The Greenlandic government hopes that mining will provide new revenue. In granting Greenland home rule in 2009, Denmark froze its annual subsidy, which is scheduled to be decreased further in the coming years.
格陵兰政府希望采矿能带来新的收入。2009年，丹麦允许格陵兰实行地方自治，并将冻结给格陵兰岛拨付的年度补贴。根据安排，补贴金额会在接下来的几年里进一步减少。
Here in Narsaq, a collection of brightly painted homes bordered by spectacular fjords, two foreign companies are applying to the government for permission to mine.
在纳萨克当地，一片房屋涂着明亮的颜色，不远处就是壮观的峡湾。两家外国公司正在向政府申请采矿许可。
“This is huge; we could be mining this for the next 100 years,” said Eric Sondergaard, a geologist with the Australian-owned company Greenland Minerals and Energy, who was on the outskirts of Narsaq one day recently, picking at rocks on a moon-like plateau rich with an estimated 10.5 million tons of rare earth ore.
澳大利亚所有的格陵兰矿产和能源公司(Greenland Minerals and Energy)的地质学家埃里克?森诺高(Eric Sondergaard)前不久说，“这儿储藏丰富，我们可能未来100年都会在这里采矿。”当时，他正在纳萨克郊外一个月亮型的高原上反复检查岩石。据估计，这个高原蕴藏着1050万吨稀土矿石。
That proximity promises employment, and the company is already schooling some young men in drilling and in English, the international language of mine operations. It plans to build a processing plant, a new port and more roads. (Greenland currently has none outside of settled areas.) Narsaq’s tiny airport, previously threatened with closure from lack of traffic, could be expanded. A local landlord is contemplating converting an abandoned apartment block into a hotel.
由于临近矿藏，采矿业在这里提供了就业机会。这家公司已经开始教一些年轻人钻孔和英语了。英语是采矿作业使用的国际语言。公司计划修建一座加工厂和一座新港口，还打算多修些公路。(目前，在格陵兰岛上的定居点以外还没有公路。)纳萨克那个小机场过去因为旅客太少，差一点被关闭，但现在可能还会扩建。当地的一名房东正盘算着把一处闲置的公寓楼改造成旅馆。
“There will be a lot of people coming from outside and that will be a big challenge since Greenlandic culture has been isolated,” said Jasper Schroder, a student home in Narsaq from university in Denmark.
在丹麦一所大学就读的大学生雅斯佩尔?施罗德(Jasper Schroder)家在纳萨克，他说，“会有很多外国人来，因为格陵兰岛的文化一直都很孤立，这会是一个很大的挑战。”
Still, he supports the mine and hopes it will provide jobs and stem the rash of suicides, particularly among his peers; Greenland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. “People in this culture don’t want to be a burden to their families if they can’t contribute,” he said.
但他还是支持采矿，并且希望采矿业能提供工作机会，遏止草率的自杀事件，尤其是他的同龄人的自杀。格陵兰是全世界自杀率最高的地方之一。他说，“生活在这种文化中的人，如果不能为家庭做出贡献，就不想成为家人的负担。”
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