Right before the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, American president Donald Trump had already won the most attention from the world, again. This time he was commented by a rival candidate as "crazy like a fox" when he floated the idea of buying Greenland.

在今年法国比亚里茨举行的“G7”峰会前夕，美国总统特朗普就又一次赚足了眼球。这次他想出了买下格陵兰岛的“馊主意”，为此竞选对手还称他“如狐狸一般疯狂”。

Everything started with news leaked  several days before the summit that Donald Trump had expressed interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark. When many were thinking it was another Trump's joke, the American president responded to the Danish prime minister's dismissal of the idea as "absurd" by cancelling a visit planned for September.

一切起源于峰会开始前几天传出特朗普想从丹麦手中买下格陵兰岛的消息。丹麦首相随即回应，称这样的想法“非常荒谬”。正当大家认为特朗普又在闹国际笑话之时，没想到他还当真了，取消了原定九月访问丹麦的行程以表达对丹麦首相言论的不满。

Critics argue that it is essentially a problem of resources. Donald Trump is right that Greenland is valuable. It has vast stores of zinc, copper, iron ore and uranium — all of which are becoming more accessible with global warming. It lies conveniently between North America and Eurasia. But his notion that the way to access this value is to buy it from another country is a throwback to the 19th century.

评论人士指出，这场闹剧背后实则是美国对资源的觊觎。特朗普想要购岛，的确是看准了格陵兰岛的巨大价值。岛上矿产资源丰富，蕴含锌、铜、铁、铀矿等，而随着全球变暖，这些矿产资源逐渐具备开采条件。格陵兰岛又坐落于北美和欧亚大陆之间，运输便捷。但是想要通过“购地”来攫取资源不免让人觉得“太陈腐”，有种十九世纪历史重现的味道。

Then, the United States bought or conquered a great deal of land, from the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to the Philippine annexation in 1899. That pattern of forthright acquisition ended in the middle of the 20th century, though, as colonized people worldwide rebelled against imperialism.

整个十九世纪，美国通过强征强买获取了大量领土，从1803年路易斯安那购地案开始，美国便开始了野心勃勃的“买买买”，一直到1899年占领菲律宾。这样的强取豪夺在二十世纪中期总算告一段落。彼时，全球反抗殖民的热潮频起，帝国主义走向没落。

Greenland Is Not Green

“Greenland”并不“Green”

Greenland's relationship with Denmark stretches back thousands of years, and the island officially became part of the Kingdom of Denmark in the 1920s. It was granted home rule in 1979 and is now considered an autonomous area within the kingdom of Denmark. The Danish government handles foreign affairs and national defense, but the Greenland government controls everything else.

格陵兰岛与丹麦的历史可以追溯到几千年以前，但直到上世纪二十年代才终于被划入丹麦王国的版图。1979年，格陵兰岛取得自治权，作为丹麦的自治领土，它的外交和国防事务由丹麦政府管辖，而其他的一切事务均由地方政府自治。

Unlike its name, Greenland has little "greenness". It is not even an easy place to call home — 80% of the island is covered in an ice sheet that can be up to 3 km thick, and temperatures regularly drop below -30 degrees Celsius during the dark winter months.

“格陵兰岛”在英文中的字面意义是“绿色的岛”，但实际情况却并非如此，这里甚至不太适合人类居住——超过80%的岛屿面积都被冰川覆盖，最厚的甚至能达到三千米。在极夜降临的冬季，这里的气温能轻松突破零下30摄氏度。

Despite the tourism potential and abundant resources, Greenland is an alarming symbol of how human activity has accelerated the course of climate change. The glaciers of Greenland are contributing to a rise in the global sea level faster than was previously believed. Between 1991 and 2004, monitoring of the weather at one location showed that the average winter temperature had risen almost 6 degrees. Keep it cool, is probably the best option for Greenland.

尽管格陵兰岛蕴藏着丰富的旅游和矿产资源，但它也在不断向我们证明人类活动是如何加速气候变化的进程的。格陵兰岛上冰川融化的速度超出我们的想象。一项从1991年到2004年的定点监测显示，这段时间内格陵兰岛的冬季均温竟然上升了6度之多。保持“冷酷”，或许才是格陵兰岛最好的归宿。

 

VOCABULARY

dismissal: n. 不予理睬

throwback: n. 返祖

forthright: adj. 直截了当的