ZARAGOZA, Spain – Few places in Europe have prospered in recent years like this bustling crossroads city of 700,000, halfway between Barcelona and Madrid.
西班牙薩拉戈薩市位於巴塞隆納和馬德里之間，與兩城等距，人口70萬，是熱鬧的交通要衝，近年繁榮之快，歐洲其他地方少見。

Factory employees here pulled overtime shifts. Companies hired temporary workers to satisfy growing consumer demand. A half dozen new bridges were built across the Ebro river, and office buildings were filled as fast as they could be erected.
工廠工人必須加班，各公司增聘臨時員工以滿足客戶日增的需求。厄波羅河上增建6座新橋，辦公大樓則是一蓋好就沒有空屋。

The capital of Spain’s fastest-growing region, inland Zaragoza kept booming even as the overbuilt Mediterranean coast came to symbolize how real estate excess was not just an American ailment.
薩拉戈薩省是西班牙成長最快的省分，地處內陸的薩拉戈薩市則是省會。儘管地中海沿岸濫建，顯示房地產供過於求不僅是美國一地之弊，薩拉戈薩還是日益繁榮。

But just as the cold autumn wind is blowing down from the Pyrenees, Zaragoza and the surrounding region of Aragón have suddenly been hit by a sharp economic downturn. And the troubles here make clear that what had been seen as a crisis confined largely to finance and real estate is quickly spreading to more fundamental sectors of the European economy.
但就在寒冷的秋風自庇里牛斯山南吹之際，薩拉戈薩市和四圍的亞拉岡自治區卻突遭經濟景氣重挫打擊。這裡的困境明白顯示，原本大家以為大半僅限於金融業與房地產業的危機，正快速蔓延至歐洲經濟更基層的一些部門。

For the generation of young Spaniards who have known only good economic times the chill is shocking.
對一向生活在經濟榮景中的年輕一代西班牙人，這股寒風令人震驚。

“Maybe older people are not surprised, but this is totally new for me,” said Francisco Braulio, 31, who works for Valeo Termico, a parts makers that supplies the General Motors plant here, the automaker’s largest factory in Europe.
31歲的法蘭西斯科．布勞里歐在薩拉戈薩市瓦雷歐德米哥汽車零件廠工作，該廠為通用汽車廠供貨，這家車廠也是通用在歐州最大的工廠。他說：「年長的人或許見怪不怪，對我們，這可是從來沒碰過的。」

He and his wife, recently married, have put off talk of having children for now and to save money they are eating meals and watching movies at home rather than going out.
他和新婚妻子決定暫時不生小孩，為了節省開支，兩口子盡量在家裡作飯、看影片，避免外出。

Zaragoza’s fate reflects the pattern now unfolding across Spain and the rest of Europe. The European Commission reports that the 15-nation euro zone appeared to have entered a recession in the third quarter.
薩拉戈薩的命運，反映目前正在全西班牙和歐洲其他地方開展的一種模式。歐洲委員會說，15國組成的歐元區今年第三季經濟似已進入衰退。

In Madrid, the government has announced an economic stimulus program after it was reported that Spain’s gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent in summer, the nation’s first quarterly economic contraction in 15 years.
報告指出，西班牙國內生產毛額今夏負成長0.2%，是15年來經濟首季出現萎縮。西班牙政府在報告出來後，宣布經濟振興方案。

“It’s come very suddenly,” said José Mendizábal, chief executive of Pikolin, Spain’s biggest mattress maker and one of the largest private employers in this area. “People are frightened of spending money.”
西班牙最大褥墊廠商皮克林公司，也是這個地區最大的私人雇主之一，公司執行長荷西．孟迪薩巴說：「事出突然，人們嚇得不敢花錢。」

Pikolin has already eliminated temporary positions, bringing its work force down to 1,200 from 1,400. The slowdown has only intensified in recent weeks, with sales now off 15 percent from a year earlier, and more job cuts are likely if sales do not improve.
皮克林已經裁減一些臨時工，把人力從1,400人減到1,200人。生意近幾周來越來越差，比一年前少了15%。如果銷售不見起色，只怕還得再裁員。

The pain did not hit home in Zaragoza until General Motors announced just a few weeks ago that it planned to lay off 600 of its 7,000 workers for up to a year and that it would suspend production for at least two weeks.
真正重創薩拉戈薩的，是幾周前通用汽車宣布打算資遣7,000名員工中的600人，為期最長可達一年，而且工廠準備至少停產兩周。

General Motors first came to Zaragoza 26 years ago, drawn by its historic location as a crossroads between Spanish cities, as well as Toulouse in France. The automaker’s arrival was the beginning of something of an economic miracle for this region, which had traditional depended on agriculture, and it spurred the opening of other manufacturing plants.
通用汽車26年前到薩拉戈薩創廠，看中它位居西班牙各城市、甚至包括法國土魯斯之間的歷史性樞紐地位。通用來設廠，為這個原本以務農為主的地區打開所謂經濟奇蹟，帶動其他製造業廠的設立。

The area received another economic boost four years ago when Zaragoza was chosen to host the 2008 International Exposition. With roughly 1 billion euros provided by the Spanish government and other sources to build sprawling pavilions, new parks and a glistening new bridge designed by Zaha Hadid, the future looked bright.
薩拉戈薩市4年前獲選為2008年萬國博覽會主辦城市，給這個地區的經濟注入另一劑強心針。西班牙政府和其他方面共提供約10億歐元資金，以興建綿延的展示館、新公園，及由薩哈．哈帝設計的一座閃亮耀眼的新橋，當時看來前景大好。（譯按：薩哈．哈帝是英國知名女建築師，2004年普立茲建築獎得主，也是第一位女性得主，出生於伊拉克的巴格達，現居英國。）

“People in their 20s and early 30s have never known anything but prosperity,” said Amado Franco, president of Aragón’s biggest savings bank, Ibercaja.
亞拉岡最大儲蓄銀行Ibercaja總裁阿馬多．佛蘭哥說：「20來歲和30出頭的人，只見識過歌舞昇平的日子。」

At 62, Mr. Franco has watched Zaragoza, along with the rest of Spain, transformed by prosperity. “People have changed,” he said. “In my generation, we said, ‘One city, one wife, one company.’ My children’s generation is quite different.”
62歲的佛蘭哥眼看著薩拉戈薩和西班牙其他地區一起因繁榮而改變。他說：「人們變了，我們這一代說，一個城市，一個太太，一家公司，我孩子那一代可就大不相同了。」

Aragón was “a very hard land, with very hard people,” he said. But in recent years, he said people even “borrowed to go on holiday. That’s American.”
他說，亞拉岡曾是「十足的硬土，住著十足的硬漢」，但近年來，人們甚至「借錢度假，一派美國作風」。

Alberto Larraz, Aragón’s economic minister, said he expected the local jobless rate to rise from its current 6.2 percent to near 8 percent by the end of the year, with no improvement in 2009.
亞拉岡自治區經濟部長艾伯托．拉拉茲說，他預估年底當地失業率會從目前的6.2%攀升到接近8%，而且明年也不會有起色。

Roque Gistau, the president of the 2008 Expo, now finds himself trying to fill the 170,000 square meters of office space constructed for the exhibition. “In the last three months, sales have come to a complete standstill,” he said.
2008年萬博會主席羅奎．吉思陶配合博覽會興建的辦公大樓，占地達17萬平方公尺，目前卻苦於找不到買主，他說：「過去這三個月，銷售幾乎完全停擺。」

While younger workers like Mr. Braulio say they are pessimistic about the future, older Spaniards like Mr. Gistau say they remain hopeful. Citing an old Spanish proverb, Mr. Gistau said, “There is no evil that lasts for 100 years.”
儘管布勞里歐這種年輕工作族對前途感到悲觀，吉斯陶這種較年長的西班牙人仍對未來抱著希望。吉思陶援引一句西班牙古諺說：「禍害不過百年。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/business/worldbusiness/04euecon.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/03/business/04euecon.php 

Video: EU economic outlook looks grim http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid959009704/bclid1026280058/bctid2478944001 

2008-11-18/聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 樂慧生 原文請見11月18日紐時周報七版上