【经济学人】飞机上还还能使用大点的电子设备吗？丨2017.05.18丨总第917期

THE fear that business travellers on transatlantic flights might have to stop working on spreadsheets and read a good book instead had been palpable. In recent weeks, agents at America’s Department of Homeland Security had been hinting to the media that a ban on large electronic devices in the cabins of flights between Europe and America was likely. After a meeting on May 17th in Brussels, between American and EU officials, however, reports suggest that threat has been averted. Airlines will be rejoicing if so.

现在有一种担忧甚嚣尘上：商务旅客在跨大西洋的航班上恐怕有可能只能读书而不能使用笔记本电脑办公了。最近几个星期，美国国土安全部的工作人员一直暗示媒体说，很有可能会禁止在往返欧洲和美国的航班上使用大型电子设备。不过，5月17日布鲁塞尔的美国和欧盟官员会议之后，会议报告中显示，为该信息担忧的人们可以松一口气了，特别是航空公司。

• spreadsheet： 电子表格

• palpabl：明显的显然的

America had been expected to announce that all electronic gadgets larger than a smartphone, such as tablets and laptops, would henceforth have to be put in hold luggage. The Trump administration (along with Britain) had already imposed similar restrictions on flights from some Middle Eastern countries in March. It seemed security officials had got wind of a specific terrorist threat, possibly involving Islamic State (IS), and perhaps similar to an attack perpetrated on a Somalian jet in 2016. Then, a terrorist blew a hole in the side of an airliner using a small bomb concealed in a laptop placed against the cabin wall. (The terrorist got his timing wrong, detonated too early, and was sucked to his doom; no one else was seriously hurt.)

早前就有人预计美国会宣布，今后所有比智能手机大的电子产品（如平板电脑和笔记本电脑）将必须办理托运。3月份特朗普当局（连同英国）就已经对一些中东国家的航班实施了类似的限制。很有可能是安全官员得到了关于恐怖主义威胁的密报，也许跟伊斯兰国（IS）有关，类似于2016年在索马里喷气机上发动的一次恐怖袭击事件，一名恐怖分子使用放置在机舱墙壁上的一颗隐藏在笔记本电脑中的小型炸弹在机身侧面炸开了一个洞。（恐怖分子弄错了时间，过早引爆，自己被吸出客机，没有其他人受到严重的伤害）

• get wind of：得到风声；风闻

• Perpetrate：vt. 犯下暴行

• Conceal：vt. 隐藏

• Detonate：vt. 使爆炸

The reason for the apparent change of mind was unclear as The Economist went to press. Airlines had complained that alternative security options, such as enhanced screening of passengers and their carry-on luggage, had not been fully explored. They also warned of the dangers of storing more lithium batteries in the hold. Such batteries, which are used in most electronic devices, have on occasion combusted and brought down commercial aircraft, including a UPS cargo plane in 2010. A controversy over whether Donald Trump gave classified information about the risk of IS using laptops against aircraft to Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, last week, may also have had an impact on the debate, and helped airlines to avoid a wider ban for now.（读者试译）

正如 《经济学人》一篇文章说的那样，意见改变的原因尚不清楚。航空公司曾抱怨说，其他安全方案，例如加强对乘客及其随身携带的行李的检查，这类措施尚未考虑周全。他们还警告了一次带有多块锂电池的危险性。这种在大多数电子设备中都会使用的电池有时会自燃而导致飞机迫降，比如2010年时的UPS货机。（期待您的翻译，明天将会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~）

• Lithium：n. 锂

• Combust：vt. 燃烧

• classified information：机密情报

• foreign minister：外交部长

They have good reason to worry about the possibility. The transatlantic market is hugely important on both sides of the pond. Around 31m people flew from Europe to America last year, reckons IATA, an airline industry group. Business travellers, who rely on staying productive while in the air, would have been the most reluctant to fly laptop-free. In any case, executives are often forbidden to put company computers in the hold for fear of theft or loss of sensitive information. Business- and first-class seats account for only 13% of transatlantic passengers but provide half the revenue. Following the ban in the Middle East, Emirates, a Dubai-based carrier, cut flights to America by a fifth (flyers were also put off by a strong dollar and worries about potential immigration difficulties).

他们有理由担心这种可能性。大西洋两岸的跨大西洋市场对两边都非常重要。据国际航空运输协会（一个航空业组织）的估计，去年约有三千一百万人从欧洲飞往美国。禁止携带笔记本电脑的禁令，对于那些即使在空中也忙碌的商务旅客是最不情愿的。无论如何，高管通常被禁止将公司的电脑离身，以免被窃取或丢失敏感信息。尽管商务舱和一等舱乘客只占跨大西洋旅客的13％，但其提供了航班一半的收入。继中东禁令之后，光迪拜的阿联酋航空公司去往美国的航班就减少了五分之一（航班也因强势美元而推迟，并担心潜在的移民困难）。

• IATA： 国际航空运输协会（International Air Transport Association）

• Emirates：阿联酋航空公司

If executives could not work on planes, it might cost the industries they work for around $655m in lost productivity, calculates IATA, based on an assumption that half of business-class passengers will lose five hours’ working time per flight. Research from Oxford Economics, a forecasting outfit, found that in Britain a 1% increase in business travel is associated with a £400m ($518m) boost to trade. John Kelly, America’s homeland-security secretary, had suggestions for business executives and families on how to cope with a laptop ban: read a book or magazine or, heaven forfend, talk to the kids. Such tactics may not now be needed.

据IATA（译者注：International Air Transport Association 国际航空运输协会）所估计，如果高管们在每一次飞行中都失去五小时的工作时间，那么他们效力的行业可能会因为这五个小时的空白时间损失大约6.55亿美元。牛津经济学研究公司（Oxford Economics，一家预测机构）的一项调查，发现在英国，每增长1％的商务旅游，就能增加4亿英镑（5.18亿美元）的交易额。 美国国土安全部长约翰·凯利（John Kelly）就业务主管和家庭提出了如何应对笔记本电脑禁令的建议：阅读一本书或杂志，或者实在不行可以与孩子交谈。但从现在来看，这些策略可能都不需要了。

• Forfend：vt. 避免

翻译 ▍c

审核 ▍妖精

图文编辑 ▍毛毛

责任编辑 ▍毛毛