考研英语水平的进步,不仅要记单词,还需要阅读外语文献等资料。接下来,小编为2024考研者们,整理出——2024考研英语同源外刊5月:谁才是真正的穷人?供考生参考。
2024考研英语同源外刊5月:谁才是真正的穷人?
Eradicating poverty in all its forms is the first of the UN’s 17 development goals. It is also a priority for many countries. To succeed, multilateral organisations and national governments need good policy—and a way to track their progress. So how should they define and measure poverty?
消除一切形式的贫困是联合国17项发展目标中排在首位的目标。这也是许多国家的优先事项。为了实现这一目标,多边组织和各国政府需要良好的政策和跟踪其进展的方法。那么他们应该如何定义和衡量贫困呢?
In 1795 David Davies, a British priest, published a study that documented the lives of labourers in his rural parish. In perhaps the first-ever attempt to measure poverty systematically, he calculated a sum of money that would allow working-class families to live in “tolerable comfort”.
1795年,英国牧师大卫·戴维斯发表了一份研究报告,记录了他所在乡村教区劳动者的生活。他计算出了一笔足以让工薪阶层家庭过上“基本舒适”生活的钱,这或许是人类有史以来首次系统衡量贫困的尝试。
More than two centuries later, the same concept underpins definitions of poverty around the world. Countries identify a minimum level of income required to meet basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. Those who have less are considered poor.
两个多世纪后,同样的概念支撑着世界各地对贫困的定义。各国确定了满足衣食住行等基本需求所需的较低收入水平。那些收入低于这一水平的人被定义为穷人。
Unsurprisingly, these thresholds vary by country. In America, for instance, an individual was deemed poor by the government in 2022 if they earned less than around $41 a day; the similar threshold in Ethiopia is $2 a day.
不出所料,这些门槛因国家而异。例如,在2022年的美国,如果一个人的日收入低于41美元,他就会被政府视为穷人;而埃塞俄比亚的这一门槛则为2美元。
These definitions help governments identify who should benefit from policies to alleviate poverty. In America, for instance, how near or far families are from the poverty line determine their eligibility for health and social programmes, such as Medicaid, a government-funded health-insurance scheme.
这些定义有助于政府确定谁应该从减贫政策中受益。例如,在美国,家庭距离贫困线的远近决定了他们是否有资格参加医疗和社会项目,比如政府资助的医疗保险计划——医疗补助计划。
Poverty measures are also important for tracking the impact of policy. The World Bank, for example, uses an international poverty line to compare poverty across countries. Based on what constitutes poverty in the 28 poorest countries, the threshold of $2.15 (expressed in 2017 prices and adjusted for currency differences) is the global benchmark for extreme poverty.
贫困衡量对于跟踪政策的影响也很重要。例如,世界银行使用国际贫困线来比较各国的贫困状况。根据28个贫穷国家的贫困标准,2.15美元的门槛(以2017年价格表示,并经汇率差异调整)是全球极端贫困的基准。
By this measure, the proportion of the world’s population living in extreme poverty dropped from more than 35% in 1990 to less than 10% in 2019. According to a study published by researchers at the Centre for Global Development, a think-tank, in March 2023. this ratio could fall to 2% by 2050 with the right economic conditions.
按照这一标准,生活在极端贫困中的世界人口比例从1990年的35%以上下降到2019年的10%以下。根据智库全球发展中心的研究人员在2023年3月发表的一项研究,如果经济状况良好,这一比例到2050年可能会降至2%。
Yet for many, such progress would not mean the near-elimination of poverty. The World Bank’s dollar measure, which defines a bare-minimum standard of living, tracks “absolute” poverty. It does not account for inequality.
然而,对许多人来说,这种进步并不意味着贫困几乎得到消除。世界银行的美元衡量标准定义了较低生活水平,追踪了“绝对”贫困。但它没有考虑到不平等。
Yet a person’s well-being, some scholars argue, depends on how their standard of living compares with that of others. People’s conception of what constitutes basic needs changes by place and over time.
然而,一些学者认为,一个人的幸福取决于他的生活水平与其他人相比如何。人们对基本需求构成要素的概念随着时间和地点的变化而变化。
Such initiatives work best if governments know exactly who needs help. Global standards, such as the World Bank’s, are useful for picking out trends, but national policymaking requires more granular information to identify places and people that are struggling.
如果政府确切地知道谁需要帮助,这些举措就能发挥较大的作用。世界银行等全球标准有助于认识趋势,但国家政策制定需要更精细的信息来确定正在贫困中挣扎的地方和人群。
Poor countries often lack the resources and know-how to collect such data. Their governments would often rather spend money on eye-catching projects, such as new schools. Building statistical capacity may not be glamorous. But it’s hard to help the poor when you don’t know who they are.
贫穷国家往往缺乏收集这类数据的资源和技术。他们的政府往往更愿意把钱花在引人注目的项目上,比如建新学校。建立统计能力可能不那么吸引人。但如果你不知道哪些人是穷人,就很难去帮助他们。
重难点词汇:
eradicate [ɪˈrædɪkeɪt] v. 根除;消灭
threshold [ˈθreʃhoʊld] n. 门槛;临界点
benchmark [ˈbentʃmɑːrk] n. 基准;水准点 v. 评估;衡量
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