【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡 - Hard & s

Hard and soft solutions

节选自 【经济学人】 April, 2019

翻译练习：青澄青果

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡 - Hard & soft solutions

Modern technology means that mega-projects now are on a scale the ancients could only dream of. China's are the grandest. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangzi river, which went into full operations in 2012, involved the flooding of hundreds of villages and the displacement of 1.2 m people. The reservoir it created is 600 km long. Besides providing energy for one of the world's largest power stations, the project was touted for improving navigation and preventing floods. Ever since it was first mooted as an idea a century ago, however, the dam has been controversial, with worries about its impact on biodiversity, cultural heritage and even seismology.

现代科技的发展得以实现古人令望尘莫及规模宏大的大型项目。中国拥有其中规模最为宏大的位于长江上的三峡大坝项目。它于2012年全面投入使用，为了大坝的建设淹没了上百的村庄迁移了120万人之众的人口。大坝水库长达600公里。除了向世界最大的发电厂提供能源外， 还起着促进通航和抗洪的作用。然而自从项目被提议开始就饱经争议，担忧集中于对生物多样性的影响、文物以及地质构造影响等方面。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡 - Hard & soft solutions

Environmentalists are also leery of another proud boast of modern Chinese hydraulic engineering: its south-to-north water-diversion project, by some measures the most expensive infrastructure project in the world. It counts as the largest transfer of water between river basins in history. It recognizes that, for all China's well-publicized struggles with air pollution, a shortage of water is its biggest environmental problem. The shortage is acute in the north, where 11 provinces have less than 1,000 cubic metres of water per person per year, the usual international measure of water stress. Those provinces include four of China's five biggest agricultural producers.

环保学者也质疑了另外一个值得骄傲的水利工程：南水北调工程，根据某些衡量方法，它是全球造价最高的基础设施建设项目。它也是迄今为止最大的跨流域引水工程。这就说明虽然众所周知的是中国致力于空气污染的整治，但实际上水资源匮乏才是它面临的最严峻的环境问题。尤其以北方更为严峻，北方有多达11个省份的人均年供水量不到1000立方米，这是国际通行的测定水缺乏的标准值。这些省份包含中国五大农业省中的四个。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡 - Hard & soft solutions

With so many cities around the world facing an acute need for water, "the hard path" will not be abandoned. It will always seem easier to bring water in, or to exploit a new source, than to move tens of millions of people, or completely redraw the map of agricultural production. Few, however, would disagree that the hard path alone is no longer enough and that it needs to be complemented with a "soft" one that seeks to improve the way water is used, rather than to find new sources of supply. That means spending on local facilities, efficient technologies and education and training.

世界范围内这么多的城市都面临严峻的缺水问题，硬件建设的方法看来还不能放弃。看来引水以及开发新的水资源都相对来说比迁移成百万人口或者重新规划农业生产区域要来得容易。不过大家也都认为只有硬件的建设还不足以解决问题，同时需要“软件”跟上来，寻求怎么合理用水的方法，而不是仅仅依赖于发现新的水源供给。这就意味着要对于地方设施的建设、技术效能以及教育和培训加强投资。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡 - Hard & soft solutions

Pricing will be even harder. Few utilities in the world charge consumer the full cost of the water they use. And even in countries where they do, a water subsidy may be included in the cost of the goods people buy in shops. To persuade people to recognize and pay for the water-intensity of their lifestyles may require concerted campaigns of the type that have helped cut smoking rates in many places. But because they will affect the entire population, it will be even harder. Finally,  even if the world is cajoled into using water more sustainably, that will still leave questions of allocation. On the global level, it is easy to see where the priorities should lie: in the hundreds of millions who do not yet have access to safe and adequate drinking water and sanitation. At the national and sub-national level, there will always be powerful interests lobbying for their own needs, whereas those without access to clean water are, almost by definition, the powerless. Money is not the binding constraint. Nor is technology. It is a political choice.

定价是件更棘手的事情。世界上很少有公用事业单位收取水的全部费用。即使有些国家这么做了，它也会通过降低超市行销商品的成本进行补贴。劝导人们意识到费水的生活方式并为此相应支付费用，可能需要一场类似于在许多地方开展禁烟的全民运动。不过因为事关全体百姓，可能比那个还难。最终即使人们都服服帖帖地节约用水了，我们仍然面临一个水资源分布不均的问题。全球范围来看，很容易判定首要任务，就是帮助那些还没有安全充足的饮用水源以及缺乏卫生条件的几亿人。不过在国内和地方层面，各方势力出于集团利益进行游说公关，而那些无法获得清洁水本来就是弱势群体，就更加无法获得重视了。所以说，资金不是障碍，技术也不存在制约，归结起来还是政治选择的问题。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡 - Hard & soft solutions