看不见的水手
英文部分选自经济学人20200620期Leaders版块
Global trade
全球贸易
Invisible hands
看不见的水手
It is not COVID-19 that has trapped merchant seamen on their ships. It is official indifference
将商船水手困在船上的并非新冠疫情，而是政府的漠视
As you read this, over 60,000 cargo ships are on the high seas, laden with iPhones from China, dresses from Bangladesh, beef from Argentina, oil from the Gulf and much, much more. The industry likes to say that it is responsible for “90% of everything”. Indeed, its ships are the circulatory system of global commerce and their 1.2m merchant seamen its lifeblood. They enable nations to turn their comparative advantage into wealth. If they were to stop, much of humanity would soon begin to starve or freeze.
当你读到这篇文章时，超过6万艘货船正在公海上前行，满载着来自中国的苹果手机、孟加拉国的裙子、阿根廷的牛肉、波斯海湾的石油等等。这个行业惯称自己承载了“ 万物的90%”。的确，它的船只充当了全球贸易的循环系统，船上的120万名水手则是全球贸易的命脉。他们能够促使国家将其比较优势转换为财富。如果他们停止了前行，那么很多人很快将面临挨饿或受冻的窘境。
注：
the high seas ： the areas of ocean around the world that do not belong to any particular country
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic merchant seamen have kept working . But they have been stuck on board. In a normal week around 50,000 finish their contracts and are relieved. The virus has cut that number to almost nothing. Over 250,000 mariners are stranded at sea, even though they are at least a month past the end of contracts that typically last three to nine months. Each day that total rises, and an essential job starts to look more like indentured labour.
在这次新冠大流行期间，商船水手们一直在工作，但他们却一直被困在船上。疫情爆发前，一周大约有5万名 水手合同期满，下船回家。这次病毒却拦住了几乎所有人的去路。超过25万名水手 被困在海上，即使他们的合同（通常为3至9个月）已经至少到期一个月。每天滞留的总人数都在增加，一份 重要工作开始看起来更像是契约劳动。
注：Indentured labour：契约劳动，通常工人的行动自由被严格限制, 而且往往得不到 劳动报酬，比较普遍的情况是 雇主往往禁止契约劳动工人自由离开，或者契约劳动工人不能自由选择结束雇佣关系。
Most merchant seamen are from developing countries, in particular India, Indonesia and the Philippines. They start and end their contracts in whatever port a shipping schedule stipulates. The ship-management firms that organise rosters and contracts for shipowners fly them out and back again. But most commercial flights have been grounded for months. Managers would have used charter planes, but many countries are refusing entry to non-citizens. Some are turning citizens away, too. Sailors are forbidden to disembark, and their reliefs are barred from entry.
大部分商船水手来自发展中国家，特别是印度、印度尼西亚和菲律宾。他们在船期表所规定的任何一个港口开始和终止合同。通常，为船主筹备人员名单和合同的船舶管理公司会安排水手乘坐飞机出入境。但大多数商业航班已停飞数月。公司管理者们本可以使用包机，但许多国家正拒绝非公民入境。一些国家将公民也拒之门外。水手们禁止上岸，他们的换班人员也禁止入境。
The situation is unjust to sailors both on board and onshore. The first lot do not know when they will see their families again; the second do not know when they will next be able to earn a wage. It is also dangerous. Fatigue makes it hard to concentrate, and cargo ships are high-pressure, high-risk places. Forcing sailors to work endlessly is a recipe for accidents.
这种情况对船上和岸上的水手来说都是不公平的。船上的不知道什么时候才能再次见到家人；岸上的不知道自己下次什么时候才能再挣到工资。这还很危险。疲劳使人难以集中精力，而货船又是高压力和高风险的地方。强迫水手无休止地工作是事故发生的原因之一。
In the pandemic’s early days, governments could perhaps have been forgiven for their neglect. There was much else to worry about. But their confinement has dragged on and sailors now have every right to feel bitter. After being locked down for months, seeing nobody but the odd pilot or port official, they are some of the world’s least likely virus-spreaders. They know that they are being ignored simply because they can be. Lorry-drivers, whose goods cannot cross borders without them, were quickly classed as essential workers. Sailors, unfortunately for them, can stay on board while their cargoes are loaded and unloaded.
在疫情大爆发的早期，由于还要操心许多别的事，政府的忽视或许是可以被原谅的。但水手们的限制措施已经迟延了很久，现在他们完全有权利感到苦闷。在被封锁了几个月之后，除了几个零星的领航员和港口官员，他们没有见过任何人，是世界上最不可能传播病毒的人之一。他们知道他们被忽视只是因为他们可以被忽视。由于货车上的货物不能在没有货车司机的情况下通过边境，他们很快被归为重点从业人员。不幸的是，货物装卸时，水手却可以留在船上，不必跟着货物移动。
On June 16th an industry-wide agreement allowing emergency extensions to labour contracts expired. Unless crew-changes restart, insurance contracts could lapse—a headache for the entire industry.
6月16日，允许紧急延期劳动合同的全行业协议到期。除非重新开始换班，否则保险合同可能失效—— 这对整个行业来说是个头疼的问题。
But it is governments, not shipowners and managers, who must solve the problem. Last month the International Maritime Organisation, an arm of the UN, published a protocol for safe crew-changes in the pandemic. Almost no country has yet got round to implementing it. The most important step is to classify merchant seamen as essential workers, thus enabling them to cross borders and travel to and from ports during lockdowns. Ports and airports need holding facilities and accommodation for testing and quarantine for sailors. In ordinary times, all this might seem onerous. But the COVID-19 world is one where hairdressers sterilise their scissors between cuts and offices allocate desks on a rota to maintain social distancing. Shipping needs to adapt to these new realities, too.
但是这个问题必须由政府而不是船东和公司管理者来解决。上个月，联合国下属机构国际海事组织（IMO)发布了一项关于疫情间的人员换班安全的协议。目前几乎没有国家抽出时间来实施它。最重要的一步是将商船水手划分为重点从业人员，从而让他们能够在封锁期间跨境进出港口。港口和机场需要为水手们提供相关设备和住宿，以便进行新冠检测和隔离。在平时，这一切似乎都很麻烦。但在新冠肺炎肆虐的世界里，理发师在理发后对剪刀进行消毒，办公室轮流分配办公桌以保持社交距离。同样，航运也需要适应这些新的现实情况。
注：
get around to sth/doing sth：
to do something that you have been intending to do for some time
Global trade’s invisible hands must not be forgotten. When their work is done, they deserve to go home.
不能忘记全球贸易背后的水手们。工作完成后，他们就该回家了。
翻译组：
Stephanie，女，翻译系小狮子一只
Melody，女，咨询搬砖逐渐熟练工，经济学人粉丝儿
Mai，男，经济学博士，世界那么大，我想活得久一点
校对组：
Neil, 男，外贸民工，经济学人铁
Rex，男，口译硕士，集书狂魔，经学钢粉
Carole，女，经济硕士，在成为经济学人铁粉的路上
1
观点|评论|思考
本次感想
Vincent 男，狱警，电子与法学双硕，爱好诗歌与哲学
题目很吸引人，看到之后发现是讲可怜的水手的。疲惫寂静，此世间相。一说是，再丢人的权利，也比最高尚的道德绑架神圣光荣；另说是，人类本就是善变的动物，会困于自我边缘的情绪和承受种种负面思维之祸，也时时刻刻冒着以性格决定对处境之判断并一错再错的风险。媒介成文以形成鲜明的观点为目的，然后不自觉上升到审判高度，由此带来的负面影响大于带来正面作用的可能，只是说可能。凭人多可以催生出一种切实的理性从而改变事态的发展吗？当然不会，发生再多次也不可信。可是，道德意识和群体普遍倾向的压力在那，实实在在力量推涨，权利异化也因此而生。
政府低效无能，政客漠视之类，怎么喊都遥遥有所回应。一说是几流的国民就配有几流的社会，几流的国家（龙应台语）。困境之为困境，都可反问一句何以会如此？以为希望不成虚妄，以为意志与命运不同，以为黎明就是天亮，以为月月月晴；光明这样沉重是我总觉得艰难，不如不再不由，我也曾想象，尘土有脸而荷花盛放，枯叶有灵从不知有逝亡，天天天蓝；另说是“ 生命差点不能称其为生命，我们差点做不成我们自己。”（卡尔维诺语）生命所得，不外种种偶然。即使再坚固，再珍爱与真实的，也如日影映照在世间。你现下所坚实拥有、生根般都赶不走的或是国家政府明文保护的一切，其实眨眼便能消逝无踪。
再折返，要正能量。固然某天精进至学会节制勤劳的本领，但人心当真不宜懒惰。为了避免一切而寂静不动，并非利乐有情，而是既软又硬的心的虚妄。相信教育的力量，相信温和进步的种种可能，还有，给予智勇同等的重要性与可能性。