pbs高端访谈:世界银行宣布在2030年结束极端贫困的目标

 　　JEFFREY BROWN:Finally tonight: ending extreme poverty around the world by 2030. That's the ambitious goal announced by World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, as his organization and the International Monetary¹ Fund begin their annual spring meetings with delegates from around the globe.

　　The World Bank has come under strong criticism at various times since its founding in 1944, including, as it happens, by Kim himself. An American born in South Korea, Kim is a doctor, a leading global health advocate and winner of a so-called MacArthur genius grant. In the late 1980s, he demonstrated against World Bank policies, even calling for its end.

　　Last year, picked by President Obama, he became the bank's chief, after serving as president of Dartmouth College since 2009.

　　I talked with Dr. Kim at World Bank headquarters in Washington this morning and began by asking what's new in his goal of attacking poverty.

　　JIM YONG KIM, World Bank Group: We feel the fact that there's still 1.2 billion people living in absolute poverty, which is less than $1.25 a day, is a stain on our collective conscience.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:A stain?

　　JIM YONG KIM:A stain.

　　And, you know, over the past 25 years, we have made a lot of progress. We have gone from 43 percent of the people living in absolute poverty to 21 percent today. But most of that was because China grew so rapidly. They lifted 600 million people out of poverty. It's never been done before in human history.

　　But now the tough work remains². What we're seeing is a one-percent-a-year drop in global poverty, but what's going to happen is that that curve is going to flatten³ out, and flatten out pretty dramatically. And what we're saying is, we now need to bend that arc downwards⁴ and really end poverty. And it's going to take a lot of effort to reach this target.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:What kind of effort? I mean, give me a concrete example in a specific place even of what you would now do differently.

　　JIM YONG KIM:So what would you do in India differently if you're committed to ending poverty?

　　Well, India, I visited a state called Uttar Pradesh. And this is a state in India that has over 200 million people.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Huge population.

　　JIM YONG KIM:Eight percent of the people living in absolute poverty in the world live in Uttar Pradesh.

　　And so in our plan for India, we're going to focus much more of our effort in those poorest states where the poor people live.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Is there an implied or even explicit⁵ critique of practices of the World Bank and other institutions of the past? I mean, you yourself were once one of those who demonstrated against or protested against the World Bank.

　　JIM YONG KIM:Absolutely.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Right?

　　JIM YONG KIM:Absolutely.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Now here you are heading it.

　　JIM YONG KIM:Here I am heading it.

　　Well, and I think it's an indication of how much things have changed.

　　Back then, I was part of a mutual⁶ called 50 Years Is Enough, where we thought, on the 50th anniversary, you should just shut down the World Bank.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Who needs it anymore?

　　JIM YONG KIM:But things have changed.

　　Fifteen years ago, we were not at the forefront of tackling climate change. We were not at the forefront of insisting on gender⁷ equality in development programs. We are through there now. It's a different organization. And we are united around this goal of ending poverty.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Could you have ever imagined yourself 15 years ago heading this organization?

　　JIM YONG KIM:Certainly not 15 years ago.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:One of the critiques I have seen from some in the development country after you announced this plan is that you're still focusing on growth as a way to bring everybody up, and not enough on the inequalities that exist within many societies, including many of the more developed societies.

　　JIM YONG KIM:Well, the second part of the target, which is boosting shared prosperity, this is actually completely new for the World Bank Group.

　　What we're saying is every year we are going to let countries know the extent to which the bottom 40 percent of income earners are participating in economic growth. In other words, we are going to measure inequality. We are going to measure the extent to which growth is inclusive. That's new and that's very powerful.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:You're going to tell how much they're behind—the bottom is behind the top?

　　JIM YONG KIM:How much ...

　　JEFFREY BROWN:And then what? What do you want them to do?

　　JIM YONG KIM:Well, we're going to be very specific about it. And we have been specific about it for years.

　　We believe that the evidence shows us—and certainly the Arab spring countries have shown us this—that if you have GDP growth without inclusion, you're building instability into your societies. And we feel that the evidence is overwhelming that putting women at the center of the development process, for example, is smart economics. That's what you should be doing.

　　So it's not—we're going to measure growth. We're going to measure participation⁸ in growth. We're going to measure poverty. But the things that you need to do to get there are varied⁹. And what we know is that if you don't invest in health, education, social protection, you're not really being very visionary about what it's going to take to grow your economy in the future.

　　That message is very strong, and I think people are hearing it from us.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Does this require new money? Because you're making this call at a time of slow growth in much of the world, negative growth in Europe, for example.

　　What do you need from other countries, and how would you get it at a time like this?

　　JIM YONG KIM:Well, if you look at the needs in the world, official development assistance, which is the money that donor¹⁰ countries give, is about $125 billion dollars a year.

　　But let's look at just one country, India. I was just back from India. They have a one trillion dollar infrastructure¹¹ deficit¹² over the next five years. So there's no way that official development assistance is going to be enough to tackle this problem. This is one of the great strengths of the World Bank Group.

　　We not only work in the public sector¹³ with development assistance, but we work in the private sector. We make direct investments. We make loans.

　　It's going to take a major effort of bringing public and private together if we're to have any chance of meeting these targets.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Are you afraid that the world might fall backwards¹⁴? There's been a lot of strides in the last couple of decades through China and other countries with poverty. We have had a number of years of very slow growth. Are you afraid now that we might be moving backwards?

　　JIM YONG KIM:We remain cautiously optimistic about what could happen in the future.

　　We know that the developed economies have to grow in order for us to be able to meet our targets in the developing economies. But the growth in the developing economies has been one of the good news stories over the last five years. More than 50 percent of the growth globally has come from the developing economies. And this year, they are going to grow at 5.5 percent.

　　Part of it is because many of those countries have made tough decisions over the past 15, 20 years around fiscal¹⁵ consolidation¹⁶, around investing in health and education, so they could lay the foundations for future growth.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Well, you know, one of the questions as you gather here is whether the World Bank is even relevant anymore, right? You had a number of countries that have grown and made great strides.

　　There are other areas where they can seek investment now than the bank. What's the case for the continued relevance¹⁷ of the bank, World Bank?

　　JIM YONG KIM:You know, the BRICS countries, being Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the most high-profile, if you will, middle-income countries, the experience that I have had in going to each of those countries is that they don't want less of the World Bank; they want more of the World Bank.

　　And it's not so much that they need our money, but what they need is our expertise¹⁸ and it's our very specific ability to work in the public sector, in the private sector. And we also provide political guarantees. So if you make an investment in a country, and that company's nationalized, we actually provide insurance, which is helping¹⁹ people to feel comfortable making the kinds of investments in developing countries that are needed.

　　We have had 66 years of experience. We have gone through so many different conflicts in order to get to a place where the 188-member countries agree on where we should go and agree about the fundamental relevance of the World Bank Group.

　　There will always be a need for our knowledge. There will always be a need for our ability to work across public and private sectors²⁰. There will always be a need for us as a neutral agent in a very contentious²¹ environment.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Let me just ask you finally about you personally, because World Bank presidents to this point have traditionally been from political backgrounds, from economic backgrounds, financial backgrounds.

　　You're a doctor. You have spent your life in public health. What do you bring to this that is different?

　　JIM YONG KIM:Well, for almost all of my adult life, I have been working in the area of development.

　　I have worked in Haiti. I have worked in the slums of Lima, Peru. I have worked in the Soviet²²—the former Soviet Union countries. I have worked in Tomsk in Siberia. So I have been doing development my entire life.

　　And the World Bank is a development bank. Our focus is on trying to help lift people out of poverty and to boost prosperity, a prosperity that's shared. And that's essentially²³ what I have been doing all my life as an anthropologist²⁴ and a physician. So I have been trying to fight poverty my whole life.

　　And what I have found is that inside the World Bank, we are just full of passion, that people in the World Bank want to end poverty. That's why they came to work at the World Bank. And because we share such fundamental values, we hope that we can be ever more effective in the years ahead.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:All right, World Bank President Dr. Kim, thanks for talking to us.

　　JIM YONG KIM:Thanks, Jeff.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:Dr. Kim has also promised a strong new effort to combat climate change, especially in the developing world. You can find that part of our conversation online.

1 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 flatten   

v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽

参考例句：

• We can flatten out a piece of metal by hammering it.我们可以用锤子把一块金属敲平。
• The wrinkled silk will flatten out if you iron it.发皱的丝绸可以用熨斗烫平。

4 downwards   

adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）

参考例句：

• He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
• As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。

5 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

6 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

7 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

8 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

9 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

10 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

11 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

12 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

13 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

14 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

15 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

16 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

17 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

18 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

19 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

20 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

22 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

23 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

24 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。