077《经济学家》读译参考之七十七：格鲁吉亚之结－俄罗斯加入WTO待定

A text a day TEXT 77 The Georgian knot 格鲁吉亚之结（陈继龙 编译） Nov 23rd 2006 | TALLINN From The Economist print edition Russia's membership of the WTO is not quite a done deal 俄罗斯能否加入WTO尚未最后敲定。 （1）NOBODY can fault the Georgians' courage. Judgment is another matter. America has dropped its objections to Russia's membership of the World Trade Organisation—seemingly in return for support on Iran and North Korea. But Georgia, an ardently pro-Western ex-Soviet republic, has withdrawn its own agreement with Russia and is blocking the multilateral talks needed to conclude Russia's entry into the WTO. The trade body relies on unanimity, giving vetoes even to pipsqueaks[1]—at least in theory. 格鲁吉亚人的勇气无懈可击，而他们的判断力则要另当别论。美国已不再反对俄罗斯加入世界贸易组织（WTO）（可能是报答俄罗斯在伊朗和朝鲜问题上给予美国的支持），而格鲁吉亚这个积极奉行亲西方政策的前苏联共和国却撤销了与俄罗斯之间的，并对决定俄罗斯能否加入WTO的多边会谈施以阻挠。WTO的任何决议都必须得到全体成员国的一致同意，再小的国家也可行使否决权——至少理论上如此。 （2）Georgia has plenty to complain about: Russia subjected it to trade sanctions and raised its gas prices in protest at the public humiliation of some Russian spies. But the real issue, according to the prime minister, Zurab Nogaideli, is another one: control of commerce into two separatist enclaves that border on Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Trade (legal and illegal) flows freely. 格鲁吉亚有一肚子的怨气——因抗议一些俄罗斯间谍公然遭到羞辱一事，俄罗斯对格鲁吉亚实施了贸易制裁，并提高了天然气价格。不过，格鲁吉亚总理祖拉布·诺盖杰利认为，真正的问题出在分离主义者盘踞的南奥塞梯和阿布哈兹（均与俄罗斯接壤）的贸易控制权上。这两个地区与俄罗斯之间的双边贸易（包括合法与非法）一直处于无拘无束的状态。 Georgia wants these borders either sealed or run by its own customs officials. That may be reasonable in theory but it sounds fanciful in practice. The two “frozen conflicts” have remained stubbornly unthawed[2] for a decade, and Georgia's lack of Western support has already been bleakly[3] exposed in recent months.（3） Foreigners are wowed by Georgia's warp-speed economic reform—which has produced double-digit GDP growth—but dismayed by its erratic and hot-headed politics and diplomacy. 格鲁吉亚希望封锁这些边境或者由其本国的海关官员进行管理。从理论上看这是说得过去的，可实际上却有点异想天开。两国之间“冷冲突”十年来一直都未能化解，而且近几个月格鲁吉亚也已凸现缺乏西方支持的一面，形势不容乐观。格鲁吉亚异乎寻常速度的经济改革带来了GDP的两位数增长，博得了外国人的喝彩，可该国朝三暮四、急躁冒进的政治主张与外交政策却让外国人大失所望。 America laments Georgia's tactics. It wants Russia in the WTO, which will help speed Ukraine, a country that it is trying to coax[4] back into a pro-Western stance, along the same path. （4）“America and the EU will stamp Georgia into the ground on this,” says a government adviser. “They seem to think that they can provoke us into supporting them,” says a top EU official despairingly. 美国对格鲁吉亚的策略感到遗憾。它希望俄罗斯加入WTO，从而带动乌克兰加快入世进程。对乌克兰，美国正试图劝其重新站到亲西方的立场上。一位政府顾问说：“美国和欧盟将强迫格鲁吉亚就范。”欧盟一位高官则绝望地说：“他们好像觉得这么做可以促使我们为其提供支持。” Mr Nogaideli claims that the Kremlin is backsliding[5]. “If Russia doesn't want to honour this agreement, they shouldn't have signed it,” he says. （5）Georgia hopes that the many loose ends in Russia's WTO application mean that other countries too will welcome a chance to apply a bit more pressure—on pricey rail freight costs, for example. 诺盖杰利声称是克里姆林宫背信弃义的。他说：“假如俄罗斯不想履行这一协议，当初他们就不应该签署。”格鲁吉亚希望，俄罗斯申请加入WTO的过程中尚未解决的一些零星问题意味着其它国家也想趁机再施加一点压力——比如关于昂贵的铁路运输费用。 Perhaps. But the usual outcome in trade talks is that big countries' arm-twisting[6] is effective—and painful. 也许吧。不过，贸易会谈的最终结果通常都取决于大国施加的压力——这种压力叫人苦不堪言。 [QUIZ] 英译汉（将划线部分英文翻译成中文）： [NOTES](陆谷孙编《英汉大词典》) 1. pipsqueak n.小人物，无足轻重的东西 2. unthawed adj. 未化解的 3. bleak adj. 严峻的；寒冷的 4. coax v. 劝诱，诱骗 5. backslide v. 倒退，堕落，故态复萌 6. arm-twisting n. 压力 Gordian knot（戈尔迪之结），（希腊神话中弗里基亚国王）戈尔迪打的难解的结（按神谕，能入主亚洲者才能打开此结，后马其顿国王亚历山大挥利剑将死结斩开）。 后比喻难办的事，复杂问题。Cut the Gordian knot则示“以大刀阔斧的办法解决复杂问题，快刀斩乱麻”。文章标题喻指“结”是“格鲁吉亚人”系的，也就是说问题出于格鲁吉亚人。