Through the din of machinery and clouds of hissing steam, there is a rumbling sound. A slab of red-hot metal thunders along the line of rollers and water jets in the cavernous factory, to be transformed into a thin sheet before being rolled up tightly into a coil.

在机械的嘈杂和嘶嘶作响的蒸汽形成的烟雾中，有一种隆隆的响声。在巨大的车间里，炽热的金属厚板在雷鸣般的响声中通过辊道和喷水冷却设备，被压成薄片，最后紧紧地绕成卷钢。

Steel produced at this sooty complex that sprawls along the south Wales coastline goes into everyday objects such as cars, dishwashers, coins and food tins. It is a source of local pride.

沿着南威尔士海岸的这片煤黑色厂区生产的钢材，被用于汽车、洗碗机、硬币和食品罐头等日常用品。这是当地人的一大骄傲。

Workers and managers tell visitors how the hot strip mill, where slabs of steel made on the site are rolled, has recently broken production records. Productivity is up, they say, and a turnround plan on track. But there is a anxious look in their eyes. For they know their efforts may not be enough.

工人和管理人员告诉参观者，这个热轧带钢车间（厂区制造的钢板在这里被热轧和卷取）最近打破了生产纪录。他们说，生产率提高了，改善业绩的计划也走上了正轨。但他们的眼中都有一种焦虑。因为他们知道，他们的努力可能还不够。

The twin blast furnaces towering over Port Talbot have become the focal point of a crisis that has left British steelmaking hanging in the balance. After years of heavy losses, the plant’s Indian owner, Tata Steel, wants to sell off its collection of UK facilities.

耸立在塔尔伯特港(Port Talbot)的双子高炉，成为了一场让英国钢铁业前途未卜的危机的焦点。在多年严重亏损后，这家工厂的印度东家塔塔钢铁(Tata Steel)打算卖掉其在英国的钢铁业务。

If no buyer is found by the end of June, they could close permanently. As well as the livelihoods of about 35,000 people at the business and in the supply chain, this threatens the core of an industry that has been a pillar of the British economy since the late 19th century.

如果到6月底还找不到买家，这些工厂可能被永久关闭。这不仅会威胁企业和供应链上的约3.5万人的生计，还威胁到自19世纪末以来一直是英国经济支柱之一的钢铁业的核心。

“It’s the whole UK industry that’s in jeopardy if Port Talbot isn’t here,” says Barrie Evans, a steelworker of 21 years. “Everyone has their back to the wall but they’re coming out fighting.”

“如果塔尔伯特港钢厂不复存在，整个英国工业都将陷入危险，”当了21年钢铁工人的巴里•埃文斯(Barrie Evans)说，“每个人都被逼到了墙角，但他们正站出来抗争。”

Although high production and energy costs have made Britain an expensive place for heavy manufacturing, the plight of Tata Steel UK has magnified distortions convulsing the wider global steel industry.

尽管高昂的生产和能源成本使得在英国经营重工业十分昂贵，但塔塔钢铁英国的困境凸显出让全球钢铁业震颤的扭曲。

From the US to Australia and Brazil to Japan, producers have buckled after prices fell by nearly 30 per cent last year, according to the Platts World Steel Price index. At companies such as ArcelorMittal, US Steel and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, earnings have crumpled, share prices sagged and, in some cases, thousands of jobs lost in response to a slump triggered by a massive international oversupply.

根据普氏世界钢铁价格指数(Platts World Steel Price index)，从美国到澳大利亚，从巴西到日本，去年钢价近30%的跌幅压垮了生产商。安赛乐米塔尔(ArcelorMittal)、美国钢铁公司(US Steel)、新日铁住金(Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal)等公司的利润大幅下滑，股价下跌，在某些情况下，国际性的大规模供过于求造成低迷，进而导致成千上万的炼钢工人失去工作。

On Wednesday Tata completed the sale of its European long products business, based at the UK’s other big steelworks in Scunthorpe, to Greybull Capital for ￡1.

最近，塔塔完成了以1英镑将其欧洲长材业务出售给Greybull Capital的交易，这些业务位于其在英国斯肯索普(Scunthorpe)的另一家大型钢厂。

As a highly cyclical industry, steel has long suffered bouts of excess production capacity, which drags down prices in downturns. But this time the equation is skewed by a very large variable: China.

作为一个周期性很强的行业，钢铁业历来每隔一段时期就会遭遇产能过剩，将价格拖入低迷。但这一次，整个等式被一个巨大的变量扭曲：中国。

“After the financial crisis, [the industry] came out of trouble first with the growth of China, which sucked in raw materials and then steel,” says Christopher Beauman, an industry adviser. “Because it became so big, when China sneezes, the rest of the world catches pneumonia. Its downturn has arguably hit steel more than any other sector.”

“金融危机过后，（钢铁业）最初随着中国的增长走出困境；中国吸收了大量原材料，然后是钢铁，”行业顾问克里斯托弗•博曼(Christopher Beauman)说，“因为中国变得太巨大了，当中国打喷嚏的时候，世界其他地方就得了肺炎。可以说中国的低迷对钢铁业的冲击大过对其他任何行业的冲击。”