几年前，一位澳大利亚的历史学者提出，理解澳大利亚的关键是“无情的距离”。

Years ago, an Australian historian proposed that the key to understanding Australia was “the tyranny of distance”.

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过去几年的经济遗留预示着在2010之后，绝大部分的世界将面临一个冷酷无情的“债务十年”（ “debtcade”）。

The economic legacy of the past few years means that in the 2010s much of the world faces a dour “debtcade”.

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环境专家和法律工作者花费了几年的时间一直在呼吁，无论这无情的预言是否正确，在过去的五年中是这样，这个严肃的辩论悄悄的结束了。

Environmentalists and lawmakers spent years shouting at one another about whether the grim forecasts were true, but in the past five years or so, the serious debate has quietly ended.

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