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Topic: Russia's Villages, and Their Culture, Are 'Melting Away'

With its winding dirt lanes framed by lilacs, quaint wooden houses and graceful onion-domed church, the tiny farming hamlet of Baruta was once a postcard of Russian bucolic bliss.

俄國西北部普斯科夫區域的巴魯塔小農村曾是俄國田園的幸福象徵，蜿蜒的土路旁盡是丁香、古雅的木屋和優美的洋蔥圓頂教堂。

No longer. More people lie in the tightly packed church cemetery than inhabit the village. Agriculture is slowly withering, too.

此景不再。在擁擠不堪的教堂墓地安息的人，比住在村裡的多。農業也逐步衰退。

With Russia's natural population growth entering an extended period of decline, villages like Baruta are disappearing from across the country’s continental expanse.

由於俄國人口的自然增長進入長期衰退期，像巴魯塔這樣的村落正從廣袤的俄國大陸各地消失。

"We have not had a wedding or a baptism for quite some time — we mostly have funerals," said a resident, Alexander Fyodorov, 59, one of just 17 men left in what was a thriving collective of some 500 farmers.

59歲居民費奧多羅夫說：「我們好一段時間沒有婚禮或洗禮了——多半是喪禮。」他曾是一個約有500農民、蓬勃發展的集體農場的一分子，如今農場只剩下17個男人，他是其中之一。

President Vladimir Putin frequently cites hardy population growth as a pillar of restoring Russia's place atop the global order. There is a pronounced gap, however, between the positive terms in which Putin and his advisers habitually discuss demographic trends and the reality of the numbers.

俄國總統普亭常說，強勁的人口成長是讓俄國重居新全球之首的基礎。不過，普亭與顧問們討論人口趨勢時慣常使用的正面詞語，和真實人口數目差距甚大。

Russians are dying faster than they are being born, demographers said. Given the general hostility toward immigration, the question is to what degree the population of 146 million, including annexed Crimea, might shrink.

人口學者說，俄國人死亡的速度比出生快。在俄國人普遍對移民懷有敵意的情況下，俄國總數1億4600萬（包括兼併來的克里米亞）的人口勢將減少，問題只在減幅的大小。

The number of deaths exceeded the number of births in 2016 by a few thousand, and the prognosis for the years ahead is poor. From 2013-2015, extremely modest natural growth peaked in 2015 with just 32,038 more births than deaths.

去年俄國死亡人數超越出生人數幾千人，未來幾年前景也不樂觀。2013到2015年極微小的人口自然增長在2015年達到高峰，出生數只比死亡數多3萬2038人。

"The statistics and the propaganda are very different things," said Natalya V. Zubarevich, an expert in social and political geography at Moscow State University.

莫斯科國立大學社會與政治地理學專家祖巴列維奇說：「統計數字和宣傳大不相同。」

In terms of population loss, Pskov, which borders Latvia and parts of Estonia, is among the worst hit regions in Russia. The population peaked at around 1.8 million in the 1920s, said Andrei Manakov, a demographer at Pskov State University. It is down to 642,000, and projected to drop to about 513,000 by 2033.

普斯科夫與拉脫維亞和愛沙尼亞部分地區接壤，是俄國人口減少最嚴重的區域之一。普斯科夫國立大學人口學者馬納科夫說，1920年代這裡的人口達到高峰，約180萬。現在降到64萬2千人，料將在2033年前降到大約51萬3千人。

Researchers estimate that out of 8,300 area villages in 1910, 2,000 no longer have permanent residents.

研究人員估計，1910年這裡的8300個地區村落中，2000個不再有常住居民。

Under the most optimistic projections by demographers, Russia’s population by 2050 will stay the same, about 146 million, if immigration from Central Asia — which has also been dropping — balances out low birthrates. Less optimistic figures put the population around 130 million by 2050, and the most pessimistic say fewer than 100 million.

人口學者最樂觀的預測是，如果來自中亞的移民（也正在逐漸減少）能彌補俄國的低出生率，2050年俄國人口會跟現在一樣，大約1億4600萬。較不樂觀的數據是2050年人口約為1億3000萬，最悲觀的是不到1億。Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/318780/web/

Topic: Russia reaches out to OPEC as Riyadh opens oil taps

The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in China and its rapid spread has taken its toll on the global economy, driving down demand for oil in the first weeks of 2020.

在中國爆發的武漢肺炎冠狀病毒迅速蔓延，讓全球經濟遭受巨大損失，對石油的需求在二〇二〇年開年數週便降低了。

In response, in the scheduled meeting on March 5-6 in Vienna, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) states called for OPEC+ to a make drastic cut of 1.5 million barrels per day to reduce supply by a total of 3.6 million barells per day — insisting on a non-OPEC agreement. However, Russia rejected the plan. When the OPEC+ talks collapsed, the OPEC oil cartel scrapped all output limits. A dispute then broke out.

因應此情況，沙烏地阿拉伯與其他石油輸出國組織（OPEC）國家三月五日至六日在維也納所舉行的例行會議中，便要求OPEC+國家每日大幅減產一百五十萬桶，讓石油每日供應總量減少三百六十萬桶，並堅持非屬OPEC之產油國也須共同遵守此協議。但俄羅斯拒絕了此計畫，談判破裂，OPEC這石油壟斷利益集團便取消了所有產量限制，爭端於焉爆發。

Russian oil companies had opposed such cuts, fearing loss of market share and of competitiveness against US shale production. They had previously in December agreed on a milder production cut of 500,000 barrels in 2020, and Russia wanted this to continue.

俄羅斯的石油公司曾對這種減產措施加以反對，擔心會失去市佔率，也會失去對美國頁岩油的競爭力。他們去年十二月曾同意一項較溫和的減產計畫，將在二〇二〇年減產五十萬桶，俄羅斯希望維持此計畫。

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, responded on March 8 by announcing unilateral price cuts with its biggest price cut in 20 years in a bid to win market share. This prompted the oil price to plummet and fueled huge drops on stock markets the following day.

三月八日星期日，世界最大的原油出口國沙烏地阿拉伯對此做出回應，單方面宣佈降低油品價格，以贏得市佔率，此為二十年來最大降幅。這使得油價暴跌，並引發了三月九日星期一的股市大跌。

By March 9, oil had fallen to as low as US$31 from about US$66 at the end of 2019 as Riyadh said it would lift production to record highs, their biggest one-day move since the 1991 Gulf War. On March 10, Saudi oil giant Aramco announced a plan to massively increase oil output despite falling demand during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

利雅德表示將把產量提升至歷史新高，到了三月九日，油價便從二〇一九年底的六十六美元左右，應聲跌至三十一美元，這是自一九九一年波斯灣戰爭以來的最大單日跌幅。儘管武漢肺炎冠狀病毒爆發造成石油需求下降，沙烏地石油巨頭阿美公司仍在三月十日宣布，要大幅提高石油產量。

“At first glance, this looks like a battle between Russia and Saudi Arabia over oil policy,” said Chris Weafer of Macro Advisory consultancy. “But the context of the relentless rise in US oil production over the past 10 years is also an important factor.”

「乍看之下，這像是俄羅斯與沙烏地阿拉伯在石油政策上的鬥爭」，宏觀諮詢公司的克里斯‧威佛表示。「但是，過去十年來美國石油產量的持續增加，也是重要的背景因素」。

Both Russia and major OPEC producers have been “openly annoyed” with US producers’ refusal to participate in past production cuts, he added.

他補充說，美國生產商一直都拒絕參與減產，俄羅斯和OPEC主要產油國都對此感到「公開地惱
火」。

On Monday and Thursday last week, the crash in oil prices and fears over the global economic impact of the virus outbreak prompted a meltdown on stock markets.

油價暴跌，以及擔憂疫情對全球經濟造成影響，導致上週一及週四的股市崩盤，觸動了熔斷機制。
Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/03/17/2003732810

Topic: About Russia: ’They just want to take a selfie’： how TV show changed Chernobyl tourism

The hit TV series "Chernobyl" has attracted a new generation of tourists to the nuclear disaster zone but guides say that many are more interested in taking selfies than learning about the accident.

美國熱門電視影集《核爆家園》吸引一群新世代遊客造訪車諾比核災區，但當地導遊說，比起了解核災意外，很多人只想自拍。

Tourists now are often on the lookout for locations featured in the acclaimed HBO drama and can be surprised to discover that certain sites were fictional.

遊客現在大多是去探訪出現在這部備受讚譽的HBO影集中的地點，但他們可能會驚訝地發現，劇中有些場景是虛構的。

The abandoned site had already become a "dark tourism" destination, even before the eponymous TV show started broadcasting.

早在這個以車諾比為名的影集開播前，這個被遺棄的地方就已成為「黑暗旅遊」的目的地。

Some Ukrainian travel agencies have further adapted their tours to take in locations from the "Chernobyl" series and offer special trips, such as kayaking in rivers around the exclusion zone.

某些烏克蘭旅行社進一步改變行程，加入出現在《核爆家園》的地點，為旅客提供特別之旅，像是在禁制區附近的河流划皮艇。

In July, new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree that aims to develop the site further as a tourist attraction. In 2018, 72,000 people visited Chernobyl and it is expected to jump to 100,000 in 2019.

7月，新任烏克蘭總統佛拉迪米爾‧澤倫斯基簽署一項法令，進一步將車諾比地區打造成觀光景點。2018年，有7萬2000人造訪車諾比，2019年可望增至10萬人。

Next Article:

Topic: Russia joins race to make quantum dreams a reality 俄羅斯加入量子戰局

Russia has launched an effort to build a working quantum computer, in a bid to catch up to other countries in the race for practical quantum technologies.

俄羅斯開始致力建造可投入應用的量子電腦，以期在實作量子技術的競爭中，趕上其他國家。

The government will inject around 50 billion roubles （US$790 million）over the next 5 years into basic and applied quantum research carried out at leading Russian laboratories, the country’s deputy prime minister, Maxim Akimov, announced on 6 December at a technology forum in Sochi.

俄羅斯副總理馬克司米．阿基莫夫12月6日在索契的一場科技論壇宣布，未來5年政府將投入約500億盧布（7.9億美元），推動國家重點實驗室在量子科學的基礎研究及應用。

Quantum technology already receives massive governmental support in a number of countries. The European Union’s €1-billion （US$1.1-billion） Quantum Flagship programme, first announced in 2016. Germany announced a €650-million national quantum initiative in August 2019. The Chinese and US governments are also spending billions on quantum science and technology programmes.

量子技術已獲得多國政府大力支持。歐盟2016年率先宣布一項10億歐元（11億美元）的量子旗艦計畫。德國2019年8月發表一項6.5億歐元的國家量子計畫。中國和美國政府同樣也在量子科學和技術項目投入數十億經費。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1342518; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1344790

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