VOA慢速英语2011--Microsavings Could Mean Big Gains for the World’s Poor

Economics Report - Microsavings Could Mean Big Gains for the World’s Poor

经济报道 - 小额储蓄大收益

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

When it comes to savings¹, no amount is too small. Microsaving is a growing part of the international movement of microfinance. The aim is to bring financial services to poor people.

储蓄无大小。微储蓄是国际小额信贷运动中一个持续增长的部分，其目的是给贫困人口带来金融服务。

Modern microfinance started with Nobel Prize-winning economist² Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh. In the nineteen seventies, he started small loan programs that would become the Grameen Bank. Currently, microcredit providers are in over one hundred countries.

诺贝尔奖得主，孟加拉国经济学家穆罕默德·尤努斯（Muhammad Yunus）开创了现代小额信贷。20世纪70年代，他启动了后来成为格莱珉银行的小额贷款项目。现在小额信贷机构遍布上百个国家。

Now, microfinance institutions are starting to offer other services, including savings plans.

目前，小额信贷机构开始推出其它服务，包括储蓄计划。

Recently, the non-profit group Small Enterprise Education and Promotion³ held a conference in Washington. SEEP⁴ works with over one hundred twenty groups around the world in efforts to cut poverty. It does this by supporting small businesses.

最近，非盈利性组织“小企业培训与推广”在华盛顿举行了一次会议。该组织与全球超过120家组织合作，通过支持小企业，致力于减少贫困。

The goal is help microfinance industry experts share ideas. One idea is called Financial Access at Birth, or FAB. It is designed to start each person with a financial citizenship⁵ at birth through a savings account connected to a bank deposit.

这次会议的目的是帮助小额信贷行业的专家交流想法。其中一个想法被称为“婴儿金融渠道”，简称FAB。它旨在通过银行储蓄账户，为每个人从出生开始就建立金融身份。

Rosita Najmi is FAB's program director.

罗西塔·纳吉米（Rosita Najmi）是FAB项目总监。

ROSITA NAJMI: "FAB starts with financial inclusion, but it creates other opportunities of inclusion across other sectors⁶ of health or education and I think that's what the international development community needs and seeks at this time."

纳吉米：“FAB从金融扩展计划起步。但它为教育或健康行业提供了其它扩展机会。我认为这正是国际社会发展当前的需求。”

Mobile or wireless⁷ technology will be important to many microfinance services. One meeting at the SEEP conference examined a mobile phone application for saving money. Debbie Dean of the Grameen Foundation says these efforts can also be extended to other financial services.

移动和无线技术对许多小额信贷服务来说将非常重要。“小企业培训与推广”会议的一次会谈审查了一个储蓄手机应用程序。格莱珉基金会的黛比·迪安（Debbie Dean）表示，这些成果也可以推广到其它金融服务。

DEBBIE DEAN: "It's probably going to be a combination of savings programs and money transfer programs, payment systems that all kind of converge⁸ together to be able to provide the customer with the most flexibility⁹ and the most convenience to meet their needs."

迪安：“它可能会成为一个储蓄程序、转账程序，以及支付系统的结合体，各种服务衔接到一起能够为客户提供最大的灵活性和便利，以满足他们的需求。”

But offering savings, payments and other services requires more training and controls. Rashid Bajwa leads Pakistan’s largest microfinance organization. He says more training is needed.

但提供储蓄、支付和其它服务需要更多培训和监督。拉希德·巴吉瓦（Rashid Bajwa）负责巴基斯坦最大的小额信贷组织。他表示这需要更多的培训。

RASHID BAJWA: "When microfinance institutions start offering savings, then they have to be trained to do that. This is a specialization which needs specialized¹⁰ people to adopt. You have to have a risk management system in place, you have to have an internal audit¹¹ system in place, you have to have a huge set of new things which you generally don't need when you are just doing microcredit."

巴吉瓦：“当小额信贷机构开始提供储蓄时，他们必须进行相关培训。这是一个需要专业人士的专业领域。风险管理体系必须到位，内部审计体系必须到位，还有一堆只做小额信贷时通常不需要的新东西。”

Small savings deposits add up. And interest over time makes them grow. This can have a surprising effect for savers and societies.

小额存款累积起来，而时间一长利息使存款增多。这对储户和社会将产生一个令人惊讶的效果。

Rashid Bajwa puts it this way. He says the amount of money that poor people have is unimaginable.

巴吉瓦对此这样解释。他说，穷人拥有的资金数额是难以想象的。

And that's the Economics Report in VOA Special English. And I'm Mario Ritter.
_________

Based on a Money in Motion report by Phil Alexiou

1 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

4 seep   

v.渗出，渗漏；n.渗漏，小泉，水（油）坑

参考例句：

• My anger began to seep away.我的怒火开始消下去了。
• If meteoric water does not evaporate or run overland,it may seep directly into the ground.如果雨水不从陆地蒸发和流走的话，就可能直接渗入地下。

5 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

6 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》

7 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

8 converge   

vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近

参考例句：

• The results converge towards this truth.其结果趋近于这个真理。
• Parallel lines converge at infinity.平行线永不相交。

9 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

10 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

11 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。