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Last summer, after months of unusually heavy monsoon rains, and temperatures that approached the limits of human survivability, Pakistan--home to thousands of melting Himalayan glaciers--experienced some of the worst floods in its history.
去年夏天，在经历了持续数月的罕见强季风性降雨以及逼近人类生存极限的高温之后，巴基斯坦----这里有数千座正在融化的喜马拉雅冰川----遭遇了该国历史上最严重的洪水。
The most extensive destruction was in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, but some estimated that up to a third of the country was submerged.
信德省和俾路支省受灾最严重，但据估计，该国多达三分之一的地区已被洪水淹没。
The floods killed more than 1,700 people and displaced a further 32 million--more than the entire population of Australia.
洪水造成1700多人遇难，另有3200万人流离失所----比澳大利亚的总人口还多。
Some of the country's most fertile agricultural areas became giant lakes, drowning livestock and destroying crops and infrastructure. The cost of the disaster now runs to tens of billions of dollars.
一些最为富饶的农业地区变成了巨大的湖泊，湖水淹没了牲畜，摧毁了农作物和基础设施。这场灾难造成的损失目前已达数百亿美元。
In late August, as the scale of this catastrophe was becoming clear, the Pakistani government was trying to avert a second disaster.
8月下旬，随着这场灾难的严重程度变得清晰，巴基斯坦政府正试图避免另一场灾难。
It was finally reaching a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avoid missing payment on its foreign debt.
为避免拖欠外债，该国最终与国际货币基金组织达成协议。
Without this agreement, Pakistan would likely have been declared in default--an event that can spark a recession, weaken a country's long-term growth, and make it more difficult to borrow at affordable rates in the future.
如果没有这项协议，巴基斯坦可能已经被宣布违约----这一事件可能引发经济衰退、削弱一个国家经济的长期增长、未来更难以负担得起的利率借款。
The terms of the deal were painful: the government was offered a $1.17 bn IMF bailout only after it demonstrated a real commitment to undertaking unpopular austerity policies, such as slashing energy subsidies.
协议的条款让巴基斯坦很不好受: 该国政府只有在真正承诺实施不受欢迎的紧缩政策(如削减能源补贴)之后，才能获得国际货币基金组织提供的11.7亿美元的财政援助。
But the recent fate of another south Asian country appeared to show what happens if you put off the IMF for too long.
但另一个南亚国家最近的命运似乎例证了如果使国际货币基金组织等待太久会发生什么。
Only weeks before, the Sri Lankan government, shortly after its own default--and after months of refusing to implement IMF-demanded reforms--was overthrown in a popular uprising.
就在几周前，斯里兰卡政府拖欠债务----数月来斯里兰卡一直拒绝实施国际货币基金组织要求的改革----之后不久在一场平民起义中被推翻。
The correlation of Pakistan's crises--exceptionally devastating floods and the threat of economic meltdown--was partly bad luck.
巴基斯坦的祸不单行----极具破坏性的洪水和经济崩溃的威胁----在一定程度上是因为运气不好。
But it was also emblematic of a challenge faced by many countries at the forefront of the climate crisis: how can they afford to deal with extreme weather events and prepare themselves for the coming disasters, while suffering under crippling debt loads and facing demands for austerity as the price of relief?
但这也代表了在气候危机中首当其冲的许多国家所面临的挑战：在背负沉重的债务负担、为换取救援而被要求实行紧缩政策时，他们如何才能应对得起极端天气事件，并为即将到来的灾难做好准备?
