Travelling between Madrid and Barcelona on a recent weekday afternoon, I wandered into the first-class section of the train. There was only one passenger, snoozing on the black leather seats – and he turned out to be the conductor, who looked up startled at the sound of an intruder. 最近一个工作日的下午，我坐上了马德里至巴塞罗那的高铁。当我走进头等车厢时发现，那里仅有一名乘客坐在黑色皮椅上打盹——后来得知他是列车长，他听到有人进来显得特别吃惊。

Spain’s magnificent high-speed rail network testifies to the dramatic modernisation of the country in recent decades. But the empty trains speeding between the country’s two leading cities are evidence of a deep economic malaise. Trouble in Spain is trouble for Europe. All the euro rescues so far have been for relatively small countries: Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus. But Spain is one of Europe’s largest economies and talk of an eventual bailout is once again commonplace. 西班牙庞大的高铁网络是该国几十年大规模现代化的见证。但行驶在两大城市之间的空荡荡的列车表明该国经济严重低迷。西班牙的麻烦就是欧洲的麻烦。迄今欧元区推出的所有纾困措施都是针对相对较小的国家：希腊、葡萄牙、爱尔兰和塞浦路斯。但西班牙是欧洲最大的经济体之一，该国最终不得不接受纾困的言论再次甚嚣尘上。

The statistics are frightening. Unemployment is about 26 per cent; youth unemployment is more than 50 per cent. The economy is forecast to contract again this year, by about 1.5 per cent. The banks have had to be bailed out – but there is a fear that if the economy keeps sliding, they will be hit by a second wave of bad debts. The government has cut spending sharply and loosened labour-market regulations. But the fiscal deficit this year remains on track to be about 6.6 per cent of gross domestic product – and the national debt is heading up to 90 per cent, often regarded as the danger level. 统计数据令人震惊。失业率为26%左右；青年失业率超过50%。预计西班牙经济今年将再次收缩1.5%左右。银行不得不接受纾困，但人们担心，如果经济持续下滑，银行将遭受第二波坏账冲击。西班牙政府大幅削减支出，并放松劳动力市场监管。但今年财政赤字与国内生产总值(GDP)的比率依然会保持在6.6%左右，国家债务与GDP的比例将接近90%——这往往被视为危险水平。

The economic crisis is a particular shock for Spain because – since the coming of democracy at the end of the 1970s – the country has been Europe’s most optimistic and exciting. While the French, British and Italians struggled with a sense of national decline, Spain powered forward. Prosperity was soaring and Spain became a global leader in football, fashion, food and cinema. 经济危机对西班牙的冲击尤为严重，因为自上世纪70年代末建立民主体制以来，该国一直是最让欧洲感到乐观和振奋的国家。在法国、英国和意大利陷入困境、感觉国家实力下降之际，西班牙却一路高歌猛进。西班牙迅速繁荣起来，在足球、时尚、食品和电影领域成为全球领军者。

Spain has suffered deep recessions before, even in the 1990s. But in previous eras, the sacrifices had a purpose, linked to joining first the EU and then the euro. The difference this time is that the Spanish no longer seem sure that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Instead, the economic tunnel keeps growing darker and longer. As a result, Spaniards are losing faith in national and European institutions. 西班牙曾经历过严重的衰退，甚至在上世纪90年代也衰退过。但是，以前的牺牲都是有目的的——最初是加入欧盟，随后是加入欧元区。这次的不同之处在于，西班牙似乎再不能确定隧道尽头是否还有希望之光。相反，西班牙的“经济隧道”越来越黑，也越走越长。结果，西班牙人失去了对本国和欧洲机构的信心。

Popular rage against the banks that lent so recklessly is rampant. It has focused in particular on the mis-selling of preference shares in banks to unsophisticated savers – who thought they were buying a safe product, only to be wiped out when banks restructured. As elsewhere, many of the bankers responsible still seem to be doing mysteriously well. 人们普遍对银行如此草率放贷感到愤慨。这种愤慨尤其集中于银行向缺乏经验的储户不当销售优先股之上——这些投资者本以为他们购买了安全的产品，结果却在银行重组时蒙受重大损失。不可思议的是，与其他地区一样，许多应对此负责的银行家似乎仍然逍遥自在。

Politicians are also deeply unpopular. A recent poll found that 96 per cent of Spaniards believe that political corruption is “very high”. The ruling centre-right Popular party faces accusations that it ran a secret slush fund. Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister, is entirely lacking in charisma – his idea of a press conference is to summon journalists and then read a statement from another room while reporters watch him mutely on a video screen. The Socialist opposition is ineffective and trailing in the polls. The rise of the indignados, a popular protest movement, led some to think that new political energy would come from the streets. But the indignados peaked over a year ago and have largely dispersed. The main protest movement is now more narrowly focused on mortgage repossessions. 政客们也极不受欢迎。最近的民调显示，96%的西班牙人认为，政治上的腐败“非常严重”。中右翼执政党人民党(Popular party)面临经营秘密贿赂基金的指控。西班牙首相马里亚诺•拉霍伊(Mariano Rajoy)则丝毫没有个人魅力——他召开新闻发布会的思路就是把记者召集到一起，随后在另一间屋子里宣读声明，而记者们安静地通过视频屏幕注视着他。反对党社会党效率低下，在民调中垫底。广受欢迎的抗议组织——愤怒者运动(indignados)的兴起曾让一些人认为，新的政治能量将来自街头。但该运动的势头在一年前就已达到顶点，如今力量基本上已经涣散。目前，这个重要抗议运动的诉求越来越狭隘地集中在抵押贷款回收上。

It is not just banks and politicians that are held in contempt. Even the monarchy is under fire. King Juan Carlos, once revered for his role in the transition to democracy, had to apologise for going on an elephant-shooting holiday at the height of the crisis in 2012. His personal life is coming under harsh scrutiny; and his daughter, Cristina, has been formally named as a suspect in a corruption case. 受到鄙视不仅是银行和政客，就连国王也受到了抨击。西班牙国王胡安•卡洛斯(King Juan Carlos) 一度因其在民主转型中的作用而备受尊敬，但如今他不得不为在2012年危机最严重时期去非洲旅游并猎杀大象而道歉。他的私人生活受到严格审查；他的女儿克里斯蒂娜(Cristina)在一宗腐败案中被正式认定为嫌疑人。

The biggest loss of faith of all, however, may be in the “European project”. In recent decades, the EU seemed to offer a way out of a labyrinth of relative poverty, isolation and authoritarianism. The country’s faith in Europe was reflected in the famous saying of the writer, José Ortega y Gasset: “Spain is the problem and Europe is the solution.” 然而，最严重的打击可能是对“欧洲一体化”丧失信心。几十年来，欧盟(EU)似乎提出了摆脱相对贫穷、孤立和专制迷局的出路。作家何塞•奥特嘉-加塞特(José Ortega y Gasset)的名言反映了西班牙对欧洲的信心：“西班牙是问题的所在，而欧洲是解决的办法。”

For many Spaniards, however, Europe looks like a large part of the problem. Economists wonder whether Spain’s plight is closely linked to its membership of the euro, which first stoked a credit boom and now prevents the restoration of competitiveness through a currency devaluation. Germany is widely blamed for insisting on unremitting austerity to balance the Spanish budget – policies that risk creating an ever-deeper recession. 然而，如今许多西班牙人认为，问题看起来在很大程度上源于欧洲。经济学家们想知道，西班牙的困境是否与其欧元区成员国的身份密切相关——这一身份当初促进了信贷繁荣，现在又使该国难以通过货币贬值来恢复竞争力。德国因坚决主张持续紧缩来平衡西班牙预算而备受指责——紧缩政策可能导致衰退越来越严重。

The “European dream” that Spaniards embraced promised a middle-class lifestyle for most people. But with little prospect of secure jobs for the young and a threat to the future of the welfare state, the fear now is that the Spain of the future will look more like Argentina than Germany. An Argentine future would involve the constant fear of financial crises – and a widening gap between the social classes, as many continue to enjoy a first-world lifestyle, while a growing underclass becomes detached from prosperity. Above all, Argentine public life is characterised by deep cynicism about national institutions and leaders. 西班牙人所拥抱的“欧洲梦”承诺让大多数人过上中产阶层的生活。但由于年轻人就业前景黯淡和福利国家的未来面临威胁，人们开始担心，未来的西班牙将更像阿根廷而不是德国。“阿根廷式未来”将包括人们持续担忧金融危机，以及社会各阶层差距日益扩大——许多人继续享受第一世界的生活方式，同时越来越多的下等阶层却与繁荣渐行渐远。毕竟，阿根廷公共生活的特征是对国家机构和领导人的深切疑虑。

Spain is not there yet. But the country urgently needs an optimistic story to counteract mounting pessimism and cynicism. The country used to be the poster child for the benefits of the European project. It now risks becoming a symbol of everything that has gone wrong. 西班牙目前还未走到那一步。但该国迫切需要一个乐观的故事来消解日益加深的悲观和怀疑情绪。西班牙曾经是因欧洲一体化而受益的榜样，但它现在可能变成全盘搞砸的象征。