【卫报专题报道 烟草：致命的业务】大烟草公司依然在美国穷人身上大发横财 [英国媒体]

Big tobacco still sees big business in America's poor

大烟草公司依然在美国穷人身上大发横财

The US is pegged as an ‘exciting’ market, but this growth disproportionately affects the poor – including the industry’s growers and laborers

美国被视为“令人激动”的市场，但其增长不成比例地影响穷人——包括烟草产业的种植户和劳工。



Wheeling his oxygen tank in behind him, Leslie E Adams shuffled into the lung doctor’s exam room and let out a long string of rattling coughs. He tried to catch his breath, and coughed some more. He is 63, but looks a decade older.

Leslie E Adams颤颤巍巍地踱进了肺部医生的检查室，而且发出一阵阵响亮的咳嗽声，后面跟着他的氧气瓶。他试着吸上一口气，但咳嗽变得更厉害了。他63岁，看上去却像是75岁。

“I got stage three black lung. There ain’t no stage four. I’m on my way out,” said Adams. “Now, I am slowly going down the mountain.”

“我得了三期肺尘病。没有四期肺尘病，那时候我就死了。”Adams说。“现在，我正在去天堂报道的路上。”

The American smoking rate has plummeted since the mid-20th century. Yet somehow the US remains a growth market. That is partly because the proportion of smokers has fallen, but the overall population is rising.

美国的吸烟率自从20世纪中叶一落千丈。但不知怎么地美国烟草市场保持增长。部分原因是虽然吸烟者占总人口的比例降低了，但是总人口数量不断增加。

Add a nation bedeviled by inequality and those public health gains, while significant, have simply not reached every corner of the country.

再加上美国被视为一个社会不公现象严重的国家，而且它的公共卫生福利，相当程度上没有惠及到这个国家的各个角落。

With low taxes on cigarettes, intermittent regulations and tobacco-friendly politicians, many US states still mirror conditions around the developing world where tobacco companies see potential.

烟草的低税率、断断续续的监管和不反感烟草的政客，美国许多州的烟草状况与世界上其它被烟草公司视为金矿的发展中国家如出一辙。

West Virginia arguably has the highest smoking rate in the nation. In places such as Logan County, where Adams, a retired coal miner, is from, the smoking rate was 37% in 2015. The last time the national average matched that was 1974.

西弗吉尼亚州可以说有着美国最高的吸烟率。像洛根县，Adams，一个退休煤矿工人的家乡这样的地方，2015年吸烟率是37%。全国吸烟率最后一次达到这个程度还是在1974年。

“I smoked Winston, I smoked Viceroy. I don’t know what I was smoking last, I couldn’t tell you,” said Adams, about brands that once belonged to the tobacco giants Reynolds and British American Tobacco (BAT). “I just smoked anything. If it blowed smoke, I smoked it.” Adams is disabled with stage three pneumoconiosis, better known as black lung.

“我抽温斯顿，也抽总督。我不知道我最后抽的是什么牌子的烟，我无法告诉你，”Adams说，这两个品牌分别属于烟草巨头雷诺兹和英美烟草（British American Tobacco，BAT）。“我什么烟都抽，想什么时候抽就什么时候抽。”Adams因肺尘病致残，这个疾病的另一个名称更加令人熟悉，即黑肺病。



Adams will tell you he quit, but the truth is, after seven days in the hospital on a ventilator, he still tried to smoke three times. “I smoked about a half a one, and it just – I mean your lungs – it just takes all the oxygen out of them.”

Adams会告诉你他戒烟了，但是，七天后在医院里，即使戴着氧气面罩，他仍然三次尝试吸烟。“我抽了一根半，对我来讲抽烟就像你的肺因为缺乏氧气呼吸，是天经地义的事。”

Despite smoking bans, hundred-billion-dollar settlements and a smaller proportion of the American public smoking, Reynolds’ longtime ally BAT sees the US as “an exciting opportunity for long-term growth”.

尽管有吸烟禁令、累计千亿美金级的庭外和解赔偿和更低的吸烟率。雷诺兹和BAT视美国为“令人激动的长期增长机会”。

Through the years, as the population rose, the proportion of Americans who smoke shrank, but their raw numbers stayed the same, at around 45 million smokers. Further, since the 1990s, the threat of tobacco litigation diminished and regulations proved less costly than feared, leaving tobacco companies room to increase the price of a pack. In America, where cigarettes are still relatively cheap, BAT only needs to sell two packs of cigarettes to make the same profit as it would selling six in other markets.

虽然近年来总人口保持增加，吸烟率不断降低，但粗略估计的吸烟者数量保持一致，大约4500万人。而且，从20世纪90年代起，烟草诉讼威胁度变小以及触犯条例的代价被证实可以承受，为烟草商给每包香烟提价腾出了空间。在美国，烟价仍然相对便宜，BAT在这里卖出两包的利润就抵得上在其它地方卖出六包。

America is “highly attractive” and the “world’s largest tobacco profit pool” outside of China, BAT’s chief executive, Nicandro Durante, said, as he described a $49bn deal to buy Reynolds American in January. The deal will make BAT the largest listed tobacco company in the world.

美国“相当让人着迷”而且是除了中国之外的“烟草利润聚宝盆”。BAT的首席执行官Nicandro Durante说。他在一月批准了一道用490亿美元收购雷诺兹美国的交易，这将让BAT成为世界最大的烟草公司。

It also means revenue from eight out of 10 cigarettes sold in the US will be pocketed by BAT and a rival group of companies – Altria Group, a US Philip Morris company. Not since Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency has tobacco been so consolidated.

这也意味着在美国烟草利润的4/5被BAT和它的竞争公司集团——奥驰亚集团，一家美国菲利普莫里斯公司收入囊中。自从奥希多罗斯福总统以来烟草业还没像这样集中过。

Mergers and acquisitions have allowed tobacco companies to squeeze profits from customers and the supply chain. Companies charge more for cigarettes, while union organizers say “poverty wages” keep families on the ropes. Both are trends seen worldwide.

合并和收购让烟草公司从消费者和供应链那里挤出利润。公司从香烟获取更多，同时工会组织者说“贫穷的工资”让无数家庭岌岌可危。两者都是世界性的趋势。

At the same time, the typical profile of smokers has changed radically. In 50 years, smoking moved from glamorous to commonplace. Wealthy Americans have the lowest smoking rates, and the middle class has increasingly quit; instead, smoking has become a burden of the poor, less educated and marginalized.

同时，吸烟者的利润也彻底变化了。50年间，吸烟行为从炫酷的变成平凡的。富裕的美国人吸烟率最低，中产阶级日益戒烟；吸烟成为贫穷、教育程度更低和边缘化人群的负担。

The $49bn merger between BAT and Reynolds, expected within weeks, is the most recent act of faith by tobacco companies that selling cigarettes to Americans will remain profitable long into the future, even if the Americans who buy them can’t afford it.

预计本周内的BAT和雷诺兹490亿美元的合并是烟草公司近期最大的动作，以未来长期内向美国人出售香烟有利可图的信心，即使买烟的美国人承担不起。

As a young man, Adams worked in mines so tight he lay on his belly to dig. He dug his own hole for urination. When he learned mine owners handed out dust masks that didn’t work, he sued.

Adams年轻的时候在非常艰苦的煤矿工作，那里他趴卧着挖掘。每次想撒尿就挖一个坑。当他知道矿主给他们无法工作的防尘面具时他起诉了。

Adams lives in the Appalachian mountains, in a valley between two green hills affectionately called a “holler”. He and his wife had two daughters and a son, and those children had eight of their own.

Adams在阿巴拉契亚山脉生活，在两个被亲切称作“holler”的绿色山头形成的峡谷中。他和他的妻子有2个女儿和1个儿子以及8个孙辈。

He started smoking at eight, sneaking beside the creek to puff corn silk. He smoked cigarettes for 40 years. Now, after one son died of a drug overdose, unable to chase after his grandkids and still craving cigarettes, Adams questions whether cigarettes should be legal at all.

他8岁时开始吸烟，溜去溪边吸玉米穗卷烟。他吸香烟40年了。现在，在他的一个儿子死于药物过量，在不能追逐他的孙子孙女以及仍然渴望香烟的情况下，Adams问道香烟是否应该彻底合法化。



Leslie E Adams, 63, said he wishes cigarettes could be outlawed. Photograph: Billy Wolfe for the Guardian

Leslie E Adams,，63岁，说他希望香烟被禁止。

“They got so many drugs in there you couldn’t quit if you wanted to. I still crave them. If I had one right now, and I’d go to sleep, you’d hold it, I’d smoke it in my sleep,” he said. “That’s how bad you crave them.”

“他们在烟里放了很多药，让你做不到戒烟”。我仍然渴望它们。如果我现在有一根，我回去睡觉，你懂的，我会边睡边吸,”他说。“这就是香烟成瘾有多坏。”

Dr Tom Takubo sees more than 30 patients like Adams each day at his clinic in Charleston. His is the largest pulmonology office in West Virginia. Set in the capital of a rural state in a rural region, Takubo sees patients from as far away as northern Kentucky and southern Ohio.

Tom Takubo博士每天在他查尔斯顿的诊所看见超过30个像Adams这样的病人。他的诊所是西弗吉尼亚州最大的肺学机关。即使位于一个美国乡村地带的农业州的首府，Takubo看过从北肯塔基州和南俄亥俄州远道而来的病人。

“Even if smoking dropped off today, I would probably be going for the rest of my career,” said Takubo.

“如果吸烟减少，我就快关门歇业了。”Takubo说。

No one is allowed to smoke in his office, but even so, the air smells faintly of cigarettes. Takubo’s patients carry the scent of the smokes they prefer. Former miners, shop owners and factory workers waiting for their appointments named L&Ms (by Altria) or Salems (by Reynolds) as their go-to brands. One woman said she smoked whatever cigarettes were cheapest, and called them “floor sweepings”.

他的办公室禁止吸烟，即使这样空气中还是隐隐约约有烟味。Takubo的病人身上有他们喜欢抽的烟的味道。等待看诊的前矿工、店主和工人喜吸L&M（奥驰亚）或者撒冷（雷诺兹）。一位妇女说他吸任何最便宜的烟，而且称它们为”地板灰“。

Takubo estimates 80% of his patients see him for smoking-related diseases. “Cancer, acute bronchitis, flare-ups of their asthma,” he said, naming a few.

Takubo估计80%的病人因为吸烟相关的疾病过来找他。”癌症、急性支气管炎、突然复发的哮喘。“他举出了一些例子。



The national adult smoking rate dropped from 42.4% in 1965 to 16.8% in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But in West Virginia, the smoking rate in 2014 was still 26%, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. One researcher with RWJF called the rate “extraordinarily high”.

全国成人吸烟率由1965年的42.4%降为2014年的16.8，根据疾控中心。但是西弗吉尼亚州2014年的吸烟率仍然是26%，根据罗伯特伍德约翰逊基金会。它的一名研究院认为这个比率“非同寻常地高”。

When he is not seeing patients, Takubo has another role. He is also a Republican state senator in West Virginia, putting him in the unique position of treating the same people whose cigarette taxes he hopes to raise. He is occasionally told by a patient: “Now, doc, don’t raise the price of my cigarettes.”

当没有病人的时候，Takubo有着另外的角色。他也是一名共和党的州参议员，在西弗吉尼亚州，这让他处于一个奇特的位置，希望让他的病人支付更多的烟草税。偶尔有病人对他说：“博士，别让我的烟变变得更贵了。”

“It’s really hard for me, because you hear people argue for financial reasons, for freedom of choice,” Takubo said about his fellow legislators, shaking his head. This year, inspired by a patient, Takubo introduced a bill that would have fined adults for smoking in the car with a child.

“这对我来说很难，因为你听到人们用经济原因辩护，为了选择的自由，”Takubo摇着头对他的立法者同事说，由他的一个病人启发，Takubo提交了一个向在车载小孩时吸烟的成年人罚款的提案。

“I have a patient that’s lost about half of her lung function. She’s never smoked a day in her life,” he said. Instead, her father smoked in the car. “If she complained about it, he would roll the window up to teach her a lesson. She remembers even getting in the floorboard of the car because she couldn’t breath.”

“我有一个病人失去了半数肺部功能。她从来不吸烟，但是她的父亲在车里吸烟。如果她敢抱怨，她的父亲就摇上车窗教训她一顿。她记得曾经因为无法呼吸趴在车底板上”

But the bill was not successful. Takubo’s fellow Republicans voted it down.

但是这个提案没有通过，Takubo的同事否决了它。



Dr Tom Takubo points to an X-ray of a patient suffering from a severe case of coal workers pneumoconiosis, also known as CWP or black lung. Photograph: Billy Wolfe for the Guardian

Tom Takubo博士指着一张罹患严重的煤矿工人肺尘病的病人的X光照片，亦称煤矿工人肺或者黑肺。

West Virginia is also the epicenter of America’s drug overdose epidemic, but lung and throat cancer have proven far deadlier than opioids.

西弗吉尼亚州也是美国药物滥用的重灾区，但肺癌和喉癌被证实致死人数比阿片类药物多。

Drug overdoses killed 41 people for every 100,000 in West Virginia in 2015. The same year, lung and throat cancer killed tripled that number in south-western counties, such as Calhoun. There, those two diseases alone killed 123 people for every 100,000, according to the state’s health department.

药物滥用2015年在西弗吉尼亚州的致死率为每10万人中41人。同年，肺癌和喉癌在州的西南部的致死率是上述的三倍，比如卡尔霍恩县，两病各自每10万人中123人，根据州卫生部。

The same year, 46% of adults in Calhoun smoked, RWJF found. The West Virginia department of health estimates that one in five deaths of people over 35 are due to smoking.

同年，卡尔霍恩县46%的成年人吸烟。罗伯特伍德约翰逊基金会和西弗吉尼亚州卫生部估计1/5的35岁以上的死亡归咎于吸烟。

West Virginia scores badly on every imaginable indicator of poverty and inequality. Takubo has also argued increased tobacco taxes could bring the state significant financial relief. A $1 tax would have generated $100m in revenue for a state that had a $380m shortfall in 2016, and which spends $277m annually on smoking-related diseases. That too failed, although Takubo did help get a 65-cent tobacco tax passed.

西弗吉尼亚州在任何贫困和社会不公的指标上表现糟糕。Takubo主张增加烟草税将有效减轻州财政压力。1美元的税将征收到1亿美元的收入，本州在2016年有3.8亿美元的财政赤字，每年还花2.77亿美元在吸烟相关的疾病上。这个提案也失败了，但Takubo设法让65分烟草税提案通过了。

Now, fearing Republicans in Washington will pass a healthcare reform bill that could severely cut Medicaid, a public health program for the poor, Takubo said simply: “That would kill us.”

现在，担忧华盛顿的共和党员将通过一项医疗改革提案，这将大砍医疗补助计划，一个穷人的公共医疗项目的预算。Takubo简单地说了一句。“这将杀了我们。”

State of the nation

国家的状况

In Washington DC, things have also changed in the halls of Congress. People who still smoke stand out, and perhaps for a good reason – Congress is mostly well educated and wealthy. Every single US senator has a college degree, and just 5% of the House of Representatives lack one. Most members of Congress are millionaires.

在华盛顿特区，国会大厅里面也发生了变化。仍然在吸烟的人非常显眼，一个好原因可能是议员们应该是受过最好教育而且富裕的。美国所有的参议员都上过大学，而且仅仅5%的众议员没有大学学历。大多数国会成员是百万富翁。

Today, someone with a high school equivalency diploma is nine times more likely to smoke (34.1%) than someone with a graduate degree (3.6%). A poll found Americans who earn between $6,000 and $11,999 are more than twice as likely to smoke as someone who earns more than $90,000.

今日，高中同等学历的人群吸烟率（34.1%）是大学学历人群的三倍（3.6%）。一次测验发现收入6000~11999美元的人群吸烟率是收入超过90000美元人群的两倍。

Even 10 years ago, the “offensive and very strong” odor of a cigar prompted an aide in the Democratic representative Keith Ellison’s office to call the Capitol police on a congressman. Last year, the Republican House speaker, Paul Ryan, took pains to “detoxify” his predecessor’s office, a suite held by former speaker John Boehner. Boehner is a Camel smoker. He now sits on Reynolds’ board.

即使10年前，一支雪茄“冒犯而且强烈”的气味就让民主党代表Keith Ellison办公室里面的一名助理叫国会大厦警察对付一名国会议员。前年，共和党众议院议长Paul Ryan费尽心思给他前任John Boehner用过的办公室“消毒”。Boehner是骆驼牌的拥趸，现在是雷诺兹的董事。

Tobacco companies don’t spend as much money lobbying Congress as they once did. They spent $72m trying to persuade lawmakers to see their perspective in 1998, compared to $19m in 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

烟草公司在游说国会上花的钱没有以前那么多。1998年它们花了7200万美元尝试让法律制定者看见它们的观点，2016年是1900万美元，根据快速响应政治中心。

But they have not abandoned political spending. They have shifted strategies.

但是它们没有抛弃政治方面的开支。它们稍稍改变了战略。

Last year, Altria and RJ Reynolds spent $71.3m in California trying beat back a cigarette tax hike referendum. They failed there, but succeeded elsewhere. In North Dakota, tobacco companies spent more than $5 for every man, woman and child in the state, $4m altogether, and convinced voters to reject the tax. They also succeeded in Colorado, where they spent $7m.

前年，奥驰亚和雷诺兹在加利福尼亚州花了7130万美元尝试击退一次大幅提高烟草税的全民投票。那里它们失败了，但别处它们成功了。在北达科他州，烟草公司平均在该州的每个男人、女人和小孩身上花了5美元，总计400万美元，说服了投票者拒绝该税率。它们在科罗拉多州也成功了，在那里它们花了700万美元。

States were awarded billions in damages from tobacco companies in recognition of the public health consequences. Yet they largely fail to spend the money they were awarded to prevent smoking. States collected $26.6bn from tobacco settlements in 2016, but spent only 1.8% on smoking prevention, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Tobacco companies, by comparison, spend $9.1bn a year on marketing, or $1m an hour, according to an analysis of Federal Trade Commission data.

许多州因为烟草公司承认对公共卫生造成损害从它们那里获得了数十亿美元。但这些州用这笔钱预防吸烟的努力很大程度上失败了。2016年这些州从烟草公司获得了266亿美元，但是仅仅用1.8%的部分预防吸烟，根据儿童无烟运动。相比较，烟草公司每年在营销上支出91亿美元，或者每小时100万美元，根据联邦贸易委员会数据的分析。

North Carolina, America’s dominant tobacco-producing state, receives $139m annually from such tobacco settlements. Initially, the state set up three trust funds to spend that money: one to prevent smoking, one to help rural communities hit by a decline in smoking and one to help tobacco farmers.

北卡罗来纳州，美国领先的烟草生产州，每年从烟草公司获得1亿3900万美元的补偿。最初，这个州设立了三个信托基金消费这笔钱，一个预防吸烟，一个扶持因吸烟减少受损的乡村社区，一个扶持烟农。

The fund to prevent smoking was dismantled in 2011; all of that money was sucked into the state’s general fund. However, lawmakers allowed the settlement to continue to fund tobacco growing efforts.

2011年预防吸烟的基金被取消了；这些钱并入州的总预算。但是，法律制定者允许补偿金用于烟草种植活动。

Between 2000 and 2004, another $41m of North Carolina’s tobacco settlement went to retrofit tobacco curing barns, a move that researchers called “arguably counter-productive to tobacco control”, and which some farmers believed was at the behest of tobacco manufacturers.

2000年到2004年，北卡罗来纳州用4100万美元的烟草补偿金改进烟草烤房，被研究员称为“可以说是与烟草控制南辕北辙”。而且一些农民相信这是应烟草制造商的要求。

“From our very first day, there was a constant struggle with the legislature,” said Vandana Shah, the first policy director of the tobacco use prevention fund in North Carolina. She now works for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “I’d be doing the rounds of begging and pleading that they don’t take our money away, and explaining the value of the program.”

“从我们存在的第一天开始，就有与立法机关的斗争，” Vandana Shah，北卡罗来纳州吸烟预防基金首位政策主管说。现在她为儿童无烟运动工作。“我总是处于这样一个循环中，请求他们不要拿走我们的钱，并解释项目的价值。”

Winston-Salem, AKA ‘Camel City’

温斯顿—塞勒姆，AKA“骆驼城”

Reynolds American’s hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has developed a relatively strict tobacco policy. An after-dinner cigarette in “Camel City” must be smoked outside, and finding a hotel room to smoke in is a significant task.

雷诺兹美国的故乡温斯顿—塞勒姆，北卡罗来纳州，已经发展出一种相当严格的烟草政策。在“骆驼城”的一顿饭后烟必须在外面吸，而且找一处宾馆房间吸烟是个相当难的事。

The regulations are reflective of how cities have handled smoking in recent years. Even Reynolds employees who smoke must use smoking lounges away from their colleagues.

这些条例是近年来许多城市怎样对待香烟的反映。甚至雷诺兹雇员也必须在远离同事的吸烟室吞云吐雾。

Tobacco companies, said Gayle Anderson, the head of the Winston-Salem chamber of commerce, “really didn’t fight these laws at all … There just didn’t seem to be that kind of pushback.” She worked for Reynolds from 1976 to 1987.

烟草公司，根据Gayle Anderson，温斯顿—塞勒姆商会的领导人说，“压根不会对抗这些法律……没有成为某种阻力的可能。”她在1976年到1987年为雷诺兹烟草工作。

Once North Carolina’s largest city, Winston-Salem enjoyed a golden era on Reynolds’ wealth. “The moneyed families that ran the factories and mills shared their wealth with the community, endowing it with high schools, auditoriums, hospitals, stadiums, parks and recreational facilities bearing their names,” the local history From Tobacco to Technology said about the 1930s. “Their executives chaired the charities and the capital campaigns to raise money needed to achieve the community’s objections, be it a new terminal at the airport, an arts council for the city or assistance in relocating a college to the city.”

曾是北卡罗来纳州最大的城市，温斯顿—塞勒姆因为雷诺兹的财富享受了一次黄金时代。“拥有工厂的富裕家庭与社区分享他们的财富，在社区修建高中、礼堂、医院、体育馆、公园和娱乐措施，以他们的名字命名。”当地历史《从烟草到科技》提到了20世纪30年代.“那些执行官担任慈善机构以及为完成社区目标所进行的募捐会的负责人，为机场修建新的航站楼，为城市组建艺术委员会，协助一座大学搬迁至本市。”

Reynolds still employs about 5,000 people in Winston-Salem, according to Anderson. For many years the notion was: “If you could get in at Reynolds, you were set for life,” she said.

雷诺兹在温斯顿—塞勒姆仍然有约5000名雇员，根据Anderson。很多年来有这样一个观念：“只要你进了雷诺兹，就可以高枕无忧了。”她说。

Reynolds recently donated a 70,000 sq ft, immaculately maintained research facility to the town for redevelopment. Reynolds, Anderson said, “is still probably the single largest philanthropic company”.

雷诺兹最近为镇子的再开发捐赠了一座70000平方英尺维持良好的研究中心。雷诺兹，据Anderson说，“可能仍是最博爱的公司。”

“I can’t imagine how many hundreds of millions of dollars that’s worth,” said Anderson. “They’re benevolent and care a lot about the community, but it’s more like a partnership.” If Reynolds were to ever leave, “it would be a real blow to our ego, for sure”.

“我无法想象这值多少亿的美元。”Anderson说。“他们热衷慈善而且关心社区，但这更像是合作关系。”如果雷诺兹要离开，“这对我们的自尊无疑是个打击。”



Tobacco grows on state highway 222/111 outside Dudley, North Carolina. Photograph: Justin Cook for the Guardian

在州222/111公路旁边生长的烟草，达德利，北卡罗来纳。

‘We’re down here getting sick, going hungry’

“我们在这里生病挨饿”

If the company is seen by some as benevolent, that does not necessarily translate to automatic financial security for farmers and their workers. One twentysomething farmer stood by a running tractor as he described the start of each tobacco season in eastern North Carolina. It begins, he said, “with a loan from the bank that you don’t know if you’re gonna pay back”.

即使公司被一些人视为是博爱的，这不一定意味着为它工作的农民和工人有必然的财务安全。一名20多岁的农民站在一辆运转中的拖拉机旁边，描绘北卡罗来纳州烟草种植的开始。它这样开始，他说：“以一笔从银行来的你不知道是否能偿还的贷款。”

He started cutting tobacco in a friend’s field when he was about eight years old, the farmer said. As he smoked a Camel menthol, he acknowledged: “I shouldn’t, as much shit as I spray on it.”

他从8岁起开始在一个朋友的田里收割烟草。他吸骆驼牌薄荷脑，他承认：“我不该干这事，我吐了多少烟，脑里就进了多少屎。”

For farmers, the tobacco system has changed considerably since the 1990s. Auctions are obsolete. Now, farmers contract directly with cigarette manufacturers or leaf buyers. This farmer’s entire crop is contracted to Alliance One, one of two major leaf companies.

对于农民，烟草系统相比20世纪90年代变化很大。拍卖绝迹了。现在农民直接与烟草制造商或者烟叶收购商签合同。这名农民的全部收成都签给了Alliance One，两家主要的烟叶公司之一。

Labor disputes are common here. Farmers can face cash shortfalls mid-season, making it difficult to pay workers on time. Farm laborers have no collective bargaining rights in the US, and child labor is legal on farms. Children as young as 12 can start working unlimited hours outside of school, and children of any age can work on a family-owned tobacco farm.

劳工纠纷在这里是普遍的。农民在种植中期会遇到现金短缺，让准时雇佣工人变得困难。在美国农场劳工没有集体谈判权，而且在农场工作的童工是合法的。12岁的儿童能在学校外无期限地工作，任何年龄的儿童都能在自家经营的烟草农场工作。

With only a handful of companies left to sell to – Philip Morris International, Altria, BAT, Japan Tobacco International and two leaf buyers who serve the same companies – farmers feel at the behest of tobacco companies, those interviewed by the Guardian said. This year, some tobacco buyers didn’t offer farmers formal contracts until spring, when tobacco was already growing in greenhouses.

这里能做交易的公司屈指可数——菲利普莫里斯国际，奥驰亚、BAT、日本烟草国际以及为这些公司服务的两家烟叶收购商。被卫报采访的农民们觉得他们仿佛是在根据公司的命令行事。这一年，一些烟草收购商直到春天才提供正式的合同，那时候烟草已经在温室中生长了。

Nevertheless, after a long fight with the Mount Olive Pickle Company, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (Floc) secured a collective bargaining agreement with farmers in the North Carolina Growers Association. Several tobacco companies used farmers in the association, thus some tobacco workers were also covered. Last year alone, Floc handled around 500 total labor complaints, often for wage violations. But their influence is small: the union represents just 7% of North Carolina’s 100,000 workers.

然而，经过一次和橄榄山泡菜公司的长期斗争后，农场劳工组织委员会（Farm Labor Organizing Committee，FLOC）争取到同北卡罗来纳州种植户协会的集体谈判权。一些烟草公司使用协会的农民，因此一些烟草工人也受益。单单前年，FLOC处理了约500次劳工投诉,经常是薪资违约。但他们的力量微小：它仅仅代表北卡罗来纳州100000名劳工的7%。

The group has asked BAT to recognize a right to organize for all farm workers worldwide, and blames low pay for frequent disputes.

该组织已经要求BAT承认其组织世界上所有农场劳工的权力，而且将频繁的劳工纠纷归咎于低下的报酬。

“I think they should pay more,” said Sintia Castillo, a labor organizer for Floc, whose accent reflects her heritage. Some words come out North Carolina country, others with a snap of second-generation Spanish. “You’re rolling in money at the top, and we’re down here getting sick, going hungry.”

“我认为他们应该付出更多。” Sintia Castillo，FLOC的一名劳工组织者说。她的口音反映了她的传承。一些单词来自北卡罗来纳州，另一些带有二代西班牙语的噼啪声。”你们身居高位在钱堆里打滚，而我们在这里生病挨饿。”

Castillo has six brothers and sisters, and started working in the fields with her family at age seven. She moved to tobacco around 13 and into packing houses at 18. Now she’s 24, a woman whose work has acquainted her with the paradox of organizing people without rights.

Castillo有六个兄弟姐妹，在7岁时开始和家人们在田间工作。13岁转入烟草工作而且在18岁进入包装厂。现在她24岁，她的工作让她认识到有组织的人们没有权力这个荒谬的事情。

“There’s been times I fire people up, and then they get fired,” she said.

“有几次我鼓舞了人们去抗争，然后他们被解雇了。”她说。



Catherine Crowe, 23, and Sintia Castillo, 24, who work with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (Floc). Photograph: Justin Cook for the Guardian

Catherine Crowe，23岁，以及Sintia Castillo，24岁，她们为农场劳工组织委员会（Farm Labor Organizing Committee，FLOC）工作

She tells a story about Brent Jackson, a state senator and tobacco farmer. Jackson was forced to repay several thousand dollars in back wages after he was sued in federal court by zs. The union then alleged he “blacklisted” the seven farmworkers. Jackson pulled out of the growers association.

她讲了一个与Brent Jackson有关的故事，他是一名州参议院和烟草农民。Jackson在被一群外来工人起诉到联邦法院后不得不支付几千美元的拖欠工资。工会声称他“拉黑”了七名农场劳工。Jackson退出了种植户协会。

Last week, he sponsored a bill to make it illegal for farmers to deduct union dues from paychecks, or for growers to end a dispute with farmworkers by signing a union contract. The bill is currently on the governor’s desk. Campaign finance records show Jackson received $9,400 in donations from tobacco companies.

上周，他支持了一项法案，禁止农民在农场工人的薪水中扣除工会会费，或者用签订工会合同的方式解决劳工纠纷。现在法案正被政府考虑中。活动财政记录显示Jackson从烟草公司接受了9400美元的捐款。

“Child labor exists because of poverty wages. There’s no way that a family can live off of $7.25 per hour,” said Catherine Crowe, an organizer with Floc. Forcing children not to work without increasing wages, the union contends, would only leave struggling families worse off.

“因为低工资儿童不得不出去工作。一个家庭无论如何都不可能靠7.25美元每小时的工资维持下去。” Catherine Crowe,，FLOC的一名组织者说。工会主张的童工工资不增加儿童就不去工作只会让挣扎求生的家庭更加恶化。

Philip Morris International and Alliance One have said they do not buy tobacco from farms that employ children under 18 for most tasks and, in general, tobacco companies have said growers are “not our employees”. Nevertheless, tobacco company audits have identified many instances of child labor in the supply chain.

菲利普莫里斯国际和Alliance One已经说它们不会从雇佣年龄低于18岁的童工作主力的农民那里收购烟叶。总之，烟草公司说农民“不是我们的雇员”。然而，对烟草公司的审计已经发现了供应链中许多童工例子。

In the past, Crowe and Castillo said, BAT has shown more willingness to work with the organizing committee, promising to encourage Reynolds to listen to union demands. As for how the unified company will act in the future: “That,” said Crowe, “is the question.”

过去，Crowe和Castillo说，BAT已经展现了更多诚意与有组织的委员会合作，承诺鼓励雷诺兹聆听工会意见。至于统一后的公司未来会怎么做：“这是个问题。”Crowe说。

●This article was amended on 13 July 2017 to clarify Vandana Shah’s position with the North Carolina tobacco use prevention fund.

本文章在2017年6月13日被修正过，为了澄清Vandana Shah在北卡罗来纳州吸烟预防基金的职务。



推荐数前四的评论及其讨论：

第一条：
kthyregod 5d ago
..., the sad reality, which is America of today!

……，悲惨的真相，这就是今日的美国！

Mostly everything is for profit first and foremost - making people sick for profit, helping people get well for profit, education for profit, government for profit, policies for profit, legislation for profit, foreign relations for profit, defense

大多数事情都是利润当先——为了利润让人生病，为了利润给人治病，为了利润的教育，为了利润的政府，为了利润的政策，为了利润的立法、外交和国防。

ThatFootIsMe kthyregod 5d ago
Yet this is a British company.

但那是个英国公司。

Machunny>kthyregod 5d ago
You are so very right. If it doesn't come with a hefty profit it isn't worth doing. That's why our schools, prisons, and health care are failing--it's so hard to make a profit off of those things. Putting school supplies on the backs of underpaid teachers, cutting back nurses and making them work longer hours, and keeping prisoners in longer to make electronics for private companies for cents an hour--it's hard to maintain a healthy profit margin on the backs of people who already have so little. Yet they keep trying.

你是对的。无利可图就不值得去做。这就是我们学校、监狱和医疗正在走下坡的原因——从它们身上赚钱太难了。靠低工资的教师维持教育，削减护士数量让她们工作更长时间，把囚犯关押更久为了给私营公司以每小时几分的酬劳生产电子设备——在几乎一无所有的人们身上获取医疗利润是很难的，但他们依然去做。

Tom Heeks ThatFootIsMe 5d ago
Operating in the States under US law. I expect they are as British as they come, until it's time to pay tax here.

这就是行美国法律的州的运转。我觉得他们本来就是英国人，直到该缴税的时候就变成美国人了（neta波士顿倾茶）。

Pa_Cojones kthyregod 4d ago
the sad reality, which is America of today!
What a fucking idiot. So, British tobacco companies are upstanding, pay their taxes and contribute to society?

多棒的傻瓜!难道英国烟草公司就是圣洁的，乖乖缴税而且贡献社会？

It's just that the information in this article is much more readily accessible in the US than here. And the Guardian is lazy and cheap by not doing the same investigations in the UK.

仅仅是因为文章中的信息在美国比这里更容易获取。卫报既懒惰又小气不在英国做同样的调查而已。

Brickyardjimmy kthyregod 4d ago
I'd even look beyond pure profit into the galactic need for growth as the chief enemy. It's a bit different than profits in that publicly traded companies can't just show profitability to keep their stock price moving--they have to demonstrate the potential for great growth. In mature categories with brands that already have significant market share, the potential for growth gets harder and harder to demonstrate. Many brands and companies start doing funky and detrimental things to their products, workforces and, ultimately, consumers. And you can apply those same sins to what Trump has planned for deregulation and other billionaire business friendly policies he's trying to cram down everyone's throats. Those are, more or less, all attempts to, yes, put much more money in the pockets of people and institutions that are already crammed full of wealth but they are probably more focused on creating upward movement in the GDP because that radically alters the fortunes of the stock market as well as artificially goosing the economy. But it comes at a cost.

我甚至认为将单纯的利润发展成无止尽的对增长的要求是罪大恶极的。在上市公司中利润与我们一般认为的意义有所不同，不能仅仅表现出能抬升股价的盈利——他们必须论证有利润增长的可能性。在成熟的已经由几家品牌瓜分的市场中，增长变得越来越困难。许多品牌和公司开始对它们的产品、雇工以及最终的，顾客做出龌龊事。而且你能推广到特朗普计划的解除管制和其它强推的有利于亿万富翁的政策。这些或多或少尝试再向富裕的人们和机构输出财富，而且他们将注意力移到让GDP上涨去了，因为这些根本上改变了股票市场的机会而且人为地提振经济。但从来没有白吃的午餐。

When you hear conservatives screaming about the need for austerity measures these days and the need for balanced budgets and cost-cutting and so forth, they do so under the false but easily defendable pretense that this is an ideological approach based on rational, conservative economic principles but the truth is that, say, stripping the NHS budget down to its bones, is a way of artificially demonstrating growth. Notice that when they talk about budget cuts, they typically come at the expense of ordinary people. They don't talk about cutting military budgets or other big industrial expenses because that's wealth that flows directly into the profit systems of large industrial corporations. Much better to cut budgets that incrementally hit individuals for a pound here and a pound there. For the most of us, it's a gradual death by a thousand tiny bites.

这些天以来保守党鼓噪财政紧缩、预算平衡和削减开支等等的必要性，他们利用一个错误但容易辩护的借口，说这是一个基于理性的保守经济法则的意识形态的方法。实际上，将英国国民健康保险制度的预算砍到底，算是个人为的展现增长的方法。注意他们谈论的削减预算，就是攻击在普通人民身上的开销。他们不说削减军费或者大工业的费用因为这些钱都流向大工业公司那里去了。从普通人身上一磅一磅地削减开支更好，积少成多。对我们大多数人，这是让我们流血至死。

第二条：
Atlant 5d ago 
Much of America's politics and profits both depend upon keeping people ignorant and addicted.

美国的许多政治和利润都依赖于让人民变得无知和成瘾。

Addicted to cigarettes, addicted to racism, addicted to misogyny, addicted to hatred of gays, addicted to hatred of the better educated, you name it, it's the same mechanisms that prop up Big Tobacco and Donald Trump.

烟草成瘾，种族歧视成瘾，清教徒式性生活成瘾，同性恋歧视成瘾，仇视教育成瘾，诸如此类，这也是支撑大烟草公司和特朗普的机制。

Over a few decades, education could cure most of these ills (which is why Republicans strongly oppose free public education and now, no longer trust higher education).

只要接受十几年的教育就能治好大部分这类病（这也是为什么共和党强烈反对免费公立教育以及不信任高等教育）。

bob232  Atlant 5d ago
You can't really believe all that nonsense.

你不会真相信这些胡言乱语把。

Atlant  bob232 5d ago
You can't really believe all that nonsense.
What a witty rebuttal! Truly, I'm overwhelmed by your intellect!

多么机智的回击！我无话可说！

Ryan24  bob232 5d ago
bob, the evidence is in the actions, not the words of the GOP. while i don't think that most GOP see education as a dangerous tool, they do seem to see it as 'fluff'...particularly when tax dollars can be used to support private schools with private agendas through vouchers. that's the best of both worlds for them, use the tax base for ONLY their OWN children.

bob，证据在行动中，不在共和党的宣传里。我不认为大多数共和党视教育为危险工具，他们似乎视其为“鸡毛蒜皮”……特别是当税金可以利用私人议程通过凭证资助私立学校。这对两个世界都好，仅仅为他们自己的小孩使用税金。

it is hard to ignore that the GOP has been waging a war on the little guy for a very long time. and even harder to understand people voting for ethereal 'values' over economic interests...when the former largely don't come to pass (flag burning statutes, wipe out sexual orientation as protected class) but the later we see in tax code, legal decisions (Citizens United), and lobbying induced loopholes of an outrageous nature (Republican ACA with an amendment to give huge tax breaks to CEOs of healthcare companys...what??!!).

很难对共和党长期以来对小国发动战争的行为装不知道，更难理解投票支持关于经济利益的缥缈的“价值”（估计是自由市场之类）的人们……奥巴马的提案死活通不过（烧国旗条例、消灭性取向课程），但是特朗普，我们看见了免税代码、法律决定（公民联盟），以及导致吃相难看的漏洞的游说（共和党ACA通过了一项修正案给予医疗保健公司巨额的税收减免，什么鬼？？！！）

DeltaFoxWhiskyMike  Ryan24 5d ago
"Education" means "indoctrination" to the Democrats these days, who see every slacker class as privileged except the little guy they profess to support. If only he would get his mind straight. Damned Deplorables! 

目前“教育”意味着“灌输”民主党理念，民主党把所有懒虫阶级养得舒舒服服的除了他们公开支持的小家伙。只要他让自己的神智变正常了。真是可悲！

Protected classes means everybody but the nameless faceless hillbilly redneck targets of Guardian wrath. They elected a damned game show host instead of the most qualified candidate since Thomas Jefferson. 

除了发不出声音的乡下红脖子，卫报发泄怒火的靶子，所有人都是被保护阶级。他们竟然让一个挨千刀的竞赛节目主持人挤走了一名托马斯·杰斐逊之后最好的候选人。

Hillary had custom tailored programs and windmills and everything for them to secure their votes, unntil the dastardly Russians or somebody let slip that she had competing and contradictory programs depending on who her audience was. 

希拉里拥有定制的项目、宣传机器和任何确保选票的东西，直到卑鄙的俄罗斯人或者某个家伙泄露她只是见人说人话见鬼说鬼话而已。

So the damned tobacco chewing coal miners and their tobacco chewing coal miners daughters (cue banjo music) decided that the Democrats concerns about their values and economic interests were little more than focus group platitudes based on identity politics. And Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania voted for Trump. 

所以愚蠢的嚼烟草的煤矿工人和他同样嚼烟草的女儿们（提示五弦琴音乐）决定了民主党对他们价值观和经济利益的关心最多不过出于身份政治的一堆陈词滥调。而且肯塔基、俄亥俄、西弗吉尼和宾夕法尼亚都投了特朗普。

That you think their values are ethereal and put the word values in quotes is a clue that your concern is condescending and mostly contrived to get votes. They know that.

你认为他们的价值观是缥缈的而且你括号里的话都反映了你的关心只是为了表现优越感和赢得选票。他们也知道。

Atlant  DeltaFoxWhiskyMike 5d ago
"Education" means "indoctrination" to the Democrats these days, ...
Well, I suppose that's true if you think it's indoctrination to teach everyone in America that smoking is bad for their bodies and bad for their wallets.

好吧，我猜测你认为教育美国人吸烟有害身体和钱包是洗脑。

Or that it's indoctrination to teach that every American citizen, no matter the color of their skin, has the same rights.

无论何种族裔人人享有相同权力也是洗脑。

Or that it's indoctrination to teach that men have no inherent authority over women merely because they are men.

男女平等也是洗脑。

Or that it's indoctrination to teach that some people, even though born to two heterosexual parents, someone end up being sexually attracted to members of their own sex and that that's not a reason to (for example) tie them to a fence and beat them to death.

即使生于父母均为异性恋的家庭，同性恋者应有追求同性的权力而且不该（比如）因此被捆在栏杆上被击致死也是洗脑。

Yeah, I can see how you might construe all this as "indoctrination".

哈。我能想象到你如何把这些解释成“洗脑”。

I prefer to construe it as good sense and good morality.

我更觉得你只是自我感觉和自我道德良好而已。

DeltaFoxWhiskyMike  Atlant 5d ago
Most people are perfectly fine with "live and let live." What they are less fine with is the indoctrination and enforcement by the authoritarian know-it-alls who go well beyond tolerance and start mandating common beliefs. 
You seem intent on being one of those, since you love telling others what to do. 
How about letting others develop their own good sense and good morality, and you manage your own.

大部分人更喜欢“宽容待人”。他们不太喜欢被一个全知全能的认为自己超越宽容和构建共识的权威灌输理念和强制执行。
你似乎想成为其中一员，因为你喜欢告诉别人该做什么。
别人管别人的，你管你的。

Atlant  DeltaFoxWhiskyMike 5d ago 
Most people are perfectly fine with "live and let live." What they are less fine with is the indoctrination and enforcement by the authoritarian know-it-alls who go well beyond tolerance and start mandating common beliefs.
Quite honestly, if you disagree with any of the precepts I cited above, I WANT my government to exert its authority over you because you're taking a morally indefensible stance.

真实诚，如果你不认可我引用的戒律中的任何一条，我希望政府请你喝杯茶，因为你在道德上立场错误。

bob232  Atlant 5d ago 
It wasn't meant to be witty. Look, Americans have had free public education up to 18 for much longer than anyone else and spend more on it than most other countries. They have more repressive anti smoking laws. They have had years of positive discrimination laws in force in employment, housing and education. And as for racism in politics it was the democrats who spent years frustrating civil rights laws because their voters came from the Deep South. Your post was just a lot of silly rubbish.

不是这样。看，美国人接受免费公立教育直到18岁，比其它国家的人都长，而且这方面的开支比其他国家都多。他们有更多严格的反烟法律。他们在就业、住房和教育上有多年的积极鉴别法律。至于政治中的种族歧视，是长年阻挠公民权法律的民主党员（其实是共和党？）的锅，因为他们的支持者来自美国深南部。你贴的东西完全是胡说八道。

WideandStarrySkies  bob232 5d ago
As Jesus said, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." The Book of the Apostle Matthew 6:20

如耶稣所说，“因为他们的果子你们应该认识他们。”马太福音6：20.

There is a reason we people in the Southern states lead in infant deaths and mother death rates. We are mired in a slough of medi beliefs, the lies of Prosperity Gospel pastors, and the everlasting all-American racism and hatred against the poor.

我们这些南部州人民在婴儿死亡率和产妇死亡率上遥遥领先是有原因的。我们深深陷于由中世纪信仰、繁荣福音牧师的谎言和无休无止的种族歧视和仇视穷人组成的泥淖中。

I say this as a proud white , working-class Southerner. And I still love my Trump-voting older relatives who---after all these years--- are spitting-mad about Brown v Board of Education de-segregating schools.

我以一个自豪的南部工人阶级白人说这些话。而且我仍然爱着投给特朗普的老年亲戚，即使过了这么多年，他们仍然对布朗诉托皮卡教育局案嗤之以鼻。

I am praying these older relatives do not lose their Medicaid and Medicare and Social Security under Trump---- who they still love!

我祈祷他们不会因为特朗普失去医疗补助和医疗保险以及社会保险——他们仍然爱他！

Most of my Southern White friends are, like me, coping with delusional Trump-voting older family members. They refuse to see that a vote for Trump was a vote against their own children and grandchildren's health and future.

大多数南部白人朋友，像我，应付着对特朗普痴心妄想的老年家庭成员。他们拒绝相信投票支持特朗普是在与儿女和孙辈的健康和未来作对。

Ryan24  DeltaFoxWhiskyMike 5d ago
You're following a president who is tearing down years of social policy, programs, and progressive values (like protecting the environment). I understand that's "OK" because he's a conservative and all...but really, it is not accurate to suggest I'm patronizing you or anyone else with my comments.

你正在追随一个正在摧毁经年累月的社会政策、项目和进步价值观（比如环保）的总统。我理解这很OK因为他是保守派等等……但实际上，我无意以长者身份教育你和其他与我评论有关的人。

trump is the last thing this country needs...and his election is a disgrace to the majority of americans. the democrats put forth an uninspiring candidate and the voting reflected that.

特朗普是美国最不需要的东西……他的当选是美国大部分人的耻辱。民主党推出了一个并不出彩的候选人，大选结果也反映了这一点。

but alot of your other comments are no better than fox talking points. you can't be a thinking person and support trump. i admit that sounds narrow minded, but it is also true. if you look at his policies, social views, and temperament, they are all regressive.

但是你的评论不会说得比福克斯更好。你没能成为一个理智的人竟然支持特朗普。我承认这听起来心胸狭窄，但这是事实。你看看他的政策、社会观点和性格，统统是倒退的。

people disliked Obama for imagined infractions "he's going to take away your guns"....

人们因为奥巴马没做过的事情讨厌他，“他要拿走我们的枪……。”

people dislike Trump for his words and actions.

人们因为特朗普的所作所为讨厌他。

i pray midterms throw a wrench in this ugly republican agenda and send a clear message to the people who think trump is "america", patriotic, or otherwise a valid expression of who we are in this country.

我祈祷中期选举将给共和党的丑陋议程一次教训而且向认为特朗普够“美国”、爱国和能代表人民的人传递正确的信息。

DeltaFoxWhiskyMike  Ryan24 5d ago
People disliked Obama and dislike Trump because their candidate lost to them. 

人们讨厌奥巴马和特朗普是因为他们喜欢的人没当上总统。

The Democrats are losing the interim elections because their only issue is their dislike for Trump. They need better issues and better candidates, or they will continue to lose ground. 
Who you are has to be more than who you are not. Insulting Trump supporters is clever but insanely counterproductive. Deplorable commentary cost Clinton millions of pissed off voters. I am a thinking person, and I think your comments are condescending, insulting twaddle. 

民主党失去临时选举是因为他们的陈述是对特朗普的厌恶。他们需要更好的陈诉和候选人，或者继续失败。你是谁比你不是谁更重要。侮辱特朗普支持者很滑头但完全适得其反。可怜的评论文章让克林顿失去了数百万失望的选民。我很理智，而且认为你的评论是盛气凌人的侮辱人的废话。

"Fox" is a talking point, by the way, and a BS Bingo square.

“Fox”是个要点，另外，有个BS宾果广场。

Ryan24  DeltaFoxWhiskyMike 4d ago
you are incomprehensible. i hope your lingo doesn't suggest you have a pilot's license, because you shouldn't be anywhere near the flight line.

你真是不可理喻。我希望你的行话不表示你有飞行执照，因为你应该远离任何飞行航线。

now I am being condescending and it is well deserved.

现在我是居高临下的，这也是我应得的。

DeltaFoxWhiskyMike  Ryan24 4d ago
You are the perfect example of why people are rejecting the Democratic Party sales pitches and staying home Election Day. You have nothing to offer but insults. Why would anybody vote for that? Unprofessional and unappealing. Have a nice day.

你就是一个为什么人们拒绝民主党宣传而且投票日呆家里不动的生动例子。你除了侮辱别人外什么也没做。为什么有人支持你？既不专业也不有趣。祝你今天愉快。

Brendan Weakliam  DeltaFoxWhiskyMike 4d ago
What would you suggest as an alternative?

你能建议别的选择吗？

DeltaFoxWhiskyMike  Brendan Weakliam 4d ago
Nothing. People are opting for anything else, and as a beneficiary of that avoidance, I say press on! Call out and blame and shame those gosh darn Deplorables until they see the light! By next election Hillary will have another $2 Billion to run once more and be ready to take her place on Mount Rushmore. 

没有。人们可以选择任何他们想要的，作为这种逃避的一名受益者，我要说请继续！叫喊、责备、羞辱那些该死的人直到转机到来！下次选举希拉里将额外获得20亿美元而且准备好在总统山留下一席之地了。

It's all good and getting gooder.

一切都好而且越来越好。

suddenoakdeath  Brendan Weakliam 4d ago
She simply has no alternative except the one she voted for, Donald Trump.

她投特朗普仅仅是因为没得选。

第三条：
Mags Smith 5d ago
It looks like democracy no longer exists in the US. It's a pretence. Big business runs the show and has a cloak called 'elections'.

美国好像不再存在民主了。那是假的。大公司运营一个美名其曰“选举”的表演。

DeltaFoxWhiskyMike  Mags Smith 5d ago
Democracies and even Representative Republics apparently are far, far, far too important to be left to elections these days. The voters don't know what is good for them and constantly vote against their own best interests. 

目前选举很明显被过于重要地被认为决定民主甚至共和制度了。选民不知道什么对于他们是好的而且不断地投票反对他们最好的利益。
Harrumph!

我装得像不像？

circuit  Mags Smith 5d ago
The US is a Corporate Oligarchy.

美国是由公司寡头统治的国家。

DeltaFoxWhiskyMike  circuit 5d ago
Because Hillary Clinton lost?

因为希拉里输了？

Tony Hatch  DeltaFoxWhiskyMike 4d ago
No, because it is.

不，事实如此。

Clinton is irrelevant.

不关希拉里的事。

circuit  DeltaFoxWhiskyMike 4d ago
No. It's been one for some time.

不。很久以来就这样了。

第四条：
minotaur 5d ago
The 19th Century is alive and well in the USA and this is where the Tories want to take us in the UK. Unionisation has declined from 50% of the workforce to less than half of that. Without union protection people have no power to resist the constant depradations of capital and the organisations and people who own it.

19世纪的制度仍在美国存在而且运转良好，这也是保守党想带给英国的。工会已经无法代表一半的雇员或者更糟。没有工会的保护人们无法对抗资本时时刻刻的掠夺（depredation）以及图谋不轨的组织及其拥有者。

The USA has a long history of extreme violence being used against workers who organise and a history of passing the harshest laws in the indutrialised West. These are the people who are funding Policy Exchange, the Henry Jackson Foundation, and other 'Think-Tanks', behind a cloak of anonymity.

在西方工业化（industrialized）国家中美国拥有对有组织的工人使用极端暴力和通过严苛法律的悠久传统。资助权钱交易的人有亨利·杰克逊基金会以及各色“智囊”，躲在匿名的庇护下。

I would not be a supporter of Putin or his actions and policies, he is a murdering thug. But he did pass one law that we should see passed here: All organisations in Russia in receipt of foreign funding have to declare the amount and the origins of those funds and we should have an identical law in the UK.

我无意支持普京和他的行动及政策，他是个杀人犯。但是他通过了一项我们也该通过的法律：俄罗斯所有接受外国资金的组织必须公开资金数目和来源，英国应该有一样的法律。

The activities of the lobbyists in the corrupt, bought and paid for, US political system are vile, but at least they are public and traceable, unlike our pristine and incorruptible 'Mother of Parliaments'. Of course our system is just as corrupt as that of the US but it takes place behing firmly closed doors and nobody is allowed to peek in.

腐败的游说者活动，权钱交易，美国的政治系统是卑鄙无耻的，但至少有迹可循。不像我们“议会之母”英国那样“纯洁”和“清廉”。当然我们的系统和美国一样腐败，只是它们发生在紧闭的大门后无人看见而已。

Ryan24  minotaur 5d ago
i don't think you have to worry. the tories, are not nearly as bad as what we deal with over here. i used to laugh listening to cameron. he wouldn't be electable in the US. too moderate. that should give you a sense of how bad it is here.

我认为你不必担心。保守党不像我们这里的政党那样坏。我曾经边听卡梅伦讲话边笑，他在美国压根没有竞选资格。他太稳健了。这能让你感觉到我们这有多糟糕。

no, you folks need to remain vigilant, but the culture over there is generally simply more moderate and progressive. lucky you.

不，你们需要保持警惕，但是你们那里的文化总体上更稳健更进步，你很走运。