Waterworlds
未来水世界
Tuvalu plans for its own disappearance
图瓦卢为本国消失做准备
Is a country still a country if it sinks?
一个沉没的国家还是国家吗？
FOR OVER three decades the Pacific island country of Tuvalu has implored industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions. For over three decades global temperatures have ticked up. Tuvalu’s government warns that its territory could slip underwater by the end of the century. “It’s a matter of disappearing from the surface of this Earth,” Kausea Natano, the prime minister, said in September. So Tuvalu is now asking a different question: how can it continue existing if that happens?
三十多年来，太平洋岛国图瓦卢（Tuvalu）一直恳请工业化国家减少温室气体排放。三十多年来，全球气温一直在上升。图瓦卢政府警告称，到本世纪末，该国国土可能会被水淹没。“这是一个从地球表面消失的问题。”该国总理纳塔诺9月表示。所以现在图瓦卢提出了另一个问题：如果这种情况发生，该国如何继续存在？
- implore 恳求、哀求、乞求（参见：小词详解 | implore）
- tick 发出滴答声；滴答地走时
- slip 陷入，进入（困难或不愉快的处境）
Mr Natano’s government has amended the constitution to assert that the country will exist “in perpetuity” even if its landmass does not. The new wording, which came into effect on October 1st, will not on its own change very much. Under international law, a country must have a physical territory and permanent population. But no one has considered what happens if climate change strips a state of those qualities, says Bal Kama, a lawyer who advised the government on its constitutional changes. Tuvalu hopes that if other vulnerable countries follow its lead, international law could change.
纳塔诺政府已经修改了宪法，坚称该国将“永久”存在，即使国土不复存在。修改后的宪法于10月1日生效，新的措辞本身并不会带来太多改变。根据国际法，一个国家必须有实体领土和永久居民。但没有人考虑过气候变化导致一国丧失这些特质后的场景，律师巴尔·卡马（Bal Kama）说。卡马为图瓦卢修宪提供了建议。图瓦卢希望其他受气候变化威胁的国家能效仿它的做法，这样国际法就有可能改变。
- strip 剥夺；褫夺
- vulnerable 表示“脆弱的、易受伤的、易受……伤害的”（参见：小词详解 | vulnerable）
- 拓展学习：熟词僻义 | lead 是一种什么金属？
The government talks about turning Tuvalu into a “digital nation” that could provide services and preserve cultural traditions online even were its people dispersed to other countries. It speculates about creating a 3D version of its islands that web users could ramble around. All these plans raise more questions than answers.
图瓦卢政府谈到把该国变为一个“数字国家”，这样即使国民分散到其他国家，也能在线上为其提供服务、保留文化传统。它考虑为其岛屿生成一个3D场景，网络用户可以在其中漫步。所有这些计划带来了更多问题而非答案。
- disperse 表示示威者、暴民、人群、船只、飞机等“散去”以及烟、雾、云等“消散、消失”（参见：小词详解 | disperse）
- ramble 表示“漫游、漫步、闲逛”（参见：一词多义 | ramble）
The government is especially keen to make explicit that it would expect to retain its claim on the waters surrounding present-day Tuvalu. Combine the “exclusive economic zones” (EEZs) that stretch 200 nautical miles (370km) from their coasts, and Pacific island countries have rights to fish and mine an area of ocean bigger than Africa (see map). Leaders fear that they will lose those rights—and a tuna industry worth billions—if any or all of the islands that make up their territories disappear.
图瓦卢政府特别想要明确的是，它预期保留对如今图瓦卢周边海域的权利。算上距其海岸线200海里（370公里）以内的“专属经济区”，太平洋岛国有权捕鱼和采矿的海域比非洲还大（见地图）。领导人担心如果领土中的某些或全部岛屿消失，他们会失去这些权利，还有价值数十亿美元的金枪鱼业。
- explicit 清楚明白的；易于理解的
- 拓展学习：熟词僻义 | 经济学人的 Leaders 栏目是讲各国领导人的吗？
So Tuvalu’s constitutional change states that its maritime boundaries would endure with its statehood. The government wants neighbours to accept that its EEZ will exist forever. Other Pacific governments have also mapped their maritime zones and passed laws asserting that rising sea levels will not affect their EEZs. It is not yet certain that Tuvalu will go under. But its government is readying the rafts.
所以图瓦卢的修宪申明它的海洋边界会与它的国家地位一起继续存在。图瓦卢政府想要邻国接受它的专属经济区会永远存在。其他太平洋岛国也绘制了它们的海洋区域，并立法声明海平面上升不会影响它们的专属经济区。图瓦卢会不会被淹没尚不确定，但该国政府正在准备救生筏。
- raft 木排、筏；橡皮艇、充气船
