WENCESLAO ESCALANTE, Argentina – When the government decided in March to raise taxes on farmers’ profits, it set off a rural revolt in Argentina.
今年3月，阿根廷政府決定提高農民利得稅，引爆鄉村農民的激烈抗爭。

For three weeks enraged farmers blocked roads nationwide, paralyzing grain and meat sales and causing food shortages.
憤怒的農民接連三周在全國各地設路障，癱瘓穀糧、肉品銷售系統，引爆糧食危機。

Since then, the government has been trying to quell Argentina’s restive farmers at the negotiating table. But farmers like Marcelo and Pablo Marchetti, brothers in this country’s lush grain belt west of the capital, say the talks are going nowhere and are yet more proof that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in office just four months, does not understand them.
從那時候起，阿根廷政府便不斷努力，試圖在談判桌上收服桀驁不馴的農民。不過家住首都布宜諾斯艾利斯西部青翠糧倉的馬塞洛和巴布洛‧馬切提兄弟說，那些會談不會有結果，而且進一步證實上任才四個月的總統克莉絲汀娜‧基希納根本不了解農民。

Farmers were preparing to resume crippling strikes of grain exports if a deal was not reached, but some farmers have already spontaneously put up roadblocks in recent days.
農民揚言，如果不能達成協議，要恢復罷工，讓穀物出口癱瘓，但部分農民近日已主動在各處設置路障。

“They don’t want to listen to us,” said Pablo Marchetti, 40, whose Italian great-grandfather founded this town of 1,500 a century ago.
40歲的巴布洛說：「他們根本不想聽我們的意見。」巴布洛住的這個小鎮，是他義大利籍的曾祖父一個世紀前建立的，居民只有1,500人。

The farmers say Mrs. Kirchner’s policies are threatening to reverse one of the great agricultural booms in the history of Argentina and to snuff out a technological and entrepreneurial revolution that has made the country one of the leading food source in a world racked by hunger and rising food prices.
農民說，阿根廷農業正處於有史以來收穫最好的時期之一，但克莉絲汀娜總統的政策卻可能讓這個榮景逆轉，讓阿根廷的科技與企業革命破滅。值此全球正為飢餓與日益高漲的糧價所苦之際，阿根廷拜科技與企業革命之賜，已成為全球最大糧倉之一。

“We have an enormous historic opportunity to grow as a country, but the government wants to punish a sector that should continue to be an engine of growth,” said Marcelo Marchetti, 39.
39歲的馬塞洛說：「我們正逢成為糧食大國的歷史良機，政府卻要懲罰這個應該繼續扮演經濟成長火車頭的產業。」

Mrs. Kirchner’s politics have stirred memories of Gen. Juan Domingo Perón, who in the early 1950s used profits from agricultural exports to industrialize the country and lift the poor. Trying to check inflation that independent economists put at close to 20 percent, Mrs. Kirchner, too, turned to farm profits and export controls, looking to increase subsidies for the poor and food supplies at home.
克莉絲汀娜的政策，勾起大家對裴隆將軍的回憶。他在1950年代初期，利用農業出口的獲利推動全國工業化，改善窮人生活。立場超然的經濟專家估計，阿國通膨率約為20%，克莉絲汀娜為了遏阻通膨，也把腦筋動到農產利潤和出口管制上面，打算增加對窮人的補貼及國內糧食供給。

Farmer discontent had been growing since at least 2006, when Néstor Kirchner, her husband and predecessor as president, limited beef exports to ensure a cheap supply at home. Once a dominant meat supplier, Argentina has watched as Brazil has passed it by, building the world’s largest beef export industry. Last year, even their tiny neighbor Uruguay exported more beef per capita than Argentina.
2006年，前任總統基希納，也就是克莉絲汀娜的丈夫，為了確保國內牛肉能平價供應，下令限制牛肉出口。農民的不滿，至少從那個時候便開始累積。阿根廷一度是主要牛肉供應國，卻眼睜睜坐視巴西迎頭趕上並超越，成為全球最大牛肉出口國。去年，連毗鄰小國烏拉圭，人均牛肉出口量都比阿根廷高。

Rural angst reached a boiling point in early March when the government increased export tariffs for the second time since October. The policies have also had the effect of setting ceilings on prices.
今年三月初，政府再度提高出口關稅，希望藉此收限制物價之效，這是自去年10月以來的第二次，鄉村的不滿終於沸騰。

Mrs. Kirchner has depicted Argentine farmers as greedy oligarchs.
克莉絲汀娜把農民稱為貪婪的寡頭壟斷者。

Just days after the latest export measures took hold, the farmers mobilized. Using Web sites, cellphones and satellite dishes, they formed a communications network linking farms of all sizes in a joint stand against the government.
最新出口措施生效數日後，農民開始動員。他們運用網站、手機和衛星碟形天線，組成一個連結大小農場的訊息網，一致挺身反對政府。

Agriculture has a storied place in Argentine history.
農業在阿根廷的歷史上，有許多值得稱頌的故事。

A surge in meat and grain exports in the 1880s helped the country’s leaders build the European-style city of Buenos Aires and briefly catapulted Argentina among the 10 richest countries in the world.
1880年代，肉品和穀物出口大增，讓阿根廷的國家領導人得以建立充滿歐洲風味的布宜諾斯艾利斯市，讓阿根廷一度躋身全球十大富國之林。

Today, with prices for soybeans, corn and wheat at or near record highs, “this was Argentina’s time to feed the world,” said Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company, an agricultural consultancy in Chicago.
今天，黃豆、玉米和小麥價格不是居於、就是接近新高，「這正是阿根廷餵養全世界的良機，」芝加哥AgResource農產顧問公司總裁丹‧巴斯說道。

In Wenceslao Escalante, the Marchetti brothers, who both studied accounting in college, said the government’s policies were killing their incentives to produce more. The brothers have decided not to make any investments over the next year.
家住溫西斯勞‧艾斯卡蘭提鎮的馬切提兄弟說，政府決策抹殺了他們增產的誘因。這對目前還在修習會計的兄弟決定，一年之內不做任何投資。

“Everything is on hold,” Mr. Marchetti said.
馬塞洛說：「一切都得擱下來。」

原文參照
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/world/americas/27argentina.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/27/america/argentina.php

2008-05-08/聯合報/C3版/教育 蔡繼光 原文請見5月6日紐時周報三版右上