《经济学人》（The Economist）是一份创办于1843年的英国杂志，主要关注政治和商业方面的新闻。它是英语专业学生课外阅读的必备刊物，更是考研英语命题小组最钟爱的题源，历年考研真题中几乎有一半的文章都选自《经济学人》。

Better fire prevention should be the memorial. ......Unbearable loss...... BRAZIL was supposed to be celebrating this week:

译文： 为防止悲剧再度上演，巴西应当完善防火措施。......生命中无法承受之失......本周，巴西本应是一个欢庆的海洋：

the first of the stadiums for next year's football World Cup staged a debut match and a party was planned to mark 500 days till kick-off. Instead the country is in mourning, the party cancelled.

译文： 首个为2014年巴西世界杯而专门建造的体育场将举行处女赛，而庆祝世界杯500天倒计时的狂欢也在筹备当中。恰恰相反，整个巴西现在陷入沉痛的悲哀之中，狂欢也取消了。

Early on January 27th a fire in a nightclub, Kiss, in Santa Maria, a university town in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, killed 235 people, mainly students. Most of the more than 100 injured are in a critical condition.

译文： 1月27日的早些时候，隶属巴西南部的南里奥格兰德州的大学城——圣玛丽亚市中心一家名为“吻”的夜总会发生火灾，导致235人死亡，其中大部分为学生。受伤人数超过100人，其中大部分伤势危急。

President Dilma Rousseff, visibly upset, rushed back from a summit in Chile and declared three days of national mourning. A catalogue of negligence caused Brazil's most lethal fire for more than 50 years.

译文： 正在智利参加峰会的迪尔马·罗塞夫总统明显非常焦虑，她迅速返回巴西，并宣布为遇害者举行为期三天的全国哀悼。一连串的疏忽导致了此次巴西50多年来最致命的一场火灾。

It was started by a spark from a flare lit by the band performing in the early hours. That set light to soundproofing foam on the ceiling. Flames spread fast, releasing toxic fumes and short-circuiting the power supply, casting the venue into darkness.

译文： 火灾最初是由在下半夜演奏的乐队发射闪光信号引起的，烟花的火花引燃了屋顶的隔音泡沫材料，大火迅速蔓延，释放出有毒气体，导致电路短路，整个夜总会之后陷入一片黑暗。

Security guards stopped the first to flee, apparently believing they were trying to bunk without paying : in Brazil, club patrons run up tabs and pay on the way out. Police say around 1,000 people were in the club, whose capacity was 690, and that there were no working fire escapes.

译文： 保安阻挡了第一批逃生出来的人的去路，显然他们认为这些人是想逃票：在巴西，夜总会的顾客先消费，然后在离开时付账。警方表示，这家夜总会的客容量为690人，而当时却有1000左右的人在里面，此外，夜总会的火灾安全出口也无法使用。

Most of the deaths were by crushing or asphyxiation. Dozens of bodies were found in the bathrooms, presumably mistaken for exits in the panic. The crush at the door was so severe that firefighters and bystanders had to tear down a wall to get in.

译文： 大多数的死亡由踩踏或者窒息所致。卫生间里遍布尸体，大概是人们在慌乱之中错把这里当做出口。门口的踩踏情况十分严重，因此消防员和围观群众不得不拆除一面墙，才得以进入夜总会救人。

At least Brazilians could take pride in the emergency response. Firefighters arrived quickly. The armed forces airlifted some of the injured to other cities.

译文： 尽管如此，巴西人至少能够为此次火灾中救援人员的快速反应感到些许欣慰。消防队员迅速抵达现场。军方出动飞机将一部分伤者转移到其他城市。

Hospitals around the country sent specialist equipment, such as respirators : many survivors have damaged lungs. Skin banks in Montevideo and Buenos Aires as well as in Recife and San Paulo, sent supplies for about 20 victims with severe burns. The buck-passing has already started.

译文： 全国的医院向圣玛丽亚市运送了呼吸器和其他专门设备：许多幸存者肺部受到严重损伤。位于蒙得维的亚、布宜诺斯艾利斯、累西腓和圣保罗的皮肤库也向20名左右严重烧伤的受害者提供移植需要的皮肤。相关方面已经开始相互推诿责任。

The public prosecutor said there was " clear evidence" that the club should not have been open : its public-health licence and fire-safety plan had expired. The mayor blamed the fire brigade ; it replied that since the club had applied for an extension, it could keep operating.

译文： 公诉人表示，有“明显证据”显示，这家夜总会当时不具有营业资格：它的公共卫生许可证和消防安全许可证已经过期。市长则归咎于消防队，而消防队做出回应，称如果该夜总会已经申请了延期，就能够正常营业。

Investigators want to know how a venue apparently lacking even basic safety precautions had been licensed in the first place. The two owners, and two members of the band whose pyrotechnics started the blaze, have been arrested (one of the owners is in hospital after trying to commit suicide).

译文： 火灾调查员不明白的是，该夜总会连最基本的安全保护措施都没有，最初的营业执照是如何取得的。夜总会的两名股东，以及燃放烟火导致火灾的两名乐队成员，都已被逮捕（其中一名股东在自杀未遂后被送往医院）。

Similar tragedies elsewhere have led to tougher fire-safety laws. After the Cromanon nightclub fire in Buenos Aires in 2004, which killed 194, the city's venues were closed until they passed new inspections.

译文： 其他地方在发生类似悲剧后，都出台了更加严格的火灾安全法案。2004年，位于布宜诺斯艾利斯的“克罗玛格农共和国”夜总会发生火灾，导致194人死亡。当局关闭了市内所有夜总会，只有通过新一轮的安全检查才能继续营业。

In the United States many states mandated sprinklers in large new venues and banned indoor pyrotechnics after a nightclub fire in Rhode Island in 2003. In Brazil each state sets its own rules.

译文： 在美国，自2003年罗德岛夜总会大火之后，许多州就强制大型新建夜总会安装喷水灭火装置，并严禁室内使用烟火。在巴西，各州规定不尽相同。

Some governors have said they will rewrite theirs. A proposal from 2007 to set minimum national standards has idled in Congress; its author now hopes to push it through.

译文： 有一些州长表示他们将会改写本州规定。2007年，有人提议设定最低国家标准，然而这一提案被国会搁置，现在它的起草者希望能借此机会推动提案的通过。

Tougher laws will be little use without enforcement, which is the job of mayors. Brazilian businesses are often unregistered, partly to avoid tax but also because much of the paperwork is pointlessly burdensome.

译文： 如果做不到严格执法，法律就是一纸空文，而执行则是市长的职责。巴西许多企业往往没有进行注册，部分原因是为了逃避沉重的税收，企业注册需要的文件大多毫无意义十分麻烦也是原因之一。

Those that do register face delays and sometimes requests for bribes. Random checks on 29 nightclubs in San Paulo this week found nine were operating without licences ; owners retorted that they had applied in good time but been left waiting, sometimes for years. Eight others appeared not to be registered at all.

译文： 那些确实注册了的企业，也要面对各种审批延迟的情况，有时还会被索贿。本周对圣保罗29家夜总会进行的随机检查发现，其中有9家都属于无照经营，这些夜总会的业主反驳说，他们早早地就进行申请了，但是一直等不到反馈消息，有时一等就是好几年。其中还有8家似乎根本就没有进行注册。

In a meeting with mayors on January 28th Ms Rousseff asked for their help. " We have to make sure that tragedies like this are never repeated," she said. Perhaps Brazil is now ready to do what that would take.

译文： 2月28日，罗塞夫总统与各市长举行会谈，她呼吁市长们都参与进来。她说：“我们必须确保此类悲剧将不会重演。”也许，也许巴西现在已经整装待发，准备行动了。