(本文选自《经济学人》20210313期)
背景介绍：
2019年，研究人员在美国加州斯托克顿展开了一场将持续18个月的社会实验。在该实验中，研究人员随机抽取了125名斯托克顿居民，并每月向他们发放500美元以消除收入不稳定、对抗贫困。如今，两年时间过去了，研究人员对这项研究初步的实验结果进行了公布。
A Californian experiment in the provision of guaranteed income returns its first results
It turns out that people like receiving free money
For the past two years, as part of an experiment, 125 residents of Stockton, a small city in California’s Central Valley, have found themselves $500-a-month richer. The money arrived on or around the 15th of every month, timed to
coincide
with a period that tends to be
sparse
for people on typical low-income pay cycles.
在过去两年里，作为一项实验的一部分，斯托克顿（位于加利福尼亚州中央谷地的一个小城市）的125位居民发现自己每月都能拿到500美元的额外收入。这笔钱会在每月15号左右到账，而每月的这个时候往往是低收入者最穷的时候。
The recipients were selected at random from a longlist of people who signed up for the experiment online. The only criteria was that they should be adults living in neighbourhoods in which the median income was lower than the median in Stockton overall.
受助者是研究人员从网上报名参加实验的一大批人中随机挑选的。选择的唯一标准是，他们是居住在收入中位数低于斯托克顿整体中位数社区的成年人。
Since about 10% of Stockton’s residents do not have bank accounts, the money was transferred onto pre-paid debit cards issued by the research group, the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration. Recipients did not have to meet any conditions to get the money. They could spend it on whatever they wanted.
由于斯托克顿大约10％的居民没有个人银行帐户，因此这些钱被转到了斯托克顿经济赋权示范研究小组的预付银行卡中。受助者无需满足任何条件便可拿到这笔钱，并且他们可以用这笔钱去做任何事情。
An experiment involving just 125 people in a single city must be interpreted cautiously.
Myriad
small differences in the ways in which money is given, and in the social contexts in which it is received, mean that the impacts of such a guaranteed income elsewhere are complex and hard to predict. Still, the initial results of the Stockton experiment, which were published at the beginning of March, will cheer supporters of a guaranteed income.
对于一个仅涉及一座城市中125人的实验，研究人员必须谨慎解读实验结果。由于给予资金的方式和接受资金者的社会背景上存在着无数细微差异，这意味着这种有保障的收入在不同地方的影响是复杂且难以预测的。尽管如此，3月初公布的斯托克顿实验的初步结果还是让那些保障性收入的支持者感到振奋。
In the study’s first year, from February 2019 to February 2020, the incomes of the 125 were much smoother from one month to another than a control group that received no money. The 125 were also more likely to have found full-time work in the first year of the experiment than the control group.
在该研究开始的第一年（即2019年2月至2020年2月），125位受助者从一个月到另一个月的生活过渡要比没有收到钱的对照组平稳得多。相比于对照组，这125人在实验的第一年里更容易找到一份全职工作。
The researchers suggest that the extra money freed people to take on the risk of quitting or reducing hours at part-time jobs or gig work, giving them time in which to complete
internships
or training that led to full-time work.
研究人员认为，这笔额外的收入使人们能够承担辞职或减少从事兼职或零工的风险，并使他们有时间完成实习或培训，从而拿到一份全职工作。
One participant, Kent, said he was able to risk quitting his old job for an internship, which led to better-paid full-time work, only thanks to “knowing that I have that money” from the scheme. Other benefits were harder to quantify.
其中一位参与肯特表示，他之所以敢冒险辞去原来的工作，去找另一份收入更高的全职工作进行实习，是因为他“知道自己能够拿到实验计划中的那笔钱”。其他的好处则难以量化。
“I’m able to read and write my poetry, and spend time with my Mom,” reported another participant, Nicole. A third, Pam, said that anxiety associated with caring for her young family had lessened to the point where she no longer needed to take medication.
另一位参与者妮可说：“拿到这笔钱后，我可以读诗、写诗，还能和妈妈呆在一起。”还有一位参与者帕姆称，拿到这笔钱后，自己因照顾年幼家庭而导致的焦虑症已减轻至无需服药的程度。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
本文翻译：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
编辑：Vinnie
斯托克顿项目是一项测试全民基本收入影响实验的一部分，此前，加拿大和肯尼亚等国的组织和政府以及加州奥克兰和密西西比州杰克逊等美国城市已经开展了类似的试验。在斯托克顿的这项研究中，研究人员发现，每月500美元的保障性收入能够让受助者更积极地面对生活，也能使他们更容易找到一份收入更高的全职工作。
重难点词汇：
coincide
[ˌkoʊɪnˈsaɪd] vi. 一致，符合
sparse
[spɑːrs] adj. 稀疏的；稀少的
myriad
[ˈmɪriəd] adj. 无数的；种种的
