TED演讲 第8期:如何不对世界感到无知(1)

 I'm going to ask you three multiple choice questions.  我会给你们做三道多项选择题。

Use this device. Use this device to answer.  用这个装置来回答。

The first question is, how did the number of deaths per year from natural disaster,how did that change during the last century?  第一个问题是 在过去一个世纪里每年因自然灾害死亡的人数发生了怎样的变化。

Did it more than double, did it remain about the same in the world as a whole, or did it decrease to less than half?  是翻倍了还是在全世界范围内总体不变,还是下降了一半呢。

Please answer A, B or C.  请选择A，B或C。

I see lots of answers. This is much faster than I do it at universities.  我已经看到很多人回答了 这比我在大学里做的时候快得多。

They are so slow. They keep thinking, thinking, thinking.  他们动作很慢,他们一直想啊，想啊。

Oh, very, very good.  好，很好。

And we go to the next question.  下一个问题。

So how long did women 30 years old in the world go to school:  在全世界范围内 30岁的女性的受教育的年限是。

seven years, five years or three years?  七年，五年还是三年？

A, B or C? Please answer.  A，B还是C请回答。

And we go to the next question.  我们看下一个问题。

In the last 20 years, how did the percentage  过去20年里。

of people in the world who live in extreme poverty change?  占世界人口多少百分比的人生活在极端贫困中？

Extreme poverty a” not having enough food for the day.  极端贫困指的是每天填不饱肚子。

Did it almost double,did it remain more or less the same,or did it halve¹?  是几乎翻倍了还是基本维持不变还是减半了？

A, B or C?  A，B或C。

Now, answers.  现在公布答案。

You see, deaths from natural disasters in the world,you can see it from this graph here,from 1900 to 2000.  如你所见全球因自然灾害死亡的人数你可以从这幅图里看到从1900年到2000年。

In 1900, there was about half a million people who died every year from natural disasters:  1900年每年有接近50万人死于自然灾害。

floods, earthquakes, volcanic² eruption³, whatever, droughts.  洪水，地震，火山喷发，其他干旱。

And then, how did that change?  然后发生了怎样的变化呢？

Gapminder asked the public in Sweden.  对瑞典公众进行了调查。

This is how they answered.  他们是这样回答的。

The Swedish public answered like this:  瑞典公众的回答是这样的。

Fifty percent thought it had doubled,38 percent said it's more or less the same,12 said it had halved⁴.  50%的人认为翻倍了，38%的人认为没太大变化，12%的人认为减半了。

This is the best data from the disaster researchers,  对于灾害研究人员来说 这是最理想的数字。

and it goes up and down,and it goes to the Second World War,and after that it starts to fall and it keeps falling and it's down to much less than half.  然后上下有所浮动。然后到了二战之后就开始一路下滑，下降至远低于一半。

The world has been much, much more capable as the decades go by to protect people from this, you know.  这个世界相比数十年前而言在保护人们免受自然灾害方面的能力已经强了太多。

So only 12 percent of the Swedes know this.  只有12%的瑞典人知道这一点。

So I went to the zoo and I asked the chimps⁵.  所以我去了趟动物园 问了黑猩猩同样的问题。

The chimps don't watch the evening news,so the chimps,they choose by random⁶, so the Swedes answer worse than random.  黑猩猩才不看晚间新闻。所以它们是随机选择的 所以瑞典人的正确率还不如随机。

Now how did you do?  现在来看看你们做的怎样？

That's you.  这是你们的答案。

1 halve   

vt.分成两半，平分；减少到一半

参考例句：

• Let's halve the project between our two teams.让我们两个队平均分担这项工程吧。
• I'll halve expenses with you.我要跟你平均分摊费用。

2 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

3 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

4 halved   

v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• The shares have halved in value . 股价已经跌了一半。
• Overall operating profits halved to $24 million. 总的营业利润减少了一半，降至2，400 万元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

6 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。