VOA慢速英语 2007 0129a

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The World Bank lends money to developing countries but also considers itself a knowledge bank. Its advice can influence government policies as well as its own future policies.


An Indonesian woman and her husband searching the trash

The question is, how valuable is that advice? Not even the bank's chief economist², Senior Vice¹ President Francois Bourguignon, could answer that.

So he asked a group of economists³, led by Angus Deaton at Princeton University, to do an independent study. They examined all research activities carried out by the World Bank between nineteen ninety-eight and two thousand five.

Last September, they reported finding many valuable studies. But they also found that advice from the bank was not always balanced. They said the bank sometimes gave greater weight to information that supported its positions and ignored other findings.

Professor Deaton tells us this was especially true with research on the relationship between globalization and poverty reduction. He says the bank has a right to defend its own policies. But he says untested research cannot be used as evidence that policies work.

Over the years, the World Bank has been a research leader in measuring poverty and inequality. Still, the economists found some studies poorly organized or based on old research methods. They also found the bank's Web site difficult to use.

Angus Deaton says the bank needs a research-based ability to learn from its projects and policies. Without that, he says, it cannot remain the world's leading development agency.

The report says the World Bank should create an independent research group, protected against any political influences. The bank now spends two and one-half percent of its administrative⁴ budget on research. Professor Deaton says this is too low, given all the research the bank has to do. He says the need for high-quality advice will only grow as the world becomes richer, and the need for lending shrinks.

Chief economist Francois Bourguignon says research at the bank is a complex process that requires compromises. Yet even with their criticisms, he noted⁵ that the economists rated sixty-one percent of the studies they read as being of higher quality. An additional twenty-eight percent were rated average.

He says the advice in the report will be extremely valuable to the bank.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss⁶. For links to the report and the chief economist's response, go to www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。