Something new
新意（陈继龙 编译）
Aug 3rd 2006 | BEIJING
From The Economist print edition
AFTER years of prospering as the world's workshop, China now wants to be its laboratory as well. “Innovation” has become a nationalbuzzword[1],and Chinese leaders have been tossing it into their speeches since the beginning of the year, when President Hu Jintao started an ambitious campaign to drive China's economy further up thevaluechain. （1）True, new campaigns and catchphrases[2] are declared by the government and the Communist Party in China all the time, and mostly end up fizzling out[3] in puddles[4] of rhetoric.But there are signs that the governmenti_______①to back its innovation campaign with more than just words.
中国作为“世界工场”，多年来发展蒸蒸日上，但现在它也希望成为“世界实验室”。“创新”已经成为举国上下一个时髦词儿。今年年初，胡锦涛主席启动了一项雄心勃勃的规划，旨在推动中国经济进一步与价值链接轨。从那以后，中国领导人在讲话中就经常提到“创新”一词。确实，中国政府和中国共产党总是宣布各种新计划，创造各种新术语，可最终都因流于表面文章而不了了之。不过，许多迹象表明，中国政府正准备用实际行动来支持这次创新规划。
在推出《国家中长期科学与技术发展规划纲要（2006－2020）》后，胡锦涛主席、温家宝总理和其他高级官员都许诺要加大科技投入，并坚持行业改革。他们的目标是推动中国不再过于依赖自然资源和廉价劳动力，并投身于依靠教育和信息技术的经济体系之中。
Officials say privately that the new policy emerged only after years of contentious internal debate.（2）One divide was between nationalists, who advocated a go-it-alone approach towards developing indigenous technology, and others who were more open to international collaboration.There were also disaGREements as to whether the campaign should concentrate on scientific mega-projects or incremental innovation.
有官员私下里说，这一新政策是在国内多年的激烈争论之后才出台的。分歧之一就是，民族主义者提倡采取独立自主的办法开发本土技术，而其他人则比较倾向于国际合作。关于这一规划应该专注于发展大型科技项目还是进行渐进性创新，也存在不同意见。
One target is to reduce China's dependence on imported technology to 30% or less by 2020. According to Professor Fang Xin, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the initiative is a matter of necessity. China must learn to innovate if it is tos_______③growth. Foreign firms, she notes, reap more than 60% of the profits from China's high-tech exports. Other officials say that, on average, China's 20,000 large and medium-sized enterprises undertake fewer than five new development projects and generate only two and a half new products each year.
此规划的目标之一是到2020年将中国对引进技术的依赖降低到30%。中国科学院教授方新（音）认为，采取这一行动有其必然性。中国要想持续发展，必须学会创新。她指出，外国公司在中国高技术出口商品中获利超过60%。其他官员普遍认为，中国2万家大中型企业每年承担的新开发项目不到5个，生产的新产品也仅有2.5个。
The plan also calls for an increase in research and development spending from its current 1.23% of GDP to 2.5% by 2020, putting China in the same range as OECD countries' current scores. Ms Fang says banks and government departments will be told to help out with their credit, taxation and currency-exchange policies. According to Denis Simon of the State University of New York's Levin Institute, who advises the Chinese government on science policy, thism______④comes just in time. （3）“If China doesn't do this right,” he says, “it risks becoming a good 20th-century industrial economy just when it needs to figure out how to be a 21st-century knowledge-based economy.”
此规划还要求到2020年将对研究和开发的投入从现在占国民生产总值的1.23%增加到2.5％，使中国在同一领域达到经合组织（OECD）各国目前的水平。方教授说，各银行和政府部门将被要求通过其存款、税收和汇兑政策来帮助解决这一问题。中国政府科学政策顾问、纽约州立大学列文学院的丹尼斯•西蒙认为，这一举措十分及时。他说：“假如中国这件事做得不好，它就会成为一个出色的20世纪工业经济型国家，这是很危险的，它需要解决的是如何成为一个21世纪知识经济型国家。”
But to succeed, says Mr Simon, China needs to attend to other matters as well. These include an “internalbrain drain[5]”that sees much of the country's best talent going to work for foreign firms in China, and the country'sn_______⑤lax[6]regime for protection of intellectual-property rights. （4）Mr Simon predicts that such protection will improve as more local businesses with an interest in the matter join the chorus of complaints from foreigners.
不过西蒙说，中国要想获得成功，还应该关注其它一些问题。这其中包括“国内人才流失”问题，亦即该国许多出类拔萃的人才纷纷涌向开在中国的外国公司。还有该国对知识产权的保护出了名的不严格。西蒙预测，随着自身利益也牵扯到这一问题的更多本土企业和外国企业交相表示不满，保护状况将得到改善。
（5）Another huge obstacle is the nature of China's educational system, which stresses conformity and does little to foster independent thinking.Confucian philosophy reveres the teacher above all. More innovative Western economies, according to Ms Fang, operate under Aristotle'smaxim[7]:“I love my teacher Plato GREatly, but I love truth more.”
另一个巨大障碍是，中国教育制度从根本上强调人云亦云，几乎不鼓励独立思考。儒家哲学最讲究尊重师长。方教授认为，越来越多的西方创新型经济体却秉承亚里士多德的格言——“吾爱吾师（柏拉图），吾尤爱真理。”
[QUIZ]1. 根据上下文和英文释义，补全单词：
①i_______（v. to have something in your mind as a plan or purpose）
②v_______（v. to make a serious promise to yourself or someone else[=promise]）
③s________（v. to make something continue to exist or happen for a period of time [= maintain]）
④m________（n. something that you decide to do in order to achieve something）
⑤n________（adv. famous or well-known for something bad [= infamous]）（解释是针对此词形容词形式）
2. 英译汉（将划线部分英文翻译成中文）：[NOTES](LONGMAN)
1. buzzword n.专门术语；时髦词语；漂亮口号
2. catchphrase n.口头禅
3. fizzle out逐渐停止或消失（尤指由于人失去热情或兴趣）
4. puddle n.一小池液体（尤指雨水）；小水坑
5. brain drain人才流失
6. lax adj.松散的；不严格的（＝slack）
7. maxim n.箴言；格言；名人名言
[KEY TO QUIZ]
1. ①intends 打算，想要
表示“打算做某事”：intend to do something • mean to do something • be going to do something • plan to do something • be looking to do something • set out to do something • be out to do something • it is somebody's intention to do something • with intent to do something
表示“不打算做某事”：not intend to do something • not mean to do something • have no intention of doing something • have no plans to do something/not have any plans to do something • not be serious
②vowed 发誓，许诺
③sustain 维持，持续
④move 行动，举措
⑤notoriously 臭名昭著地
2.（见译文，仅供参考，欢迎指正）
