《经济学人》精选精练:全球贫困 谁的问题?

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It（最底层的十亿人）is a 2007 book by Professor Paul Collier exploring the reason why impoverished countries fail to progress despite international aid and support. In the book Collier argues that there are many countries whose residents have experienced little, if any, income growth over the 1980s and 1990s. On his reckoning, there are just under 60 such economies, home to almost 1 billion people.(Wikipedia)

Bolsa Familia（巴西社会福利计划“家庭津贴”）: roughly translated as "Family Stipend" or "Family Grant" or more precisely as "Family Allowance" in English, is a part of the Brazilian governmental welfare program Fome Zero (Zero Hunger). Bolsa Familia provides financial aid to poor and indigent Brazilian families on condition that their children attend school and are vaccinated. The program attempts to both reduce short-term poverty by direct cash transfers and fight long-term poverty by increasing human capital among the poor through conditional cash transfers. The Economist described Bolsa Familia as an "anti-poverty scheme invented in Latin America" (which) "is winning converts worldwide." (Wikipedia)

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs（有条件的现金资助计划）aim to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers' actions. The government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria. These criteria may include enrolling children into public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's office, receiving vaccinations, or the like. According to the World Bank, Conditional cash transfers provide money directly to poor families via a “social contract” with the beneficiaries – for example, sending children to school regularly or bringing them to health centers. For extremely poor families, cash provides emergency assistance, while the conditionalities promote longer-term investments in human capital.(Wikipedia)

小编笔记：

1.3 billion-odd: odd直接接在具体数字之后，表示“超过”、“多于”、“逾……”。

Focus: 此处focus指代为上一句中”90% of aid is supposed to go to the poorest countries”这种“集中式的做法”。

Bonfire: 原指“篝火”，此处根据上下文联系，可作“付之一炬”、“化为灰烬”解。即“随着纳税者的钱减少，结果导致捐助中等收入国家的方案付之一炬。”

Giving is easy. Thinking can be a lot harder. Giving: 给予援助 Thinking: 思考如何给予援助