字神帝國英語天地

Air safety--Pressing on

A spate of accidents will not put Asians off air travel
✈事故連綿不絕，但不會阻止亞洲人乘坐飛機

ON DECEMBER 30th Indonesian officials said they had discovered debris and bodies from AirAsia flight QZ8501, which had vanished two days previously, floating in shallow seas near the south-west coast of Borneo. The airliner lost contact with air-traffic controllers while passing through rough weather on a short journey between the Indonesian city of Surabaya and Changi airport in Singapore. The plane was carrying 162 people, most of them Indonesians. As The Economist went to press, no survivors had been found.
✈印尼官員12月30日表示，已經發現在婆羅洲西南海岸周邊的淺海中，漂浮著兩天前消失的亞航QZ8501航班的殘骸與屍體。這趟短途航班原定從印尼泗水飛往新加坡樟宜機場，在穿越氣象條件惡劣的空域時與航空管制失去了聯繫。機上載有162人，多數為印尼人。截至本期《經濟學人》付梓前，沒有找到任何倖存者。

The crash, most probably an accident, comes at the end of a particularly tragic year in South-East Asia's aviation history. Search parties have not yet found the remains of Malaysia Airlines' flight MH370, which plunged into the Indian Ocean nine months ago killing all 239 people on board. In September pro-Russian rebels shot down another Malaysia Airlines plane, MH17, over Ukraine, killing another 298.
✈這場空難的原因最有可能是事故。這一年是東南亞航空史上悲劇之年，以空難結尾。9個月前，馬航MH370栽入印度洋，機上239人死亡。搜索小組至今仍沒找到其殘骸。9月另一家馬航客機MH17在烏克蘭上空被親俄叛軍打下，又有298人死亡。

These earlier calamities nibbled at South-East Asia's popularity among tourists, especially among sightseers from China. But they have done little to dampen booming demand for air travel among South-East Asians themselves. The region is one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets. Its 50-odd carriers are awaiting delivery of 1,600 new planes, about the same number as are in their fleets today. Boeing, an American planemaker, thinks regional airlines will need to order more than 3,000 new aircraft over the next 20 years.
✈東南亞在遊客中的口碑為這些天災人禍一點點侵蝕，尤其是中國的遊客很受影響。但這些災禍並沒有抑制住東南亞地區間快速增長的航空需求。東南亞地區是全世界增長最快的航空市場。這裡有五十多家航空公司，他們已訂購的新客機有1600架，等待交付使用。這一數字與現有客機數量持平。美國飛機製造商波音認為，未來20年東南亞本地航線需要購置超過3000架新飛機。

This growth partly reflects the rapid rise of South-East Asia's middle classes, who are eager to shell out for more convenient ways to navigate the continent's archipelagoes. It has been nudged along by the region's governments, who have promised to liberalise aviation as part of plans for greater economic co-operation.
✈航空市場增長部分反映出東南亞中產階級的快速興起，該地群島斑駁，他們很願意為更舒適的交通方式埋單。東南亞各國政府也提供了助力，他們保證實行航空自由化以推進彼此更深入的經濟合作。

Yet it also reflects growing confidence in airline safety, despite recent disasters. In much of the region rutted roads and fickle seas are a far bigger worry. A recent study of 160 ferry accidents since 2000, costing nearly 17,000 lives, showed that Indonesia and the Philippines were among the most lethal places to board a boat (only Bangladeshi vessels were more deadly). Images of grieving families in Singapore and Surabaya have horrified Indonesians, and the world. But journeys are still safer in the skies.
✈儘管最近發生了些許天災人禍，但航空市場發展也反映出對飛行安全不斷增長的自信。在東南亞大多數地方，坑窪的道路與變幻的海域遠比飛行安全更讓人憂慮。近些年有人做過研究，2000年後共發生過160起渡輪事故，其中17000人喪生，而其中印尼與菲律賓的渡輪是最危險的(只有孟加拉的輪船更容易沉)。新加坡與泗水那些悲傷的空難家屬讓印尼國民以及整個世界為之戰慄。但相比之下空中旅行仍然是更安全的。
Correction: An earlier version of this article gave September as the month that MH17 crashed in Ukraine. The incident happened in July. 

英文來源：A spate of accidents will not put Asians off air travel

文章來源：經濟學人中英對照：飛行安全 事故連綿不絕