VOA常速英语-内罗毕推行社区货币

内罗毕推行社区货币

Here Kawangware, an informal settlement on the outskirts¹ of Kenya's capital, students make their way to Sifa Primary School. They pay their tuition with Gatina pesas. The school is one of several institutions that accepts the community currency.

在肯尼亚首都郊区的“Kawangware”贫民窟，学生们即将前往赛法小学。他们用“Gatina pesas”交学费。赛法小学也是几所接受社区货币的机构之一。

Teacher Josephine Ouma said the currency has made life easier.

约瑟芬·吾玛老师认为，社区货币便捷生活。

This currency works in a way that it circulates, so as a teacher I get it from the parents and I still take the same currency back to the parents to buy their goods. So it is a circulation process that I do not think there can be any scarcity².

这种货币还会流通，比如家长给老师学费，而我还会用这些钱来买家长的物品。货币进行了流通，不会出现货币短缺现象。

The NGO Grassroots Economics rolled out the currency here last year. Pesas are only valid³ in the Gatina Village part of the settlement.

非营利组织“基层经济学”在去年推行了这种货币。“Pesa”只在佳蒂纳村庄的部分地区施行。

Community currency is a legal tender that works as a promissory note and works hand in hand with the national currency. So in the event a member has less of the national currency, they are free to supplement it with the community currency, so as to get access to the goods and services they may need.

社区货币是法定货币，它有“本票”功能，并与国家货币相得益彰。如果国家货币不够，人们也可以用社区货币替代，从而买到物品，享受服务。

But NGO has given pesa's to about 500 locals. Each member must be vouched⁴ for by four business owners. The member then receives a maximum of 400 pesas, of which 200 are saved and pooled for community improvement projects. The rest they can spend like cash.

但“基层经济学”只把货币分发给了当地的500名居民。每人必须由四名企业主担保。每人最多得到400“pesas”，其中的200“pesas”要存放在“社区发展计划”中，从而为该计划筹集资金。其余“pesas”可以当现金消费。

But those 500 members are a fraction of the approximately 10,000 people living in Gatina Village.

但那500人只是佳蒂纳村庄1万居民中的一小部分。

There are some challenges with the currency. Since there are a lot of people here who have not accepted its use, but I believe that once we educate them on it, they will accept it, since many more are joining as we continue to enlighten them.

货币流通存在困难。许多人还不能接受，但我相信只要对居民进行普及，他们就会接受，随着普及范围加大，会有越来越多的人加入其中。

The NGO said it started with a small number of members to make monitoring easier, but experts note that community currencies do have limitations.

该非营利组织称，先从一小部分人开始是为了利于监管，但有专家认为社区货币也有局限。

It prevents you from getting goods and services from outside the economy, the local economy, and that means that the exchange networks are often quite small. A second weakness is the organization. At the moment, a lot of community currencies are organized in a voluntary form and after a certain amount of time the impetus⁵ runs out.

这种货币阻碍你在当地以外获取服务，购买物品，流通网的规模太小。第二个局限是组织问题。眼下，许多社区货币都是自发组织，时间一久，势头就会下降。

 

Grassroots Economics plans to expand the initiative to communities in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania in 2016. Participants say the currency provides a cushion against hard times.

“基层经济学”计划在2016年将其推广到卢旺达、乌干达以及坦桑尼亚社区。参与者认为，社区货币有助他们度过困难期。

1 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

2 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

3 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

4 vouched   

v.保证( vouch的过去式和过去分词 )；担保；确定；确定地说

参考例句：

• He vouched his words by his deeds. 他用自己的行动证明了自己的言辞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Have all those present been vouched for? 那些到场的人都有担保吗？ 来自互联网

5 impetus   

n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力

参考例句：

• This is the primary impetus behind the economic recovery.这是促使经济复苏的主要动力。
• Her speech gave an impetus to my ideas.她的讲话激发了我的思绪。