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Module 2 Developing and Developed Countries The Human Development Report In the year 2000, 147 world leaders agreed to work together to reduce poverty by 2015 or earlier. From this agreement came the Human Development Report. One of the most important sections of this report is the Human Development Index. This examines the achievements of 175 countries. The Index measures a country‘s achievements in three ways: life expectancy (how long people usually live), education and income. The index has some surprises. Norway is at the top of the list, while the US is at number 7. the other top five countries are: Iceland(2), Sweden(3), Australia(4), the Netherlands (5). The UK is in the thirteenth position, while China is in the middle of the list. The bottom ten countries are all African countries, with Sierra Leone (in west Africa) at the bottom of the list. The report describes eight Development Goals. The most important goals are to: oreduce poverty and hunger; omake sure that all children have education up to the age of 11; ofight AIDS and other diseases; oimprove the environment of poor people, e.g. make sure they have safe drinking water; oencourage developed countries to give more help to other countries. The 2003 Human Development Report gives examples of successful development. For example, in nine years (1953-1962), China increased life expectancy by 13 years. In the last ten years in China, 150 million people moved out of poverty. However, the Challenges are still great. Every day 799 million people in developing countries are hungry. Over half of these are in South Asia or Afica. Although more than 80% of children in developing countries go to primary school, about 115 million children are not being educated. More than 1 billion people in developing countries do not drink safe water. However, in other regions of the world, e.g. Eastern Europe, water is now mostly safe to drink. The report shows that we are making some progress but that we need to make greater efforts. Although developed countries give some financial help, they need to give much more. Interestingly, the countries that give the most money are the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. These are among the five richest countries in the world, so it is right that they should do so. CULTURAL CORNER Town Twinning How are Oxford in the UK and Grenoble in France similar? Well, they’re both medium-sized towns of between 100,000 and 200,000 inhabitants. They both have universities and industries. Tourism is important to both of them, and they are both close to some of the most beautiful countryside in the region. But they share something else: they have a town twinning agreement. Town twinning is not a new idea, but it has become more popular in recent years because it’s now easier to find out about and visit other countries and towns. It’s an agreement between towns or cities of similar size and age, and which have similar features such as tourism, industry, culture and entertainment. Town twinning agreements encourage people from the two towns to visit each other. There are visits and exchanges between schools, theatre groups and sports teams. Visitors from the foreign town usually stay in the private homes of the town they are visiting. There is usually a big party for the visitors. Town twinning agreements are perhaps most useful for students and people who want to practice speaking another language. This is because living with a foreign family for one or two weeks means that you have to speak their language, and as a result you improve fast. Module 2 人类发展报告 在2000年，来自世界各国的147位领导人一致同意共同努力到2015年或在更早的时间减少贫困。由此产生了人类发展报告。 这份报告一个最重要的部分是人类发展指标。它审阅了175个国家的发展成就。这项指标从三个方面衡量一个国家的成就：寿命、教育和收人。这项指标显示了一些令人感到意外的情况。挪威高居榜首，而美国则排在第七。位于前五位的其他国家是：冰岛（2)、瑞典（3)、澳大利亚(4)和荷兰（5)。英国位居第十三位，而中国处于中等地位。处于末端的十个国家均是非洲国家，塞拉利昂（西非）排在最后。 报告描述了八个发展目标。其中最重要的是： o减少贫穷和饥饿； o确保所有儿童11岁之前都能接受教育； o对抗艾滋病和其他疾病； o改善穷苦人民的环境，例如：确保他们有安全饮用水； o鼓励发达国家给予其他国家更多的帮助。 2003年人类发展报告列举了一些成功发展的例子。譬如：在九年（1953—1962)的时间里，中国的人均寿命就增加了13岁。过去的十年之内，中国有1.5亿人脱贫。然而，挑战仍很严峻。在发展中国家，每天有7.99亿人在挨饿。其中一半以上的人来自南亚或非洲。虽然发展中国家80%以上的儿童能上小学，但仍有1.15亿的孩子得不到教育。发展中国家里十多亿的人喝不上安全的饮用水。当然在世界的其他地方，例如东欧，现在的饮用水大多是安全的。 报告显示：我们正在进步，但是我们必须做出更大的努力。虽然发达国家提供了一些经济援助，但是提供援助的数量应该大大增加。有趣的是，捐钱最多的国家是荷兰、挪威和瑞典。它们都属于世界上五个最富的国家，所以他们这样做是合情合理的。 |
