∮暑期泛泛读之三∮ - Free考研资料

It is time for Canada to be ejected from the Group of Eight, Bill Emmott, former editor of the Economist, mischievously suggests in his recent book. That would help make room for Asia's two emerging giants, without whom, he contends, no serious global discussion can now be held.

be ejected from ：被除名
mischievously：恶作剧地

Put to a Canadian, such talk may elicit reminders of that country's pivotal influence as a potash, tar sands and uranium producer. But to many neutral observers, a club of the world's leading nations is starting to look hollow without China – the fourth-largest economy in dollar terms, according to the World Bank. By pure gross domestic product reckonings, India would be included only in a G12.

potash, tar sands and uranium ：钾肥、油砂和铀
hollow ：空洞
By pure gross domestic product reckonings, India would be included only in a G12.:单以国内生产总值计算，印度只能挤入G12。

Take this year's summit, where global warming tops the agenda. China has surpassed the US as the world's biggest carbon emitter and India is fast climbing the rankings. That is why those two, plus others such as Brazil and Indonesia, have been invited to outreach groups on Wednesday, set aside to discuss climate change.

surpass:超越
carbon emitter :碳排放
climbing the rankings:名次迅速提升

High oil and food prices, too, cannot be sensibly debated without China, whose ravenous appetite for hydrocarbons and other commodities is bloating demand. Biofuels, another pressing topic, might be more sensibly discussed if Brazil, a big producer, were present. Today's talks about African development could feel incomplete without a briefing from China on its galloping ambitions there.

ravenous:贪婪的,饿极的,渴望的,狼吞虎咽的
appetite:口味,胃口
hydrocarbon：碳氢化合物能源
Biofuels：生物燃料
galloping ambitions：高昂雄心

Masaharu Kohno, deputy minister of foreign affairs and Japan's chief sherpa, says: “All the main issues are trans-border issues, be it terrorism, the food crisis or climate change. We are no longer in an era where we can be bound by national borders.”

trans-border ：跨境。

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, says: “It is important if the G8 is to have a strong role in the future to recognise the importance of China, India and Brazil. Quite how you achieve that institutionally is a different question.”

Clement Adibe, professor of political science at Chicago's DePaul University, says that when the group – at the time the G6 of the US, the UK, West Germany, France, Italy and Japan – first met in Rambouillet, France, 33 years ago, it was to discuss the rich world's response to the oil shock. “In 1975, the G8 came out to promote its own interests, those of advanced countries,” he says. “Now things have moved beyond that. But it is hard for the G8 to shake off its elitist baggage.”

Some G8 members, not least Japan, the host, are wary of messing with the formula, which is designed to promote intimacy and candour.Tokyo, with neither a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council nor Nato membership, jealously guards its opportunity to sit at the top table – all the more so if it is suggested it share that privilege with arch-rival China.

the United Nations Security Council：联合国安理会永久席位
Nato membership：北约成员
jealously guards its opportunity to sit at the top table：难免戒心重重地守护着自己跻身顶尖圈子的机遇
arch-rival：老对手

“We cherish this format of G8. It is a very comfortable one for us,” says a foreign ministry official. “The G8 is the G8. But some issues can be discussed with other nations like China and India. I think the outreach format is adequate for that,” he says of the ad-hoc, bolt-on meetings that will be held with a record number of countries this year.

Andrew Cooper, associate director of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Ontario, says that the G8 must decide whether it wants to be a club of democracies with common values – in which case whither Russia? – or whether seats should be allotted on the basis of influence. If the latter is the guiding principle, he says, then China must be in.

democracy:民主国家

But he points out: “This is not just a question for the G8 but a question for China as well.”

Indeed, Beijing is ambivalent. On the one hand, it craves the recognition of its new-found status and wants to avoid being labelled as a hindrance to international institutions. On the other, it is wary of being bound by international agreements on such topics as carbon emissions or foreign exchange policy.

ambivalent:矛盾的
crave：渴望

Even if the G8 leaders were to vote this week to offer Canada's place to China, it is by no means certain that Beijing would accept.

前经纪人时报的编辑:Bill Emmott,在他最近的书中开玩笑的说:该轮到加拿大离开八国首脑会议了,
这样将有助于增加两个涌现的亚洲强国的表演舞台，如果没有它们的参与，也没有必要开任何全球性会议。

对于加拿大人来说，对于这样的谈话可能会得出加拿大作为钾肥、油砂和铀生产商举足轻重的作用
但是对于许多中立的国家来说，如果没有中国的参与，世界的领先国家的俱乐部将变的空虚，因为根据世界银行的统计，中国在美元体系中是第四大经济强国。而单以国内生产总值计算，印度只能挤入G12

采取今年的提议，全球变暖被提上议程。中国已经超过美国成为世界上最大的煤炭排放量国家，而印度成为煤炭排放量增长最快的国家。这就是为什么在星期三在八国峰会的扩大会议上，这两个国家，加上其他如巴西和Indonesia ，被邀请参加讨论气候变化。