双语：中国人均寿命增速有点慢

According to the New York Times on November 23, life expectancy in China is rising slowly, despite its economic surge。

From 1990 to 2008, life expectancy in China rose 5.1 years, to 73.1, according to a World Bank compilation of United Nations data. Nearly every other big developing country, be it Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia or Iran, had a bigger increase over that span, despite much slower economic growth。

Economic growth makes almost any societal problem easier to solve, but growth doesn’t guarantee better lives — or better health — for everyone. That’s been true for centuries. The rate of growth and the kind of growth both matter. If you scan the globe today, you may end up wondering whether any country has landed on the right mix. Europe offers a good life to many people, with generous vacations, parental leaves and health benefits, but its economies have been growing slowly, which is one reason its debts are so onerous. The US grew more quickly than Europe in recent decades, but many of the gains flowed to a small slice of the population。

China can sometimes look like the economy of the future, having grown stunningly fast for almost 30 years now, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. But it, too, has real problems. Above all, its growth has been uneven. Whether China can switch to a more balanced form of growth, as its leaders have vowed, will obviously have a big effect on the rest of the global economy。

As in the Industrial Revolution, many people have left the countryside and poured into crowded cities. Accidents have become common. Obesity is rising. Pollution is terrible。

Of course, whatever the problems with China’s boom, it still has significantly improved the lives of its citizens. There is, after all, another large country with unimpressive recent gains in life expectancy, even smaller than China’s. That’s right: the US. Since 1990, we have been passed by Chile, Denmark, Slovenia and South Korea, among others. China is still five years behind us, but it’s gaining。

据《纽约时报》11月23日报道，尽管中国经济飞速发展，但是人均寿命增长速度缓慢。

据世界银行汇编的联合国数据，从1990年至2008年，中国人均寿命增长5.1年，达到73.1岁。而几乎每一个其他发展中大国，无论是巴西、埃及、埃塞俄比亚、印度、印尼还是伊朗，人均寿命增幅都高于此数值，虽然这些国家经济增长率远低于中国。

经济增长能促使几乎任何社会问题得以轻易解决，但增长并不能保证每个人过上更美好的生活或变得更健康。数百年来一直如此。增长率和增长方式都起着作用。纵览全球，或许没有哪个国家拥有理想组合模式。欧洲为许多人提供美好生活，许以慷慨的假期以及健康权益，但经济增长一直缓慢，债台高筑。最近几十年来美国的经济增长率快于欧洲，但大部分成果只能被极少数人享用。

中国经济有时看似前景无限：30年几乎一直以惊人的速度增长并使数亿人成功脱贫。但中国经济发展亦存在问题，增长并不平衡。显然，正如中国领导所说，中国能否转为更均衡的发展模式，将对全球各国经济产生重大影响。

正如工业革命期间，如今许多中国人离开乡村拥入喧嚣的都市。各地事故频发，肥胖人口上升，污染状况严重。

当然，无论中国的繁荣伴生多少问题，民众的生活水平依然得到显著改善。而且，毕竟还有另外一个大国在这方面表现得也不怎么样。—没错，那就是美国。从1990年起，我们已被智利、丹麦、斯洛文尼亚和韩国等国赶超。中国人均寿命仍落后我们5年，但至少是在增长中。 （实习编辑：顾萍）