英语听力精选进阶版 6322（在线收听）

What is a fair wage? Why aren't more people in the world offered pay equality? These are some of the questions the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recently investigated.

With a global population of over seven billion, is it actually possible to measure an average amount?

The ILO has now tried to work out the sums. Using the total wage bill from over seventy countries, they have multiplied the amounts by the number of earners in each country. The economists then tallied up the results and divided them by the total number across the world. The result was a world average wage equivalent to $1,490 a month. That is approximately $75 a day for a 20-day working month.

This figure might seem very high because they calculated the amount using purchasing power parity dollars, which takes into account the fact that it is cheaper to live in some countries than others. The data also did not include the huge number of people who appear in poverty statistics or who are self-employed.

Calculating an average sum like this might not be a completely fair representation, but these figures do help us to understand how the world is developing, both economically, in the quality of life people are experiencing and their standard of living.

But the result shows that the average wage is still relatively low and there remains a huge difference in levels of affluence around the world. Some people live on just two dollars a day, whilst others are earning more than a million dollars a year. Is this fair? For many, pay equality still seems very far out of reach.

Quiz 测验

Is this statement true, false or not given? The ILO used statistics from over 70 different countries.

True

The sum the ILO calculated was: a standard wage; an approximate wage; an average wage?

an average wage

When someone works for themselves, what are they called?

self-employed

What data did the ILO not include in the sums?

poverty statistics, people who are self-employed

What is another name used for levels of wealth?

affluence

Glossary 词汇表

a fair wage 公平的工资

pay equality 平等的工资

an average amount 平均数量

sums 总数

the total wage bill (total pay amount) 工资总数

multiplied by 乘以

an earner 赚钱的人

to tally up 加起来

divided by 除以

equivalent to 相对于

figures 数据

to calculate 计算

purchasing power parity 购买力平价

to take into account 考虑到

statistics 统计数据

self-employed 自雇人士

quality of life 生活质量

standard of living 生活水平

affluence 富裕