杯水車薪
"Deserving Cases, Too Little Help" 是本期經濟學人的文章，我試著翻譯出來。
[乾旱和蝗害已經使得馬利(Mali)和尼日數百萬人民陷入飢荒的危機。儘管有許
多援助組織已經提出警告，但這兩個國家卻沒有得到足夠的援助—特別是馬利
—一個特別支持反恐的中型回教國家，更值得富裕世界的國家給予更多關心。]
A DROUGHT had already scorched the southern edge of the Sahara desert
before locusts burst out of the oases around Kidal in Mali last year,
settling on cereal crops there and nearby in even more destitute Niger.
As a result of a meagre harvest, the cost of millet went up by 30%,
sorghum by 50% and maize 60%. In both countries, state and village
granaries are low or empty. Som officials in Mali's capital, Bamako,
reckon that 4m in the two countries risk starvation, around 1.1m of
them in Mali—around 10% of its population. Mortality for under-five
-year-olds, already among the highest in the world at over one in five,
has risen to record heights.
在蝗害來臨之前，去年的乾旱已經烘乾了馬利在撒哈拉沙漠南緣的Kidal地區，
攻擊了所有的穀物，更貧窮的尼日也不能倖免。由於稀少的收成，粟米的價格
上漲了30％，高粱上漲了50％，玉米則上漲了60％。兩個國家裡的州、村穀倉
不是貯量非常的少，就是根本空無一物。馬利首都Bamako的官員估計，兩國共
有400萬人限於飢荒當中，光是馬利約有110萬人—大約是10％的人口。五歲以
下死亡率已經達到世界最高的每五名兒童即有一人死亡—這是世界新高。
The damage locusts did to the scrub grasses on which livestock depend has been
even more devastating. Hundreds of herdsmen and tens of thousands of cattle h
ave withered and died on futile treks in search of pasture. Survivors in Mali
have gathered in unusually large numbers in the Gourma region, east of Timbukt
u, raising tensions there and overgrazing land that, but for the Niger river t
hat sweeps slow and brown in a life-giving arc through Mali, would already be
desert. Mali's many nomads, already among the poorest in the world, have been
particularly hard hit. They used to trade a goat for a sack of millet, which n
ow costs four goats
蝗蟲狂掃殆盡畜口所仰賴的飼草，而使得危害更為慘烈。成千上萬的牧人和牲
口因為徒勞的尋找牧草地而逐漸虛弱、死亡。馬利的倖存者，聚集在Gourma地
區，Timbukt東部，而升高了對立，及過度放牧的緊張局勢，但曾為生命之地的
緩緩流過的尼日河，如今已經是一片沙漠。馬利的遊牧民族，身為世界最窮困
的人群之一，所遭受到的衝擊更為巨大。過去他們以山羊交易粟米，而今一袋
粟米則要價四頭山羊。
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) and other international aid ag
encies have been warning for months of an impending disaster across West Afric
a, especially in Saharan countries like Niger and Mali. If natural disasters w
ere not enough, several countries’ own emergencies are being made worse by hu
ge numbers of refugees flooding in from conflict-torn neighbours such as Sudan
and Cote D'Ivoire. However, despite all the grand pledges made by the rich wo
rld’s leaders at the Gleneagles summit early this month, only in the past wee
k or so has a moderately encouraging response begun to be seen. Planes bearing
food and other urgent supplies have begun touching down in Niger—but reachin
g all those facing starvation will be a huge struggle, especially now that the
rainy season is beginning, making it far harder to reach remote areas.
聯合國的世界糧食計畫以及其他國際援助組織，已經對西非，特別是像馬利和
尼日這類撒哈拉國家，迫在眉睫的災難提出好幾個月的警告。如果天災還不夠
悲慘的話，好些個國家還因為無數的難民湧入，如蘇丹和象牙海岸，而造成國
間的緊張對立而使得事態更形險惡。然而，儘管富裕國家在本月初的G8高峰會
已經做出了宣誓，但只有些許令人鼓舞的回應開始在這一兩週出現。裝載著食
物和緊急物資的飛機在尼日落地，但是如何送達這些面臨飢餓的人們面前，將
會是龐大的問題，特別是雨季開始的現在，使得送至偏遠地區更加困難。
At the Gleneagles summit, the Group of Eight rich nations pledged to double th
eir overall aid to roughly $100 billion a year by 2010, with about half of tha
t going to Africa. Anti-poverty campaigners professed themselves pleased with
this increase, though some claimed that the delay in new funding would cost mi
llions of lives.
在G8高峰會上，八大工業國承諾在2010年前將援助加倍到1000億美元，而約半
數投注在非洲。雖然少數對抗貧窮運動者認為新援助基金的延遲，會使上百萬
條人喪生，但大多數人仍發表聲明，歡迎G8的舉動。
Mali’s finance minister, Abou Bakar Traore, can only shake his head sadly at
his country’s state of affairs. Mali is the fourth-poorest state in the world
, according to the UN, and getting poorer. Brought in from the private sector
and with a clean reputation so far, Mr Traore does not know what to make of th
e promises made at the G8 meeting: “I haven't seen anything about debt relief
,” he says. “Not a single piece of paper.”
馬利的經濟部長，Mr.Traore，只能傷心地對內部的狀況搖頭。根據聯合國統計，
馬利是世界第四窮困的國家，而且越來越窮。從私部門進入公職，有著良好聲譽
的Mr.Traore說，他不知道如何回應G8的承諾，"我尚未看到任何債務的減輕，"，
他說，"一張紙也沒有。"
Mali is still paying interest on its debts. Even if they were forgiven, Mr Tra
ore thinks the benefits would be offset by the high oil price and low price of
cotton, Mali’s main export. Transport costs in his landlocked country have a
lready risen by 15%-plus on the back of higher fuel costs; civil war in Cote d
'Ivoire, to the south, has further raised costs since it has blocked off the r
oute to Abidjan, the usual port for Malian trade. Road and rail links to Dakar
, in Senegal, to the west, are too ropey, so Mali’s truckers face a grinding
round trip of 2,000km (1,200 miles) or more through Benin or Togo to get any g
oods to the world market.
馬利仍背負著債務的利息。Mr. Traore認為，即使債務解除，所帶來的好處也會
被高油價和低棉花價格所沖抵，而棉花正是馬利的主要出口貨物。內陸國家的運
輸價格因高油價而額外增加了15％，象牙海岸因內戰封鎖首都的情況，更增加了
運輸的成本。連接到Dakar的陸路和火車交通又品質低劣，因此馬利的貨運業者
面對的是2000公里的碾石子路，或是更長的經由Benin或Togo的路途，來得到
國際市場的貨物。
(To Be Continued....)
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（﹌）（﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）
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I promise,I will come back for you...
（﹌）（﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）(﹌）
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