为2016年欢呼的理由

Reasons to be cheerful about the world in 2016

为2016年欢呼的理由

From The Guardian

摘自英国《卫报》网站

By common consent 2016 has been a challenging year, a year of disasters, what with Brexit, the election of Donald Trump as US president and a litany of celebrities who have sadly passed away. It is therefore often difficult to remember that parallel to this we are living through something of an arc of progress. The world is getting richer, with the number of people living in extreme poverty falling below 10% for the first time. Indeed, since 1990 almost 1.1 billion have escaped extreme poverty. World hunger also reached its lowest point for 25 years in 2016.
由于英国退欧，特朗普当选美国总统和一连串名人的不幸去世，人们普遍认为2016年是充满挑战和频发灾难的一年。但我们往往很难想起，与此并存的是全球所取得的重大进步。世界正变得越来越富裕，生活在极端贫困状态中的人数首次下降到10%以下。确切来说，自1990年以来，约有11亿人摆脱了极端贫困的状态。2016年，世界饥饿人数已降至25年来的最低点。

For the first time ever the death penalty has become illegal in more than half of the world’s countries and the world got healthier, with a World Health Organisation report showing that since 2000 global malaria deaths have declined by 60%. Since their peak a decade ago Aids-related deaths have fallen by 45% and infant mortality has halved since 1990. Taiwan is on the verge of becoming the first Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage and Tanzania banned child marriage.
全球首次有超过半数的国家废除了死刑。世界卫生组织的一份报告显示，世界变得更加健康，全球疟疾死亡人数自2000年以来下降了60%。艾滋病相关死亡人数自10年前达到峰值后下降了45%，婴儿死亡率自1990年以来下降了50%。台湾即将成为亚洲首个同性婚姻合法化的地区。坦桑尼亚禁止童婚。

For many 2016 may have been seen as the worst of times, but let us not forget it has been on the best of times too, so let’s not be too pessimistic as we enter
2017.对许多人而言，2016年可能是一个最糟糕的年份，但让我们不要忘记2016年也见证了一段最美好的时光，所以让我们在进入2017年时不要太过悲观。