REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Just months after an epic banking collapse forced Iceland into the arms of the International Monetary Fund, this island nation is locked in a fierce debate over how to pay off its creditors without ceding too much of its vaunted independence.
劃時代的金融體系崩潰，迫使冰島投入國際貨幣基金會的懷抱數月後，這個島國正為了該如何償債，卻又不能讓冰島人自豪的獨立性讓步太多，展開激辯。

The balance Iceland strikes between bowing to the policy demands of the global financial community and satisfying the desires of its increasingly resentful population of 300,000 will be closely watched as I.M.F. programs in beaten-down economies from Latvia and Ukraine to Hungary and Romania enter a crucial phase.
為協助從拉脫維亞、烏克蘭、匈牙利到羅馬尼亞等經濟被打得慘兮兮的國家，國際貨幣基金會所推行的紓困計畫，已進入關鍵期。冰島如何決定，肯定受到嚴格的檢視，它的為難，在於如何向基金會的紓困條件低頭，同時又能讓已對當局愈來愈不滿的30萬冰島民眾的願望獲得滿足。

“When you impose austerity, it becomes very painful and comes at a cost,” said Simon Johnson, a former I.M.F. economist who now teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But many Icelanders are blaming the I.M.F. and in this case, he says, that is not warranted.
「當你受到強制緊縮約束時，當然會覺得非常痛苦，那就是代價。」在麻省理工學院執教的前國際貨幣基金會經濟學家西蒙‧約翰森說道。但是，許多冰島人卻怪罪國際貨幣基金會；就這個案例而言，他說，這是說不通的。

“Iceland is a rich country that behaved recklessly and helped destabilize the world financial system,” Mr. Johnson said. “They will have to take their medicine.”
「冰島是個莽撞的富國，世界金融體系的傾圮，它是幫凶。」約翰森說。「再苦，他們也得吞下去。」

While those in Iceland’s left-leaning government will not put it so bluntly, that is broadly the case they are making.
冰島左傾政府的官員，話雖沒說得這麼白，但決策大抵仍朝著這方向走。

The first country to throw its government out of office as a result of the global financial crisis, Icelanders could see the government that replaced it topple too, leaving the country rudderless – unless it wins approval in the near future for a deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands the $5.7 billion loan it used to compensate foreign depositors for losses in Icelandic banks.
全球金融危機爆發後，冰島是第一個讓要政府下台的國家。如今，取而代之的新政府也有可能垮台，使冰島成為一個沒有舵手的國家--除非新政府能在近期內爭取到清償英荷兩國57億美元貸款的協議。這筆錢當初被用來賠償把錢存在冰島銀行的外國客戶損失。

“This is an attack on our sovereignty,” said Ogmundur Jonasson, the country’s health minister. “It reminds me of old colonial times. Gordon Brown had no harsh words for the United States when Lehman Brothers went down and billions of pounds went to the U.S. That was friendship – this is ‘Take the little guy and nail him to the wall.’ ”
「這是對我國主權的一種侵犯，」冰島衛生部長歐格曼鐸‧岳納松抨擊道。「它讓我憶起殖民時期的舊光景。」在雷曼兄弟投資銀行倒閉時，英國首相布朗不但未對美國發過惡聲，還把數十億英鎊源源送往美國，那是友誼的表現-而現在，則是『柿子挑軟的吃』。」

To not pass the bill, the government says (most of it anyway), would lead to the I.M.F. and other outside lenders withdrawing funds, further jeopardizing the country’s fragile condition.
冰島政府（反正，是大多數的官員）說，法案若不通過，將導致國際貨幣基金會和其他債權國抽回銀根，讓冰島已風雨飄搖的景況更加淒慘。

But detractors say passing it would increase Iceland’s debt burden to 200 percent of gross domestic product, making it one of the most leveraged nations in the world. Ultimately, they say, it could drive Iceland to default.
但是，批評者說，如通過法案，冰島國債勢必滾為國內生產毛額的兩倍，成為全球槓桿貸款最高的國家。他們說，到頭來，冰島勢必無法履行償債義務。

At the crux of this debate is the Icesave, or “Iceslave,” as it is called here. Icesave accounts were a top-of-the-market gambit by Landsbanki, the most aggressive of the failed Icelandic banks, to raise cash by extending its branch network from tiny Reykjavik to the high streets of London. The reaction to the agreement to make good on the accounts encapsulates all the swelling anger that Icelanders now bear toward bankers, foreign creditors and I.M.F. technocrats.
辯論的核心，在於「冰島網路儲蓄銀行」（Icesave），當地謔稱為「冰島奴隸銀行」（Iceslave）。冰島網路儲蓄銀行是已宣布倒閉的冰島國家銀行Landsbanki旗下企圖心最強的子公司，為了集措現金，把服務據點網絡從袖珍城市雷克雅未克，擴展到倫敦熱鬧的大街，它當時推出的儲蓄帳戶，是市場首選。冰島人對這些儲蓄帳戶履約保證協議的反應，其實蘊藏著冰島人現在對銀行家、外國債主及國際貨幣基金會技術官僚，愈來愈強烈的憤怒。

Lilja Mosesdottir is an economist and a back-bench member of Parliament in the governing Left Green party. But if she were to vote now, she says, she would vote against the government bill. Ms. Mosesdottir, new to politics, swept into power this winter when the conservative party was overturned by the “pots and pans revolution.”
經濟學家莉里亞‧莫西斯多提爾，目前是執政的左派綠黨後座國會議員。她說，如果現在要表決，她會對政府的法案投反對票。莫西斯多提爾女士是政壇新秀，今冬保守黨政府被「鍋碗瓢盆革命」推翻後，乘勢崛起。

“It is like after a war and you are the loser,” she said, taking a quick coffee break from back-room negotiations over the deal. “This is an agreement that will lead to a sovereign default, and we don’t want that to happen.”
「好像打了一場仗，而你是輸家。」她趁法案秘密協商的空檔出來喝杯咖啡時說。「這是一個足以喪權辱國的協議，我們不希望讓它發生。」

The war analogy is apt. Iceland has lost billions, and others are now dictating the terms of its recovery.
用打仗來比喻，並不為過。冰島已損失數十億美元，現在想復甦，還得聽別人來開條件。

As the rhetoric escalates, Iceland’s finance minister, Steingrimur J. Sigfusson, a lifelong leftist, finds himself in the awkward position of defending the Icesave plan as well as the severe economic restrictions that the country has been forced to endure to qualify for more money from the I.M.F. and other Nordic lenders. Such measures include sharp cuts in health spending and higher gas prices. Higher interest rates have pushed unemployment to about 8 percent, from 1 percent, in little more than a year.
隨著言辭交鋒的升高，一輩子都為左派打拼的冰島財政部長史坦格利瑪‧西格佛松發現自己的處境相當尷尬，他除了要為冰島網路儲蓄銀行辯護外，還得說明為要符合國際貨幣基金會和斯堪地那維亞半島債權國增貸條件，冰島必須承受嚴苛的經濟限制措施。這些措施包括，大幅削減衛健支出及提高天然氣價格。冰島調高利率，已導致失業率在才一年多一點的時間內從1%驟升至8%。

Mr. Sigfusson argues that the deal to repay creditors was the best that could have been achieved.
西格佛松堅稱，這個協商中的償債協議，是所能達成的最佳方案。

“This is the greatest tragedy of all, but it has to be done,” he said. As to the belief that it is the I.M.F. and not the government that is dictating policy, Mr. Sigfusson acknowledges that he is in contact with the I.M.F.’s representative here.
「這誠然是個最慘痛的悲劇，但還是必須把它做好。」他說。至於，大家都認為，那根本就是國際貨幣基金會，而不是冰島政府所主導的政策，西格佛松坦承，他的確有和國際貨幣基金會駐冰島代表接觸。

Such niceties are little comfort for many Icelanders whose personal debts have skyrocketed in the wake of the precipitous fall in Iceland’s currency, the krona.
對多數冰島人而言，如此的委曲求全，依舊難消心頭之怨。冰島國幣克朗幣值崩跌後，個人的債務直沖天際。

Gunnar Sigurdsson, a theater director, says his car loan has doubled since the crisis began; his mortgage payments have jumped over 35 percent.
戲院老闆甘納爾‧西格德松說，金融危機開始後，他的汽車貸款暴增為兩倍；他的抵押貸款還款金額也增加35%。

Personal bankruptcy is inevitable, he says, and he is now trying to make a documentary – training his camera on Iceland’s top politicians, bankers and, if he is lucky, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the I.M.F. “I have had enough of this stupidity,” he said. “I just want answers.”
他說，個人宣告破產已免不了。他現在正試圖拍一部紀錄片，把鏡頭瞄準冰島政壇高層，銀行家，以及，如果運氣好的話，國際貨幣基金會理事長史特勞斯-卡恩。「我已受夠了這椿蠢事，」他說。「我只是要個答案。」

關鍵字句

國際貨幣基金會（IMF）和世界銀行（World Bank）同為世界兩大金融機構，成立宗旨在促進全球金融合作、加強金融穩定、推動國際貿易、提高就業率、穩定經濟成長以及降低貧窮。對於財政出現嚴重赤字的國家，基金會可能提出資金援助，但有時因時機過遲，或條件過苛，反而遭詬病，如阿根廷、肯亞、南韓等國皆是。如今，冰島顯然也把自己在金融危機中搞砸的責任，怪罪到基金會的頭上。

The pots and pans revolution，鍋碗瓢盆革命，指人民為民生權益而奮起反抗政府；1980 年代末期和1990 年代初期，東歐和南歐發生一連串不流血革命，脫離蘇聯的鐵腕統治，較著名的有1989 年波羅的海三小國的歌唱革命singing revolution，捷克的天鵝絨革命velvet revolution；亞洲最有名的則是1986 年菲律賓的人民力量革命people power revolution。

Take the little guy and nail him to the wall. 原指挑個兒小的欺負，把他釘在牆上，暗指英國惹不起美國，只會拿冰島蕞爾小國出氣，其實就是中文的「柿子挑軟的吃」，也可以說是霸凌Bullying。

原文參照
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/business/global/28iceland.html 

2009-08-04/聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 蔡繼光 原文請見8月4日紐時周報三版上