一起针对力拓公司(Rio Tinto PLC )四名在华员工的案子周一有可能迎来一个关键时刻。这起案件曾震惊了国际商界，并有可能损害中国和澳大利亚的关系。
　　A case against four Rio Tinto PLC employees that shocked the international business community and threatened to blow a hole in Sino-Australia relations could reach a key juncture Monday.
　　这四名员工被控从事了商业犯罪，1月11日是上海市公安局向当地检察院提交此案调查结果的最后期限。包括澳大利亚公民胡士泰(Stern Hu)在内的这四名力拓管理人士去年八月被指控说，他们通过贿赂等非法手段为力拓公司在华推动了数十亿美元的矿石销售业务。
　　Jan. 11 is the deadline for the Shanghai Public Security Bureau to submit to local prosecutors the results of its investigation into commercial crimes allegedly committed by the Rio Tinto employees. The executives, including Australian national Stern Hu, were charged in August with employing bribery and other illegal means to drive the multibillion-dollar mineral-sales business in China for the giant Australian miner.
　　像中国和力拓斗法这类事件并把打击的目标对准企业管理人士的情况并不多见。中国有关部门指控说，力拓的这几名员工在澳大利亚有厚利可图的铁矿石贸易中从事了非法活动。此案政治色彩浓厚，案情扑朔迷离，铁矿石业的潜规则和中国司法体系的不透明交织在了一起。
　　Few events have riveted corporate executives like China's tussle with Rio Tinto. In their charges, Chinese authorities allege that the star players in Australia's immensely profitable iron-ore trade engaged in illegal activities. Heavy with political overtones, the case is wrapped in obscurity, combining practices in the secretive minerals industry with those of an opaque legal system.
　　澳大利亚是世界最大的铁矿石供应国，中国则是世界最大的铁矿石消费国，铁矿石贸易奠定了两国关系的基础。这种局面要求全球最大铁矿石供应商力拓公司和中国钢铁业保持和谐的关系。而对力拓员工的起诉有可能严重损害这种关系。
　　The iron-ore trade fundamentally links Australia, the largest supplier, with China, the largest customer. The situation beckons for smooth ties between the largest supply company, Rio Tinto, and the Chinese steel industry. The case against the Rio employees threatened to seriously unmoor those ties.
　　力拓案的法律程序周一是否真能向前推进，如进入法庭审理阶段，目前尚无法确定。辩方律师们说，由于法律体系的漏洞，中国检方最迟可以五个月后再对此案作出明确结论。
　　Whether the legal process in the Rio case actually will move forward Monday -- perhaps into court -- isn't certain. Defense attorneys note loopholes could mean another five months may pass before China's legal system would require prosecutors to issue a firm decision.
　　同样无法确定的是，此案是否将造成持久的损害，狭义而言是对中澳关系，广义而言则是对力拓这类跨国公司在华积极争取业务的兴趣。
　　Just as murky is the question of whether the case will cause lasting damage, specifically to Sino-Australian ties, and more broadly to the appetite of multinational companies such as Rio Tinto to compete aggressively for business in China.
　　中国领导人与澳大利亚总理陆克文(Kevin Rudd)间的沟通渠道依然是畅通的。陆克文能说流利的中文，他两年前就任澳大利亚总理时曾被认为能将澳中关系推上一个新台阶。但自那以来澳中双方却在气候谈判、甚至一个电影节的邀请名单等问题上摩擦不断。虽然两国继续在做生意，力拓仍在向中国的钢铁生产商出售价值数十亿美元的铁矿石，但两国间的猜疑却越来越深，这种猜疑也体现在达成一个两国都能接受的铁矿石定价框架方面。
　　Channels have remained open between China's leaders and Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who speaks fluent Chinese and was expected to take relations with Beijing to a new level when he took power two years ago. But the two sides also have traded barbs, over climate talks and even the invitation list at a film festival. And while cross-border dealmaking has been sustained, with Rio Tinto continuing to sell billions of dollars of iron ore to Chinese steelmakers, suspicions run deep, including over a mutually acceptable framework for pricing ore.
　　中国钢铁生产商每年的铁矿石进口额超过500亿美元。这使中国在其他进口产品方面的支出相形见绌。比如说，喷气机生产商波音公司(Boeing Inc.)2006至2008这三年间在华总收入还不足80亿美元。
　　Chinese steelmakers spend more than $50 billion importing the crucial mineral each year. That dwarfs the amount China spends on most foreign products: Jet maker Boeing Inc.'s total revenue in China in the three years between 2006 and 2008, for instance, was just under $8 billion.
　　铁矿石方面的法律挑战并无什么改变。中国的铁矿石进口量迅速增长，目前每吨铁矿石的价格大约是一年前水平的两倍。
　　In iron ore, the legal challenge has changed little. The volume of Chinese ore imports has rapidly expanded and the price per metric ton is now about double the level of a year ago.
　　悉尼科技大学(Sydney's University of Technology)驻北京研究中国问题的教授凯利(David Kelly)说，中澳关系可被视为“煤矿中的金丝雀”，为全球其他地区即将感受到的压力提供先期预警。
　　Sino-Australian relations could be regarded as a canary in a coal mine, offering early warning about pressures 'that will in time be felt in other global regions,' said David Kelly, a Beijing-based professor of China Studies at Sydney's University of Technology.
　　在过去的言论中，中国努力将此事描述为一起简单的刑事案件。
　　China in past comment has sought to portray the matter as a straightforward criminal case.
　　力拓案也让人们对澳中两国大规模矿石贸易应该如何定价产生了疑问。一般情况下，中澳有关来年矿石价格的谈判在10月份启动，但有关2010年价格的谈判到现在还没有开始。
　　The case also raises questions about how the massive Australia-China ore trade should establish pricing. Normally, Sino-Australia price talks for the following year start in October. For 2010, they haven't begun.
　　力拓在华业务没有中断。11月，该公司首席执行长艾博年(Tom Albanese)在一次投资者通气会上表示，2010年工作的重中之重是重建与中国的关系。
　　Business has continued for Rio Tinto in China. The company's chief executive, Tom Albanese, told an investor briefing in November that a top priority for 2010 was to rebuild the company's China relationship.