【按】本文选自9月2日《经济学人》，分析的是日本对于朝鲜发射导弹跨越日本领土的反应。读完后你将了解：为什么日本和美国忧心忡忡？日本的公共安全政策有哪些缺陷？日本现有的导弹防御体系如何？为应对导弹威胁,日本在军事和立法上能做什么以及为什么做不了？

本文食用方法——建议阅读两遍：
第一遍速读，不看注释和翻译，直接阅读原文，遇见生词（大部分已经标粗）猜一下意思或者跳过，不要因为停下了查词而影响了阅读的流畅性。
第二遍精读，不认识的词看段后注释和解析，建议多看英文释义（这样才能理解得更全面、准确而且能锻炼阅读能力），对照中文翻译看看自己是否有理解错误（翻译得不对的地方欢迎批评指正）
有问题欢迎留言讨论~

Shooting over Japan’s head

Japan is alarmed and outraged by North Korea’s missile test

Pyongyang’s provocations raise questions about Japan’s civil-defence readiness and its pacifist constitution

Aug 31st 2017 | SENDAI AND TOKYO

飞过头顶的导弹

1. WHEN the alarm sounded from loudspeakers in the streets and his mobile telephone around 6am on August 29th, Saburo Ito thought it was a warning about an earthquake. But when he read that a North Korean missile was passing overhead the 72-year-old taxi driver panicked and ran out into the garden. The instruction to “evacuate to a sturdy building or basement” was all but forgotten. “I had no idea what to do or where to go,” he says.

【释】 panic: If you panic or if someone panics you, you suddenly feel anxious or afraid, and act quickly and without thinking carefully.
此处作为动词，意为“惊慌失措；恐慌”；其过去式和过去分词为panicked；

【析】本段描述了一名日本老司机在朝鲜发射导弹当天的反应，有心理、动作和语言描写，引起读者阅读兴趣，是《经济学人》分析文章惯用的手法之一

1）8月29日早上6点左右，当街道的喇叭和Saburo Ito的手机响起了警报声时, 他还以为是关于地震的警告。但是当他读到一枚北朝鲜的导弹在头顶飞过时, 这位72岁的出租车司机惊慌失措地跑到了花园里。“疏散到一个坚固的建筑物或地下室” 的指令几乎完全被遗忘了。"我不知道该做什么或去哪里," 他说。

2. Japanese have been oddly sanguine about military threats, even as China has grown more powerful and North Korea has tested ever more capable missiles and atom bombs. Japanese refer to this state of mind as heiwaboke, meaning roughly to take peace and security for granted.

sanguine: If you are sanguine about something, you are cheerful and confident that things will happen in the way you want them to. = optimistic
take ... for granted: to be so used to sb/sth that you do not recognize their true value any more and do not show that you are grateful
e.g. We take having an endless supply of clean water for granted.

【析】第一句话中用oddly来修饰sanguine，说明日本人的乐观是盲目的，即把和平当做理所当然，甚至有专门的词来形容这种状态。也正是因为如此，上一段中的老司机才会不知所措，注意老司机的年纪：72岁，选择这样一个对象去描写暗藏玄机——连这么一个经历过二战的老人都惊慌失措，更不用说战后出生的年轻人了。

2. 日本人对军事威胁持奇怪的乐观态度, 尽管中国已经变得越来越强大, 朝鲜也在不断地试验威力更大的导弹和原子弹。日本人把这种心态称为 "heiwaboke", 意思大致上是 把和平与安全当做理所当然。

3. Such complacency may have been shaken by the North Korean missile that passed over Hokkaido before crashing into the sea about 1,200km to the east. “North Korea’s reckless action is an unprecedented, serious and grave threat to our nation,” said the prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

complacency: a feeling of satisfaction with a situation or with what you have achieved, so that you stop trying to improve or change things - used to show disapproval
reckless: If you say that someone is reckless, you mean that they act in a way which shows that they do not care about danger or the effect their behaviour will have on other people.

【析】第一句精炼地描述了此次的朝鲜导弹事件，指出或许日本人该从自满中醒过来了——战争很可能就近在咫尺。这里直接引用了安倍的对于此事的评论，“unprecedented, serious and grave”连用三个形容词，其实第一个“史无前例”的并不对，后文有提到，后两个词意思差不多，都表示“严重的、严峻的”。

3. 这种自满情绪可能已经被北朝鲜的导弹所动摇, 它越过北海道, 然后坠入其以东1,200公里的大海, 。“朝鲜的鲁莽行动是对我们国家前所未有的、严重的和严峻的威胁,” 首相安倍晋三说。

4. It was not the first time that North Korea had fired over Japan; it had conducted similar tests four times previously (under the guise of satellite launches). But the latest shot was a surprise, not least because recent tensions over North Korea’s testing of long-range missiles had appeared to ease of late. America has grown increasingly alarmed that its bases in Guam, or perhaps America’s western seaboard, could soon be threatened by the regime of Kim Jong Un. Japan has long lived under the shadow of his rockets. What is more alarming is the consensus among analysts that his engineers have probably mastered the technology of making a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile.

guise: the way someone or something appears to be, which hides the truth or is only temporary
e.g. in/under the guise of sth
not least: formal used to emphasize that something is important 尤其、特别地
e.g. Dieting can be bad for you, not least because it is a cause of stress...节食可能不利于健康，相当重要的原因是它会引起精神压力。
of late: formal recently

【析】追溯朝鲜发射导弹的历史，指出此次让各方感到意外和担忧的原因。

4. 这已不是朝鲜第一次向日本开火；它曾进行过四次类似的测试 (在卫星发射的 伪装下)。但最新的一击出人意料, ** 尤其因为最近对于朝鲜试验远程导弹的紧张局势似乎已经缓和。美国越来越担忧其在关岛（或者可能在美国西海岸**）的的基地可能很快受到金正恩政权的威胁。日本长期生活在他火箭的阴影下。更令人担忧的是, 分析师们已达成共识, 他的工程师们可能已经掌握了使核弹头小到足以装在导弹上的技术。

5. The latest test is raising questions about the preparedness of Japan’s civil defences and the ability of its anti-missile systems to keep the country safe. It is also heightening the debate over whether Japan should amend its pacifist constitution.

heighten: if a feeling or an effect heightens, or sth heightens it, it becomes stronger or increases = intensify
e.g. The campaign is intended to heighten public awareness of the disease.
pacifist: someone who believes that wars are wrong and who refuses to use violence

【析】 日本人慌了，开始反思

5. 最新的测试对日本的民防准备以及反导系统是否能保证国家安全的问题提出质疑。这也加剧了关于日本是否应该修改和平主义宪法的争论。

6. Over the past year the government has tried to reassure citizens of its ability to protect them. It has published guidelines for how to respond to a missile strike: in short, take cover; and, in the event of a nuclear attack, pull a jacket over your head. Twelve towns have held drills for a North Korean missile attack. They have involved children having to curl up under their desks. For some Japanese such measures are not enough. A very small but increasing number have been building nuclear bunkers and buying air purifiers to protect against radiation in case of nuclear attack.

drill: A drill is a routine exercise or activity, in which people practise what they should do in dangerous situations. (为在危急情况下逃生而进行的)常规训练,演习
bunker: A bunker is a place, usually underground, that has been built with strong walls to protect it against heavy gunfire and bombing.

【析】日本给它公民提供的方案经过这么一描述，显得很搞笑而且荒诞，与前文说的“把和平当做理所当然”相呼应。

6. 在过去的一年里, 政府试图使公民对其保护他们的能力感到放心。它已经公布了如何应对导弹袭击的指导原则: 简而言之, 就是找掩护，而且, 万一发生核攻击, 拉一件夹克盖在头上。十二个城镇已为北韩导弹袭击举行 演习。他们让孩子们蜷缩在课桌下。对一些日本人来说, 这样的措施是不够的。一小部分但越来越多的人正在建造核掩体并购买空气净化器, 以防在核攻击时的辐射。

7. Japan enacted civil-defence legislation only in 2004, almost three decades after South Korea. J-Alert, the emergency public-information system, failed to work in some places. Suguru Arai of the disaster-prevention bureau in the town of Erimo, which was under the missile’s trajectory, points to a flaw in the advice for citizens to take cover: “There are no basements and only a few strong concrete buildings in the town.” Chains of command were inadequate in 2011 when an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

trajectory: The trajectory of a moving object is the path that it follows as it moves.

【析】 继续指出日本公共政策的缺陷。

7. 日本仅在2004年才制定了民防法,在韩国之后将近三年。紧急公共信息系统（J-Alert）, 在一些地方没起到作用。Erimo镇（在此导弹的射程之内）防灾局的Suguru Arai 指出让市民找掩护这个建议的一个缺陷: “（镇上）没有地下室, 只有几栋坚固的混凝土建筑。2011年, 当地震和海啸导致福岛第一核电站发生熔毁时, 指令信息链并不足。

8. Japan has a double-layer of missile defences: destroyers with Aegis missile-defence systems cover the whole country; land-based Patriot batteries (pictured on exercise, after the latest North Korean missile flew over) provide “point defence” for smaller areas. “But just as the threat grows, our defence capabilities must grow,” says Narushige Michishita, an analyst.

layer: If something such as a system or an idea has many layers, it has many different levels or parts.

【析】 介绍日本原有的防御体系。

8. 日本拥有双层导弹防御系统: 带有宙斯盾导弹防御体系的驱逐舰覆盖全国；爱国者陆地导弹 (如图所示， 在最近朝鲜导弹飞过后在操练中) ，为较小的地区提供 “点防御”。“但是, 随着威胁的增长, 我们的防御能力必须增长,” 分析家 Narushige Michishita 说。

Raising the shield

9. Yet there are growing doubts about whether this is enough. The defence ministry wants to upgrade the Aegis systems on the destroyers and to acquire a land-based version, Aegis Ashore. Some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are urging the government to use its budget reserves to speed up the acquisition, rather than wait for an increased defence budget next year. The government is unlikely to add a third layer of missile protection, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence missile shield that America operates in South Korea, on the grounds that it is too costly. Noboru Yamaguchi, a former lieutenant-general in the Self-Defence Forces (SDF), Japan’s army, says Japan should also raise the number of crews to man Aegis destroyers to relieve overstretched personnel.

speed up: to move or happen faster, or to make something move or happen faster ≠ slow down
e.g. The new system will speed up the registration process.
acquisition: If you make an acquisition, you buy or obtain something, often to add to things that you already have.
on the grounds: If you do something on the grounds of a particular thing, that thing is the reason for your action.

• e.g. We oppose the bill, on the grounds that it discriminates against women.*
  man: to work at a place or be in charge of a place or a machine; to supply people to work somewhere
  overstretched: If a system or organization is overstretched, it is being forced to work more than it is supposed to.

【析】在军事方面日本还能够做些什么。

9. 然而, 人们越来越怀疑这是否足够。国防部希望升级驱逐舰上的宙斯盾系统, 并购得陆地版本——陆地宙斯盾。执政党自民党的一些成员敦促政府动用预算储备来加速购置, 而不是等到明年增加国防预算。政府不太可能增加第三层导弹保护, 即美国在韩国运营的终端高空区域导弹防御系统, 理由是它太昂贵了。日本陆军自卫队前陆军中将郎山口说, 日本也应该提高在宙斯驱逐舰上工作的船员的数量, 以此来缓解那些**超负荷人员 **（的压力）。

10. Japan is trying to improve other capabilities too, for instance by buying F-35 jets. But it lacks the wherewithal to strike at North Korean launch sites if it detects signs of imminent attack—something some officials, including the defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, would like to have. Japan’s military strength will remain limited for as long as it spends less than 1% of GDP on defence (South Korea and America spend 2.6% and 3.3% of GDP respectively).

wherewithal: If you have the wherewithal for something, you have the means, especially the money, that you need for it.
第二句话中的something指的是前面的wherewithal

【析】日本没有足够的国防预算来升级防御系统。

10. 日本也在努力提高其他能力, 例如购买 F-35 喷气机。但是, 如果它发现即将发生攻击的迹象, 它并没有足够的资金来打击朝鲜的发射地点, 这些资金是一些官员, 包括国防部长逸小野寺, 所希望拥有的。日本的军事力量将继续受到限制, 只要它在国防上花费少于GDP的1% (韩国和美国分别花费GDP的2.6% 和3.3% )。

11. Mr Abe has long thought that Japan should become a normal military power. In 2015 he pushed through legislation reinterpreting the constitution to allow the SDF to play a more forceful role in missions such as peacekeeping. This year he announced plans to rewrite the constitution’s pacifist clause by 2020. That will require approval in both houses of parliament, and a referendum. Mr Abe no doubt hopes the outcry over the latest missile shot will make his task easier. Even so, he would have to overcome great public resistance. And his popularity has been slumping of late amid reported scandals.

power: You can use power to refer to a country that is very rich or important, or has strong military forces.
houses: a group of people who meet to discuss and make the laws of a country
slumping: to fall in price, value, number, etc, suddenly and by a large amount = drop
e.g. Sales have slumped this year.

【析】安倍为加强日本军事实力所做的努力以及面临的困境。

11. 安倍一直认为日本应该成为一个正常的军事强国。2015年, 他推动重新解释宪法的立法, 以允许自卫队在诸如维和等任务中发挥更有力的作用。今年, 他宣布计划在2020年之前改写宪法的和平条款。这将需要国会参众两院的批准以及一次公投。安倍无疑希望对最近这次导弹发射的强烈抗议能使他的任务更容易。即便如此, 他也必须战胜强大的公众抵制。他的声望在最近爆出的丑闻中一直在暴跌。

12. Over the years some in Japan have asked whether the country needs its own nuclear deterrent. Such talk may begin anew, amid growing doubts about America’s commitment to its allies. Mr Michishita, no hawk, says Japan must have a proper debate about the defence capabilities it needs: “Currently we are like a boxer that does not punch.”

deterrent: A deterrent is something that prevents people from doing something by making them afraid of what will happen to them if they do it.
hawk: a person, especially a politician, who supports the use of military force to solve problems 反义词 dove

【析】日本国内对其是否该拥有核威慑的讨论可能会重新开始。

12. 在过去的几年中, 日本国内有些人发问：该国是否需要拥有自己的核威慑。随着人们越来越怀疑美国对其盟友的承诺, 这种言论可能会重新开始。Michishita 先生（非鹰派） 说日本必须对它所需要的防卫能力进行适当的争论: “目前我们就像一个不出拳的拳击手。”

本文中的表达：

惊慌失措| panic (V)
认为……理所当然|take ... for granted
鲁莽行为| reckless action
在……的伪装下| under the guise of
尤其因为| not least because
最近| of late
加剧争论| heighten the debate
和平主义者|pacifist
举行演习|hole drills
蜷缩|curl up
核掩体| nuclear bunkers
双层的|a double-layer of
加速| speed up
理由是| on the gounds that
在……岗位工作| man ...
超负荷| overstretched
军事强国| military power
暴跌| be slumping
核威慑| nuclear deterrent
重新开始| begin anew
鹰牌/鸽派| hawk/dove

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原文出处：经济学人

翻译：七呵夫

本译文仅供个人研习、欣赏语言之用，谢绝任何转载及用于任何商业用途。本译文不代表本人立场。本人同意简书平台在接获有关著作权人的通知后，删除文章。