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现在，我们谈“Treaty”、“Covenant”和“Convention”这几个词的用法。
中国清政府签订的第一个不平等条约称为Treaty of Nanking，第二个不平等条约是Treaty of Wang-Hea。还有一些我们比较熟悉的条约如，The North Atlantic Treaty，the Treaty on European Union，而Multilateral Treaties on Terrorism, 10-16 November 2001，则是把那几天在联合国大会上所达成的几个协议统统归入这个名称之下。这样看来，在国家之间或国家集团之间就重大问题所签订的“Agreement”都可以使用“Treaty”这个词。那么，“Covenant”和“Convention”这两个词又该怎样用呢？还是先看几个例句：
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons including Diplomatic Agents. New York, 14 December 1973;
International Convention against the Taking of Hostages. New York, 17 December 1979;
International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings. New York, 15 December 1997; and
International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. New York, 9 December 1999
由上面的几个例子可以看出，这些“Agreement”的内容都是国际社会所共同关心的一些问题，不妨称其为“主题协议”，使用“Convention”来表示。而“Covenant”和“Convention”是同义的。我们找到“Covenant”的一个定义，即“A covenant is also a part of a written legal agreement that gives a particular instruction, usually to prevent something from being done.”例如，“The contract contained a restrictive covenant against building on the land.”当然，这个例子只表示其中一层意思，国际公约的用法，还是不太一样，如：
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights（经济、社会及文化国际公约）. … 4. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields.
在外交部网站上公布的260多个我国参加的各种协议中，使用“Covenant”的还只有这一条。也许是使用这个词的协议本来就少。但是，我们也查到一个目前仍处在草拟中的“Covenant”，即
The most recent iteration of that treaty has now been obtained and reviewed. It is called, in its present form, “Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development.” It is organized into 11 parts, containing a total of 72 Articles.
关于各种外交“协议”具体应该使用哪一个词，还是应该向外交部长期从事各种国际谈判的专家们请教，也可以从网上多搜索些例证，切勿冒然翻译，否则就要闹笑话了。
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