The kindest cut
最友善的砍伐（陈继龙 编译）
May 25th 2006
From The Economist print edition
DEPRESSING reports about how quickly the world's tropical forests are beingf________①are commonplace. But depressing reports about the state of the trees that are still standing are much rarer. In fact, a new study from the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), an offshoot of the United Nations, claims to be the first exhaustive survey of tropical-forest management ever undertaken. （1）Its findings, although grim, do contain a kernel[1]of hope.
有关全球热带森林遭到乱砍滥伐、令人痛心的报道极为常见，但是痛陈现存林木状况的报道却少之又少。事实上，联合国分支机构——国际热带木材组织（ITTO）新近开展的一项研究，据称是首次对热带森林管理现状进行深入调查。其发现虽然令人沮丧，但从中我们还是看到了一线希望。
The ITTO examined “permanent forest estate”, meaning land that the governments of its 33 members have formally set aside for forests, and is therefore subject to some form of regulation or protection. The category includes both national parks and timber concessions, in both public andp________②hands. It covers 814m hectares, and accounts for roughly two-thirds of the world's tropical forests.
ITTO调查的对象是“永久性森林地产”，也就是被ITTO所属33个成员国政府正式划作森林地域，从而受到某种形式的管理或保护的土地。它涉及国家森林公园和木材的特许经营，包括国营和私营。地产总面积达8.14亿公顷，约占全球热带森林面积的三分之二。
The concept is important, explains Duncan Poore, one of the authors of the report, because it is not always possible, or desirable, to protect every last grove againstencroaching[2]farms or homes. Instead, governments shouldc__________③on maintaining the forests that are the most commercially and scientifically valuable. Yet the ITTO's researchers found that only 15% of the permanent forest estate has a management plan, and less than 5% of it is sustainably managed. That still amounts to an area the size of Germany, the report notes, and represents a dramatic improvement since 1988, when an earlier and less extensive survey found that only one country in the tropics—Trinidad and Tobago—had any well-run forests at all. But （2）relative to the area of forest that has disappeared over the same period, the well-managed area is negligible.
此项研究报告的作者之一邓肯•玻尔解释说，这一概念意义重大，因为我们不可能，也不值得对每一片濒临消失的小树林都一直进行保护以避免其被农田或住宅侵占。相反，政府应当集中精力养护好那些最具有商业和科学价值的森林。可是ITTO的研究人员却发现，在“永久性森林地产”中，仅15％有着相应的管理方案，而能坚持贯彻执行这一方案的只有5％。报告中提到，整个地产所涵盖的区域相当于一个德国的大小，自从1988年以来已经得到了极大改善。当年一项粗略的早期调查发现，热带地区国家中只有特立尼达和多巴哥对森林管理较为完善。但是，相对于同期已然消亡的森林而言，这片管理得当的森林是微不足道的。
Thecrux[3]is bad government. Poor countries do not always have good forestry laws. （3）Even when they do, they rarely have the capacity to enforce them.It is no coincidence thatM__________④,the country with the highest proportion of prudently managed forest in the study, is also one of the richest. Countries with the worst run forests, meanwhile, are war-torn places such as Congo and Cambodia.
问题出在政府管理不力。穷国常常缺乏有效的森林法规，即便是有，大多情况下也无力强制实施。本研究中提到的马来西亚得到妥善管理的森林面积比例最大，而它恰恰也是热带地区最富裕的国家之一，这不能说是巧合。与此同时，对森林管理最为不善的国家都曾遭到战争破坏，比如刚果和柬埔寨。
More surprising, perhaps, is the difference the report found between forests wherel_______⑤is allowed, and those that have beenearmarked[4]for conservation. Some 7% of “production” forests, it turns out, are in good shape, compared with just 2.4% of “protection” forests. As Dr Poore points out, （4）it is easy to undertake to preserve a forest, but difficult to do so in practice.Timber concessionaires at least have an incentive (and probably the wherewithal) to look after their property, while ill-paid and ill-equipped forestry officials often have neither. Exploiting forests may prove the best way to preserve them.
可能更为令人吃惊的是，该报告还发现，允许伐木的森林与受到专门保护的森林存在差异。研究表明，大约7% 的“产出型”森林生长状况较佳，而“保护型”森林仅有2.4％。玻尔博士指出，保护森林说说容易，实际做起来却很难。（译者按：be undertake to do sth. 承诺做……，答应做……）木材经营商看护好自己的森林财产至少还有利可图（并且可能还有必要的维护资金），而报酬低、装备差的林业官员却一无所有。也许事实会证明，开发森林才是保护森林的最佳途径。
[QUIZ]
1. 根据首字母以及括号内的词性提示和英文释义填入单词（注意复数、时态形式变化等）：
①f________（vt. to cut down a tree）
②p________（adj. not related to, owned by, or paid for by the government）
③c________（vt. to think very carefully about something that you are doing）
④M________（n. a country in Southeast Aisa, of which the capital is Kuala Lumpur）
⑤l_________ （n. the work of cutting down trees in a forest）
2. 将划线部分英文翻译成中文：
[KEY TO QUIZ]
[replyview]1. ①felled 伐木；②private 私有的，私营的；③concentrate 集中（精神）；④Malaysia 马来西亚；⑤logging 伐木业 ）
2.（见译文，仅供参考，欢迎指正）[NOTES](LONGMAN)
1. kernel n.1）the most important part of a statement, idea, plan etc [= core]核心，要点，精髓（kernel of）如：This evidence is the kernel of the defendants' case. 2）a very small part or amount of something少许（kernel of）如：There may bea kernel of truth in what he says.他的话可能有一点点是真的。
2. encroach vt.to gradually cover more and more land 侵占（土地），蚕食（encroach into）如：The fighting encroached further east.
3. crux n.the most important part of a problem, question, argument etc症结；关键点
4. earmark vt.to decide that something will be used for a particular purpose or have something done to it in the future指定用途；拨款作……用
专题TAG: 经济学家读译英语翻译英语学习热带森林
