经济学人321:世界银行 亟待重整

　　Finance and economics
财经商业
Reforming the World Bank
世界银行，亟待重整
Zen and the art of poverty reduction
禅宗思想及扶贫艺术
Calm and confusion at the world's biggest development institution
世界最大发展机构—平静与骚乱并存
2.jpgTHE World Bank may need a period of quiet reflection, but this was ridiculous.
世界银行可能需要一段时间来安静的反思，但这在过去是荒谬可笑的。
On September 10th 300 bankers joined Thich Nhat Hanh, an 87-year-old Vietnamese monk¹ and founder² of the Order of Interbeing, for a day of mindful meditation³ with Jim Kim, the bank's president and an admirer of Mr Hanh.
九月十日，300名银行家以及世界银行行长吉姆金同现年87岁的越南高僧一行禅师进行了为期一天的静心冥想的活动。一行禅师创立了相即共修团，且吉姆金是他的崇拜者之一。
It was all very Zen, one member of staff told the Washington Post.
一切都弥漫着佛教气息，其中一位银行家对华盛顿邮报如是说。
Afterwards, Mr Hanh and 20 brown-robed brethren led a walking meditation through Washington—though since the traffic police did not show up, the quiet contemplation was marred⁴ by the not-so-Zen honking⁵ of angry drivers.
在这之后，一行禅师和其他20名身穿棕色长袍的同胞们在华盛顿进行了步行禅修的活动。但由于在行进过程中没有交通警察维持秩序，这场安静的冥想被不那么禅的愤怒司机的喇叭声所打扰。
Mr Hanh says he believes in the power of aimlessness and thinks civilisation⁶ is threatened by voracious⁷ economic growth. Mr Kim does not. He is trying to give the bank a sharper focus.
一行禅师说，他深信无目的的力量，认为贪得无厌的经济增长威胁着现代的文明。吉姆先生但不这样认为。他正尝试着给与世界银行一个更加清晰的重点。
In the unlovely words of a new strategy, endorsed⁸ by the bank's governors on October 12th, the group's value proposition is to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to foster income growth among the poorest 40% in every country, not just poor ones.
该组织的新策略价值观主张在十月十二日受到世界银行管理者的支持。该策略的并不讨喜的语言表达了在2030年结束极端贫困并促进每个国家最贫穷的40%的人的收入增长，而不仅仅是穷人们。
The aim is to shake up the world's leading development body.
目的在于震撼这个世界上领导性的发展主体。
Since it began, the World Bank has run almost 12,000 projects in 172 countries.
自从该策略开始施行，世界银行已经在172个国家运作了12000个项目。
But voracious economic growth in the past 25 years has meant that the bank's lending has fallen to less than 1% of the combined economic output of the borrowers.
但是过去25年突飞猛进的经济增长已经意味着世界银行的贷款在借款者复合经济产量中所占比率应经下降到不足1%。
As more nations graduate to middle-income status and win access to capital markets for big development projects, fewer of them need the money and expertise⁹ the bank has to offer.
随着越来越多的国家逐渐迈入中等收入行列并获得进入资本市场有大发展项目的机会，越来越少的国家需要世界银行提供的资金和技术。
Having a target for eradicating¹⁰ poverty aims to finesse¹¹ this.
为消除贫困设定目标旨在细化贫困问题。
Extreme poverty is a global problem and would justify¹² a global institution devoted¹³ to ending it.
极端贫困是一个全球问题，而且这个事实证明急需一个全球机制以期结束贫困问题。
One billion people live on less than 1.25 aday, most of them in what the bank calls middle-income countries such as India and Brazil.
目前有十亿人口每天靠不足1.25美元生活，且他们中的大多数都居住在世界银行所称的总等收入水平的国家中，比如印度和巴西。
The bottom 40% includes a further 1.5 billion people.
还有15亿人也属于40%的生活在贫困线以下的人群。
So carving¹⁴ out a role in poverty eradication¹⁵ would make the bank relevant to middle-income countries even though their governments might not need its money any more and might think the bank has little to offer their growing middle classes.
所以银行要在消除贫困中发挥作用，就意味着要与中等收入国家建立联系。即使这些国家政府可能认为他们不再需要世界银行的资金，而且觉得银行对于他们这些正在发展中的中产阶级没有任何帮助。
How much difference the new strategy will make from day to day, though, is open to question.
但是这个新策略会日渐产生什么样的作用仍然是一个未知数。
The bank is already supposed to be helping¹⁶ the poorest; the new goal marks only a shift in emphasis and, on the face of it, will not stop it doing most of what it is doing now.
世界银行已经将目光着眼于援助最贫困的国家，新的目标只是标志着他们重心的转移，而且从表面来看，该银行也不会停止大多数现在正在做的事情。
The aim of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 is not overly ambitious.
在2030年消除极端贫困的目标也并不过于盲目自信。
Recent data suggest the income of the bottom 40% has been growing as fast as, or faster than, the national average in most developing countries for 25 years.
最新数据表明，在过去的25年里40%的最贫困人口的收入的增长速度已经达到甚至超过大多数发展中国家的平均国民收入的增长速度。
So does the new approach matter?
所以新的方法还是那么重要么？
The rhetorical change probably does not, but the reorganisation which accompanies it might.
夸张惊人的变化似乎不太可能，但是随之而来的重组还是可能会发生的。
For years, the World Bank has been organised along geographic¹⁷ lines.
这些年来，世界银行一直根据地域区域来组织机构。
The regions control the budgets, hire the staff and dominate the bank.
这些区域性的内部机构控制的预算，雇佣员工和管理银行。
They are also responsible for its reputation for being divided into silos: experts from different regions rarely talk to each other.
这些机构对他们封闭机构的名声负责，即来自不同地方的专家甚少相互交流。
In an attempt to break this pattern, the bank is setting up 14 global practices which will cut across the regions.
为了打破这个固定模式，世界银行建立起14项国际组织来将这些地区打破地域性。
The bank has also long been accused of doing too much.
世界银行长久以来也被人们指责其过多的所作所为。
It runs a tiger-conservation project, for instance.
其经营的一个保护老虎的项目就是一个例子。
To provide clearer priorities, the plan proposes a new method for deciding what countries need.
为了规定更加清晰明了的先后顺序，该计划提出了一个新方法来决定一些国家需要什么帮助。
The idea is to diagnose the worst constraints¹⁸ on poverty reduction and focus mainly on those.
这个方法旨在找出减少贫困的最大绊脚石并几种主要精力来解决这些问题。
When the bank ran a pilot country diagnostic for India, it found it needed to concentrate more of its efforts in the six poorest states.
当该行在印度首次进行乡村诊断法时，其发现他们需要将他们的精力更多地集中于六个最贫困的邦郡。
The bank has a history, however, of grandiose¹⁹ reorganisations.
但是世界银行的大规模改组已经由来已久。
One comes along every decade.
每十年就会发生一次。
They rarely achieve much.
但他们总是收效甚微。
There are several reasons why this shake-up might be no different.
此次改组可能并无多大变化，这有各方面的原因。
Diagnosing constraints sounds like an excellent idea.
找出约束改组的限制条件听起来是一个绝妙的主意。
But it turns out that no sooner have you identified one supposedly crucial obstacle than another appears behind it.
但是事实证明问题层出不穷，你刚发现一个潜在的重大困难，另一个问题又开始浮现。
The model might not always give the clear guidance that it did for India.
这个模范实验在印度所起的作用可能无法给其他地方一目了然的指导。
Neither is it certain whether the global practices are intended to be more important than the regional units, or whether the two are supposed to be evenly balanced, and if so, how.
国际实践是否将会比区域行的团体更重要，或者二者被猜测可以平分秋色以及假如这一事实成立，各自应该怎样发挥作用，这两个问题到现在都无法确定。
Setting up global practices also risks turning the bank into a glorified²⁰ McKinsey in which experts jet in to advise on a big project and jet out—a tendency for which development agencies are already rightly criticised.
建立一个全球性实践行动意味着将冒着把银行转变成一个光辉闪耀的麦肯锡公司。该公司内的专家总是对于大型项目妄下论断然后又突然抽离开来。这个趋势已经使得许多发展机构备受争议。
Then there are doubts about Mr Kim himself.
于是这使得吉姆先生本人也受到人们怀疑。
He has had a wobbly start since being foisted²¹ on the bank by the American government last year.
他上任时面临着不利的工作局面，因为其去年被美国政府安插在世界银行。
After winning over many at first, he found himself under attack this summer when senior people began leaving in a huff, or were fired, as the reorganisation took shape.
在开始收获诸多人心之后，这个夏天随着银行重组逐渐成型，该行许多元老开始愤怒的辞职或解雇，他发现自己正处在风口浪尖处。
The grumbling²² has since died down, but confidence among employees looks shaky.
人们的怨声载道有所平息，但是雇员们的信心看起来不容乐观。
And what if the plan succeeds?
但是如果这项计划大获全胜呢？
Then the institution would face a different problem.
那么这个机构就会面临着一个不同的问题。
If it is all about reducing poverty and extreme poverty is eradicated²³ by 2030, what role would be left to it then?
如果这全部都是为了减少贫困而且在2030年极端贫困将不复存在，那么世界银行还会有什么样的作用呢？
No doubt it will think of something.
毫无疑问它会好好考虑一下了。
1.show up 露面
He went sailing and did not show up for a long time.
他航行去了，而且很长一段时间没有露面。
That should be the goal for world leaders when they show up in copenhagen.
当世界领导人出席哥本哈根峰会时，这应该成为他们的目标。
2.try to 试图,设法要
You need to try to find some common ground.
你需要设法找出你们之间的一些共同点。
Extreme political movements will try to exploit the unrest.
极端的政治运动将设法利用这种动荡局势。
3.shake up 使战栗； 吃惊
Microsoft had largely grown complacent²⁴ until google came along to shake up categories.
微软一向自命不凡，直到谷歌的到来，才撼动了其地位。
Its reluctance²⁵ to shake up the power market is coming back to haunt it.
政府不情愿动摇电力市场的局面仍会不断纠缠它。
4.fall to 开始；落到
This is why in previous projections²⁶ the un assumed fertility rates in all countries would eventually fall to 1.85.
这就是联合国以前发布的人口展望报告中，预测所有国家的人口生育率最终都将下降到1.85的原因。
In times of severe economic distress²⁷, however, rates may fall to zero.
然而，在经济处于严重困境的时期，利率可能会降至零水平。

1 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

4 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

5 honking   

v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Flocks of honking geese flew past. 雁群嗷嗷地飞过。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

7 voracious   

adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的

参考例句：

• She's a voracious reader of all kinds of love stories.什么样的爱情故事她都百看不厌。
• Joseph Smith was a voracious book collector.约瑟夫·史密斯是个如饥似渴的藏书家。

8 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

10 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。

11 finesse   

n.精密技巧，灵巧，手腕

参考例句：

• It was a disappointing performance which lacked finesse.那场演出缺乏技巧，令人失望。
• Lillian Hellman's plays are marked by insight and finesse.莉莲.赫尔曼的巨作以富有洞察力和写作技巧著称。

12 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

13 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

14 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

15 eradication   

n.根除

参考例句：

• The eradication of an established infestation is not easy. 根除昆虫蔓延是不容易的。
• This is often required for intelligent control and eradication. 这经常需要灵巧的控制与消除。

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

18 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

19 grandiose   

adj.宏伟的，宏大的，堂皇的，铺张的

参考例句：

• His grandiose manner impressed those who met him for the first time.他那种夸大的举止给第一次遇见他的人留下了深刻的印象。
• As the fog vanished,a grandiose landscape unfolded before the tourists.雾气散去之后，一幅壮丽的景观展现在游客面前。

20 glorified   

美其名的，变荣耀的

参考例句：

• The restaurant was no more than a glorified fast-food cafe. 这地方美其名曰餐馆，其实只不过是个快餐店而已。
• The author glorified the life of the peasants. 那个作者赞美了农民的生活。

21 foisted   

强迫接受，把…强加于( foist的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She resented having the child foisted on her while the parents went travelling abroad. 她对孩子的父母出国旅行卻硬要她来照看孩子这事很反感。
• The author discovered that the translator had foisted several passages into his book. 作者发现译者偷偷在他的原著中插入了几段。

22 grumbling   

adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的

参考例句：

• She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
• We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。

23 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

24 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

25 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

26 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

27 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。