中國建造的通向海邊的埃塞俄比亞新鐵路
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The sleek, white train glides through the hilly Ethiopian countryside, the first to travel this route in nearly a decade.
亞的斯亞貝巴，埃塞俄比亞——整潔的白色火車滑行穿過丘陵起伏的埃塞俄比亞鄉村，在近十年裏第一列火車經過這條線路。
The contrast is stark as the new, Chinese-made electric train passes horse-drawn carriages, oxen hauling plows and crowds of curious village children. But soon it crosses over a gleaming six-lane expressway and snakes past a row of newly erected wind turbines — all Chinese-built and, like the train, part of Ethiopia’s ongoing effort to remake itself.
中國製造電氣化火車經過馬拉的車廂、牛拉犁和成羣好奇的村莊孩子，這些景象形成了鮮明的對比。但是火車很快跨越一個瞬息一現六車道高速公路和蛇爬過的一排新建的直立着的風力發電機——這些全部是中國建造的，像火車行駛那樣，埃塞俄比亞持續努力的一部分來重塑自己。
The standard-gauge rail line, which will be officially inaugurated this week, stretches 470 miles from the capital, Addis Ababa, to the port of Djibouti, which handles 90 percent of the landlocked country’s trade and is its main window to the outside world. Seventy percent of the $3.4 billion project is financed by China’s Export-Import Bank, and it is one of the biggest of the mega-projects that Ethiopia says will transform its largely agricultural economy — once known for little more than famine and coffee — into East Africa’s manufacturing hub.
這條標準軌距鐵路線將會在本週正式揭牌，它從首都亞的斯亞貝巴延綿470英里到吉布提口岸，首都亞的斯亞貝巴處理着該內陸國90%的貿易並且它是對外部世界的主要窗口。34億美元項目的70%由中國進出口銀行提供資金，並且它是最大的大型項目之一，埃塞俄比亞認爲該項目將會很大程度上改變農業經濟——成爲東非製造業中心——該國曾經僅僅是因爲饑荒和咖啡而聞名。
“Our economy is one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa and the world, so at the end of the day, when the train is connected to the port and transporting that much freight, .?.?. it will add value,” said Mekonnen Getachew, the railway’s project manager, speaking after a recent trial run for journalists .
“我們的經濟是非洲和世界上增長最快經濟體之一，所以在這一天結束時，當火車與港口連接進而運輸更多的貨物，它會增加價值，”梅克恩·格塔丘說，這位鐵路項目經理，在最近一次試車運行之後對新聞記者發表了講話。
Between 2005 and 2015, Ethiopia’s economy grew at an average rate of 10 percent a year, and the country took pride in its reputation as Africa’s latest success story. But that is starting to unravel, with the worst drought in 50 years halving the growth rate and widespread social unrest erupting in two of the country’s most populous regions.
在2005年和2015年間，埃塞俄比亞經濟以每年平均10%速度增長，並且該國因爲非洲最新成功故事的名聲，而爲此驕傲。但是這種情況開始瓦解，隨着50年來最嚴重乾旱把增長率減半並且大範圍的社會動盪在該國兩個人口最稠密的地區爆發。
A finish-line protest at this year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro by an Ethio-pian marathon runner alerted the world to the country’s internal problems.
在今年的里約熱內盧的奧運會上，一名馬拉松運動員伊索·皮安在完成線路上抗議以提醒世界注意該國內部的問題。
The drought’s effect has been so dire that the new railroad was pressed into service in November, before construction was even completed, to get emergency imports of wheat closer to famine-stricken areas.
乾旱的影響是非常嚴峻的，以至於這條新鐵路甚至在完工之前在去年十一月被暫時徵用，以獲得緊急進口小麥去更接近饑荒受災區域。
Without the train, Ethiopia’s imports and exports must travel between Djibouti and Addis Ababa on a winding, pitted road plied by more than 1,500 trucks daily, a trip that takes two days. When the railroad is fully operational, travel time for freight will be cut to just 12 hours — and 10 hours for the faster passenger trains.
如果沒有火車，埃塞俄比亞的進口和出口必須在吉布提和亞的斯亞貝巴之間纏繞行進，維修加油的公路每天被超過1500輛卡車使用，一次行程花費兩天。當鐵路完全運轉時，貨運行程時間將會減少到只有12小時而更快的旅客列車只有10小時。
The new line actually replaces a narrow-gauge railroad built by France starting in 1894, when it controlled Djibouti. The French left behind elegant, arcaded train stations, inscribed “Chemin de Fer Djibouto-Ethiopien,” in the heart of Addis Ababa and in the eastern city of Dire Dawa, but the line was largely defunct by the mid-2000s, a victim of war and neglect.
這條新線路實際上取代了由法國始於1894年建造的一條窄軌鐵路，當時法國控制着吉布提。法國人在亞的斯亞貝巴中心和東部城市爾達瓦遺留下了優雅的、有拱廊的火車站，火車站題寫着“吉布提-埃塞俄比亞鐵路”，但是這條線路在2000年代中期大部分報廢了，是一場戰爭的犧牲品和被疏於維護。
The century-old tracks can still be seen in places from the new train, but the Chinese elected to build all new stations. The palatial multistory buildings stand well outside cities and towns, suggesting that the new line will be used more for freight than for passengers.
具有百年曆史的軌跡仍然可以在新火車的地方被看到，而中國人委任建造全部新的火車站。這些宏偉多層的建築良好地矗立在城市和城鎮之外，這表明新線路將會被更多用於貨物而不是旅客。
The rail link to Djibouti will be just the beginning, the government says. Plans have been made for 1,500 more miles of track to criss-cross the country, including to its borders with Kenya, Sudan and South Sudan — all part of an African Union goal of once more uniting the continent by rail.
政府說，這條連接吉布提的鐵路將只是一個開始。超過1500英里的軌道計劃已經規劃好，該軌道讓該國縱橫交錯，包括與它接壤的肯尼亞、蘇丹和南蘇丹——一部分非洲聯盟目標因爲鐵路又一次團結成大陸。
Ethiopia is a lot closer to achieving its part of this goal than most African countries, largely because of the massive support and financing from China.
埃塞俄比亞與大多數非洲國家相比很接近完成這個目標的一部分，主要因爲大量支援和融資來源於中國。
According to the China Global Investment tracker, Beijing has poured more than $20.6 billion into Ethiopia since 2005, much of it in low-interest loans to build infrastructure, such as roads, rail lines and telecommunication.
根據中國全球投資跟蹤系統，北京自2005年以來已經傾入超過206億美元到埃塞俄比亞，大多數資金以低利率貸款用於建造基礎設施，例如公路、鐵路線和通信。
On the train, with its clean, blond-wood interiors, loudspeakers announce the stations in three languages: Amharic, English and Chinese. All the attendants are Chinese.
在火車上，它有着乾淨、金色木質紋理的內部，擴音器用三種語言：阿姆哈拉語、英語和中文播報車站。所有的服務員是中國人。
For its first five years, the new railway will be managed by a Chinese company to allow time to train enough Ethiopians to take over running it.
在最初的五年裏，這個新鐵路將會由一家中國公司來管理以便有時間去培養足夠的埃塞俄比亞人來接管運行它。
The train line is a key part of the government’s strategy to industrialize the country by luring foreign investment — and the 70-mile trip last weekend between Addis Ababa and Adama attests to the plan’s success so far. From the window, the view includes not just traditional farms but also greenhouses marking the country’s burgeoning commercial flower industry and distant plumes of smoke from new factories.
鐵路線是政府戰略的一個關鍵部分，從而通過引誘外國投資實現該國的工業化——而上週在亞的斯亞貝巴和阿達瑪之間70英里的運行證明到目前爲止該計劃的成功。從火車窗口上看，視野不僅包括了傳統農場而且還有溫室，這標誌着該國增長迅速的商業花卉產業還有遙遠的來自新工廠羽毛狀的煙霧。
Chinese cement and shoe companies, Indian painting and textile firms, and numerous Turkish enterprises have set up shop here in recent years, attracted by Ethiopia’s cheap labor and electricity — and eventually, the government hopes, by its superior infrastructure.
中國的水泥和製鞋公司、印度繪畫和紡織品工廠，還有許多土耳其企業在最近幾年裏已經在這裏開設商店，這些企業被埃塞俄比亞廉價勞動力和電力所吸引——而最終，政府希望企業被它的優秀的基礎設施所吸引。
Foreign direct investment has grown from just $108 million in 2009 to an estimated $2 billion in 2016.
外國直接投資已經從2009年只有108百萬美元增長到2016年預估的20億美元。
A report by the World Bank last year, though, warned that Ethiopia still had far to go in its quest to move labor from agriculture to industrial jobs. About 80 percent of the jobs in the country are still in farming. Meanwhile, unemployment is at 17 percent nationally and at 24 percent in the capital.
儘管，世界銀行去年的一份報告，警告埃塞俄比亞尋求把勞動力從農業轉移到工業工作上仍然很遙遠。在該國，大約80%工作仍然是農業。同時，全國失業率是17%而在首都是24%。
The economy remains closed and state-controlled, and the small and medium enterprises that would probably produce the most jobs are having trouble getting financing. Even foreign firms, which are given preferential treatment, complain about bureaucracy, red tape and the difficulty of repatriating profits and acquiring hard currency.
該國經濟保持着封閉和國家控制，並且很可能將會產生更多工作的中小企業正在爲獲得融資發愁。即使是給予優先對待的外國農場，他們抱怨着官僚主義、繁文縟節還有遣返利潤和獲得硬通貨的困難。
The new factories are also being built on confiscated farm land, which helped spark the protests in the Oromo region that began in November and later spread north to the Amhara region. International rights groups estimate that some 500 people have been killed in the repression that ensued.
另外新工廠正建設在被沒收農地上，這導致了在奧羅莫人地區引發抗議，抗議從11月份開始並且後來傳播到北方至阿姆哈拉地區。國際認全組織估計大約500人在隨後的鎮壓中喪生。
Just on Sunday, police fired tear gas at a political protest taking place at an Oromo cultural festival in Bishoftu, the next station on the train line after Addis Ababa, and provoked a stampede that killed 52 according to the government — with the opposition saying twice as many died.
就在週日，一場政治抗議發生在德佈雷塞特的一個奧羅莫文化節上，德佈雷塞特是在火車線路上在亞的斯亞貝巴之後的下一站，警察對抗議發射了催淚瓦斯，並引發了踩踏事故，按照政府說法踩踏導致52人喪生，而反對派說死亡人數是政府說法的兩倍。
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, assistant secretary of state for african affairs, last week described the government response as an “intense and somewhat harsh crackdown.”
琳達·托馬斯·格林菲爾德，負責非洲事務的助理國務卿，上週形容政府反應是一種“強烈的並且稍微嚴厲的打擊。”
“We think it could get worse if it’s not addressed — sooner rather than later,” she told Voice of America.
“我們認爲這可能會變得更糟，如果它得不到解決——宜早不宜遲，”她告訴美國之音。
The unrest poses a threat to Ethiopia’s vision of foreign-driven industrialization.
動盪不安的局面對埃塞俄比亞由外國驅動工業化的願景形成一種威脅。
On Aug. 29, in the Amhara region, mobs attacked at least seven flower farms belonging to Israeli, Italian, Indian and Belgian companies. In a statement on its website, the Dutch-owned Esmeralda Farms said its entire $11.2 million investment, including machinery and greenhouses, was destroyed.
在8月29日，在阿姆哈拉地區，暴徒襲擊了至少7個屬於以色列、意大利、印度和比利時公司的花卉農場。在其網站的聲明中，荷蘭擁有的埃斯梅拉達農場說它全部的11.2百萬美元投資，包括機械和溫室，被摧毀了。
In the first-person statement, the unnamed author laments how Ethiopia was once a safe country.
在第一人稱陳述中，未署名的作者感嘆埃塞俄比亞曾經是一個多麼安全的國家。
“Last year I traveled 24 times to Ethiopia to start up the farm,” the statement said. “It was one of the most peaceful countries in Africa.”
“去年我行程24次到埃塞俄比亞去開設農場，”聲明說。 “這曾是最和平的非洲國家之一。”
