及时一针顶九针 Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. 《穷人经济学[注释一]:对全球性减贫方式的一次大胆反思》 By Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. PublicAffairs; 336 pages; $26.99. To be published in Britain in June by PublicAffairs; £15.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk 阿巴吉特.班吉纳和埃斯特.迪弗洛合著,公共事务出版社,336页,26.99美元;英国将于6月面世,卓越亚马逊有售。
但是班吉纳先生和迪弗洛女士提倡一个他们称之为“平静革命”的东西,坚持认为事物在“边际”状态(经济学家的表达方式,表示即使事物处于非常之差的状态也可以变得更好)时可以得到改善。他们同样摆出事实证明,改善的政策有利于更好的政治。一旦选民看到好的政策制定能让生活更精彩,他们的期望便会提高,需要也会更多。 from the print edition | Books and Arts
以下是我的理解:
1、These trials test anti-poverty remedies much as pharmaceutical firms test drugs。我觉得这一句里的关键词是much。也就是后面的在测试上做了多少,前者就做了多少。
2、 average patient benefits---average译成普通的不太准确。
3、They promised to sift nuggets of truth from the slurry of received wisdom and wishful thinking that characterises much aid-talk----received wisdom 和wishful thinking都是可以查到的。也就是much aid-talk 里的。。。。有些是糟粕,they我理解指的是trials,也就是这些测试必定会。。。
4、 But farmers far-sighted enough to buy the fertiliser straight after the harvest, when they do have money, do not sell it, despite facing all the same demands on their resources.很明显far-sighted后面的是修饰farmers的,也有具有。。眼光的农民他们会在。。。,但手里有化肥他们并不会去sell it .尽管。。。
5、 who coast along, enjoying chlorinated water, drawing a regular salary, paid directly into a bank account, perhaps with contributions to their pension and health care automatically deducted这是指穷人还是富人呀??
6、The rich can indulge their weakness for cigarettes and alcohol without fear of financial ruin。请查一下weakness的意思。
In an engrossing new book they draw on some intrepid research and a store of personal anecdotes to illuminate the lives of the 865m people who, at the last count, live on less than $0.99 a day.
截止到日前的统计,世界上有8.65亿人日均生活费不到0.99美元,为了在这本引人入胜的书中清晰阐述这些人的生活状况,他俩无惧困难做了很多调查,也援引了丰富的轶事。
If the first group does better, the benefit can be attributed to the project and not the many other factors that might otherwise obscure the result.
如果第一组表现更佳,那尽可归因于此项目带来的益处,而不是众多可能混淆结果的其他因素。
句子结构调下
如果第一组表现更佳,则此结果系得益于该项目,而非许多其他原本可能混淆结果的因素
They promised to sift nuggets of truth from 【the slurry of (received wisdom and wishful thinking) 】that characterises much aid-talk
援助谈话中往往有些痴心妄想和被普遍接受的观点充斥其中,但这些试验会去其糟粕,取其精华。
that==the slurry of (received wisdom and wishful thinking)
characterize=v,作为xx的特征/特性(参较feature;也有这个词义)
就是说,许多aid-talk的特征就是充满了公认的智慧和愿望思维
wishful thinking【心理学】愿望思维
received wisdom公认的智慧
从xx的浑沌中提炼出真理
Another book, “More Than Good Intentions” by Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel of Innovations for Poverty Action is also out this month
另外一本书--《不停留于良好的愿望》也将于本月出版,由迪恩.卡尔兰[耶鲁大学教授]和创新贫困救助会的雅各布.爱派勒合著。
Dean Karlan是yale大学的教授,也是这个机构的创始人,这里主要是说他在这个机构的身份啦;且把Innovations for Poverty Action==“扶贫行动创新研究会/扶贫创新行动”可行得通?
另一本书-由“扶贫行动创新研究会”的Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel合著的《不流于美好的愿望》也将于本月出版
(from wiki:Innovations for Poverty Action is an American non-profit organization founded in 2002 by Yale economist Dean Karlan. IPA conducts randomized controlled trials (RCTs), along with other types of quantitative research, to measure the impacts of development programs in sectors including microfinance, education, health, governance, agriculture, charitable giving and community development. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovations_for_Poverty_Action)
Even in medicine, a randomised trial can only show whether the average patient benefits; not whether any individual patient will benefit
即使在医学上,一个随机试验仅能证明普通患者受益与否,而不能证明个别患者会得益
——随机实验仅能表明某种药物或疗法(看上文:These trials, the critics point out, show whether a drug or remedy works, but not how it works)对一般患者是否奏效,而无法表明是否(普遍)适用于个体患者
It draws on a variety of evidence, not limiting itself to the results of randomised trials, as if they are the only route to truth.
它没有局限于随机试验的结果,而是选择了各类证据相佐,这样可以避免把试验当做通往真理的唯一途径。
They also describe how borrowers in south India exploited a contractual loophole to avoid taking out health insurance, which their microlender insisted they buy for their own good.
小额贷款者坚持让借款方为了他们自己的好处购买健康险,但是这些人却利用合同漏洞避免办理。
for their own good==为自己着想