2007年VOA标准英语-Development Organizations Say Asia Could Wipe O

By Claudia Blume
Hong Kong
03 May 2007

Two new reports by international financial institutions say extreme poverty could be eliminated in Asia by the year 2020. Claudia Blume in Hong Kong looks at the reasons for the optimism, and the challenges that remain.

ashore1 at Manila's bay following days of torrential rains (File)" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070604/0929350.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Scavengers collect items that can be recycled from a pile of garbage washed ashore at Manila's bay following days of torrential rains (File)

Asia is home to two-thirds of the world's poor. Every fifth person in the region lives in extreme poverty - commonly measured as income below one dollar a day. In India, Bangladesh and Cambodia, more than 30 percent live below the poverty line.

But the region has made enormous progress in the past two decades. Although 35 percent of Asians lived below the poverty line in 1990, the figure dropped to 19 percent in 2003. Developing countries in East Asia were most successful, with the rate dropping from 29 percent to just eight percent in the same period.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific says China alone moved 150 million people out of poverty in the past decade.

Ravi Ratnayake, director of UNESCAP's trade and investment division, says the region's economic growth is the most important reason poverty rates are dropping.

"The region as a whole recorded 7.9 percent GDP [gross domestic product] growth in 2006 and [in] China, GDP growth has over the past few years been over nine percent to about 10 percent, and similarly in India nine percent," said Ratnayake. "So many countries in the region are doing really well in terms of economic growth and obviously some benefits of the economic growth are going to poor people in the poor communities."

There are other factors. Shiladitya Chatterjee, head of the Asian Development Bank's poverty unit, says limiting population growth can play an important role.

"The countries which have been successful in reducing population growth, for example, have succeeded better than others," said Chatterjee. "For example, China, Indonesia has done that. And they have seen very fast reduction in poverty compared to, let's say, India."

Chatterjee says in some countries that have seen rapid population growth, such as Bangladesh, there has been an increase in the absolute number of poor people - even though the proportion living in poverty declined.

Chatterjee also says that being poor is not just a matter of having a low income. It can mean a lack of access to services - such as education, health, sanitation² and water - and a lack of political participation³. In this respect, Asia's track record has not been so positive.

"While Asia's record in income poverty has been remarkable⁴ and extraordinary, our record in terms of non-income poverty, while it has been good, has not been as impressive," said Chatterjee. "There are still large numbers of people living with major deprivations⁶, human deprivations, and we are concerned that we are not making as much progress."

In some countries, the benefits of economic growth have not reached the poorest people. Inequality remains⁷ a major problem, particularly the growing income gap between urban and rural populations.

Poverty experts, such as UNESCAP's Ratnayake, say governments need to make sure the poor enjoy the benefits of growing economies.

"We need to look at not only the pace of economic growth but also the pattern of economic growth so that [the] poor proportion of the population [is] getting more than [the] non-poor proportion of the population from [the] high economic growth in these countries," said Ratnayake.

He says overall the region is moving in the right direction, with countries such as China and Vietnam introducing successful poverty-reduction programs.

A recent report by the Asian Development Bank predicts that extreme poverty could be eliminated in Asia by 2020. The non-profit lender also expects several countries in the region to become donors⁸ to their poorer neighbors - something China has already started to do.

South Asia faces a bigger challenge, but a separate report by the World Bank says the region has a chance of attaining⁹ single-digit poverty rates within a generation. Shekhar Shah is economic adviser¹⁰ for the World Bank's South Asia region.

"Now you ask - how can we make such a claim or put forward such an ambitious proposal," said Shah. "I think for a variety of reasons, but principally because economic growth is creating a political space for much-needed policy and institutional reforms, both to accelerate this growth and to sustain it and then going on from there to be able to tackle the other aspects of poverty and deprivation⁵ in South Asia."

Poverty experts agree that the region needs to accelerate and sustain economic growth to further reduce poverty. But this alone is not enough. Challenges remain.

Experts say inequality in growth must be addressed, particularly the issue of lagging sectors¹¹ such as agriculture, and the poorest regions, such as India's state of Bihar. Countries need to expand opportunities for the poor - for example through better regulation of labor¹² markets and the creation of jobs for the rapidly growing labor force in many countries.

There are also continuing challenges of human development - such as providing adequate health care and education. Shah of the World Bank notes that poor governance, corruption¹³ and conflict also hurt anti-poverty efforts.

1 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

2 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

3 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

6 deprivations   

剥夺( deprivation的名词复数 )； 被夺去； 缺乏； 匮乏

参考例句：

• At this, some of the others chime in with memories of prewar deprivations. 听到这话，另外那些人中有几个开始加进来讲述他们对战前贫困生活的回忆。 来自柯林斯例句

7 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。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 attaining   

（通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况）

参考例句：

• Jim is halfway to attaining his pilot's licence. 吉姆就快要拿到飞行员执照了。
• By that time she was attaining to fifty. 那时她已快到五十岁了。

10 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

11 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》

12 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

13 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。