2018.12.22, Leaders
China and America Military mix-ups
It is a sobering thought that official military communication between America andChina is still conducted by fax machine.The use of this obsolete technologysymbolizes a worrying lack of effectivedialogue between the two countries’ armed forces.The giants jostle for space in the westernPacific; their ships and jets manoeuver close to each other every day.Neither side wants war, but China is intent on keeping America at bay. It is easy to imagine how a collision in the air or atsea could escalate.Casualties couldfan nationalist flames on eitherside and cause twitchy officers, or political leaders, to respond in ways thatlead rapidly to disaster.So could a misunderstanding by either side of theother’s military movements. Relations between China and America are already strained over trade and a host of other matters. So it is onlycommon sense to try to reduce the risk that their cold-war style sparring might turn hot
译文
令人值得深思的一件事是，美国和中国军队间的官方军事通信仍然是通过传真机进行的，这种过时的技术表明两国军队间缺乏高效的对话，这着实令人担忧。两个强国相互争夺在西太平洋上的空间：每天，两国军队的船和喷气机演习时都靠得很近。尽管双方都不想战争，但中方想让美军停在停留在海湾处，这使得双方无论是在空中，还是海上都很容易发生冲突并不断恶化。伤亡会激起双方民族主义者的怒火，而那些神经敏感的官员或政府领导可能会采取错误的应对方式，从而快速引发国际灾难，对双方军事活动的错误理解同样也会引发这样的灾难。中国和美国的关系因为贸易和其他众多事件已非常紧张，因此正确的做法应该是尽力去减少双方冷战式对峙会变成热斗的风险
精读
1：asobering thought：令人警醒的、发人深思的想法，此处翻译时可以翻译成令人深思的一件事是
2：Symbolize：除了有象征，是……的符号的意思外，还有代表的意思，此意可与indicate互用
3：Jostle：挤，推，撞，jostlefor表示争夺，可以想象人在推挤着争夺某样东西
4：Isintent on doing：坚定决心做某事
5：Escalate：不断恶化，逐渐升级。比如双方较量的升级therivalry between the US and China will escalate，或者文中提到的冲突的升级
6：Fan：有狂热爱好者，粉丝的意思，此处用作动词煽动，激起的意思fanflames on
7：Strained：strain拉紧，而strained有紧张的意思，在国际关系描述中可有“紧张的，不友好的”的意思
8：Ahost of：大量，许多
9：Commonsense：意为常识，从文义来说，翻译为正确的做法更为准确
10：Sparring：意为对连或对打，此处理解为双方的对峙