墨西哥湾漏油成当地人脱贫良机

       A BP source says the company is paying them between $1,200 and $3,000 a day, in addition to which they are reimbursed for their meals and fuel. To the disgraced oil company, desperate to retrieve its reputation, this undoubtedly seems worthwhile.

　　据英国石油公司内部人士称，除了支付给参与“滤油”渔民的伙食费和燃料费外，公司每天还要给他们支付1200美元到1300美元。当然，对于极力想挽回名誉的英国石油公司，这种做法也是值得的。

　　However, one of the captains at the Lounge mordantly confided to me that his business lost nearly $40,000 last year. Soaring fuel costs and cheap imports of shrimp from China and Thailand have driven prices to as low as 30 cents a pound and according to official estimates, more than 16 percent of Grand Isle’s residents subsist on incomes below the poverty line.

　　但是，随后一个渔民私下里向我吐露，损失并不是原油泄漏后才开始的。他去年就损失了4万美元。根据官方数据，飙升的燃料价格以及来自中国、泰国的廉价虾使得当地虾类价格降至一磅30美分，而格兰德岛超过16%的渔民都生活在贫困线以下。

　　Long before the spill, the industry throughout the US states bordering the Gulf of Mexico was being driven into extinction by another factor that conveniently has gone unmentioned by the politicians: pollution.

　　事实上，早在此次原油泄漏事故之前，墨西哥湾一带的捕鱼业就因当地的污染问题而濒临绝境。而这一切，政治家们视而不见。

　　"I hate to say anything good about BP," I was told by a fisherman who asked not to be identified, because he is collecting $1,200 a day by the company to skim oil. "But it was bad before the spill. I was lucky if I made $1,000 a month. After the mortgage on my house and other bills, we had maybe $120 a month left to buy food. We lived on chicken wings. We couldn't afford to eat our own shrimp. Now BP pays me $1,200 a day."

　　“关于英石油，我不想说什么好话，”一个不愿透露姓名的渔民说道。“但是此前生活确实很糟糕。那时候我常常想，如果一个月能拿到1千块该多好。还了房贷和其他款项后，每月还有120块钱的剩余能让我们买些吃的。我们自己的虾太贵了，吃不起。可是现在英石油一天就可以给我1200块。”

　　It has cost the firm over $1 billion to date, a figure which includes $40.2 million in payments to people in the region to make up for the money they claim they have lost. Some workers ruefully admitted to me that they may have exaggerated.

　　迄今为止，英国公司已为此次事故投入十亿英镑，这里面就包括赔偿当地渔民的4千多万美元。一些渔民承认他们夸大了自己的损失。