RE5 Unit 12A · GOLD FEVER (黄金狂热)

Reading 12A · GOLD FEVER (黄金狂热)

横跨欧亚非三大洲的帝国巅峰：一代雄主的铁血征伐、立法智慧与深宫悲歌。

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As a girl growing up on the remote Indonesian island of Sambawa,

在印度尼西亚偏远的松巴哇岛长大的努尔·皮亚赫（Nur Piah），幼时曾听过许多关于热带雨林大山深处埋藏着无尽黄金的传说。起初这些只是民间神话，直到1990年，来自美国纽蒙特矿业公司的地质学家在当地发现了一处名为巴图希佐（Batu Hijau）的巨型铜金共生矿床。

Narpaya heard tales about vast quantities of gold

buried beneath the mountain rainforest.

They were legends, until geologists from a U.S. company,

Newmont Mining Corporation discovered a curious green rock

near a dormant volcano about 13 kilometers from her home.

The rocks mossy color meant it contained copper,

an occasional companion to gold.

And it wasn't long before Newmont began setting up a mine

named Batu Hiju, meaning green rock.

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Narpaya, then 24,

当她在2000年第一次来到露天矿坑时，眼前的景象给了她另一场巨大的震撼：巨型矿坑的雄浑尺度完全超出了她的认知。庞大的挖掘机不断刨挖大地，巨大的重型矿用翻斗车顺着沿山体劈凿出的盘山坡道缓缓爬行。她当即决心接受培训，成为驾驭这些钢铁巨兽的女司机。

replied to a Newmont ad seeking operators, thinking that

she might be able to get a job answering phones. When she arrived

for training, her boss showed her a different kind of operating

booth, the cab of a caterpillar 793,

one of the world's largest trucks. Standing six meters tall

and 13 meters long, the truck was bigger than her family

home. Its wheels alone were double her height.

The truck terrified me, Narpaya recalls.

Another shock soon followed when she saw the mine

itself, they had peeled the skin off the earth.

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must be very powerful. Ten years later,

如今，努尔·皮亚赫驾驶着一辆重达240吨的卡特彼勒巨型自卸卡车。每个轮胎的高度都是她身高的两倍。这辆钢铁巨车在阶梯式露天矿坑陡峭的坡道上一趟就能运载数百吨碎石。在印度尼西亚巴图希佐矿场的浩瀚尺度面前，连这些陆地巨无霸都显得渺小如蚁。

Narpaya, the daughter of a Muslim cleric, is part of that force

herself. Pulling a pink headscarf close around her face,

she smiles demurely as she starts up the caterpillar's engine

and heads into the pit at Batu Hiju.

Her vehicle is part of a fleet of more than 100

trucks that removes close to 100 million tons of rock

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from the ground every year. For millions of years,

数百万年来，这里曾耸立着一座海拔550米的火山；然而今天，原本的山峰早已荡然无存。取而代之的是矿工们掘出的一个直径超过两公里、深达近400米的巨大天坑。卡车每年从地下挖运近一亿吨岩石，然而最终提炼出的黄金产量却微乎其微。

a 550 meter volcano stood here.

However, today, no hint of it remains.

Layers of rock have been removed, and the space the volcano once

occupied has been turned into a pit that is

1.6 kilometers wide and reaches more than

100 meters below sea level. By the time the gold supplies

at Batu Hiju have been depleted, the pit

will be about 450 meters below sea level.

The environmental impact doesn't concern Narpaya anymore.

I only think about getting my salary, she says.

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There is one thing, however, that Narpaya

然而，有一件事努尔·皮亚赫却从未亲眼见过：黄金本身。这是因为矿石中所含的黄金只是肉眼不可见的微小碎屑。为了提炼出仅仅一盎司（约28克）的黄金，矿企必须爆破、粉碎并处理数吨岩石，借助剧毒氰化物和庞大的浮选池通过化学反应将贵金属分离出来。

finds curious. In a decade at Batu Hiju,

she has never seen a speck of the gold she has helped mine.

The engineers monitoring the process track its

presence in the copper compounds that are extracted, and

since the gold is shipped out to smelters overseas,

nobody on Sambawa ever sees the hidden treasure

that has transformed their island.

Newmont is one of several giant mining corporations

that are pursuing gold to the ends of the earth,

from the lowlands of Ghana to the mountaintops of Peru.

Part of the challenge of mining for gold is that

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only about 190,000 tons of gold have been mined,

在过去半个世纪中，跨国巨头逐渐垄断了全球黄金开采。今天，高品位富金矿脉几乎已被开采殆尽。那些位于南非、澳大利亚和北美洲的世界顶级矿床，如今只能通过提炼品位越来越低的贫矿来维系，在此过程中产生了堆积如山的危险废矿渣。

barely enough to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools.

More than two-thirds of that has been extracted since 1950.

Now the world's richest deposits, particularly those

in the United States, South Africa, and Australia,

are fast being depleted, and new discoveries are rare.

In recent years, attracted by the benefits of operating

in the developing world, lower costs, higher yields,

fewer regulations, Newmont has generated tens of thousands

of jobs in poorer regions of the world.

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But it has also come under attack from conservationists,

纽蒙特矿业公司为其运营进行辩护，强调其为当地带来的经济收益和生态修复项目。它声称正全力平整废石堆并覆土复绿，让热带雨林重新萌发生长。但环保人士指出，有毒化学废水的渗透与长期的深海尾矿倾倒，正在对周边海洋生态系统构成不可逆转的破坏。

who have filed complaints about unrestrained ecological destruction

and the forced relocation of villagers.

At Batu Hiju, where Newmont is responsible for the mines operation,

the company has responded by spending more on its community development

and environmental programs, and by dismissing its critics.

Why is it that activists thousands of miles away are yelling,

but nobody around the mine complains?

Asks Malik Salim, Batu Hiju's former senior external relations manager,

gold is what drives everybody crazy.

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Gold has been driving people crazy for millennia.

数千年来，黄金一直让人类为之痴狂。与其他金属不同，黄金本身并没有很强的化学活性：它永不锈蚀、不晦暗，也极难与其他元素发生化合反应。它质地柔软、易于延展，基本无法用以打造坚硬的工具或武器。然而，它璀璨耀目的永恒金黄，却在人类每一种文明中都成为了长生不死与至高无上王权的绝对象征。

The desire to possess gold has driven people to extremes,

fueling wars and conquests, boosting empires and currencies,

leveling mountains and forests.

Gold is not vital to human existence.

It has, in fact, relatively few practical uses,

yet its chief attractions, its unusual density and malleability,

along with its imperishable shine,

have made it one of the world's most desired commodities,

a symbol of beauty, wealth and immortality.

From pharaohs, who chose to be buried in what they called the flesh of the gods,

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to financiers, who following Sir Isaac Newton's advice

从古埃及法老戴着黄金面具长眠于金字塔，到西班牙殖民征服者为寻找虚幻的“黄金国”而血洗美洲古老帝国，黄金点燃了人类最贪婪的征伐欲望。19世纪，加利福尼亚、澳大利亚和南非爆发的狂热淘金热潮，掀起了横跨各大洲的移民巨浪。

made it the foundation of the global economy.

Nearly every society has invested gold with an almost mythological status.

Humankind's feverish attachment to gold shouldn't have survived the modern world.

Few cultures still believe that gold can give eternal life,

and every country in the world, the United States was last in 1971,

has done away with the gold standard,

which the economist John Maynard Keynes famously called,

a barbarous relic.

But gold's appeal not only endures, fueled by global uncertainty,

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it grows stronger.

20世纪30年代，著名经济学家约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯曾著名地斥责金本位制为“野蛮的遗毒”。最终，世界各主要大国均彻底斩断了纸币与实物黄金储备之间的刚性挂钩。然而，尽管凯恩斯预言黄金的吸引力终将消退，它在全球金融动荡中的磁石效应却不降反升。

Aside from extravagance, gold is also reprising its role as a safe haven

in financially unstable times.

Gold's recent surges have been amplified by concerns over a looming global recession.

In 2007, demand exceeded mind production by 59%.

Gold has always had this kind of magic, says Peter L. Bernstein,

author of The Power of Gold, but it's never been clear if we have gold,

or gold has us.

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While investors flock to gold-backed funds,

当投资者在经济动荡期涌向黄金ETF指数基金时，全球开采出的大部分黄金却并未沉睡在央行金库。每年超过三分之二的全球黄金供应直接流向了首饰珠宝市场，其中由亚洲消费者占据绝对主导——在他们眼中，黄金既是尊贵华丽的饰品，更是无可替代的避险硬通货。

jewelry still accounts for two-thirds of the demand,

generating a record $53.5 billion in worldwide sales in 2007.

In the United States, an activist-driven, no-dirty gold campaign

has persuaded many top jewelry retailers to stop selling gold from mines

that cause severe social or environmental damage.

But such concerns have little impact on the biggest consumer nations,

namely China and India, which together account for over half the world's

gold jewelry sales.

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Nowhere is the gold obsession more culturally entrenched than in India.

没有任何一个国家对黄金的痴迷能像印度那样深植于文化骨髓。据估算，印度民间家庭珍藏着高达20,000吨黄金——远超全球主要央行黄金储备的总和。在广大银行网点稀缺的乡村地区，几代人以来，黄金始终是维系家庭财务安全的绝对基石。

Per capita income in this country of 1.3 billion people is $2,700,

but it has been a world leader in gold demand for several decades.

In 2017, India consumed 737 tons of gold,

about 20% of the world gold market, just behind China, 955 tons.

India produces very little gold of its own,

but its citizens have hoarded up to 24,000 tons of the yellow metal,

40 times the amount held in the country's central bank.

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India's obsession stems not simply from a love of extravagance

印度对黄金的热衷并不仅源于对奢华的虚荣追求，更深深植根于其宗教信仰与父权传统。黄金被信徒视为财富与幸运女神吉祥天女（拉克什米）的圣洁化身。在诸如“阿克沙亚·特里蒂亚节”（Akshaya Tritiya）等吉祥吉日抢购黄金，被深信能祈请到神明的永恒护佑与繁盛。

or the rising prosperity of an emerging middle class.

For Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians alike,

gold plays a central role at nearly every turning point in life,

most of all when a couple marries.

There are some 10 million weddings in India every year,

and in all but a few, gold is crucial both to the spectacular event itself

and to the transaction between families and generations.

It's written into our DNA, says Kei Babu,

a manager at the Alapat jewelry store in the southwestern city of Kochi.

Gold equals good fortune.

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The importance of gold is most obvious during the springtime festival

此外，在印度传统的继承习俗中，祖传土地与不动产历来只能由儿子继承。女儿在出嫁时则会获得黄金首饰作为“私产”（Stree Dhan）——这是属于女性个人的神圣财产，即便遭遇婚姻破裂或家族灾祸，任何人也无权将其剥夺。

of Akshaya Tritya, considered the most auspicious day to buy gold,

according to the Hindu calendar.

The quantity of gold jewelry Indians purchase on this day,

over 20 tons in 2018,

so exceeds the amount bought on any other day of the year throughout the world

that it often pushes gold prices higher.

We grow up in an atmosphere of gold, says Ranjit Lean,

a magazine editor based in Kerala,

a relatively prosperous state on India's southern tip

that claims just 3% of the country's population,

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When a baby is born, a grandmother rubs a gold coin in honey

每年，印度全境会举行大约一千万场婚礼，每一场盛典都需要耗费惊人数量的黄金。购置全套新娘黄金嫁妆往往需要耗尽一个家庭数年的总收入。即便贫困的农村农夫，也不惜倾尽毕生积蓄，甚至借高利贷背上沉重债务，只为给心爱的女儿置办体面的黄金首饰。

and places a drop of the liquid on the child's tongue for good luck.

When the child is 3 years old,

a learned family member takes a gold coin

and traces words on the child's tongue to give the gift of eloquence.

Aside from its cultural significance,

gold is also the bedrock of the Indian economy.

Gold is the basis of our financial system, says K. A. Babu.

People see it as the best form of security

and nothing else lets you get cash as quickly.

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is an ancient tradition in India,

在泰米尔纳德邦的一个村庄里，农民拉维·尚卡尔在为女儿纳加维筹办婚事时面临着痛苦的抉择。尽管纳加维受过良好的大学教育，但严苛的传统社会压力依然要求陪送包含数十件黄金饰品的奢华嫁妆，唯有如此才能在宗族和邻里间保全家族的尊严。

so too is pawning gold jewelry for emergency loans

and then buying it back.

As the price of the metal goes up, however,

poor Indian families are having a harder time

raising the gold they need for dowries.

Rajam Chidamaram, a 59-year-old widow

living in a slum on the outskirts of Kochi,

recently found a young man to marry her only daughter,

aged 27.

The groom's family, however, demanded a dowry far out of her reach,

25 sovereigns, or 200 grams of gold,

worth approximately $8,500 today.

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Chidamaram, a cleaning woman, has only the two earrings she wears.

最终，当地放贷商以家族世代耕种的农田作为抵押，向其发放了一笔用于筹办嫁妆的高利贷款。拉维·尚卡尔深知昂贵的高额利息将令他背负多年的沉重枷锁，但若未能按约定奉上黄金，他的女儿将在夫家蒙受终生的冷眼与羞辱。

The gold necklace she once owned went to pay off her deceased husbands

hospital bills.

I had to agree to the groom's demand,

Chidamaram says, wiping away tears.

If I refuse, my daughter will stay home forever.

In the end, local financiers advanced alone for her daughter's dowry.

Her daughter may now be married,

but Chidamaram is now faced with a debt

that she may spend the rest of her life trying to repay.

4,000 km away in her new house in the village of Jaraway,

Norpaya is focused more on the present than the future.

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So many people depend on me, she says.

而在印度尼西亚，女司机努尔·皮亚赫依然坚守在卡特彼勒巨车的驾驶座上，日复一日经历着艰苦卓绝的轮班。在暴雨倾盆的季风时节，她小心翼翼地操纵着这尊钢铁庞然大物穿行在湿滑泥泞的发卡弯道上，直面极度疲劳与突发山体滑坡的致命威胁。

Her husband makes some money as a timber trader,

but Norpaya's salary, about $650 a month,

paid for their two-story concrete home.

As if in tribute,

she has hung a large painting of the yellow caterpillar 793 on her wall.

Norpaya's job is not without its hardships.

Maneuvering the enormous truck over a 12-hour shift is especially stressful,

she says, when the pits-graded roads are slicked by torrential rains.

But now, after a long day, she smiles contentedly,

as her child, age 6, falls asleep on her lap.

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The girl's middle name is Highgrid,

而在四千公里之外的印度，纳加维的婚礼在金碧辉煌与隆重盛典中拉开序幕。金光熠熠的首饰从丝绒锦盒中逐一取出：光彩夺目的金项链、金手镯，以及镶嵌着红宝石的金耳环。纳加维从小就在一次次见证两大宗族联姻合并的婚礼仪式中长大。

the Indonesian approximation of Highgrade, the best ore in the mine.

A golden wedding.

The gold ornaments come out of the velvet boxes one after another.

They are family treasures that Nagavi,

a 23-year-old Indian bride,

always knew she would wear on her wedding day.

The eldest daughter of a coffee plantation owner

in the southern Indian state of Karnataka,

Nagavi grew up marveling at the weddings that marked the merger of two wealthy Indian families.

However, it's not until the morning of her own arranged wedding

to the only son of another coffee plantation family

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that she understands just how beautiful the golden tradition can be.

当纳加维准备缓步走出家门时，浑身披挂着数公斤重的纯金饰品压得她步履沉缓。“这被视作我在家族财产中所应得的份额，”纳加维平静地说道，言语间既包含着宗族的荣耀，也饱含着这一古老传统所施加的沉甸甸的情感重荷。

By the time Nagavi is ready for her wedding,

the university graduate has been transformed into an Indian princess

covered in gold.

An elaborately crafted hairpiece is so heavy,

two and a half kilograms, that it pulls her head back.

She is also wearing three gold necklaces.

Those and a dozen other pieces of jewelry act as effective counterweights.

As the family members convene,

Nagavi walks slowly out of her home,

trying to keep her balance as she tosses rice over her head

in a traditional gesture of farewell.

The gold treasures Nagavi wears are not a traditional dowry.

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In this circle of coffee growers around the town of Chikmagluor,

从印尼矿场碎石机震耳欲聋的轰鸣，到印度婚礼殿堂欢腾喜庆的颂歌，黄金的流通轨迹将两个截然不同的遥远世界紧紧缝合在一起。在人类历史上最令人沉醉而又永不磨灭的贵金属诱惑下，人们仍将不惜削平崇山峻岭、甘冒破产之险，前仆后继地追逐那永恒闪耀的黄金迷梦。

unlike in many poorer parts of the country,

it is considered inappropriate for a groom's family to make explicit demands.

This is seen as my share of the family wealth, says Nagavi,

gazing at the millions of dollars of gold jewelry.

As with any Indian wedding,

the gold also serves to display the value she brings to the union.

With daughters, you have to start saving gold from the day they are born,

says Nagavi's father, CP Ravi Shankar.

It's important to marry them off well.

💡 审辩式思维 (Critical Thinking: Evaluating Sovereign Rule)

1. Evaluating Pros and Cons of Mining: Imagine a multinational mining company wants to dig for gold at a newly discovered deposit near your hometown. What are the key environmental, economic, and social trade-offs?

若一家跨国矿业公司计划在你的家乡附近开采新发现的巨型金矿，你如何权衡其经济效益与生态代价？

思维指引 (Sample Perspective):
• 经济利好 (Pros)：矿场可创造数千个高薪工程与后勤就业岗位，带动周边交通基建、学校与医疗设施升级，并为地方政府缴纳巨额财政税收。
• 生态隐患 (Cons)：露天剥离巨量岩石导致水土流失与森林覆灭；浮选浸出法使用的剧毒氰化物极易渗漏污染地下含水层与河流，对下游农业和生物栖息地构成百年难愈的浩劫。

2. Cultural Symbolism vs. Practical Utility: Why does humanity remain so fiercely obsessed with gold when it possesses so few practical or industrial uses compared to other metals like copper or iron?

后宫谗言与骨肉相残（如处决长子穆斯塔法）如何暴露了绝对君主专制政体在权力交接上的致命软肋？

思维指引 (Sample Perspective):
• 权力封闭的必然恶果：缺乏透明民主的制度制衡与合法选拔机制，继承人竞争演变为你死我活的零和宫斗；最贤能的皇储往往最先成为奸佞暗算的目标，导致王朝后继乏人。

📝 课文理解深度练习 (Comprehension & Skills)

Reading Comprehension: Multiple Choice (P.225) Reading Comprehension: Reign Milestones (P.226) Reading Skill: Biographical Narrative Analysis (P.227)

预习练习得分: 0 / 20 题

Reading Comprehension Part A: Multiple Choice (P.225)

READING COMPREHENSION · PURPOSE

1. What is the main purpose of paragraph F?

READING COMPREHENSION · COHESION

2. Where would be the best place to insert this sentence in paragraph G? 'For example, it stresses its efforts to reclaim the heaps of discarded rock, by covering them with soil and allowing the jungle to grow again.'

READING COMPREHENSION · INFERENCE

3. The quote from John Maynard Keynes in paragraph J shows that Keynes thought that...

READING COMPREHENSION · DETAIL

4. Today, the country that consumes the second largest amount of gold is:

READING COMPREHENSION · APPLICATION

5. Given the information in paragraph M, approximately how many tons of gold are held in the central bank of India?

READING COMPREHENSION · CAUSE AND EFFECT

6. Which of the following causes Nur Piah the most job-related stress?

READING COMPREHENSION · DETAIL

7. Which of the following is true about Nagavi?

Reading Comprehension Part B: Reign Milestones & Artifacts (P.226)

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 1

1. The trucks at the Batu Hijau mine take away nearly a ______ of rock each year.

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 2

2. Despite its popularity—and the fact that it causes conflict and destruction—gold actually has a limited number of ______.

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 3

3. The United States was the last country to have its currency tied to the ______.

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 4

4. The countries of ______ account for more than 50 percent of gold jewelry sales.

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 5

5. Indians bought more than ______ of gold on one day during a popular festival in 2018.

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 6

6. In India, gold is used a lot during ceremonies for the approximately ______ held every year.

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 7

7. Around two-thirds of all gold mined is used by the ______ industry.

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 8

8. In real terms, the price of gold was at its highest in the ______.

SUMMARY COMPLETION · 9

9. ETFs were common investments at the time of the ______ in the late 2000s.

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