时代周刊:亚洲世纪之始(3)

Both the economic systems championed by the U.S. and China have thus led to tremendous economic progress over the past few decades.

在过去几十年里，美国和中国所倡导的经济体系都带来了巨大的经济进步。

But each has equally brought about major social, economic and environmental downsides.

但两者都带来了重大的社会、经济和环境问题。

They led to rising inequalities of income, wealth and opportunity; increased tensions between the haves and the have-nots; and, above all, a mass degradation¹ of the environment.

它们导致收入、财富和机会的不平等加剧，富人和穷人之间的紧张关系加剧，最重要的是，环境的大规模退化。

Those shortcomings in the West are well documented. But they are equally present in the Asia region.

西方国家的这些缺点是有据可查的。但它们在亚洲地区同样存在。

Consider first the environmental crisis.

首先考虑环境危机。

Many cities in emerging markets are among those experiencing the worst effects of environmental degradation, pollution and climate change.

新兴市场的许多城市都受到环境退化、污染和气候变化的最严重影响。

Over 90% of the world's population breathes air the World Health Organization deems unsafe, the organization said in 2016.

世界卫生组织在2016年表示，超过90%的世界人口呼吸着世界卫生组织认为不安全的空气。

But the 20 most polluted cities are all in Asia.

但污染最严重的20个城市都在亚洲。

China and India in the past few years were also responsible for the lion's share of new coal and gas plants.

过去几年，中国和印度也在新建燃煤和燃气电厂中占据了最大份额。

In recent years, awareness² about environmental concerns such as air pollution and CO2 emissions³ has grown a lot in China.

近年来，中国对空气污染和二氧化碳排放等环境问题的意识有了很大提高，

The country pledged to become CO2 neutral by 2060. But it has a long way to go.

承诺到2060年为止将成为二氧化碳中立国家。但还有很长的路要走。

The issue of inequality is a major challenge for China and other Asian economies as well.

不平等问题也是中国和其他亚洲经济体面临的一个重大挑战。

China's inequality almost continuously increased from the start of Deng Xiaoping's reforms until around 2010.

从邓小平改革开始到2010年左右，中国的贫富差距几乎一直在扩大。

The policies it pursued, the World Inequality Lab wrote, caused "unprecedented⁴ rises in national income" but also "significant changes to the country's distribution of income."

世界不平等实验室写道，中国奉行的政策导致了“国民收入的空前增长”，但也“显著改变了国家的收入分配”。

In the years since, the rate of inequality growth does seem to have slowed in China, but the resulting picture is still one of significant economic disparity.

在那之后的几年里，中国的不平等增长速度似乎有所放缓，但由此产生的图景仍然是一个巨大的经济差距。

1 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。