VOA慢速英语2013--AS IT IS - The Social Progress Index

 

AS IT IS - The Social Progress Index

Welcome to AS IT IS from VOA Learning English.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Today, we hear about a different way to measure economic growth, the Social Progress Index. We also hear from the author of a book about institution building in Asia. But first we hear about the state of reform in Burma.  

Burmese opposition¹ leader Aung San Suu Kyi recently warned that political reforms in Burma are not yet permanent. She says the reforms still depend on the support of the country’s military. June Simms has this report. 

Aung San Suu Kyi says her country has started on the path to democracy. But she says the military remains² very powerful. 

"There are many people who ask me whether the process of democratization in Burma is irreversible. Now I always say very simply, it will be irreversible once the military has accepted it." 

The opposition leader is now a member of Burma’s parliament. She spoke³ during a visit last week to Tokyo University in Japan.  

Observers say the comments show that she is seeking to balance relations with the military and her party, the National League for Democracy.  

Many foreign leaders have praised Burma’s moves toward political and economic reform. But Aung San Suu Kyi suggested that she and her party still have a difficult relationship with Burma’s military.  

Armed forces members largely wrote the constitution approved in 2008. Now, political experts say the NLD may be compromising too much in its effort to amend⁴ the document.  Under the constitution, the army occupies one of every four seats in parliament. It also bars Aung San Suu Kyi from seeking the presidency⁵. 

Aung Thu Nyein is director of the Vahu Development Institute, a Burma research group. He says the opposition still needs the support of the military. 

"It is a quite delicate for her, you know, to deal with the military because the 25 percent of the un-elected parliamentarians are still in the parliament and they are quite influential⁶ for to make constitutional reform.” 

The opposition leader and the NLD have also faced criticism. Rights activists⁷ have criticized them for not opposing the party of President Thein Sein since gaining seats in parliament. The NLD leader has also been denounced for failing to speak out against oppression of ethnic⁸ and religious minorities in Burma. 

But at Tokyo University, Aung San Suu Kyi said establishing the rule of law in Burma remains the biggest concern.   

"So we have had no rule of law in Burma over the last 50 years, what we have had is rule of an authoritarian⁹ government and rule of law has been weakened to the point that it became non-existent. We are trying to re-establish it." 

I’m June Simms. 

Author Mitchell Wigdor has written a book centering on the development of institutions in Asia. It is called “No Miracle, What Asia Can Teach All Countries About Growth.” VOA’s Jim Stevenson spoke with the author about his book. 

Strong institutions are important to a country’s development. Mitchell Wigdor says one of the main goals of his book is to center attention on which institutions are important to development. He says institutions that help bridge the digital divide are extremely important to being able to compete in the global economy.  

Mitchell Wigdor defines the digital divide as the difference in access to information technology between the rich and the poor. He says governments that help reduce that difference will see greater economic development. 

“And unless governments are able to foster the usage if information technology throughout their countries they really run the risk of falling behind and not being able to participate in this economy.”  

In his book, Mitchell Wigdor points to Singapore as a country that built institutions that led to economic success.  He also notes another important responsibility of institutions. 

“Institutions are very much about the implementation¹¹ of laws and public policy. And without that, your laws for example, are just words on a piece of paper. They don’t actually do anything. Institutions are about how you implement¹⁰ your policies and how you create the wealth that government’s desire and that people desire.” 

So, he says, institutions that support the law and public policy are needed before economic development can truly take hold.   

Mitchell Wigdor’s book is called “No Miracle, What Asia Can Teach All Countries About Growth.” 

How do you measure the size of a country’s economy? The usual way is by adding up the value of all the goods and services exchanged in a country over one year. That number is called the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. 

Now, some researchers are using a different method to measure a country’s economic success. Avi Arditti tells us more. 

The Social Progress Index measures things other than the value of a country’s economic activity. The goal is to show how well 50 countries provide for all of the needs of their people. 

Researchers from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed the index. They received help from business professionals from around the world. 

Michael Green is executive director of the Social Progress Imperative¹², the group that carried out the project. He says the index measures well-being¹³. 

"We're not measuring economic proxies¹⁴ for well-being; we're measuring the things that matter to real people. Do I have enough food? Do I have shelter? Do I have access to health care? Do I have opportunity in my life?" 

The index considers 12 very different areas, including nutrition and personal rights. It measures complex environmental issues like ecosystem¹⁵ sustainability. It also measures the ability of people to use the Internet. 

The United States, the world’s largest economy, rated sixth in the Social Progress Index. Sweden was first followed by Britain. 

Costa Rica came in 12th place. That is the highest-ranked developing economy in the world. Costa Rica also rated highly on issues related to education, environment and on opportunity. 

Roberto Artavia is vice-chairman of the Social Progress Imperative. He says Costa Rica’s democratic history strengthened its placement on the index. 

"One hundred twenty-four years of continuous democracy. It has had a social inclusion institution since 1971. It has had full social security since 1941. This seems to have actually created the framework for development - social development - to take place." 

The creators of the Social Progress Index say politics is not a consideration. Director Michael Green says the message for policymakers is that you can get high levels of social progress in economies big or small. I’m Avi Arditti. 

Thank you for listening today. Follow us on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.  Email us at [email protected]. And join us at the beginning of the hour Universal Time for the latest news.

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

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 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

5 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

6 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

9 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

10 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

11 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

12 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

13 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

14 proxies   

n.代表权( proxy的名词复数 )；（测算用的）代替物；（对代理人的）委托书；（英国国教教区献给主教等的）巡游费

参考例句：

• SOCKS and proxies are unavailable. Try connecting to XX again? socks和代理不可用。尝试重新连接到XX吗？ 来自互联网
• All proxies are still down. Continue with direct connections? 所有的代理仍然有故障。继续直接连接吗？ 来自互联网

15 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。