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IqbalQuadir_2005G-_手机是战胜贫穷的利器_
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I'll just take you to Bangladesh for a minute . |
先请大家观看一段有关孟加拉的视频。 |
for a minute:一会儿;
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Before I tell that story, we should ask ourselves the question: |
在我开始演讲之前,我想请大家先思考一个问题。 |
Why does poverty exist? |
贫穷为什么会存在? |
poverty:n.贫困;困难;缺少;低劣;
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I mean, there is plenty of knowledge and scientific breakthroughs . |
我是说,人类实现了许多知识和科技的突破。 |
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; breakthroughs:突破;
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We all live in the same planet, but there's still a great deal of poverty in the world. |
我们生活在同一星球, 但世界上仍存在许多贫穷的地方。 |
a great deal of:大量;
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And I think -- so I want to throw a perspective that I have, so that we can assess this project, or any other project, for that matter, to see whether it's contributing or -- contributing to poverty or trying to alleviate it. |
我想先谈谈我的观点, 然后看看我的项目或者其他项目, 究竟是拉大 还是缩小了贫富差距。 |
perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的; assess:vt.评定;估价;对…征税; contributing:v.捐献,捐赠(尤指款或物);捐助;增加;增进;(contribute的现在分词) alleviate:v.减轻,缓和;
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Rich countries have been sending aid to poor countries for last 60 years. |
60年来,富国一直为穷国提供援助。 |
And by and large , this has failed. |
总体来说,这些努力并未收到成效。 |
by and large:大体上,总的来说;
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And you can see this book, written by someone who worked in the World Bank for 20 years, and he finds economic growth in this country to be elusive . |
大家可以看看这本书, 作者曾为世界银行工作了20年。 他发现,这个国家难以实现经济增长。 |
World Bank:n.世界银行(向处于困境需要资助的成员国贷款的国际机构); economic:adj.经济的,经济上的;经济学的; elusive:adj.难懂的;易忘的;逃避的;难捉摸的;
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By and large, it did not work. |
总的来说,这些援助对经济增长并不奏效。 |
So the question is, why is that? |
问题是,为什么? |
In my mind, there is something to learn from the history of Europe. |
在我看来,我们可以从欧洲的历史得到启发。 |
I mean, even here, yesterday I was walking across the street, and they showed three bishops were executed 500 years ago, right across the street from here. |
我是说,即使在这里,昨天我过马路的地方, 就是三位主教在500年前被处死的地方。 就在街对面。 |
bishops:n.主教;象; executed:v.(尤指依法)处决,处死;实行;执行;实施;(execute的过去分词和过去式)
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So my point is, there's a lot of struggle has gone in Europe, where citizens were empowered by technologies . |
我想说的是,在欧洲,人们经历过许多斗争, 他们由于技术的进步而变得更有力量。 |
empowered:v.授权;给(某人)…的权力;(empower的过去分词和过去式) technologies:n.技术;科技(technology的复数);
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And they demanded authorities from -- to come down from their high horses. |
他们要求至高的权威 走下神坛。 |
authorities:n.权力;威权;职权;批准;(authority的复数)
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And in the end, there's better bargaining between the authorities and citizens and democracies , capitalism -- everything else flourished . |
最终,权威与公民之间的地位 发生了变化 民主、资本主义和一切其他的制度得到充分发展。 |
bargaining:n.讨价还价;商谈;商讨;v.讨价还价,商讨条件;(bargain的现在分词) democracies:民主; capitalism:n.资本主义; flourished:v.繁荣;昌盛;兴旺;茁壮成长;(flourish的过去式和过去分词)
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And so you can see, the real process of -- and this is backed up by this 500-page book -- that the authorities came down and citizens got up. |
所以大家可以看到这样一个过程, 这本长达500页的书也支持这一结论, 权威地位下降,而公民地位上升。 |
process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
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But if you look, if you have that perspective, then you can see what happened in the last 60 years. |
但是,如果你持这样一个观点, 可以看看过去60年来发生的事件。 |
Aid actually did the opposite. |
援助所起的作用恰恰相反。 |
It empowered authorities. |
它使权威的地位得到巩固和加强。 |
And as a result , marginalized citizens. |
而公民却因此被边缘化。 |
as a result:结果; marginalized:使边缘化;忽略;排斥(marginalize的过去式和过去分词);
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The authorities did not have the reason to make economic growth happen so that they could tax people and make more money for to run their business. |
权威并没有理由为征收更多税赋 而推动经济发展, 并聚集财富发展自己的商业。 |
Because they were getting it from abroad . |
因为他们能从海外得到资金援助。 |
abroad:adv.在国外;到海外;adj.往国外的;n.海外;异国;
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And in fact, if you see oil-rich countries, where citizens are not yet empowered, the same thing goes. |
事实上, 在那些石油资源国中, 这些国家的人民缺乏自主权,情况也是如此。 |
oil-rich:石油藏量丰富的;
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Nigeria, Saudi Arabia , all sorts of countries. |
诸如尼日利亚、沙特阿拉伯都在这些国家之列。 |
Saudi:adj.沙乌地阿拉伯(人或语)的;n.沙乌地阿拉伯人; Arabia:n.阿拉伯半岛(亚洲西南部,等于ArabianPeninsula);
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Because the aid and oil or mineral money acts the same way. |
因为援助、石油或矿产的作用相同。 |
mineral:n.矿物;矿物质;汽水;adj.矿物(性)的;含矿物的;无机的;
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It empowers authorities, without activating the citizens -- their hands, legs, brains, what have you. |
它们强化权威,但并未激发公民的作用, 包括他们的手脚,头脑和拥有的资源。 |
empowers:授权;使能够(empower的第三人称单数); activating:v.使活动(activate的ing形式);
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And if you agree with that, then I think the best way to improve these countries is to recognize that economic development is of the people, by the people, for the people. |
如果你们同意这一观点,我认为改善这些国家状况的最好方法, 是认识到经济发展的本质是民有、 民治和民享。 |
improve:v.改进;改善; recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
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And that is the real network effect. |
这才是真正的网络效应。 |
If citizens can network and make themselves more organized and productive , so that their voices are heard, so then things would improve. |
如果公民能通过形成网络而更有组织、更具生产力 从而能表达民声, 情况将会得以改善。 |
organized:adj.有组织的; v.组织; (organize的过去分词和过去式) productive:adj.能生产的;生产的,生产性的;多产的;富有成效的;
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And to contrast that, you can see the most important institution in the world, the World Bank, is an organization of the government, by the government, for the governments. |
与之形成对比的是,作为世界上最为重要的机构, 世界银行是政府组织, 由政府运营、为政府谋利。 |
contrast:n.对比;对照;反差;明显的差异;v.对比;对照;形成对比; institution:n.制度;建立;(社会或宗教等)公共机构;习俗; organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体;
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Just see the contrast. |
对比非常明显。 |
And that is the perspective I have, and then I can start my story. |
这就是我的出发点,接下来讲一讲我的故事。 |
Of course, how would you empower citizens? |
如何才能赋予公民更多的主动权? |
There could be all sorts of technologies. And one is cell phones. |
我们可以利用各种各样的技术,手机就是其中之一。 |
Recently The Economist recognized this, but I stumbled upon the idea 12 years ago, and that's what I've been working on. |
最近,《经济学家》发表文章,认识到了这一点, 而我在12年前就偶然想到了这一点, 并且一直以来致力于此。 |
Recently:adv.最近;新近; recognized:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;(recognize的过去分词和过去式) stumbled:v.绊脚;跌跌撞撞地走;蹒跚而行;(stumble的过去分词和过去式)
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So 12 years ago, I was trying to be an investment banker in New York. |
12年前,我曾经试图成为纽约的一名投资银行家。 |
investment:n.投资;投入;封锁;
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We had -- quite a few our colleagues were connected by a computer network. |
我和一些同事在计算机网络上相互连接。 |
quite a few:不少,相当多; colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数);
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And we got more productive because we didn't have to exchange floppy disks; we could update each other more often. |
由于不需要交换软盘,我们变得更有效率, 相互交流也更为频繁。 |
exchange:n.交换;交流;交易所;兑换;v.交换;交易;兑换; floppy:adj.松软的;叭嗒叭嗒响的;懒散的,邋遢的;n.软磁碟; update:vt.使现代化;更新;n.现代化;更新的信息;
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But one time it broke down. |
但有一次,网络崩溃了。 |
And it reminded me of a day in 1971. |
这使我想起1971年的一天。 |
reminded:v.提醒;使想起;(remind的过去分词和过去式)
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There was a war going on in my country. |
那时,我的祖国正经历一场战争, |
And my family moved out of a urban place, where we used to live, to a remote rural area where it was safer. |
我们家从之前所住的城市 搬到了更为安全的偏远郊区。 |
urban:adj.城市的;都市的;城镇的;都市音乐的; remote:adj.偏远的;偏僻的;遥远的;久远的; rural:adj.农村的,乡下的;田园的,有乡村风味的;
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And one time my mother asked me to get some medicine for a younger sibling . |
记得有一次,我母亲让我去为家中一个更小的孩子买药。 |
sibling:n.兄弟姊妹;民族成员;
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And I walked 10 miles or so, all morning, to get there, to the medicine man . |
我花了一上午的时间,走了大约10英里,才来到了卖药人的家。 |
medicine man:n.巫医;
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And he wasn't there, so I walked all afternoon back. |
可那里没人,于是我又花了一下午的时间走回家。 |
So I had another unproductive day. |
这是毫无作为的一天。 |
unproductive:adj.非生产性的;徒劳的;不毛的;不生产的;
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So while I was sitting in a tall building in New York, |
所以,当我坐在纽约一幢高楼里的时候, |
I put those two experiences together side by side , and basically concluded that connectivity is productivity -- whether it's in a modern office or an underdeveloped village. |
我将这两次经历比较了一下, 基本得出一个结论,那就是,连线就是效率, 无论是在现代化的办公室还是在落后的村庄。 |
together side by side:一起肩并肩; basically:adv.主要地,基本上; concluded:v.断定:得出结论:终止:达成:缔结(协定)(conclude的过去分词和过去式) connectivity:n.[数]连通性; productivity:n.生产力;生产率;生产能力; underdeveloped:adj.不发达的;
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So naturally , I -- the implication of that is that the telephone is a weapon against poverty. |
所以,这很自然地意味着, 电话是消除贫穷的武器。 |
naturally:adv.自然地;自然而然地;轻而易举;天生地;大方地; implication:n.含意;可能的影响(或作用、结果);暗指;(被)牵连;
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And if that's the case, then the question is how many telephones did we have at that time? |
如果是这样,问题在于, 当时我们有多少电话? |
And it turns out, that there was one telephone in Bangladesh for every 500 people. |
结果发现,当时在孟加拉, 每500人仅有1部电话。 |
And all those phones were in the few urban places. |
而且所有电话都集中在在少数几个城区。 |
The vast rural areas, where 100 million people lived, there were no telephones. |
有1亿多人居住的广阔农村, 根本没有电话。 |
So just imagine how many man-months or man-years are wasted, just like I wasted a day. |
可以想像,有多少人像我浪费了那一天那样, 浪费了几个月,甚至几年。 |
man-years:[劳经]一人一年的工作量;人年;
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If you just multiply by 100 million people, let's say losing one day a month, whatever, and you see a vast amount of resource wasted. |
如果每人每月浪费一天,乘以1亿人, 可以看到大量的资源都被浪费了。 |
multiply:vt.乘; vi.乘; v.多样地; adj.多层的; resource:n.资源;资料;才智;财力;v.向…提供资金(或设备);
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And after all, poor countries, like rich countries, one thing we've got equal, is their days are same length: 24 hours. |
毕竟,穷国和富国至少在一项资源上是平等的 那就是一天24小时的时间。 |
So if you lose that precious resource, where you are somewhat equal to the richer countries, that's a huge waste. |
如果丧失了这一宝贵资源, 而原本与富国之间并无差距, 这将是巨大的浪费。 |
precious:adj.宝贵的;珍贵的;矫揉造作的; somewhat:n.几分;某物;adv.有点;多少;几分;稍微;
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So I started looking for any evidence that, does connectivity really increase productivity? |
所以,我开始寻找证据, 检验连线是否能增加效率。 |
evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明;
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And I couldn't find much, really, but I found this graph produced by the ITU, which is the International Telecommunication Union, based in Geneva. |
然而,事实上我并没有找到许多证据,但发现了 总部设在日内瓦的国际电信联盟发布的这张图表。 |
Telecommunication:n.电信;电信学;
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They show an interesting thing. |
它说明了一个有趣的现象。 |
That you see, the horizontal axis is where you place your country. |
大家看,横轴代表国家。 |
horizontal:n.水平线;水平面;横线;水平位置;adj.水平的;与地面平行的;横的; axis:n.轴;轴线;轴心国;
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So the United States or the UK would be here, outside. |
比如美国、英国在这里,图表以外。 |
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
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And so the impact of one new telephone, which is on the vertical axis, is very little. |
竖轴表示每增加一部新电话的作用, 在这些国家非常小。 |
impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; vertical:n.垂直线;垂直位置;adj.竖的;垂直的;直立的;纵向的;
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But if you come back to a poorer country, where the GNP per capita is, let's say, 500 dollars, or 300 dollars, then the impact is huge: 6,000 dollars. Or 5,000 dollars. |
但如果大家看欠发达国家, 假设人均国民生产总值仅500美元或300美元, 每增加一部新电话的作用非常明显:6000美元或5000美元。 |
GNP:abbr.(=grossnationalproduct)国民生产总值[毛额]; n.国民生产总值(全写为grossnationalproduct); per capita:adj.每人的;人均的;
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The question was, how much did it cost to install a new telephone in Bangladesh? |
问题是, 在孟加拉安装一部新电话的成本是多少? |
install:v.安装;设置;安置;建立(程序);
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It turns out, 2,000 dollars. |
结果发现,需要2000美元。 |
So if you spend 2,000 dollars, and let's say the telephone lasts 10 years. |
所以,如果花2000美元安装一部电话,假设可以用10年, |
And if 5,000 dollars every year -- so that's 50,000 dollars. |
每年增加5000美元的人均国民生产总值,10年就是50000美元。 |
So obviously this was a gadget to have. |
很明显,电话的作用不可忽视。 |
gadget:n.小玩意;小器具;小配件;诡计;
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And of course, if the cost of installing a telephone is going down, because there's a digital revolution going on, then it would be even more dramatic . |
当然,如果随着数字革命的发展, 安装一部电话的成本下降, 其产生的作用将更大。 |
installing:v.安装;设置;建立(程序);(install的现在分词) digital:adj.数字的;手指的;n.数字;键; revolution:n.革命;旋转;运行;循环; dramatic:adj.突然的;巨大的;令人吃惊的;激动人心的;
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And I knew a little economics by then -- it says Adam Smith taught us that specialization leads to productivity. |
当时,我对经济学也略知一二。 亚当?史密斯告诉我们,分工能提高生产力。 |
specialization:n.专门化;特殊化;特化作用;
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But how would you specialize ? |
但是如何进行分工呢? |
specialize:vi.专门从事;专攻;专门研究(或从事)
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Let's say I'm a fisherman and a farmer. |
假如我是渔民和农场主, |
And Chris is a fisherman farmer. Both are generalists . |
克里斯也是渔民和农场主。 我们都可以做很多生意。 |
generalists:n.多面手;(generalists是generalist的复数);
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So the point is that we could only -- only way we could depend on each other, if we can connect with each other. |
我们之间只有通过相互联系, 才能相互依靠。 |
And if we are neighbors, I could just walk over to his house. |
如果我们是邻居,我可以走到他家。 |
But then we are limiting our economic sphere to something very small area. |
但即便如此,我们只能将生意局限在非常小的区域。 |
sphere:n.球;领域;球体;球形;v.使成球形;包围;把…放在球内;使处于天体之间;
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But in order to expand that, you need a river, or you need a highway, or you need telephone lines. |
为了拓展生意,需要一条河, 一条高速公路,或者电话。 |
expand:v.扩张;使膨胀;详述;发展;张开,展开;
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But in any event , it's connectivity that leads to dependability . |
无论如何,相互连接才能相互依靠, |
in any event:无论如何;不管怎样; dependability:n.可靠性;可信任;
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And that leads to specialization. |
从而实现专业分工, |
That leads to productivity. |
继而提高生产力。 |
So the question was, I started looking at this issue , and going back and forth between Bangladesh and New York. |
所以,我开始反复思考这一问题 并往返于孟加拉和纽约之间。 |
issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行; back and forth:前后移动的,来回的,反复的;
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There were a lot of reasons people told me why we don't have enough telephones. |
人们告诉我 许多没有足够电话的原因。 |
And one of them is the lacking buying power. |
其中之一是缺乏购买力。 |
Poor people apparently don't have the power to buy. |
显然,穷人买不起电话 。 |
apparently:adv.显然地;似乎,表面上;
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But the point is, if it's a production tool, why do we have to worry about that? |
关键是,如果电话能提高生产力,我们为什么要为此担心呢? |
I mean, in America, people buy cars, and they put very little money down. |
我的意思是,在美国,人们购买汽车, 并不需要一次付清很多现款。 |
They get a car, and they go to work. |
他们买了汽车,开车上班, |
The work pays them a salary; the salary allows them to pay for the car over time. |
并用上班挣来的薪水 分期支付汽车款。 |
The car pays for itself. |
以车养车。 |
So if the telephone is a production tool, then we don't quite have to worry about the purchasing power . |
所以,如果电话是生产工具, 我们不需要过于担心购买力。 |
purchasing power:n.(人民的)购买力;(货币的)购买力;
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And of course, even if that's true, then what about initial buying power? |
当然即便如此,最初的购买力从哪里来? |
initial:adj.最初的; n.(名字的)首字母; v.用姓名的首字母作标记(或签名)于;
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So then the question is, why can't we have some kind of shared access? |
那么,为什么不可以几人合用一部电话呢? |
In the United States, we have -- everybody needs a banking service, but very few of us are trying to buy a bank. |
在美国,每个人都需要银行服务, 但很少有人想要买下一家银行。 |
So it's -- a bank tends to serve a whole community . |
所以,一家银行为许多客户服务。 |
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
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So we could do that for telephones. |
对于电话,我们也可以采用相同的办法。 |
And also people told me that we have a lot of important primary needs to meet: food, clothing, shelter, whatever. |
此外,人们告诉我,他们有许多基本的需求需要满足, 吃、穿、住等等。 |
But again, it's very paternalistic . |
但是,这是一种非常家长主义的做法。 |
paternalistic:adj.家长式作风的;
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You should be raising income and let people decide what they want to do with their money. |
应该提高收入, 让人们自己决定如何支配他们的财富。 |
But the real problem is the lack of other infrastructures . |
真正的问题在于缺乏其他一些基础设施。 |
infrastructures:n.[建]基础设施;下部构造;基本建设(infrastructure的复数);
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See, you need some kind of infrastructure to bring a new thing. |
促使人们接纳新事物需要一些基础设施。 |
For instance , the Internet was booming in the U.S. |
比如,互联网在美国发展得如火如荼, |
instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例; booming:adj.兴旺的,繁荣的;大受欢迎的;v.兴旺(boom的现在分词);发出隆隆声;
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because there were -- there were people had computers. |
因为人们有电脑。 |
They had modems . |
他们有调制解调器。 |
modems:n.调制解调器(modem的复数); v.通过调制解调器向…发送电子邮件(modem的三单形式);
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They had telephone lines, so it's very easy to bring in a new idea, like the Internet. |
他们有电话线,所以很容易接纳新概念,比如互联网。 |
But that's what's lacking in a poor country. |
不发达国家缺少的正是这种基础设施。 |
So for example, we didn't have ways to have credit checks, few banks to collect bills, et cetera . |
比如,人们无法查询信用记录, 很少有银行提供代收费服务,诸如此类,不一而足。 |
et cetera:na.以及其他;
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But that's why I noticed Grameen Bank, which is a bank for poor people, and had 1,100 branches, 12,000 employees, 2.3 million borrowers . |
但这也正是为什么我会注意到孟加拉乡村银行。这家银行为穷人服务, 拥有大约1100家分行,12000名员工和230万贷款人。 |
borrowers:n.[金融]借款人(borrower的复数);剽窃者;
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And they had these branches. |
他们有这些分行。 |
I thought I could put cell towers and create a network. |
我想,可以通过基站将这些分行连接成一个网络。 |
And anyway, to cut the time short -- so I started -- |
长话多说。之后,我开始 |
I first went to them and said, "You know, perhaps I could connect all your branches and make you more efficient ." |
到银行与他们谈谈我的想法。 “你知道,也许我可以将你们所有的分行连接起来,使你们的工作更有效率。” |
efficient:adj.有效率的;有能力的;生效的;
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But you know, they have, after all, evolved in a country without telephones, so they are decentralized . I mean, of course there might be other good reasons, but this was one of the reasons -- they had to be. |
但是,要知道,他们毕竟在一个没有电话的国家里, 所以实行分散管理。我想,当然有其他原因, 但这一定是原因之一。 |
evolved:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成;(evolve的过去分词和过去式) decentralized:adj.分散的; vt.使分散;
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And so they were not that interested to connect all their branches, and then to be -- and rock the boat . |
他们对于将所有分行连成网络的想法并不感兴趣, 只想安于现状。 |
rock the boat:捣乱;破坏良好的现状;使遇到危险;
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So I started focusing. What is it that they really do? |
所以,我进一步思考这个问题。他们真正的业务是什么? |
So what happens is that somebody borrows money from the bank. |
通常,某人向银行贷款, |
She typically buys a cow. The cow gives milk. |
买一头母牛,牛会产奶, |
typically:adv.代表性地;作为特色地;
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And she sells the milk to the villagers, and pays off the loan. |
于是,那人将牛奶卖给村民,还清贷款。 |
And this is a business for her, but it's milk for everybody else. |
对这人来说这是一门生意,但为所有其他人提供了牛奶。 |
And suddenly I realized that a cell phone could be a cow. |
于是,我忽然意识到,手机也可以起到一头母牛的作用。 |
Because some way she could borrow 200 dollars from the bank, get a phone and have the phone for everybody. |
因为那人可以向银行贷款200美元, 购买一部手机,然后将手机租给其他人使用。 |
And it's a business for her. |
对这人来说,这是一门生意。 |
So I wrote to the bank, and they thought for a while , and they said, "It's a little crazy, but logical . |
于是,我写信给银行,他们想了想,说: “这主意有点疯狂,但不乏逻辑。 |
for a while:adv.片刻;暂时;一会儿;一时; logical:adj.合逻辑的,合理的;逻辑学的;
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If you think it can be done, come and make it happen." |
如果你觉得可行,就过来实现它吧。” |
So I quit my job; I went back to Bangladesh. |
于是,我辞去了工作,来到了孟加拉。 |
I created a company in America called Gonofone, which in Bengali means "people's phone." |
我在美国成立了一家公司,名为Gonofone, 在孟加拉语里意为“人民的手机”。 |
And angel investors in America put in money into that. |
这家公司得到了美国天使投资。 |
I flew around the world. |
之后我开始奔走于世界各地。 |
After about a million -- I mean, I got rejected from lots of places, because I was not only trying to go to a poor country, |
大约100万英里的行程中,我被许多人拒绝过, 由于我不仅是在贫穷国家做生意, |
rejected:adj.被拒的;不合格的;v.拒绝,驳回;(reject的过去式和过去分词)
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I was trying to go to the poor of the poor country. |
而且是做这些国家里穷人的生意。 |
After about a million miles, and a meaningful -- a substantial loss of hair, I eventually put together a consortium , and -- which involved the Norwegian telephone company, which provided the know-how , and the Grameen Bank provided the infrastructure to spread the service. |
大约100万英里的行程中,我虽然掉了不少头发, 却很有意义,因为最终我成立了一个联盟来推广这项服务, 这其中包括提供专有技术的 挪威电信公司, 以及提供基础设施的孟加拉乡村银行。 |
meaningful:adj.严肃的;重要的;重大的;意味深长的; substantial:adj.大量的;实质的;内容充实的;n.本质;重要材料; eventually:adv.最后,终于; put together:..放在一起;组合;装配; consortium:n.财团;联合;合伙; involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) Norwegian:adj.挪威的;挪威人的;挪威语的;n.挪威人;挪威语; provided:conj.假如; v.提供; (provide的过去分词和过去式) know-how:n.诀窍;实际知识;专门技能;
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To make the story short, here is the coverage of the country. |
长话短说,这是整个国家的覆盖面, |
coverage:n.覆盖,覆盖范围;
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You can see it's pretty much covered. |
可以看到覆盖率很高。 |
Even in Bangladesh, there are some empty places. |
即使在孟加拉,也有一些空无人烟的地方。 |
But we also investing around another 300 million dollars this year to extend that coverage. |
但是,我们今年投资了大约3亿美元 来扩大覆盖面积。 |
investing:v.投资;投入(时间、精力等);(invest的现在分词) extend:vt.延伸; vi.延伸;
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Now, about that cow model I talked about. |
现在,再回到我刚才说到的母牛模式。 |
There are about 115,000 people who are retailing telephone services in their neighborhoods. |
约有115,000人在其居住的社区 提供公共电话服务。 |
retailing:n.零售业;v.零售(retail的ing形式);
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And it's serving 52,000 villages, which represent about 80 million people. |
这些服务覆盖了52000个村庄,共8千万人。 |
represent:v.代表;表现;描绘;回忆;再赠送;
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And these phones are generating about 100 million dollars for the company. |
这些电话为公司产出了 1亿美元的经济效益。 |
generating:v.产生;引起;(generate的现在分词)
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And two dollars profit per entrepreneur per day, which is like 700 dollars per year. |
对于每个零售服务提供者,每天获得2美元的利润,每年大约700美元。 |
profit:n.利润;利益;v.获利;有益; entrepreneur:n.企业家;承包人;主办者;
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And of course, it's very beneficial in lot of ways. |
当然,这一模式还有很多好处。 |
beneficial:adj.有益的,有利的;可享利益的;
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It increases income, improves welfare , et cetera. |
它能增加收入,提高福利等等。 |
improves:v.改进;改善;(improve的第三人称单数) welfare:n.福祉;(政府给予的)福利;
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And the result is, right now, this company is the largest telephone company, with 3.5 million subscribers . |
结果是,现在,这一公司已成为最大的电话公司, 拥有350万用户, |
subscribers:n.订阅者,[金融]认股人;捐款人(subscriber复数形式);
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115,000 of these phones I talked about, that produces about a third of the traffic in the network. |
115,000部电话产生的流量 占到整个网络的三分之一。 |
And 2004, the net profit, after taxes -- very serious taxes -- was 120 million dollars. |
2004年,税后净利润为 1亿2千万美元,尽管税收数字本身也十分可观。 |
And the company contributed about 190 million dollars to the government coffers . |
公司为政府财政收入贡献了大约1亿9千万美元。 |
contributed:v.捐献,捐赠(尤指款或物); (contribute的过去式和过去分词) coffers:n.金库(coffer的复数); v.用花格镶板装饰;
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And again, here are some of the lessons. |
这里是我们获得的一些经验。 |
'"The government needs to provide economically viable services." |
“政府需要提供经济上可行的服务。” |
economically:adv.经济地;在经济上;节俭地; viable:adj.可行的;能养活的;能生育的;
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Actually, this is an instance where private companies can provide that. |
事实上,私营公司可以做到这一点。 |
'"Governments need to subsidize private companies." |
“政府需要资助私营公司”。 |
subsidize:vt.资助;给与奖助金;向…行贿;
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This is what some people think. |
有些人会这样想。 |
And actually, private companies help governments with taxes. |
而事实上,私营公司为政府提供税收收入。 |
'"Poor people are recipients ." |
“穷人总是接受者”。 |
recipients:n.收件人(recipient的复数);
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Poor people are a resource. |
事实上,穷人是资源。 |
'"Services cost too much for the poor." |
为穷人服务成本太高”。 |
Their involvement reduces the cost. |
事实上,他们可以降低成本。 |
involvement:n.牵连;包含;混乱;财政困难;
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'"The poor are uneducated and cannot do much." |
“穷人教育程度低,无法成大事”。 |
uneducated:adj.无知的;未受教育的;v.未受教育(uneducate的过去式和过去分词);
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They are very eager learners and very capable survivors. |
事实上,他们求知欲望强,生存本领高。 |
capable:adj.能干的,能胜任的;有才华的;
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I've been very surprised. |
对此,我感到十分惊讶。 |
Most of them learn how to operate a telephone within a day. |
他们中的大多数人在一天内学会如何使用电话。 |
'"Poor countries need aid." |
“穷国需要援助。” |
Businesses -- this one company has raised the -- if the ideal figures are even 5 percent true, this one company is raising the GNP of the country much more than the aid the country receives. |
事实上,如果数据的准确率只有5%, 仅这一家公司为该国贡献的国民生产总值 也已远远超过其所接受的援助。 |
And as I was trying to show you, as far as I'm concerned , aid does damages because it removes the government from its citizens. |
就我而言,我想让大家知道, 援助有害,因为它让政府远离其公民。 |
as far as:至于…; concerned:adj.有关的;关心的;v.关心;与…有关;(concern的过去时和过去分词)
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And this is a new project I have with Dean Kamen, the famous inventor in America. |
这是我与美国著名发明家迪恩?卡门(Dean Kamen)合作的新项目。 |
Dean:n.院长;系主任;教务长;主持牧师;
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He has produced some power generators , which we are now doing an experiment in Bangladesh, in two villages where cow manure is producing biogas , which is running these generators. |
他制造了一些发电机, 我们正在孟加拉的两个村庄对其进行一项试验, 利用牛粪产生的沼气 为发电机提供动力。 |
generators:n.[电]发电机;[计]生成器(generator的复数); manure:vt.施肥于;耕种;n.肥料;粪肥; biogas:n.生物气,沼气;
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And each of these generators is selling electricity to 20 houses each. |
每个发电机向20户人家输送电力。 |
electricity:n.电力;电流;强烈的紧张情绪;
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It's just an experiment. |
这还只是一项试验。 |
We don't know how far it will go, but it's going on. |
我们不知道它能走多远, 但目前还在进行中。 |
Thank you. |
谢谢。 |