Hunger
饥饿问题

Get the gangsters out of the food chain
赶走欺行霸市之徒（译/陈继龙）

Jun 7th 2007 | ADDIS ABABA AND NAIROBI
From The Economist print edition

New commodities exchanges may help feed more of the starving
新型商品交换可能有助于解决更多人的饥饿问题

THE UN's World Food Programme (WFP) feeds 90m people in the poor world, a fraction of the 800m it reckons still go hungry. （1）Population growth, environmental degradation and bad governments are among those to blame. But a big factor is the failure of food markets in poor countries.
联合国世界粮食计划署（World Food Programme，WFP）可以解决9000万贫穷国家人民的饥饿问题，但这不过是杯水车薪。据WFP估计，目前全世界仍有8亿人面临饥饿问题，究其原因，人口增长、环境恶化和政府治国无方等虽然难辞其咎，但贫穷国家粮食市场存在的不足也是一个重要因素。

Take Ethiopia, notorious for its recurring famines, with 7m people still on food aid. It happens to be Africa's second biggest maize producer and a big wheat producer too. But then look at Addis Ababa's grimy grain market. Lorries arrive from Ethiopia's south and west, which have food surpluses, and leave for the north and east of the country, which is often famished. （2）Illegal traders run a lucrative extortion racket, their bully boys jumping on the lorries as they arrive, threatening the driver and earning themselves $1.50 on every $20 sack of grain. That margin and other market failings add up to 20% to the cost of every sack.
以埃塞俄比亚为例，该国以反复发生饥荒著名，至今仍有700万人依靠粮食救济生活。它恰巧也是非洲第二大玉米生产国及小麦生产大国，可首都亚的斯亚贝巴的粮食市场却又脏乱不堪。埃南部和西部地区粮食供过于求，卡车就从把那里的粮食运送到饥荒连连的北部和东部地区。不法商人趁机欺行霸市，牟取暴利。每当卡车抵达之后，他们雇佣的打手便跳上车，逼迫司机每袋20美元的粮食让价1.5美元。这么一让价再加上其他市场弊端使得每袋粮成本损失高达20%。

Even in countries where gangsters and extortion are less common, crop markets rarely work well. （3）Information, crucial to efficient trading, is scanty[1]. But, thanks in part to technology, things are improving. Mobile phones help farmers find out about price discrepancies from which they might benefit. In some cases better market information has encouraged farmers to diversify their crops.
即便是在一些欺行霸市现象并不普遍的国家，粮市运营状况也大多比较糟糕，原因就在于缺乏对于提高交易效率至关重要的信息。不过，好在科技在发展，情况也有所改善。农民们借助手机可以发现有利可图的价差，有的时候市场信息状况的好转还促使了农民进行多种作物栽培。

Now the WFP and others are launching the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECEX), which is being promoted as a prototype for other poor countries. ECEX draws inspiration from Chicago's original board of trade. “In fact, conditions in modern Ethiopia are similar to those in 1848 Chicago,” says Eleni Gabre-Madhin, who is setting up the new exchange. She hopes for the first bell to ring in time for Ethiopia's wheat harvest in December.
目前WFP及其它机构正在推动建立埃塞俄比亚商品交换（Ethiopian Commodities Exchange，ECEX）模式，并将向其他穷国推广。ECEX的灵感来自于芝加哥原来的同业公会。正在着手建立这一新型交换模式的艾伦妮•加布雷-马丁（Eleni Gabre-Madhin）说：“事实上，埃塞俄比亚当前的状况与1848年的芝加哥很相似。”她希望这一模式能在12月埃小麦丰收时能正式启动。

As well as wheat, ECEX will deal in maize, teff (a local staple), coffee, pea-beans and sesame. It will also control the warehousing[2] and inspection of goods. An electronic signature system, unknown in Ethiopia's backward banking scene, will settle transactions by the end of the day. （4）A trading pit in a swish new building will be linked to trading floors in Ethiopia's regions and from there by mobile phone to traders in villages, chalking up prices on a board.
ECEX涵盖的产品除了小麦外，还有玉米、画眉草（当地一种粮食作物）、咖啡、菜豆和芝麻。此外，它还将对粮食入库和检查实施监控，一个电子签名系统（在落后的埃塞俄比亚银行业内这可谓闻所未闻）会在每天结束时对交易情况进行最后认定。位于一幢豪华新大楼里的一个交易大厅将连接埃塞俄比亚各地的交易场所，人们可以在那里用手机与农村的交易者联系，并将价格记录在一面公告板上。

WFP is already one of the largest buyers of Ethiopian cereals and its new head, Josette Sheeran, a former American government official, thinks the new exchange will help it buy much more efficiently, perhaps even using futures. （5）Market-minded donors are starting to think that commodities exchanges like ECEX could play a big role in reducing hunger across Africa.
WFP现已是埃塞俄比亚谷类作物最大的买主之一，其新任总干事、曾在美国政府任职的约塞特•谢兰（Josette Sheeran）认为，新交换模式将大大提高WFP购买效率，WFP甚至还有可能进行期货交易。市场观念较强的捐助者也开始认识到，诸如ECEX之类的商品交换对于缓解非洲大陆饥饿问题可能会起到重要作用。（陈继龙 草译）

[QUIZ]
英译汉（请将划线部分英文翻译成中文）：

[NOTES](OXFORD)
1. scanty adj. small in size or amount; hardly large enough （大小或数量）不足的, 勉强够大的: a scanty supply of soap 肥皂供应不足 * a scanty bikini 勉强穿得下的比基尼泳装.
2. warehouse n. (a) building where goods are stored before being sent to shops 货仓. (b) building where furniture is stored for its owners （存放家具的）栈房.  v [Tn] store (sth) in a warehouse 将（某物）存入货仓或栈房: the cost of warehousing goods 仓储费.