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THERE’S SOMETHING peculiarly apt about the fact that the current European crisis began in Greece. For Europe’s woes have all the aspects of a classical Greek tragedy, in which a man of noble character is undone by the fatal flaw of hubris.
当前的欧洲危机开始于希腊，尤其贴切。因为，欧洲苦难有着希腊古典悲剧的全部特征。希腊悲剧中品格高尚的人士常常毁于致命的傲慢缺陷。
Not long ago Europeans could, with considerable justification, say that the current economic crisis was actually demonstrating the advantages of their economic and social model. Like the United States, Europe suffered a severe slump in the wake of the global financial meltdown; but the human costs of that slump seemed far less in Europe than in America. In much of Europe, rules governing worker firing helped limit job loss, while strong social-welfare programs ensured that even the jobless retained their health care and received a basic income. Europe’s gross domestic product might have fallen as much as ours, but the Europeans weren’t suffering anything like the same amount of misery. And the truth is that they still aren’t.
不久以前，欧洲人认为，当前的经济危机实际上表明欧洲的经济与社会模式具有优势。这种观点是挺有道理的。全球金融危机中，欧洲与美国一样也遇到了严重的经济灾难，然而在欧洲灾难造成的个人代价看来远远没有美国严重。在欧洲许多地方，解雇工人的严格法规对工作岗位的丧失起到了限制作用，健全的社会福利计划确保失业者可以继续享受健康保险并领取基本收入。欧洲的GDP的下降幅度也许与我们不相上下，但欧洲没有遭受我们这样的痛苦。事实上，目前他们还没有受苦。
Yet Europe is in deep crisis — because its proudest achievement, the single currency adopted by most European nations, is now in danger. More than that, it’s looking increasingly like a trap. Ireland, hailed as the Celtic Tiger not so long ago, is now struggling to avoid bankruptcy. Spain, a booming economy until recent years, now has 20 percent unemployment and faces the prospect of years of painful, grinding deflation.
不过，欧洲处在严重的危机之中——原因在于，最令欧洲感到骄傲的成就——即绝大多数国家采用单一货币——现在处于危险之中。不久以前还被赞扬为凯尔特之虎的爱尔兰，正为避免破产而苦苦地挣扎。几年前经济一片繁荣的西班牙，现在失业率高达20%，并且面临着未来数年痛苦而磨人的通货紧缩。
The tragedy of the Euromess is that the creation of the euro was supposed to be the finest moment in a grand and noble undertaking: the generations-long effort to bring peace, democracy and shared prosperity to a once and frequently war-torn continent. But the architects of the euro, caught up in their project’s sweep and romance, chose to ignore the mundane difficulties a shared currency would predictably encounter — to ignore warnings, which were issued right from the beginning, that Europe lacked the institutions needed to make a common currency workable. Instead, they engaged in magical thinking, acting as if the nobility of their mission transcended such concerns.
欧洲乱局的悲剧在于，创立欧元被看作一项宏大而高尚事业中最美好的时刻。为了将和平、民主与共同繁荣带给这个过去常被战争蹂躏的大陆，几代人努力奋斗。但是欧元的设计师们却陷入了其设计项目的巨大胜利与美好想象之中，刻意忽视了估计共同货币可能带来的现实困难- 忽视了人们一开始就发出的有关欧洲缺少共同货币运作需要的机构这种警告。相反，他们陶醉于神奇思维，仿佛自己的神圣使命可以超越这种世俗的关切。
The result is a tragedy not only for Europe but also for the world, for which Europe is a crucial role model. The Europeans have shown us that peace and unity can be brought to a region with a history of violence, and in the process they have created perhaps the most decent societies in human history, combining democracy and human rights with a level of individual economic security that America comes nowhere close to matching. These achievements are now in the process of being tarnished, as the European dream turns into a nightmare for all too many people. How did that happen?
结果是造成一场不但属于欧洲的，而是属于世界的悲剧。因为，欧洲是世界至关重要角色。欧洲已向世人表明，和平与团结可以降临在有着暴力历史的地区，在这一进程中，他们把民主与人权结合在一起，创造了人类历史上最体面的社会，个人的经济安全达到了美国根本无法比拟的水平。现在，在太多太多人民的心中，随着欧洲梦想变为一场噩梦，这些成就正在被玷污。到底是怎么回事情？
THE ROAD TO THE EURO
通往欧元之路
It all began with coal and steel. On May 9, 1950 — a date whose anniversary is now celebrated as Europe Day — Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister, proposed that his nation and West Germany pool their coal and steel production. That may sound prosaic, but Schuman declared that it was much more than just a business deal.
一切始于煤炭和钢铁。1950年5月9日（这个日子现在成为人们庆祝的欧洲日），法国外交部长罗伯特·舒曼提出，法国和西德可以将各自的钢铁和煤炭生产联合在一起。这种想法听上去单调乏味，但舒曼宣称其意义超过了商业交易。
For one thing, the new Coal and Steel Community would make any future war between Germany and France “not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.” And it would be a first step on the road to a “federation of Europe,” to be achieved step by step via “concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.” That is, economic measures would both serve mundane ends and promote political unity.
首先, 新的“煤铁共同体”使德国与法国之间未来的任何战争“不但难以想象，而且实际上没有可能。”这是走向“欧洲联邦”的第一步，联邦要靠“具体的成就一步一步实现”，而这些成就首先就是创造一种事实上的团结统一。也就是说，经济措施不但服务于现实目的，而且为了促进政治上的团结。
The Coal and Steel Community eventually evolved into a customs union within which all goods were freely traded. Then, as democracy spread within Europe, so did Europe’s unifying economic institutions. Greece, Spain and Portugal were brought in after the fall of their dictatorships; Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism.
“煤铁共同体”最终进化为关税同盟，所有的货物可以自由贸易。后来，随着民主在欧洲范围内扩展，欧洲联合的经济组织也得到发展。希腊、西班牙和葡萄牙在独裁政权倒台后，加入了欧共体；东欧在共产主义垮台后也加入了。
In the 1980s and ’90s this “widening” was accompanied by “deepening,” as Europe set about removing many of the remaining obstacles to full economic integration. (Eurospeak is a distinctive dialect, sometimes hard to understand without subtitles.) Borders were opened; freedom of personal movement was guaranteed; and product, safety and food regulations were harmonized, a process immortalized by the Eurosausage episode of the TV show “Yes Minister,” in which the minister in question is told that under new European rules, the traditional British sausage no longer qualifies as a sausage and must be renamed the Emulsified High-Fat Offal Tube. (Just to be clear, this happened only on TV.)
上世纪80、90年代，欧洲决心拆除现有的障碍走向整个经济一体化，“扩大”同时 “深化”进程。（整个经济一体化是欧洲一种独特的语言，有时不加解释很难让人理解。）国界被打开，个人迁徙自由得到保障；产品、安全及食品规定实现了统一，电视《是，首相》中欧洲香肠情景剧将这一进程神化。节目上在有人告诉首相，根据欧洲新的规定，传统的英国香肠失去香肠的资格，必须重新起名为乳化高脂肪下水肠管。（要说清的是，这只是电视上的东西）
The creation of the euro was proclaimed the logical next step in this process. Once again, economic growth would be fostered with actions that also reinforced European unity.
创立欧元被宣称为这一进程中符合逻辑的下一个步骤。加强欧洲统一的行动又一次培育了经济的增长。
The advantages of a single European currency were obvious. No more need to change money when you arrived in another country; no more uncertainty on the part of importers about what a contract would actually end up costing or on the part of exporters about what promised payment would actually be worth. Meanwhile, the shared currency would strengthen the sense of European unity. What could go wrong?
单一货币的优势是明显的。到访另一个国家时不再需要兑换货币。对进口商而言，再也不用担心合同实际结算时合同规定的价值是不是与实际付出的款项相等。与此同时，共同货币也强化了欧洲统一感。到底错在哪里？
The answer, unfortunately, was that currency unions have costs as well as benefits. And the case for a single European currency was much weaker than the case for a single European market — a fact that European leaders chose to ignore.
不幸的是，货币联盟既有效益也有成本。欧洲单一货币比欧洲单一市场影响要弱得多，这是一个欧洲领导人刻意忽视的事实。
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