世界发展目标取得重要进展

    This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
    这里是VOA慢速英语发展报告。

    The World Bank says most developing countries have made important progress toward the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals.
    世界银行称,大多数发展中国家都朝向联合国“千年发展目标”取得了重要进展。

    Last week the international lender released its yearly World Development Indicators. Hundreds of indicators are used to measure progress in areas such as education, health, poverty, the environment and trade.
    上周,国际借贷机构(即世界银行)公布了年度“世界发展指标”。数百种指标用以评估在教育、卫生、贫困、环境和贸易领域取得的进展。

    One of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty by twenty fifteen.
    “千年发展目标”的目标之一是在2015年前,使生活极端贫困人口减半。

    Out of eighty-seven countries with data available, forty-nine seem likely to reach that goal. "Extreme poverty" is defined as earning less than one dollar a day.
    在能够提供数据的87个国家中,有49个国家有望实现这一目标。 “极端贫困”的定义是日收入低于1美元。

    Another goal is to make education available to all young children. The report shows that in two thousand seven, seven out of ten children lived in developing countries that had met or were close to meeting that goal.
    另一个目标是普及少儿教育。该报告显示,2007年,发展中国家十分之七的儿童已实现或即将实现该目标。

    Also, thirty-nine countries have achieved or are likely to achieve the goal of reducing child death rates. The target is a two-thirds reduction by twenty fifteen.
    此外,39个国家已实现或将要实现降低儿童死亡率的目标。我们的目标是在2015年之前,将儿童死亡率降低三分之二。

    And the report from the World Bank shows the first reduction in AIDS-related deaths.
    另外,世界银行的报告显示,艾滋病死亡率首次出现下降。

    But even with all the progress, there is still a long way to go to reach all eight goals approved by world leaders ten years ago. This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa, which falls behind on all of the goals.
    不过,即使所有的进展顺利,要达到十年前各国首脑一致认可的所有8个目标,仍然有很长的路要走。这一点在落后于所有发展目标的撒哈拉以南的非洲地区表现尤其突出。

    Eric Swanson is a program manager for the World Development Indicators.
    埃里克·斯旺森是世界发展指标的项目主管。

    ERIC SWANSON: "You have had a decade or more in Africa of very slow economic progress in the nineties. You've had civil war and other disruptions, you've had poor governance in many countries that has not allowed the economy to grow and, in particular, has not allowed poor people to share in the benefits of growth."
    埃里克·斯旺森:“九十年代非洲至少有十年或更长时间,经济发展非常缓慢,经历了内战或其他分裂。很多国家的弱势政府状态使得经济无法发展,特别是,无法使老百姓从经济发展受益。”

    Still, he points to some hopeful signs -- including a large reduction in the child death rate in Malawi.
    不过,他也指出了一些好的迹象 - 包括马拉维的儿童死亡率大幅下降。

    ERIC SWANSON: "Malawi is a landlocked state, it is one of the ones that we tend to worry most about, and yet it has demonstrated that when you focus attention on a problem you can make progress."
    埃里克·斯旺森:“马拉维是一个内陆国家,是我们最担心的几个国家之一。然而它却向我们证明,当你专注于某个问题时,你就能取得进展。”

    Last week the World Bank also launched a new "open data initiative." The bank will make its data on living conditions around the world publicly available. Officials say this will make it easier to measure the effects of policies and develop new solutions to help the world's poor.
    上周,世界银行还发出了一个新的“数据开放倡议”。世界银行的全球民生数据将向公众开放。官方表示,此举将更益于衡量政策的有效性,并开发出帮助全球贫困人口的新方案。