荷兰的环保新法规 | 外刊精读

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本周精读文章来自The Economist一篇讲荷兰农民抗议环保法规的文章A tiny environmental group wins a huge victory

长期以来，荷兰对于限制氮污染的法规一直比较宽松，但在一个环保组织的游说下，荷兰政府最近通过了一个更为严厉的环保法案。这些法案影响到很多农民的营生，致使他们上街抗议。本文分析了整个事件的前因后果以及各方看法，文中有不少语言点值得学习。推荐全文阅读：

首段介绍了文章背景：荷兰农民抗议新的环保法规会让他们停业。

The French are accustomed to angry farmers paralysing traffic. In the Netherlands, which prides itself on consensual government, such agricultural aggression used to be rare.

法国人已经习惯了愤怒的农民堵塞交通，但在以拥有一个善于协商政府为荣的荷兰，这种富有侵略性的农业行为曾经很少见。

文章以对比的方式开篇：法国农民喜欢游行示威，这一点可能尽人皆知，但荷兰农民要温和很多。这一对比也为后面的转折做铺垫。

第二句中pride yourself on (doing) something是一个固定搭配，意思是“以（做）某事而自豪，对某事物感到得意”，比如“他以自己对朋友的忠诚而自豪”可以说：He prides himself on his loyalty to his friends. 他以自己对朋友的忠诚而自豪。

Yet over the past month Dutch farmers have turned stubborn. On October 1st and again on October 16th, thousands of them parked their tractors on The Hague’s main parade grounds, clamouring that proposed environmental regulations would put them out of business.

然而在过去的一个月中荷兰农民变得固执起来。在10月1日和10月16日，数千名农民将拖拉机停在海牙的主阅兵场上，大声抗议政府提议的环保法规会使他们停业。

很多人比较熟悉park这一单词的名词含义“公园”，但它作为动词时还可以表示“停泊车辆”。

put somebody out of business是一个固定搭配，意思是“让某人关门停业”，比如要表达“这座城市的大超市已经让很多小店关门”，可以说：The supermarkets in this city have put many smaller shops out of business.

类似的说法还有put somebody out of work/out of a job（让某人失业），比如在阐述科技发展与工作的关系时，我们可以说：

Given the advances in artificial intelligence and automation, it does not take a leap of the imagination to see that they will put low-skilled workers out of a job. To mitigate the impacts of disruptive technologies, governments should attach more importance to education.

"The Netherlands without farmers would be like Amsterdam without whores," one banner proclaimed. (It rhymes in Dutch.)

一条横幅宣称：“没有农民的荷兰就像是没有妓女的阿姆斯特丹。”（这句话在荷兰语中是押韵的）

我查了一下，上面这句英文标语对应的荷兰语是：Geel zonder boeren is als Amsterdam zonder hoeren，其中zonder boeren与zonder hoeren押韵。

第二段解释了导致农民抗议的原因。

The source of the conflict is nitrogen pollution, which comes in two forms: nitric oxides (NOx), mainly from combustion engines, and ammonia, mostly from fertiliser and animal waste. These lead to smog, algae blooms and other problems.

冲突的根源是氮污染，它有两种形式：氮氧化物（NOx）（主要来自内燃机）和氨（主要来自化肥和动物粪便）。它们会导致烟雾、藻类大量繁殖和其他问题。

第二句开头的these指代nitric oxides以及ammonia这两种污染物。

In May the Netherlands’ Council of State ruled that the government’s system for limiting such pollution was too lax for European law.

荷兰国务委员会在5月份裁定，政府限制此类污染的制度对于欧洲法律而言过于宽松。

第三段介绍了新的法规对于农业以及工商业的影响。

Farmers, especially those with high-density cattle stalls, were thrown into chaos. They are not the only ones bellowing.

农民陷入了混乱，以那些在牛棚实行密集养殖的人为甚。但他们不是唯一抱怨的群体。

Construction causes NOx emissions too, so up to €14bn worth of housing and infrastructure projects have been called into question until the government can come up with a new permit system.

建筑施工也会造成氮氧化物排放，因此，在政府提出新的许可证制度之前，高达140亿欧元的住房和基础设施项目也陷入了停滞状态。

call into question是一个短语，意思是“让人们对……产生质疑”（to cause doubts about something），短语的用法是 XX calls into question… 举个例子，美国退出了巴黎气候协定，这不由让人们质疑其解决气候问题的决心，可以说：

That the US withdrew from the Paris climate agreement calls into question its commitment to tackle climate change and other major global environmental issues.

第四段解释了新环境法案的前因后果。

The group that has brought the Dutch construction and agriculture sectors to a standstill is a tiny non-profit, Mobilisation for the Environment (mob), that operates on a shoestring budget with seven staff.

使荷兰的建筑和农业部门陷入停顿的组织是一个很小的非营利性组织“环境动员”（Mobilisation for the Environment, mob），它的预算很小，只有七名员工。

bring something to a standstill是一个固定搭配，意思是“使……陷入停滞”，比如：Fighting and shortages have brought normal life to a virtual standstill in the city. 战火和物资短缺使这座城市的日常生活濒临瘫痪。

我们可以发现第四段第一句话可以在上一段倒数第二句中找到对应：…housing and infrastructure projects have been called into question until the government… 作者正是通过这一方法实现了两个段落的自然衔接。

a shoestring budget 这一说法很有意思，shoestring原本是指“鞋带”，由鞋带形状很细小这一点可以引申为“小成本的，资金极少的”这一层含义。因此a shoestring budget可以理解为“小预算”。

In 2017 it went to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to challenge a system which the Dutch had introduced two years earlier.

它在2017年前往欧洲法院（ECJ）质疑荷兰人两年前推出的一套环保法律体系。

challenge在这里是熟词生义，它的意思是“质疑”（to question whether something is true or legal），比如：Viewpoints such as these are strongly challenged by environmentalists. 类似这样的观点遭到环境保护主义者的强烈质疑。

Unlike other countries, the Netherlands allowed farmers and industry to take measures they hoped would reduce nitrogen levels (such as experimental air-scrubbers), and count the expected reductions againstnew emissions—even before gathering evidence that they worked.

与其他国家不同，荷兰允许农民和工业界采取他们认为能减少氮含量的措施（例如实验性空气过滤器），甚至在没有收集足够证据来证明这些措施有效的情况下，就根据新的排放量来计算预期的减少量。

against在这里的意思并不是“反对”，而是“与……对照，对照……的标准”，比如：Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department. 一些私营的企业，像租赁公司和房产公司以及汽车零售商，都在把顾客的姓名同财政部公布的嫌疑恐怖分子和贩毒分子的名单互相核对。

The ECJ found that this was not good enough. The Council of State agreed, scrapping the permit system. Fully 18,000 projects with recent or pending permits are up in the air.

欧洲法院发现这一措施并不够好，荷兰国务委员会同意取消许可证制度。近期获批或正在审批的18000个项目前途未卜。

something is up in the air意思是一个固定短语，意思是“悬而未定的”（if something is up in the air, no decision has been made about it yet），例如：Our travel plans are still up in the air. 我们的旅行计划尚未决定。

结尾段介绍了政客以及地方政府对于示威者的反应。

Polls at first showed that the Dutch overwhelmingly sympathised with the farmers, and four provincial governments have backed down, abandoning the plans they had drawn up to meet the government’s new recommendation.

最初的民意调查显示，绝大多数荷兰人对农民表示支持。四个省级政府也已经做出让步，放弃了为满足政府新提议而制定好的计划。

sympathize/sympathise with somebody可以表示“同情某人”，也可以表示“支持某人”，具体取哪个含义要看语境。当短语用在抗议、示威以及罢工等语境中时，一般理解为“支持某人”，比如：The public sympathized with the miners' strike. 公众支持矿工罢工。

当短语后面接的对象遭遇不幸时，它一般表示“同情某人”，比如：I can sympathize with those who have lost loved ones. 我同情那些失去亲友的人。

back down意思是“放弃（主张、要求、承诺等），做出让步”，比如：The United States had no intention of backing down in its bitter row over farm subsidies. 美国无意就激烈争吵的农产品补贴问题做出让步。

On October 14th, though, the farmers crossed a line. In a protest in the provincial capital of Groningen, one drove a tractor through a barrier into a bicycle-jammed street, while another used his to smash open the doors of the provincial legislature.

然而在10月14日，这些农民越界了。在省首府格罗宁根的一次抗议中，一个人驾驶拖拉机穿过障碍物进入一个挤满自行车的街道，而另一人则用他的拖拉机砸开了省议会的门。

cross a line字面意思是“穿过了……的界限”，这里取其引申义“（言论和行为等）越界”。