SINCE 2014, when Yemen tipped(陷入) into civil war, the country has become one of the most desperate(绝望的) places on earth. GDP per person has fallen by 58%. Most families cannot survive without foreign aid. More than 2m children under five are malnourished(营养不良的). Yet the Houthis, the Iran-backed rebels who are one side of the conflict, fight on(继续战斗). They care little about governing and extort(勒索) enough money from areas they control to keep their war machine humming(维持战争机器运转).
自2014年也门陷入内战以来，这个国家已成为地球上最绝望的地方之一。人均GDP下降了58%。大多数家庭没有外国援助就无法生存。超过200万五岁以下儿童营养不良。然而，伊朗支持的叛军胡塞武装——冲突的一方——仍在战斗。他们几乎不关心治理，而是从控制区勒索足够的钱财，以维持其战争机器的运转。
Now they are wagering(打赌) that Saudi Arabia, which supports their opponents, will have far less tolerance for pain. For weeks the Houthis have escalated(升级) attacks on Saudi infrastructure(基础设施). Strikes on Riyadh’s airport have halted flights to the Saudi capital. On October 13th the Houthis attacked the headquarters of Saudi Aramco(沙特阿美，全球最大石油公司), the state-run oil giant, in the eastern city of Dhahran(达兰，沙特东部石油重镇). The kingdom feels under siege(被围困), just as it prepares to host its flagship investment conference this month.
现在他们赌的是，支持其对手的沙特阿拉伯对痛苦的容忍度要低得多。数周来，胡塞武装不断升级对沙特基础设施的袭击。对利雅得机场的打击已导致飞往沙特首都的航班停飞。10月13日，胡塞武装袭击了位于东部城市达兰的国有石油巨头沙特阿美总部。就在沙特准备本月举办其旗舰投资会议之际，这个王国感到自己正陷入围困。
In public, officials have tried to sound defiant(挑衅的，强硬的). “The word fear, in the Saudi dictionary, does not exist,” the energy minister told a gathering of oil executives this week. But the Saudis have no good options. They will struggle to defeat the Houthis, and a long war will upend(颠覆，打乱) plans to diversify(多元化) their economy and to make Riyadh a hub for finance and tourism. Yet the alternative is to cut a costly deal that invites, rather than deters, future Houthi threats.(然而，另一种选择是达成一项代价高昂的协议，这反而会招致而非阻止胡塞武装未来的威胁。)
在公开场合，官员们试图表现出强硬。“在沙特的字典里，没有‘恐惧’这个词，”能源大臣本周对一群石油高管说。但沙特人没有好的选择。他们难以击败胡塞武装，而长期战争将打乱其经济多元化以及将利雅得打造为金融和旅游中心的计划。然而，另一种选择是达成一项代价高昂的协议，这反而会招致而非阻止胡塞武装未来的威胁。
I knew you were trouble
我知道你是个麻烦