本期精读来自The Economist对于瑞典萨米人的报道Sweden’s reindeer-herding Sami take back control

萨米人（the Sami）是瑞典北部一支游牧民族，历史上曾经因为种族因素而遭到政府压迫。出于对这一群体的补偿，政府在狩猎和捕鱼权上给予萨米人优待。但这也导致了一些争议，比如萨米人的权利可能会损害到瑞典北部矿工的利益。文章对这一背景进行了说明。

文章小标题Sami difference采用了双关手法，它字面意思是“萨米人的不同之处”，同时它让人联想到semi difference，semi意思是“部分（地）”，semi difference可以理解为“（萨米人与其他瑞典人有）部分地方不相同”。

文章另一个标题是：An indigenous people wins the right to decide who hunts and fishes on public land，其中people指的是“民族，种族”，此时它是可数名词，比如要表达“欧洲各民族”，可以说the peoples of Europe

下面是关于文章的具体分析：

首段介绍了瑞典北部的游牧民族萨米人。

To most people, one reindeer looks much like another. But for Anders-Erling Fjallas, one of the Sami people indigenous to northern Sweden, it is easy to tell which reindeer belongs to whom.

对于大多数人来说，驯鹿看起来都很像，但对于安德斯·埃林·费拉斯来说，要辨认出哪只驯鹿属于谁很容易。他是瑞典北部原住民萨米人中的一员。

“We carve our brand in their ears with a knife when the calves are a few months old,” says Mr Fjallas, who owns about 700 of the animals. Once hunter-gatherers, the Sami switched to herding reindeer (caribou) in the Middle Ages.

费拉斯说：“当驯鹿只有几个月大的时候我们就用刀在它们耳朵上做标记”。他目前拥有大约700头驯鹿。萨米人之前以狩猎和采集为生，后来他们在中世纪转向驯鹿放牧。

Brand在这里不是指“品牌”，而是指“标记，烙印”（a mark made or burned on a farm animal's skin that shows who it belongs to）

Nowadays they move with their herds between the lowlands and the mountains. But their lifestyle is threatened by development.

现在他们随着鹿群在低地与山脉之间迁徙，但他们的生活方式正受到现代发展的威胁。

第二段介绍了萨米人与瑞典政府之间的纠纷。

Until recently there was little they could do about this. But in 2009 Girjas, a Sami community, sued the government for control of hunting and fishing permits in their territory.

直到最近，萨米人对此能做的事情并不多。但在2009年一个名为“吉尔哈斯”的萨米人团体起诉了政府，因为政府在他们的土地上对狩猎和捕鱼许可进行控制。

On January 23rd Sweden’s supreme court ruled for the Sami, citing government records going back to the 16th century which recognised Sami rights in exchange for taxes (paid in fur).

瑞典最高法院于1月23日做出了对萨米人有利的裁决。法院援引了政府最早在16世纪的记录，该记录承认萨米人的权利，以此来换取税款（以动物毛皮的形式支付）。

“XX做出了对某人有利的裁决”可以说：XX rules for/in favor of somebody，相反的表达则是：XX rules against somebody

Until the government passes new legislation, any Sami community can sue and win such rights across much of northern Sweden.

在政府通过新法规之前，任何萨米人团体都可以在瑞典北部大部分地区提起诉讼并赢得此类权利。

第三段介绍了萨米人在瑞典北部城市基律纳的遭遇。

Not everyone is thrilled, particularly around the northern mining town of Kiruna. Elsewhere, Sami groups have opposed mining projects they said would interfere with herding.

并非所有人都对判决感到振奋（特别是对于北部采矿小镇基律纳附近的人来说）。在其他地方，萨米人群体反对那些他们说会干扰放牧的采矿项目。

Like the Sami, Kiruna itself is migrating. The tunnels through its iron-ore deposits are caving in, forcing the whole town to move two miles (3.2km).

同萨米人一样，基律纳整个镇也在迁徙。通往小镇铁矿石矿床的隧道正在塌陷，这迫使整个小镇搬迁到两英里（3.2公里）外的地方。

Cave in是指“（屋顶、天花板等）塌陷”，由此它也可以引申出一个含义“（因迫于压力而）让步，屈服”（to give in or submit to pressure），比如：The chairman is expected to cave in to pressure from shareholders. 董事长估计会在股东的压力下作出让步。

这里小镇之所以要搬迁是因为矿道塌陷引发地陷，导致一些地方不适合居住，因此不得不搬迁。关于小镇的更多资料可参考维基词条：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiruna

In February reindeer belonging to Sami started showing up dead, with bullet holes in them. Some Sami received death threats.

人们在2月份发现属于萨米人的驯鹿群中开始出现死亡案例，这些死亡的驯鹿身上有弹孔。一些萨米人还收到了死亡威胁。

注意这里reindeer是一个复数名词，reindeer的单复数形式是一样的。

第四段介绍了市政委员会对此的回应。

The city council condemned such nastiness. “Racist hatred must never be tolerated,” says Mattias Timander, the council’s chairman.

市政委员会对这一恶劣行为进行了谴责。委员会主席马蒂亚斯·蒂曼德说：“绝不能容忍种族主义仇恨。”

Still, critics argued that Sami should be treated like anyone else. The politics of indigenous rights in Sweden differ from those in America or Canada: ethnic Swedes consider themselves natives, too.

不过，批评者认为萨米人应该像其他人一样被同等对待。瑞典的土著居民权利政治与美国或加拿大的不同：瑞典少数族裔也将自己视为瑞典本地人。

结尾段介绍了萨米人的历史。

The Sami have been in Scandinavia for millennia. They are linguistically and genetically distinct. In Sweden, a country of 10m people, there are only about 20,000 Sami. But the state owes them a fair shake. It long oppressed them on racial grounds.

萨米人在斯堪的纳维亚半岛已有数千年历史。他们在语言和基因上都与其他种族不同。在拥有1000万人口的瑞典，萨米人只有约20000名，但国家欠他们一个公平的待遇。长期以来，瑞典出于种族因素一直对他们进行压迫。

a fair shake是一个固定搭配，意思相当于fair treatment，例如：She expected to get a fair shake from her boss. 她希望老板能够公平地对待她。

on…grounds / on grounds of是一个常见的表示原因的用法，它的意思是“以……为由，基于……的原因”。比如我们可以说：While some people support genetically modified food, others oppose this technology on health grounds. They argue that GM crops may produce harmful substances and thus have a negative impact on human health.

The main thing, Mr Timander and Mr Fjallas agree, is for the government to incorporate the ruling into law so herders, hunters and miners can stay out of each other’s way.

蒂曼德和菲亚拉斯都认同的一点是，最重要的事情是政府应将该法庭裁定纳入法律，这样牧民、猎人和矿工可以避免互相干扰。

the main thing相当于the most important thing，即“最重要的事情”。

Stay out of somebody’s way是一个固定搭配，意思是“避开某人”。