欧美人文风情第85篇:社会企业家 - 改善社会的人

 I wanted to find a solution to a problem, and I wanted to do whatever it takes to end that problem. 我想要找出问题的解答，我想要不计一切代价终结那个问题。

In the mid-1970s, Bangladesh was wracked with poverty and famine. 在1970年代中期，孟加拉因贫困及饥荒受到重创。

Greedy money lenders victimized local villagers who wanted to start small businesses. 贪婪的放款人欺骗了想要开始做小生意的当地村民们。

In one village, Muhammad Yunus counted forty-two people who needed just twenty-seven dollars to break out of poverty. 在一个村庄中，Muhammad Yunus计算出四十二个人需要仅仅二十七元就能脱离贫困。

So then an idea came to my mind: if I give these twenty-seven dollars to all these forty-two people, 接着有个想法从我脑中冒出：如果我拿这些二十七元给这些四十二个人，

they can return the money to the money lender, so they'll be free. 他们就可以把钱还给放款人，这样他们就能自由。

And that's what exactly ended. And the happiness that they brought to them caught me in. 而那正是这样结束的。它们带给他们的幸福吸引了我。

And I ask myself the question: if you can make so many people so happy with such a small amount of money, 我问自己这问题：如果你可以用这么一小笔的钱让这么多人如此快乐，

why shouldn't you do it more? 为什么你不该多多益善？

Since that first bet, the bank Muhammad Yunus started has made nearly five billion dollars in loans. 自从第一次的下注后，Muhammad Yunus所开办的银行已经借出将近五十亿元的贷款。

It's a model that has been copied all over the world, spawning¹ a movement known as "microfinance." 这是个在世界各地都被复制的模式，孕育出一个运动，就是所知的“微型金融”。

People are demonstrably better off in the world today by virtue² of that simple insight. 借由这个简单的见解，今日世人确实过得更好。

The small, unsecured loans can really make a difference. 这个小型、无担保的贷款真的可以有所影响。

Microfinance during the past twenty-five years has demonstrated that millions and millions of people can participate in society in a normal way. 在过去二十五年期间，微型金融证明了数百万计的人们可以以正常方式参与社会。

In 2006, Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize: 在2006年，Muhammad Yunus获得了诺贝尔和平奖：

testimony³ to the role of a new kind of change agent, the social entrepreneur. 是对一种新型态的改革推手--社会企业家这角色的证明。

Social entrepreneurs like Muhammad Yunus see opportunities where other people see hopeless failures. 像是Muhammad Yunus的社会企业家在其他人看到绝望失败之处看到机会。

They see potential where other people see tragic⁴ consequences. 他们在别人看到的悲惨结果中看到潜力。

They see a future that others can't even begin to imagine. 他们看到其他人甚至无法开始想像的未来。

In this moment in history, where government has, at least in some places, has failed to provide basic goods and services, 在历史中的此刻，政府已经，至少在一些地方，政府已无法提供基本的商品及服务、

the things that societies need to really allow individuals to thrive. 无法提供那些社会要真正让人们成功所需的东西。

Social entrepreneurs are tackling those really big problems: Problems that reach beyond microfinance, 社会企业家正在解决那些非常重大的问题：超出微型金融以外的问题，

such as educational opportunity, children's health, housing, clean water, climate change. 像是教育机会、儿童健康、住家、干净水源、气候变迁。

And the problem is if you look at what the current business, organizations and governments are doing in this sort of space, 这问题是如果你看看现在的企业、组织及政府在这种空间里所做的事，

it really doesn't add up to a coherent solution of the scale that we need. 它真的无法累积起来达到我们所需的那种规模的一致性解决方案。

Therefore, I think entrepreneurs are going to be profoundly necessary, 因此，我认为企业家会变得非常必要，

because here's the people who used to break up the concrete. 因为这些是过去常打破固有想法的人。

Most people have to see to believe, but I think that social entrepreneurs believe, and then they see. 大多数人必须要眼见为凭，但我认为社会企业家们先相信，接着他们才看到。

Social entrepreneurs have seen that end result before even got started. 社会企业家甚至在他们开始之前就已看见最终结果。

And they've done so all over the world. 而他们已在世界各地都做到了。

In Mozambique, Blaise Judja-Sato transformed health care by providing reliable medical services to millions of villagers who have never previously⁵ been reached. 在莫桑比克，Blaise Judja-Sato改善医疗照护，透过提供可靠的医疗服务给数百万以前从未被接触过的村民们。

In India, Bunker Roy's Barefoot College teaches people with no prior training to build and install solar electric technologies. 在印度，Bunker Roy的赤脚学院教导没受过事先训练的人们建造及安装太阳能电力技术。

And in the United States, Dorothy Stoneman has shown how young people can change their lives and their communities through job training and education. 在美国，Dorothy Stoneman已证明年轻人可以怎么透过工作训练及教育改变他们的生活以及他们的社区。

We had hundreds, maybe thousands of young people standing⁶ on the corners with nothing to do, and lots of homeless people. 我们有数百个，也许数千个年轻人站在街角无所事事，还有许多无家可归的人。

So I looked at that. I thought there's something wrong with this picture. 所以我看到这个。我想这个画面有些不对劲。

Someone should hire these young people to rebuild these buildings and create housing for the homeless people, 有人需要雇用这些年轻人来重建这些建筑，并建造住家给这些无家可归的人，

and that's what we set out to do. 而这是我们正着手进行的事。

What's those powerful force you can bring to bear is a really big idea, 你能够运用的那股强大力量是个伟大的理念，

but only if it's in the hands of a really good entrepreneur,it's not combination that changes the world. 但只有当它是在一个非常优秀的企业家手上，否则就不是个改变世界的组合。

Today, thousands of social entrepreneurs are tackling a range of problems in all corners of the globe, 今日，数千位社会企业家正在世界各个角落解决一系列的问题，

but until recently, few of them saw themselves as part of a larger movement. 但直到最近，他们之中很少人把自己看做是个较大型运动的一份子。

Some twenty years ago, social entrepreneurs were working alone, 在大约二十年前，社会企业家都孤军奋战，

fundamentally they had no idea many times that other social entrepreneur existed. 他们常常根本不知道有其他社会企业家存在。

They had an experience of essentially⁸ going against stream. Very hard. 他们有本质上和趋势背道而行的经历。那非常困难。

These are very tough people, but still, alone. 这些是非常坚韧的人们，但仍然，孤零零的一个人。

I think social entrepreneurs have always existed, but because they haven't always been defined as social entrepreneurs, 我认为社会企业家一直以来都存在，但因为他们并不老是被定义为社会企业家，

because we've not always recognized them as such, they've had no collective identity. 因为我们并不总是认为他们是，所以他们没有共同的身分。

They have been lone⁷ pioneers. 他们都是孤独的先锋。

And now what you see in the world are a whole framework of supports that are coming up, 而今你们在世界上看到的是一整个拥护组织的出现，

coalescing⁹ very very quickly to say, "Hey, social entrepreneurship is very viable¹⁰." 非常非常快速地联合起来说：“嘿，社会企业家是非常可行的。”

Oxford¹¹ recruits about three hundred highly talented MBA students each year. 牛津每年大约招收三百位非常优秀的MBA学生。

Students want to know how to change the world. 学生们想要知道怎么改变世界。

They want to know how the skills they learn in business school can help them change the world. 他们想知道他们在商管学校学到的技能可以如何帮助他们改变世界。

When you see social entrepreneurs, regardless of how many problems and challenges that they have, they don't give up. 当你看到社会企业家，不论他们有多少问题和挑战，他们都不放弃。

They just push forward and they push forward, and that's inspiring to me. 他们就是奋勇前进，然后再奋勇前进，那对我来说非常激励人心。

Today, Oxford is just one of the many universities teaching social entrepreneurship 今天，牛津只是众多教授社会企业家精神、

and providing homes where practicing entrepreneurs can meet and learn from each other. 并提供执业企业家可相互见面学习根据地的大学之一。

The point of supporting the social entrepreneurship movement is to create a home for those people to make them less maverick¹² and more of a movement. 支持社会企业家精神运动的重点是要为那些人建立一个根据地，让他们较不必特立独行，且更能投入运动。

The more we wire the field together from local to national to global means that 我们从当地、到全国、到全球所串接的领域越多，表示

ideas go from Bangladesh to the US and Brazil, Poland to South Africa. That wasn't happening ten years ago. 理念从孟加拉传到美国和巴西，从波兰传到南非。那不是十年前发生的。

That's a function of the increased productivity at the field. 那是在这领域中增长的生产力的作用。

I think the key thing that we have to come back to time and time again is these entrepreneurs cannot do this on their own. 我认为我们必须时不时地回顾的关键事情是这些企业家无法只靠自己完成这些事。

They need support. They need support from funders clearly, but they need strategic partnerships¹³ with that mainstream¹⁴ business, 他们需要支持。他们很明显地需要投资者的支持，但他们需要与主流企业的策略性伙伴关系，

and they need the support of government and policymakers. 而且他们需要政府和决策者的支持。

What's so exciting to be alive at this moment, as a social entrepreneur connected to thousands of social entrepreneurs around the globe, 在这一刻活着最兴奋的事是，身为一位和世界各地数千位社会企业家联系的社会企业家，

is that within all of us there's this growing movement, 最兴奋的事是在我们所有人之中有这样一个不断成长的运动，

and that there's a hopefulness in starting to look at the problems we have as our problems. 还有在开始将我们拥有的问题当作我们的问题去看待时，所抱持的希望。

My hope for the future is that by virtue of the stories that we tell about reasons for optimism, 我对未来的希望是，凭借着我们所说的这些有关乐观理由的故事、

by virtue of the small pieces of success, we build some big pieces of success. 凭借着小片的成功，我们拼出一些大片的成功。

Said in a decade's time, we can say this movement began with one very demonstrable success story, 十年时间的阐述，我们可以说这个运动是以一个非常明显的成功故事开始的，

and that was called microfinance. 而那叫做微型金融。

But very quickly it built to series of other success stories, and look at the effect they've had on the world. 但很快地它发展成一系列其他成功故事，然后看看那它们对世界带来的影响。

 

1 spawning   

产卵

参考例句：

• Encounter sites have a small chance of spawning a "Commander" NPC. 遭遇战地区有很小的几率遇到NPC指挥官。
• Instantly revives your Champion at your Spawning Pool, 9 minute cooldown. 立即在出生地复活你的英雄，冷却时间9分钟。

2 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

3 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

4 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

5 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 coalescing   

v.联合，合并( coalesce的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A mental model begins coalescing in their minds. 一个意识模型开始结合到他们的脑子里。 来自互联网
• On the basis of coalescing this kind of element can separate oil from compressed air. 采用凝聚原理，分离压缩空气中的油份。 来自互联网

10 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

11 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

12 maverick   

adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者

参考例句：

• He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
• You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。

13 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

14 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。