VOA慢速英语2019 盖茨基金会称性别和出生环境决定儿童未来（在线收听）

Gates Foundation: Sex, Environment Determine Child’s Future

While living conditions in many areas have improved in recent years, a child's place of birth is still the biggest predictor of its future.

虽然近年来许多地区的生活条件都有所改善，但是生在哪里仍然是孩子未来的最大预测因素。

Oh, yes – and no matter where you are born, life is more difficult if you are a girl.

是的，无论你生在哪里，如果你是女孩，生活会更加困难。

These claims come from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a leading philanthropic organization for health and development.

这是来自比尔和梅琳达盖茨基金会的结论，这是一家重要的健康和发展慈善组织。

The group reports that some 500 million people worldwide lack basic health care or education. It also found that girls everywhere suffer from discrimination.

该组织报告称，全球大约有5亿人缺乏基本的医疗保健或是教育。它还发现，世界各地的女孩都受到歧视。

The new report is the foundation's third on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The report looks at efforts to reduce inequality and poverty and improve health around the world. It follows progress on 17 measures that most UN member countries have said they will try to reach by the year 2030.

这份新报告是该组织就联合国可持续发展目标发表的第三份报告。报告着眼于全球范围减少不平等和贫困以及改善健康的努力。它跟踪调查了联合国大多数成员国声称试图在2030年实现的17项指标的进展情况。

Those efforts are falling short, says Bill Gates, the 63-year-old co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. He sat down with VOA at the foundation's offices in Seattle, Washington, before the report's release.

微软公司63岁的联合创始人比尔·盖茨指出，这些工作指标都未能实现。在报告公布之前，他在该基金会位于华盛顿州西雅图市的办公室同美国之音进行了座谈。

"As much progress as we're making, a child in many countries still over 10% are dying before the age of five. And in richer countries, it is less than 1%," said Gates. "So the idea that any place in the world is still 10%, some almost 15%...should galvanize us to do a better job."

盖茨表示：“尽管我们取得了很大进步，但是很多国家的孩子在5岁前的死亡率超过了10%。而在发达国家，这一比例不到1%。因此，一想到这世界上还有些地方的儿童死亡率达10%，甚至接近15%，这都激励我们要做得更好。”

The results "prove that the world's investments in development aren't reaching everyone," the report said. It noticed progress in the education of girls. But it also found that women's opportunities are limited by social customs, discriminatory laws, and violence.

该报告称，结果“证明全球对发展的投资并未惠泽到每个人。”报告指出对女孩的教育取得了进展。但是报告也发现，妇女的机会受到了社会习俗、歧视性法律和暴力的限制。

"If you reduce the child death rate, families...choose to have less children. As you educate women, more families...choose to have less children," Gates said.

盖茨说：“如果儿童死亡率降低，家庭会选择少生孩子。如果妇女受到教育，更多家庭会选择少生孩子。”

Smaller families can reduce poverty.

家庭成员更少可以减少贫困。

Gates Foundation chief executive Sue Desmond-Hellmann says the clearest warnings from the report were of the dangers of "gender and geography."

盖茨基金会首席执行官苏·德斯蒙德-赫尔曼表示，报告中最明显的警示是“性别和所在地”的威胁。

She said the report showed that more children die in Chad every day than in Finland every year. Also, Finland's average education is up to college level, while in Chad the average child does not finish primary school.

她说，报告显示乍得每天的儿童死亡人数比芬兰每年的人数还要多。此外，芬兰的平均教育水平达到了大学水平，而在乍得，普通儿童小学都没毕业。

"It's just not okay that a child in Chad is 55 times more likely to die than a child in Finland," Desmond-Hellmann said. She added that a girl born in Africa has her gender and her geographic location affecting her future.

德斯蒙德-赫尔曼表示：“乍得儿童死亡的可能性比芬兰高出55倍，这是不应该的。”她还说，非洲出生女孩的性别和所在地会影响到她的未来。

Generally, the report noted "unabated" development progress, with life, health and economic success improving on average across the world. But it also pointed out the large number of people who are being left behind.

总的来说，该报告指出世界各地的发展进程“不会减退”，生活、健康和经济成果平均而言也有所改善。但是报告也指出有很多人都落在了后面。

Words in This Story

No matter – phrase. it is of no importance

philanthropic – adj. the practice of giving money and time to help make life better for other people

galvanize – v. to cause people to become so excited or concerned about an issue that they want to do something about it

opportunity – n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done

gender – n. the state of being male or female

geography – n. the study of the physical nature of the earth and its atmosphere

primary – adj. relating to the education of young children

unabated – adj. without reduction in strength or intensity