经济学人:最低温饱线出炉 看英国人如何定义贫穷

 　　Britain Measuring poverty

　　英国 衡量贫困

　　The end of the line

　　贫困终止

　　The government sets out to redefine what it means to be poor

　　政府着手重新定义贫穷

　　When Seebohm Rowntree, a chocolate-maker and pioneering social researcher, began measuring poverty in York in 1899, he worked out the minimum needed to buy enough food for “physical efficiency”. In 1935, when he repeated the study, Rowntree added allowances for cigarettes, newspapers and a holiday. By 1951 he concluded that poverty was on its way towards being eradicated¹, with only pockets among the elderly left, and stopped counting.

　　1899年，当巧克力制造商和社会学家先驱的西伯姆·朗特里（Seebohm Rowntree）在约克（York）开始测量贫困，他提出了“最低温饱线”的理论。在1935年，在反复研究之后，他又推行了关于香烟，报纸以及假期的补贴制度。并在1951年的时候，他得出结论，称除了部分老人外，若按此方法进行下去将会贫困将会得到消除，因此他停下了研究的脚步。

　　Few now experience the raw penury² of Rowntree’s day. But measuring poverty remains³ an obsession⁴. In its dying days the last Labour government passed a law committing its successors to reduce child poverty. That is causing trouble for the present lot. Under the law, poverty is defined primarily in relative terms: families with less than 60% of the median income are considered to be poor. On November 15th Iain Duncan Smith, the welfare secretary, was set to launch a consultation⁵ to come up with a better definition. He wants to include things that he regards as the real causes of want: worklessness, educational failure and drug and alcohol dependency.

　　现在很少有人能体验到朗特里时代的贫困。但是测衡贫困至今仍是个谜题。在上一届工党最后的执政日子里，通过了一项关于他们下届将会减少儿童贫困的法案。这对当下执政者造成了许多困扰。根据这项法律，贫穷的定义是相当于而言的：当家庭的收入低于收入中位数(median income)的60%时，即被认为是贫困。在11月15日，福利大臣伊恩·邓肯·史密斯（Iain Duncan Smith）着手组织咨询讨论，为其寻找一个更好的定义。他希望能把他认为真正导致贫困的原因加入进去即失业，辍学，吸毒以及酗酒。

　　There are several problems with the current measure. Because it is relative, it is influenced by changes in overall earnings⁶. Figures released over the summer showed a sharp reduction in child poverty over the last year—mostly the result of falling median incomes rather than a genuine improvement. The measure fails to take into account the quality of services that the poor receive, such as education and health. Worst of all, from the point of view of a cash-strapped government, huge amounts of money must be spent on tax credits and other welfare programmes to raise family incomes up to the threshold.

　　目前贫困的标准存在几个问题。因为该标准属于相对标准，受整体收入变动的影响。如夏季公布的图表所示，与去年全年相比，今年同期的儿童贫困数量急剧下降，这主要是因为收入中位数的大幅下降并非现实状况的真正改善。这项措施并未将贫困儿童接受补助的质量纳入考虑范围，这其中就包括教育和医疗。对于现金拮据的政府来说，更糟糕的是，他们必须花费巨资在税务抵免和其他福利计划上，才能将家庭收入高于贫困线。

　　But several charities are nervous about changing how poverty is defined and suspect Mr Duncan Smith of trying to wriggle⁷ out of a commitment to his predecessors’ targets. These had some benign⁸ effects. Since 1999, when Tony Blair announced his ambition to end child poverty, the profile of the poor has changed profoundly. Thanks to tax credits, the proportion of children living in households below the poverty line has fallen by around a third. Pensioners⁹, who have been supported since 2003 with a special credit, are now less likely to be in poverty than younger people. But working-age adults without children are actually worse off: whereas 12% were considered to be in poverty in 1997, now 15% are.

　　但是一些慈善组织对重新定义贫困深感不安，并且怀疑这是这是邓肯·史密斯在逃避对其前任政府所定目标的承诺。那些目标还是有些积极地作用的。在1999年的时候，当托尼·布莱尔（Tony Blair）高调宣布，他将终结儿童贫困为己任，这一系列的措施让贫困儿童的现状发生了翻天覆地的变化。由于税收抵免，生活在贫困线之下儿童的比例较之前减少了1/3。自2003年以来领取养老金者便享受一项特殊津贴，相较于那些年轻人，他们受贫穷的可能性更低。但那些处于工作适龄却没有孩子的群体的经济状况实际上恶化了：在1997年，他们中有12%的人生活在贫困线以下，而现在已经达到了15%。

　　It is not clear that this progress will continue, says Chris Goulden, a researcher at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The government’s big welfare reform—the universal credit—creates strong incentives¹⁰ for people to work for a few hours, which may help to increase incomes. But other reforms work in the opposite direction. Mr Goulden reckons that child poverty will increase significantly by 2020, mostly thanks to a change to how benefit rates are increased with inflation.

　　约瑟夫·朗特里基金会（Joseph Rowntree Foundation）的研究人员克里斯·戈尔登（Chris Goulden） 认为目前还不清楚的是，这项改进计划是否会持续进行，而政府一项中较大的福利改革——全社会的税收减免——极大地激励了人们每周增加工作时间，将有利于增加他们的收入。但是其他的改革却是与此背道而驰的。戈尔登认为，2020年儿童贫困将会大大的增加。这主要是因为即使福利保障水平会上涨，但是通货膨胀水平也会不断上升。

　　The long economic slump¹¹ and the rising price of food and energy have already made life harder for the very poorest. At a church in Brixton, in south London, desperate folk wait for parcels of donated food. Many similar food banks have opened recently, mostly helping¹² people in debt, or those whose benefits have been suspended. The church recently collected donations from annual harvest festivals in schools. In the past, children collected food for the elderly, remarks the vicar. Now they collect it for their classmates.

　　漫长的经济衰退时期以及粮食和能源价格的不断上涨，使得贫困者的生活更加举步维艰。在伦敦南部布里克斯顿（Brixton）的一座教堂里，无论可走的人们在等待人们捐赠的食物包裹 。而在近期，开放了许多类似的食物发放站，主要用来帮助那些负债累累或者救助金暂停发放的人们。而教堂近期的捐赠是从一年一度的校园收获感恩节（harvest festivals）上募集来的。牧师称，在过去，孩子们为老人家募捐。但是现在他们为自己的同学募捐。

1 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

2 penury   

n.贫穷，拮据

参考例句：

• Hardship and penury wore him out before his time.受穷受苦使他未老先衰。
• A succession of bad harvest had reduced the small farmer to penury.连续歉收使得这个小农场主陷入了贫困境地。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

5 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

6 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

7 wriggle   

v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒

参考例句：

• I've got an appointment I can't wriggle out of.我有个推脱不掉的约会。
• Children wriggle themselves when they are bored.小孩子感到厌烦时就会扭动他们的身体。

8 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

9 pensioners   

n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He intends to redistribute income from the middle class to poorer paid employees and pensioners. 他意图把中产阶级到低薪雇员和退休人员的收入做重新分配。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am myself one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. 我自己就是一个我们的高贵的施主遗留基金的养老金领取者。 来自辞典例句

10 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。