thinks the euro must be saved by stricter rules on borrowing, spending and competitiveness, backed by quasi-automatic sanctions for governments that do not obey. These might include threats to freeze EU funds for poorer regions and EU mega-projects, and even the suspension of a country's voting rights in EU ministerial councils. It insists that economic co-ordination should involve all 27 members of the EU club, among whom there is a small majority for free-market liberalism and economic rigour; in the inner core alone, Germany fears, a small majority favour French interference.

德国认为，必须通过更严格的借款、支出和竞争力规则来拯救欧元，并辅以对不遵守规则的政府实施准自动制裁。这些措施可能包括威胁冻结对较贫困地区和欧盟大型项目的欧盟资金，甚至暂停一个国家在欧盟部长级理事会中的投票权。德国坚持认为，经济协调应涉及欧盟俱乐部的所有27个成员国，其中微弱多数支持自由市场主义和经济严谨；而在核心圈内部，德国担心，微弱多数支持法国干预。

A "southern" camp headed by France wants something different: "European economic government" within an inner core of euro-zone members. Translated, that means politicians intervening in monetary policy and a system of redistribution from richer to poorer members, via cheaper borrowing for governments through common Eurobonds or complete fiscal transfers. Finally, figures close to the French government have murmured, euro-zone members should agree to some fiscal and social harmonisation: e.g., curbing competition in corporate-tax rates or labour costs.

以法国为首的“南方”阵营想要不同的东西：在欧元区成员国核心圈内建立“欧洲经济政府”。换言之，这意味着政治家干预货币政策，以及通过共同的欧洲债券或完全的财政转移，实现从富裕成员国到较贫困成员国的再分配体系。最后，接近法国政府的人士低声表示，欧元区成员国应同意一些财政和社会协调：例如，限制公司税率或劳动力成本方面的竞争。

It is too soon to write off the EU. It remains the world's largest trading block. At its best, the European project is remarkably liberal: built around a single market of 27 rich and poor countries, its internal borders are far more open to goods, capital and labour than any comparable trading area. It is an ambitious attempt to blunt the sharpest edges of globalisation, and make capitalism benign.

现在说欧盟失败还为时过早。它仍然是世界上最大的贸易集团。在最佳状态下，欧洲项目是非常自由的：围绕27个富国和穷国的单一市场建立，其内部边界对商品、资本和劳动力的开放程度远高于任何可比的贸易区。这是一个雄心勃勃的尝试，旨在钝化全球化最尖锐的边缘，并使资本主义变得温和。

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