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经济学人双语精读TE-2023-06-12期考研英语杂志|化为乌有（PDF版+Word版+Mp3）

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6.12每日一篇 | 英语外刊社

Drug policy：Up in smoke

The European legalisation of cannabis moves into the slow-dopey lane

【1】cannabis is easily the most popular illicit drug in Europe. About 28% of adult Europeans have taken a toke during their lifetime; the French top the league of stoners, at almost 45%. Moreover, attitudes towards the drug’s use are changing rapidly. In Germany, for example, support for legalisation has moved from 30% in favour in 2014 to 61% last year.

【2】Yet Germany’s plans to move to full legalisation of consumption and sales came to an abrupt halt last month. Until recently, Germany’s health minister, Karl Lauterbach, had been upbeat about the prospects for radical change. But following talks with the European commission the plan has gone up in a cloud of smoke, like the comedians Cheech and Chong’s famous van made of weed. Shorn of a German impetus, Europe-wide cannabisreform now looks unlikely any time soon.

【3】Under Germany’s revised strategy, adults will be allowed to grow cannabis in their own home and to form “cannabis social clubs”. These are non-profit associations within which the growth and distribution of cannabis is permitted, though the productthe product cannot be sold to anyone else. Rather than blazing a trail in Europe, then, the Germans are following a highly limited strategy that even strict countries such as Spain and Malta have already adopted.

【4】Nobody is entirely clear why the Germans watered down their plans, says Dorien Rookmaker, a Dutch mep who is involved in a cross-party European Parliament group on the legalisation of cannabis for personal use. But Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute, a Dutch-founded think-tank, thinks the reason is that the proposals are not in compliance with an eu Council framework decision on drugs in 2004, nor with three relevant un treaties. The eu’s framework agreement harmonised minimum sentences for drug-trafficking offences in the bloc, but it left the eu’s member states some legal discretion when it comes to personal use, social clubs and the possession of weed.

【5】Germany is also now planning for a second phase that involves pilot projects in which local sales will be allowed. Details of these schemes have not yet been announced. Will they actually happen? Possibly. The Netherlands is planning to launch just such a scheme, known as the wietexperiment, or “weed experiment”, by the end of 2023 in ten municipalities (Amsterdam’s “coffee shops” are an exemption carved out before the 2004 frameworkcame into effect). The Czech Republic, also gung-ho on the liberalisation of cannabis laws, seems likely to follow.

【6】The legal status of these pilot schemes for sales is grey. Mr Jelsma says it would be helpful if the commission were to give some indication as to what its position is on the question. On the face of it the schemes do breach eu laws. But as they are not on a national scale, and are time-limited, the commission may not want to start an infringement procedure.

【7】The shift in German policy represents a kicking of the can on the full European legalisation of cannabis. One factor may well be that no one has the appetite for such regulatory aggravation right now, with a war in Ukraine and high inflation to contend with. Still, Ms Rookmaker thinks further shifts are still possible if enough countries keep pushing.

①短语：1.原文：Yet Germany’s plans to move to full legalisation of consumption and sales came to an abrupt halt last month.

词典: come to a halt 完全停止

例句：Her political career came to a halt in December 1988.

她的政治生涯于1988年12月画上了句号。

2.原文：Until recently, Germany’s health minister, Karl Lauterbach, had been upbeat about the prospects for radical change.

词典: be upbeat about对…乐观的；对…满怀希望

例句：Scientists remain upbeat about the information that will be gathered.

科学家对即将收集到的信息仍满怀希望。

3.原文：But following talks with the European Commission the plan has gone up in a cloud of smoke, like the comedians Cheech and Chong’s famous van made of weed.

词典: go up in smoke 泡汤；化为乌有；失败

例句：When the business went bankrupt, twenty years of hard work went up in smoke.

当这家企业破产时，二十年的辛勤工作化为乌有

4.原文：Shorn of a German impetus, Europe-wide cannabis reform now looks unlikely any time soon.

词典: be shorn of sth被剥夺；被褫夺（shorn原形为shear）

例句：Shorn of his power, the deposed king went into exile.

权力被褫夺后,遭废黜的国王流亡国外。

5.原文：Rather than blazing a trail in Europe, then, the Germans are following a highly limited strategy that even strict countries such as Spain and Malta have already adopted.

词典: blaze a trail作开路先锋；领先

例句：The department is blazing a trail in the field of laser surgery.

这个部门正在为激光外科学领域开辟一条新路。

6.原文：Nobody is entirely clear why the Germans watered down their plans.

词典: water down 削弱；淡化

例句：More than once, the Commission has been caught in a zero-sum negotiating dynamic over general political positions that have weakened its standing and have watered down or made impossible any outcome of its deliberations.

该委员会不止一次地陷入关于一般政治立场的零和谈判，削弱了其地位，淡化甚至无法取得任何审议成果。

7.原文：But Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute, a Dutch-founded think-tank, thinks the reason is that the proposals are not in compliance with an eu Council framework decision on drugs in 2004, nor with three relevant un treaties.

词典: be in compliance with 遵守；符合

例句：The company says it is in full compliance with labor laws.

这家公司说自己严格遵守各项劳工法。

8.原文：Amsterdam’s “coffee shops” are an exemption carved out before the 2004 framework came into effect.

词典: carve out 切开，切下；开辟，开创

例句：Kirstein says they are carving out a unique way of doing business.

科尔斯顿说，他们发展出一种独特的经商方式。

9.原文：One factor may well be that no one has the appetite for such regulatory aggravation right now, with a war in Ukraine and high inflation to contend with.

词典: have the/an appetite for 渴望；对…有兴趣

contend with处理问题；对付困境

例句：The public seems to have an insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip.

公众看起来对明星八卦有着难以满足的好奇。

American businesses could soon have a new kind of lawsuit to contend with.

美国公司可能很快就要有一种新型的官司去应付了。

②长难句

1. 原文：But Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute, a Dutch-founded think-tank, thinks the reason is that the proposals are not in compliance with an eu Council framework decision on drugs in 2004, nor with three relevant un treaties.

分析：本句包含一个宾语从句和一个表语从句。主句为“Martin Jelsma thinks...”，a Dutch-founded think-tank为the Transnational Institute的同位语；“the reason is that...”为宾语从句，省略了关系词that；“that the proposals... treaties”为表语从句。

④背景知识：

1. Cheech & Chong: 美国喜剧二人组切奇·马林（Cheech Marin）和汤米·钟（Tommy Chong）涉足相声、电视、电影、出书及电台行业，从1971年开始活跃至1985年，08年复出。这个双人组发行了许多的喜剧专辑并且参加了一系列的低预算成本的商业演出，之后成为成功的喜剧组合。Up in Smoke（过眼云烟）是这个双人组于1978年主演的喜剧电影，讲述了两个嬉皮士跑去墨西哥，误入集团的加工厂，在赶赴音乐节的路上开着一辆完全由大麻制作而成的货车回美国，而他们居然毫不知情。

2. 美国是全球最大的消费国。数据显示，超过5000万美国人在过去一年内使用过或。泛滥带来一系列社会问题。分析认为，美国利益集团、官僚体系、党派斗争、社会文化等多重因素错综交织，导问题愈演愈烈。一方面泛滥不断加剧，另一方面美国一些地方却在推进合法化与非刑事化。2021年11月，纽约市成为美国首个宣布设立“安全消费场所”的城市，即允许“人们在专业工作人员的监督指导下使用毒品”。2021年7月，罗得岛州通过法案，允许人员在指定场所及医护工作人员的引导下使用，10月份又宣布将设立全美首个“注射中心”。马萨诸塞州、加利福尼亚州等多地也在考虑类似做法。美国卫生部长贝塞拉对此的态度是，联邦政府部门不会阻挠各州类似计划。

段落大意：

【2】德国实现完全合法化的计划泡汤。

【3】德国未另辟蹊径，而是修订战略，准许成年人在家种植。

【4】德国的提案不符合欧盟理事会的框架决议和联合国相关条约。

【5】德国正在计划本地销售的试点项目。

【7】德国政策的转变意味着欧洲有可能完全合法化。