| First to Scotland, which is now getting back to normal after the meeting of the leaders of the eight major industrial nations, or G-Eight, at Gleneagles. 在鹰谷举行的西方八国首脑会议结束以后，苏格兰已经渐渐恢复了正常。 The summit ended with a communique about the subject of climate change. The leaders also agreed a doubling of the annual aid to Africa by 2010, and debt cancellation for Africa's poorest countries. 这次峰会在气候变暖的问题上签署了一个联合公报。各国领导还同意将给予非洲的援助加倍，同时同意取消非洲最穷的几个国家的债务。 As soon as the Gleneagles venue was announced, local people started to think about what it would mean for them. Some were worried about the implications, real and imagined, of staging a gathering of world significance. Others were quick to spot opportunities, both altruistic and commercial. Our Scotland correspondent Colin Blane followed the G8 summit, from the first preparations to the final conclusions. 当公报签署以后，当地居民就在想，这对于他们来讲究竟意味着什么。有些人担心这里面是不是有什么隐含的意义，会不会使苏格兰成为世界瞩目的焦点。还有人立刻发现了很多机遇，包括商业机遇等。我们的科林·布莱恩自始至终一直在跟踪报道本次峰会。 For a small country, Scotland's hosted more than its fair share of big events: the Commonwealth Games, European football finals, huge annual New Year celebrations. But when it was decided that the leaders of the world's eight wealthiest industrialised nations should meet at Gleneagles, an hour's drive from Edinburgh, everyone here knew holding a G8 summit would touch their lives in one way or another. 苏格兰是一个小国家，他所承办的活动要多于这样一个小国家所应该承办的活动，包括：英联邦运动会，欧洲杯足球赛决赛以及大型新年庆典等等。但是当八国峰会决定在鹰谷这样一个距离爱丁堡只有一个小时的车程的城市举行时，这里的人们都意识到，这次会议将会在某个方面影响到他们的生活。 What no-one could have foreseen was how the summit would be used as a trigger for a series of lethal bomb explosions more than six hundred kilometres away in London. 但是没有人预见到，这次峰会居然会引起六百公里以外的伦敦的一系列致命性爆炸。 In the planning for Gleneagles, it was clear the spotlight would fall on Edinburgh, seat of the Scottish parliament and a key business and tourist centre. The Gleneagles golf and hotel complex and the four thousand residents of the town of Auchterarder two kilometres away would also become the focus of international attention. 在这次峰会的筹备过程中，大家都知道会议的焦点会集中在爱丁堡，苏格兰国会的席位以及一个很重要的商务旅游中心。鹰谷的高尔夫球场和复合旅馆以及两公里以外的奥特拉德小镇的四千多当地居民都将成为举世瞩目的焦点。 But many in Scotland saw the G8 meeting not as a challenge but as an opportunity. Visiting my mother in the seaside town of Largs, for example, I saw how church and community groups there hoped to use the summit to press home calls for world leaders to act decisively on African poverty and debt. All sorts of aid organisations and pressure groups were trying to make their voices heard in the pre-summit cacophony. Some wanted trade justice; some clean water; some action on HIV-AIDS. 但是很多人并没有把这次峰会看成是一个挑战，而是一个机会。比如说，我上次去一个叫拉各斯的海边城市看望我妈妈时，我看到当地的教堂和社区里的人们很希望这次峰会上，各国领导人会对非洲的贫困问题和债务问题做出一个决定。所有的援助组织和要给峰会施加压力的组织都纷纷在峰会前发出声音，想要让这些领导人们听见。有人想要交易公平；有人要洁净的水；有人要他们采取抵抗艾滋病的行动。 Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell, decided to match the summit's pro-African agenda by establishing formal links with Malawi. Scotland -- which sent missionaries and civil servants there in colonial times -- would be joining hands again to provide equipment for hospitals and resources for schools. 苏格兰的地方首席大臣杰克·麦克康纳尔与马拉维建立正式的外交关系，以此来推进本次峰会的议事日程。苏格兰曾经在殖民主义时期在马拉维派送了传教士和公务员。现在也要联手为马拉维的医院提供设备，为学校提供资源。 As the date of the G8 summit drew closer, worries grew about its likely impact. In Auchterarder, in the rolling hills of Perthshire, a special community police officer was appointed to calm residents' fears. He held more than fifty meetings with mother and toddler groups, boys clubs, and shop keepers. 随着八国首脑会议的日益临近，人们开始渐渐担心起它的影响了。在奥特拉德小镇的佩思郡的崎岖山路上，有一个特殊的社区警官负责安抚当地居民的恐慌情绪。他同母子团体，青年团体和一些店主等团体进行了五十多次会议。 When ground was cleared for more car-parking, a rumour swept Auchterarder that a runway was being built to allow President Bush to fly in on Airforce One. A local lady wondered whether the CIA would be permitted to shoot wild-life which strayed too close to the US president. There were reports that up to thirty thousand protesters might descend on the town's play park. 有一次要清理一块空地，为了腾出更多的停车空间，这时候在奥特拉德小镇就盛行这样的说法：布什总统要乘坐他的空中一号来了。有的当地妇女甚至问我，中央情报局是否被允许向接近总统的飞禽走兽射击，来保护总统。据报道，多达30,000人聚集到佩思郡的公园。 Not all the inquiries were anxious. As security teams erected eight kilometres of steel fencing around the perimeter of the conference venue, one enterprising individual asked whether he could buy some of it at a knock-down price when the summit ended. 不是所有询问的人都是带着紧张的情绪的。当一个安全小组在会场外八公里以外的地方立起一道铁栅栏的时候，有一个公司职员就上去询问，是否可以在峰会结束以后以较低的价格购买这些栅栏。 In the days leading up to the G8 meeting the potential for trouble became more and more apparent. A call by the pro-Africa campaigner Bob Geldof for a million people to head for Edinburgh caused consternation in a city of fewer than half a million residents. Anarchist websites began to talk of causing serious disturbances. Thousands of extra police were brought in from forces across Britain. 随着八国峰会的日益临近，出现问题的势头也是越来越明显。一个支持非洲的竞争者鲍勃·格尔多夫号召了一百万人来到爱丁堡，这给这个只有不到五十万人的小城带来了恐慌。 The first and biggest protest went off peacefully when a quarter of a million anti-poverty demonstrators marched through the centre of Edinburgh. Two days later, an anti-capitalist carnival in the same streets ended in violence. Masked youths confronted mounted police. The city's famous floral gardens were raided. Begonias, geraniums and clods of earth were lobbed at officers in full riot gear as tourists and shoppers dived for cover. 当25万反贫困的示威者游行穿过爱丁堡中心的时候，这场首次的也是最大的抗议游行就这样波澜不惊地结束了。两天以后，一个反资本主义的狂欢在同一个街道上进行，最终以暴力的方式结束。那些潜藏的青年要面对越来越多的警察。这个城市最大的一个花园被袭击了。当游人和购物的人们想要拍摄他们喜欢的东西的时候，他们看到的是混乱中人们把秋海棠，天竺葵以及土块制成小球往警察身上投掷。 For the next few days, there were periodic disturbances in Edinburgh city centre. And close to Gleneagles the disruption was worse. A band of anarchists attacked vehicles and broke windows in Stirling; others ripped down branches to form road-blocks and a breakaway demonstration charged the security fence. Over the G8 week police made hundreds of arrests. 后来的几天里，在爱丁堡的中心仍然断断续续地有骚乱发生。在鹰谷附近，骚乱的情况则更加严重。一伙无政府主义者攻击斯特灵汽车和窗户；还有其他人折断树枝来制造路障，一个无组织的游行队伍负责搞栅栏。在八国首脑会议举行的那个星期里，警方一共逮捕了上百个人。 And then, of course, came news of the atrocities in London, and the mood at the summit was utterly transformed.The British Prime Minister Tony Blair said those who hoped to change Britain's culture and way of life through violence would not succeed. 当然了，然后就传来了伦敦暴乱的消息，而会场上的气氛也完全改变了。英国首相托尼·布莱尔说，那些想要改变英国的文化和生活方式的人是不会成功的。 But some now believe there ought to be a review of the G8 format. One of Scotland's leading newspapers looked back over the expense and the protests and the isolation of those at the Gleneagles meeting and asked if the work of the G8 might not be better carried out in the global forum of the United Nations. 但是现在有些人觉得应该反思一下八国首脑会议的形式了。苏格兰的一家很知名的报纸回顾了八国首脑会议的费用，回顾了那些抗议者以及在八国峰会上搁置的议题。他们开始疑问：如果这个会议在美国的全球论坛举行的话，那么情况会不会好一些呢。 It's a view which reflects growing unease about the mismatch between the summit's opulent, high security surroundings and its declared aim of tackling deprivation and poverty. 这个观点反应了人们越来越多的不安：因为这次峰会的消除剥削和贫困的主题与严密的，高度安全的环境形成了强烈的反差。 |
