World Poverty:
Can We End Poverty Overnight?
我们能在一夜之间消灭贫困吗？
翻译：
mangosteen
校对：
FungChuh
人文经济学会资助译制
Americans make up around four percent of the world population and yet they control over 25% of the world's wealth. If that wealth were shared evenly across the globe, couldn't we solve the problem of global poverty overnight? Learn more: http://bit.ly/1TrH23v
美国人约占世界人口的4％，但他们控制着世界25％以上的财富。如果这些财富在全球平均分配，我们难道不能在一夜之间解决全球贫困问题吗？了解更多：http://bit.ly/1TrH23v
The answer unfortunately is no. Sharing one's wealth with those who have less is admirable and it often helps to relieve immediate suffering. But just sharing existing wealth we'll never be enough to lift billions of people out of poverty in a sustainable way. To understand why we need to look at history.
不幸的是，答案是否定的。与较贫穷的人分享财富是令人钦佩的，这通常有助于减轻眼前的痛苦。但是，仅仅分享现有的财富，我们将永远无法以可持续的方式使数十亿人摆脱贫困。要了解原因，我们需要回顾历史。
This chart shows how world GDP per capita as changed from the earliest recorded history until today. In other words, it's a shorthand way of seeing the wealth of the average human being over time. There are two things we can learn from this chart.
该图表显示了从最早的历史记录到今天的世界人均GDP变化。换句话说，这是观察人类平均财富随时间变化的简便方法。我们可以从该图表了解到两件事。
The first is that the extreme poverty we see today is not just a modern affliction. For the vast majority of people throughout most of human history, extreme poverty has been all they have ever known, and all their children would ever know. The second thing is that starting around 1800, that suddenly began to change. We’re living longer healthier lives and seeing fewer of our children die.
首先，我们今天看到的极端贫困不仅仅是一种现代苦难。对于整个人类历史上的绝大多数人而言，他们和他们的孩子一直经历极端贫困。第二件事是，从大约 1800 年开始突然发生了改变。我们更健康更长寿，越来越少孩子去世。
On average we're better educated, more literate, and better fed. Transportation is faster, safer, and cheaper. In many ways it's been the poorest among us who have benefited the most from these changes. What's made life so remarkably better for the poor wasn’t welfare or charity. No matter how you redistributed it, all the wealth of the world in 1800 wouldn't be anywhere near enough to give us the standard of living we enjoy in developed countries today.
平均而言，我们受到更好的教育，识字率更高，吃得更好。交通更快，更安全，也更便宜。从许多方面来看，我们之中最贫穷的人最从这些变化中受益。使穷人的生活如此大改善的不是福利或慈善。无论你如何再分配，1800 年世界上的所有财富都远远不足以提供我们今天在发达国家享受的生活水平。
