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RobertNeuwirth_2017G-_古老的非洲共享经济，以及为什么我们应该扩大它的规模_
So what I'm doing is a thought experiment. 我在做的, 是一个思想实验。
Now you may know of or have read this book by this guy. 你们可能知道或读过 这个家伙写的这本书。
It's probably the first and maybe the only bestseller ever written about economics. 这可能是畅销书中 第一次也是唯一一次出现 关于经济的书。
bestseller:n.畅销书;畅销书作者;畅销商品(等于bestseller);
And you probably know a bit about what it says. 你可能多少知道一点它的内容。
It talks about how nations all over the world will prosper through the individual pursuit of individual profit . 它谈的是全世界的国家要如何透过 个人对于个人利益的追求来繁榮。
prosper:v.繁荣;成功;发达;兴旺; individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的; pursuit:n.追求;追赶;追捕;跟踪; profit:n.利润;利益;v.获利;有益;
Individual profit will be the mechanism for the prosperity of the world. 个人利益会是世界繁榮的机制。
mechanism:n.机制;原理,途径;进程;机械装置;技巧; prosperity:n.繁荣,成功;
But the funny thing about Adam Smith is that he was a stay-at-home kind of guy. 但亚当史密斯（Adam Smith） 有一点十分有趣, 那就是,他是个宅男。
stay-at-home:adj.不爱出门的;经常呆在家里的;n.不爱出门的人;经常呆在家里的人;
He actually never went further from Edinburgh than France and Switzerland. 实际上,他从来没有 从爱丁堡去到任何 比法国和瑞士更远的地方。
Edinburgh:n.爱丁堡(英国城市名);
So my thought experiment is to imagine what would have happened if Adam Smith had visited Africa. 所以,我的思想实验是要想像 如果亚当史密斯造访过 非洲,会发生什么事。
And fortunately , there's actually an easy answer, because the Arab lawyer and traveler Ibn Battuta traveled down the east coast of Africa in the 14th century, 幸运地,有个很简单的答案, 因为阿拉伯律师及旅人伊本巴图塔 在十四世纪时, 沿着非洲的东岸旅行,
fortunately:adv.幸运地; Battuta:拍子;
and what he found when he got to Mogadishu was a market, and he wrote about it. 当他到达摩加迪休时, 他发现了一个市场, 这成为他的写作素材。
And basically , merchant ships came to the harbor , and they weren't even allowed to land. 基本上,商人会乘船来到海港, 他们甚至不被允许登陆。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上; merchant:n.商人;批发商;(尤指)进出口批发商;(某活动的)爱好者;adj.海上货运的; harbor:n.港口;港湾;(比喻)避难所;[军]坦克掩蔽场;v.停泊;包含;隐匿;怀抱(恶意);
They had to drop anchor in the harbor, and boats came out to them, and locals picked them and said, "You are my guest, I am now your broker ." 他们得要在海港抛下锚, 再搭小船出来, 当地人会挑选他们,说:「你是 我的客人,我现在是你的仲介。」
broker:n.经纪人,掮客;vi.作为权力经纪人进行谈判;vt.以中间人等身分安排...;
And they had to do business through the local broker, and if they went around that and didn't do business through the broker, they could go to court, and the deal would be canceled, and they would be thrown out of town. 他们得要透过当地仲介来做生意, 如果他们想走别的门路, 不透过仲介来做生意, 他们可能要上法庭, 且交易就会被取消, 他们会被丢出镇外。
And through this mechanism, everyone prospered . 透过这个机制,人人都有赚头。
prospered:vi.繁荣,昌盛;成功;vt.使…成功;使…昌盛;使…繁荣;
And so if that was Adam Smith, he might look like this guy and say, "Ah! That's a mutual aid society. 换成是亚当史密斯, 他可能就会像这个家伙, 说:「啊！那是个互助的社会。
mutual:adj.共同的;相互的,彼此的;
That's a share-the-wealth free market ." 那是个财富共享的自由市场。」
free market:自由市场;
And when I put this question to Christian [Benimana], who had the stage at the beginning of this session , he responded that if Adam Smith had come to Africa, there would have been a sharing economy long before Airbnb and Uber . 当我问克利斯汀班尼马纳这个问题, 他在这段议程的开头有上台演说, 他的回应是,如果 亚当史密斯去过非洲, 共享经济的出现就会 远比 Airbnb 和 Uber 早许多。
at the beginning of:在…的开始; session:n.会议;(法庭的)开庭;(议会等的)开会;学期;讲习会; responded:v.回答,回应;作出反应;响应;反应灵敏;(respond的过去式和过去分词) economy:n.经济;节约;理财; Airbnb:寻找奇居;爱本卜(一个网站); Uber:adj.最好的;?超级的;n.Uber(公司品牌名)优步;
And that's true. 那是真的。
So if we put this to work today, it would be very interesting. 如果我们把它放到现今这个时代, 会非常有意思。
There would be a lot of money flowing into the countries. 会有很多钱流入国家。
These are just figures of 10 percent of exports in these countries. 这些数字只是这些国家出口的 10%。
exports:n.出口商品;输出额;
So the interesting thing is that this mutual aid economy still exists, and we can find examples of it in the strangest places. 有趣的地方在于, 这种互助经济仍然存在, 我们能在最奇怪的地方找到例子。
So, this is Alaba International Market. 这是阿拉巴国际市场。
It's the largest electronics market in West Africa. 它是西非最大的电子产品市场。
electronics:n.电子学;电子工业;
It's 10,000 merchants , they do about four billion dollars of turnover every year. 有一万个商家, 他们每年的营業额 大约是四十亿美元。
merchants:n.[贸易]商人(merchant的复数); turnover:n.翻覆;[贸易]营业额;流通量;半圆卷饼;失误;adj.翻过来的;可翻转的;
And they say they are ardent apostles of Adam Smith: competition is great, we're all in it individually , government doesn't help us. 他们说他们是 亚当史密斯的忠诚信徒: 竞争很好,我们都 以个人身分参与其中, 政府对我们没有幫助。
ardent:adj.热情的;热心的;激烈的;燃烧般的; apostles:n.使徒(apostle的复数);传道者;倡导者; competition:n.竞争;比赛,竞赛; individually:adv.个别地,单独地;
But the interesting reality is that when I asked further, that's not what grew the market at all. 但有趣的现实是, 当我进一步询问时, 发现那完全不是让市场成长的原因。
There's a behind-the-scenes principle that enables this market to grow. 幕后还有些原则在, 是这些原则让市场成长。
behind-the-scenes:adj.幕后的; principle:n.原理,原则;主义,道义;本质,本义;根源,源泉; enables:v.使得; (enable的第三人称单数)
And they do claim -- you know, this is an interesting juxtaposition of the King James Bible and "How To Sell Yourself." 他们确实宣称—— 你们知道的,将钦定版圣经 与《如何推销你自己》 放在一起,是种有趣的并列。
claim:v.要求;声称;需要;认领;n.要求;声称;索赔;断言;值得; juxtaposition:n.并置,并列;毗邻; Bible:n.有权威的书;
That's what they say is their message. 那就是他们的讯息中所说的内容。
But in reality, this market is governed by a sharing principle. 但在现实中,这个市场 是用共享原则来管理的。
Every merchant, when you ask them, "How did you get started in global trade?" 你问任何一位商人: 「你何时开始做全球贸易的？」
global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的;
they say, "Well, when my master settled me." 他们会说:「嗯, 当我的师父把我安置好时。」
settled:adj.稳定的; v.结束; (settle的过去分词和过去式)
And when I finally got it into my head to ask, "What is this 'settling?'" 我终于突然想到要问: 「这种『安置』是什么？」
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地;
it turns out that when you've done your apprenticeship with someone you work for, they are required -- required -- to set you up in business. 结果发现,在你跟着雇主当学徒的 见习期完成之后, 他们必须要,「必须要」 幫你建立事業。
apprenticeship:n.学徒期;学徒身分;
That means paying your rent for two or three years and giving you a cash infusion so you can go out in the world and start trading. 那就表示要幫你付两或三年的房租, 给你现金资本, 让你可以走出去并开始交易。
infusion:n.灌输;浸泡;注入物;激励;
That's locally generated venture capital . Right? 那是当地自产的创業投资,对吧？
locally:adv.在本地;局部地;在地方上; generated:v.产生;引起;(generate的过去式和过去分词) venture capital:风险投资;
And I can say with almost certainty that the Igbo apprenticeship system that governs Alaba International Market is the largest business incubator platform in the world. 我几乎可以肯定地说, 管理阿拉巴国际市场的伊布学徒体制 是世界上最大的创業育成平台。
certainty:n.必然;确实;确实的事情; incubator:n.[禽]孵卵器;[儿科]保温箱;早产儿保育器;细菌培养器; platform:n.平台; v.把…放在台上[放在高处;
And there are other sharing economies that we look for -- merry-go-rounds , which are found in almost every shantytown . 我们还寻找其他共享经济—— 几乎在每个贫民区 都可以看到「旋转木马」。
economies:n.经济;经济结构;节约;(economy的复数) merry-go-rounds:n.旋转木马;一连串的繁忙活动; shantytown:n.以临时搭盖的陋屋为主的地区;
They have different names in other cultures; this is the Kenyan name. 在不同的文化中,「旋转木马」 有不同的名字,这是肯亚的用词。
It's a way of generating cash. 它是一种产生现金的方式。
generating:v.产生;引起;(generate的现在分词)
It's a kitty -- people throw money into a pot once a week, and once a week, one member of the group gets the money, and they can spend it on whatever they need to. 共同凑出一笔钱——每周一次, 大家把钱投入罐中, 每周一次,团体中的 一个成员会去取钱, 他们可以把钱花在任何需要的地方。
And there's also something called " acequias ," 还有所谓的「灌溉水渠 （acequias）」,
acequias:n.水沟;(acequias是acequia的复数);
and that is a Spanish word, but it comes from the North African Arabic; "saqiya" means "water wheel ." 它是西班牙语, 但来自北非的阿拉伯字; 「saqiya」意思是「水轮」。
wheel:车轮,转动
And what the acequia is is a sharing system for scarce water. 灌溉水渠则是种 稀少水资源的共享系统。
scarce:adv.勉强;刚;几乎不;简直不;adj.缺乏的;不足的;稀少的;
It's migrated from North Africa to Spain, and from Spain to the west of the United States, where it still is used. 它被从北非移往西班牙, 再从西班牙移往美国西部, 现在在那里都还有使用。
migrated:v.(随季节变化)迁徙;移居;迁移;移动;转移;(migrate的过去分词和过去式) United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
And it shares water by need rather than by who was there first. 这个系统是根据需求来分享水, 而不是根据谁先到。
And contrary , with all due respect, to what Llew [Claasen] said when he talked about blockchains and cryptocurrencies yesterday, there is no tragedy of the commons. 没有不敬的意思,但这和卢克拉森 昨天在谈到车链 和密码货币时所说的相反, 没有公地悲剧。
contrary:adj.相反的;对立的;adv.相反地;n.相反;反面; blockchains:区块链; tragedy:n.悲惨的事;不幸;灾难;悲剧作品;
People in acequias have been commonly managing scarce water resources for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. 在灌溉水渠中的人, 一直都共同管理着稀有的水资源, 数百年来都是如此。
resources:n.[计][环境]资源; v.向…提供资金(resource的第三人称单数);
So taking this thought experiment, I wanted to go a little bit further and suggest that these things are managed communally , and they are taking care of scarce capital, scarce cash and scarce resources. 所以,我把这个思想实验 再更进一步, 我认为 他们能处理稀有资本、稀有现金, 以及稀有资源。
communally:adv.社区地;公有地;
And it seems to me that we have actually two kinds of capitalism . 在我看来,我们似乎有两种资本主义。
capitalism:n.资本主义;
We have the capitalism of the top up. 有「由上而上」的资本主义。
And these are really interesting statistics , because three one-thousandths of one percent of the Nigerian population controls wealth equal to one-fourth of the GDP of the country. 这些统计数字很有意思, 因为奈及利亚人口 1% 的千分之三 所控制的财富等同于 该国 GDP 的四分之一。
statistics:n.统计数字;统计资料;统计学;(statistic的复数) wealth:n.财富;大量;富有;
One one-hundredth of one percent of the Kenyan population controls wealth equal to 75 percent of the GDP of the country. 肯亚人口 1% 的百分之一 所控制的财富等同于该国 GDP 的 75%。
That's the capitalism of top up. 这就是由上而上的资本主义。
And everyone else is with this guy, selling board games and bodybuilding equipment in a go-slow on the highway in Lagos. 所有其他人就和这个家伙一样, 在拉哥斯的公路上的缓慢车流中 销售桌上游戏以及健身器材,
bodybuilding:n.健美; go-slow:n.怠工;adj.怠工的;
And when you're selling board games and bodybuilding equipment in a go-slow, that traffic jam is really, really, really bad, right? 当你在缓慢车流中 销售桌上游戏和健身器材时, 塞车状况一定是非常非常糟,对吧？
traffic jam:n.堵车;交通阻塞;
Those of us in this sphere of the economy are caught in what I call "the capitalism of decay ," 在这层经济中的我们这些人 碰到的是我所谓的 「衰退的资本主义」,
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; decay:v.(使)腐烂;破败;(力量、影响等)衰弱;n.腐烂;腐朽;衰退;
because there's no way to rise up and get out of it, because they're lacking the resources that we talked about in those sharing economies. 因为不可能爬起来,从中脱出, 因为他们没有我们 在谈那些共享经济时, 谈到的那些资源。
And they're tripped up by the thesis of cassava and capitalism, that cassava has to be processed in order not to be poisonous , and I would argue that, similarly , the market economy needs to be processed in order to be fair to everyone. 他们被树薯论点 以及资本主义给绊倒了, 树薯必须要经过处理才不会有毒, 同样地,我的主张是, 市场经济需要被处理过, 才能对每个人都公平。
tripped:v.绊;绊倒;将…绊倒;使跌倒;脚步轻快地走;(trip的过去分词和过去式) thesis:n.论文;论点; cassava:n.木薯(等于cassawa); processed:v.加工,处理;审核;列队行进;(process的过去式和过去分词) poisonous:adj.有毒的;恶毒的;讨厌的; similarly:adv.同样地;类似于;
So we have to look at what I call the "bottom down economy." 所以我们得要看看我所谓的 「由下而下的经济」。
These are these sharing models that exist out there that need to be propagated and used and scaled . 外头还存在有这些共享模型, 它们需要被传播、被使用、被扩大。
propagated:传播; scaled:adj.有鳞的; v.刮去鳞片;
OK? 好吗？
And if we propagate these things, we can begin to bring infrastructure to everyone, and that will ensure that communities are leading their own development, which is, I believe, what we need in the world, and, I would suggest, what we need in Africa. 如果我们传播这些东西, 我们就能开始将基础建设带给每个人, 那就能确保社区 能引领它们自己的发展, 而我相信,这就是 我们在世界上所需要的, 且,我会说,它也是 我们在非洲所需要的。
infrastructure:n.基础设施;公共建设;下部构造; ensure:vt.保证,确保;使安全; communities:n.社区;社会;团体;共有(community的复数)
I wanted to quote Steve Biko, and I thought it was really important to quote Steve Biko, because next month, September 12 to be exact, is the 40th anniversary of his murder by the South African state. 我想要引述史蒂夫比科的话, 我认为引述他的话是很重要的, 因为,下个月, 明确来说是 9 月 12 日, 就是他被南非国家谋杀的四十周年。
quote:v.引用;报价;举例说明;开价;为(企业的股份)上市;n.引用;
And you can read the quote. 你们可以读读这句引述。
He basically said that we're not here to compete . 基本上,他说, 我们不是来这里竞争的。
compete:v.竞争;对抗;参加比赛(或竞赛);
And I love this quote: "... to make us a community of brothers and sisters jointly involved in the quest for a composite answer to the varied problems of life." 我很爱这句引述:「……让我们 成为一个兄弟姐妹的共同体, 联合起来,一起为人生的各种问题, 寻求一个复合的答案。」
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体; jointly:adv.共同地;连带地; involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) quest:n.追求;寻找;vi.追求;寻找;vt.探索; composite:n.复合材料;合成物;菊科;adj.复合的;合成的;菊科的;vt.使合成;使混合; varied:adj.多变的;各式各样的;杂色的;v.改变;使多样化;(vary的过去式和过去分词)
And he also said that "the great powers of the world have done wonders in giving us an industrial and military look, ..." 他也说:「世界上的伟大强权 已经创造了奇迹,给予我们 工業和军事的外表……」
industrial:adj.工业的,产业的; n.工业股票; military:adj.军事的;军人的;适于战争的;n.军队;军人;
and we don't have to copy that military-industrialist complex , because Africa can do things differently and restore the humanity of the world. 我们不需复制那军事实業家的情结, 因为非洲能用不同的方式来做事, 并恢复世界的人性。
complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施; restore:v.恢复;修复;恢复(某种情况或感受);使复原; humanity:n.人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科;
And so what I want to suggest here is that we have an opportunity, that we are all here in the mutual landscape to be able to do things, and that the journey starts now. 所以,这里我想点出的是, 我们有一个机会, 我们都在这里, 在这个相互的地景上, 能够去做事, 而那旅程,从现在开始。
landscape:n.景观;乡村风景画;(文件的)横向打印格式;v.对…做景观美化;美化…的环境; journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行;
Thank you very much. 非常谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）