中国航母“施琅”号

中国航母“施琅”号
Chinese warship makes regional waves 作者：英国《金融时报》席佳琳大连报道
At the Ikea store in Dalian, the city in north-eastern China, most customers last Thursday were middle-aged women sifting through textiles and tableware.
上周四，光顾大连宜家(Ikea)的顾客大多为中年女性，在纺织品和餐具货架前精挑细选着。

In the bedding department, however, the activity was more unusual. One man was aiming a camera on a tripod through a glass door, zooming in on a ship across the harbour: China’s first aircraft carrier.
但在卧具区域，却出现了不寻常的一幕。

一名男子正在给一部固定在三脚架上的相机
调焦，镜头透过一扇玻璃门，对准了港口另一侧的一艘船只：中国首艘航空母舰。

Bought in 1998 from Ukraine as an unfinished hull, the Soviet-designed carrier Varyag is being given what Xinhua, the official news agency, says are the finishing touches.
这艘前苏联设计的瓦良格号(Varyag)航
母于1998年购自乌克兰，当时船体尚未完工。

根据中国官方新闻社新华社的说法，目前改建工程已经进入收尾阶段。

The carrier is expected to enter service this year as the Shi Lang, named after the 17th-century admiral who conquered Taiwan, the island that China considers a renegade province.
瓦良格号预计将在今年以“施琅”号的名字下水服役。

施琅是17世纪攻克台湾岛的海军将领，而中国政府一直将台湾视为一个叛乱省份。

Since the ship emerged from dry dock last year, many Chinese military enthusiasts have made the pilgrimage to Dalian, equipped with telescopes and expensive cameras.
自去年瓦良格号在干船坞露面以来，中国许多军事迷纷纷带着望远镜和昂贵的相机，前来大连朝圣。

“I’ve also been to the Wuhan [naval] shipyard to look at submarines, but this is better,” says the young man with the
“我已经去武汉（海军）船坞看过潜艇了，但这次更令人兴奋，”拿着三脚架的年轻人说道。

tripod. 在大连的许多高楼和高架桥上都能看到
瓦良格号，但宜家三层的两个紧急出口成了最
佳观赏点。

The ship can be seen from many
high-rises and elevated roads in Dalian,
瓦良格号所引起的关注范围远远超越了中国。

美军太平洋司令部司令罗伯特•威拉德
but two Ikea emergency exits on the third floor have emerged as the preferred vantage points. 上将(Robert Willard)最近表示，中国邻国将严密关注瓦良格号。

The carrier is arousing interest far beyond China. Robert Willard, commander of US forces in the Pacific, recently said the ship would be watched closely by China’s neighbours.
威拉德上将表示：“（我们的）区域合作伙伴认为中国此举意义重大，而中国的军力原本就已经有了显著提升。

”
“[Our] regional partners regard this step by the Chinese in the midst of what has otherwise been a remarkable growth in their military capability as significant,”Admiral Willard said.
美国及其它太平洋国家的海军官员则表示，中国仍需多年时间才能真正操控航母。

“拥有航母是一回事儿，操控它乃至一个航母战斗群则完全是另一回事儿，”一名非中国海军军官如此表示。

Officers in the US navy and the navies of other Pacific-countries say China will need many years before it can effectively operate an aircraft carrier. “Owning a carrier is one thing, operating one, or even a carrier strike group, is something completely different,” said one
non-Chinese naval officer.
有鉴于此，加上中国人对航母的下水期待已久，估计瓦良格号对中国赶超美国海军不会起到太大作用——占主宰地位的美国海军，将成为中国海军的终极挑战目标。

Because of this, and because the carrier’s launch has been expected for so long, the vessel is expected to do little to help China catch up with the US navy, the dominant naval power which the Chinese navy could eventually seek to challenge.
眼下，这种挑战更有可能来自反舰弹道导弹。

美国军事专家认为，中国可能将反舰导弹对准美国航母。

For the time being, such a challenge is much more likely to come from an anti-ship ballistic missile with which US military experts believe China could target US carriers.
中国政府官员的一些言论则反映出，中国将航母视为其实力不断增长的象征。

Comments from Chinese government officials reveal the country views an aircraft carrier as a symbol of its growing power.
中国还相信，随着中国经济利益扩张，航母有助于中国海军在远离本土的水域更好地执行任务。

China also believes carriers could help its navy better carry out missions far away from China as its economic interests
中国军方的消息人士不愿透露瓦良格号的潜在作战功能，但独立军事分析人士表示，投入使用的航母，将让中国朝掌握台湾制空权
expand. 的目标又近了一步。

Chinese military sources are reluctant to address the potential combat functions of a carrier, but independent military analysts say that an operational carrier would bring China closer to its goal of air superiority over Taiwan.
对于中国人民解放军(PLA)而言，施琅号服役将只是万里长征的第一步。

伦敦政治风险咨询公司Exclusive Analysis研究中国海军的专家加里•李(Gary Li)表示：“由于（中国海军）即将驶入的是一片未知水域，第一艘航母必然将主要用于训练。

”
For the People’s Liberation Army, taking the Shi Lang into service will be just the first step on this long road. “The first carrier will inevitably be mainly geared towards training as the [PLA Navy] will be sailing into uncharted waters,”says Gary Li, an expert on the Chinese navy at Exclusive Analysis, a political risk consultancy in London.
关于施琅号将部署在哪里，或到底作何用，北京方面仍保持沉默。

Beijing remains silent on where the Shi Lang will be deployed or what exactly it will do with the ship.
加里•李表示，如果考虑到与现有海军资源进行整合，驻扎在海南的南海舰队将是最好的选择。

Mr Li says that in terms of integrating it with existing navy capabilities, the South Sea Fleet base on Hainan Island would be the best choice.
他表示：“那里已部署了最先进的护卫舰、驱逐舰及潜艇，一艘航母的加盟可以让中国海军在必要时，很容易就能组建一个战斗群。

”
“The most modern frigates and
destroyers as well as submarines are
already based there, and the addition of a
carrier would easily allow a battle group
to be formed if needed,” he says.
译者/何黎。