I ended 2013 by compiling something slightly unusual: a list of some of thegood news you might have missed. I thought it was a pretty good note to end theyear on, and people seemed to like reading about some of the ways the world isbecoming a better place. This year, I thought I d do it again.

2013年我編輯了一些有點不同尋常的東西來作為年終總結(jié)：一張你可能錯過了的好消息清單。我覺得作為年終總結(jié)，這是一份相當不錯的筆記，而且人們似乎喜歡讀一些世界在哪些方面變得更好的故事。今年，我想我又要這么干了。

Of course, we can t ignore the fact that it s been a turbulent year, in theUnited States and many other countries. But it s worth taking a moment tocelebrate some of the good news too. More children are surviving than everbefore. We re making progress against some of the world s deadliest diseases.These are some of the most fundamental ways to measure the world s progress—andby that measure, 2014 was definitely another good year.

當然了，在美國和其他很多國家，我們不能忽略這是充滿騷亂動蕩不安的一年。但是花點時間為些好消息慶祝也是很值的。同從前相比，更多的孩子存活了下來。和世界上的一些致命的疾病作斗爭，我們正在進步。這些是衡量世界進步的最根本的方法——而且通過以下的估量，2014絕對又是讓人歡喜的一年。

1.More Fifth Birthdays Than Ever Before

和從前相比，更多孩子過上了5歲的生日。

To me, one of the best ways to measure progress is to look at how manychildren are dying of preventable causes.

對我而言，衡量進步最好的方法之一就是看看，有多少孩子的死亡可以避免。

And today, more kids are living to see their fifth birthday than everbefore. This year, for at least the 42nd year in a row, the child mortality ratehas fallen. And it s not just moving in the right direction—it s falling fasterthan anyone expected.

同過去相比的今天，更多的孩子活著過上了5歲的生日。在今年，至少是連續(xù)第42年兒童的死亡率有所下降。而且不僅僅是朝正確的方向——它比任何人期望的都下降的快。

The Economist ran a great article about this in September, where itestimated that just since 2001, the world has saved 13.6 million children slives. It s hard to think of a better sign the world is improving.

《經(jīng)濟學(xué)人》在9月寫了一篇關(guān)于這個問題的長文，自從2001年開始，預(yù)計全世界已拯救了1360萬兒童的生命。不難想象，這就是世界正在變好的標志。

2.We Hit a Big Milestone in Fighting AIDS

我們在對抗艾滋病上取得了里程碑式的進步

The world has done an impressive job of providing treatment to peopleliving with HIV. But for years we were falling behind, because for all thepeople who started getting treatment, even more would become infected.

對于艾滋病病毒感染者的治療，全世界已經(jīng)取得了令人欽佩的進步。但是這些年來，我們一直很落后，因為算上所有開始接受治療的人，也及不上更多的人受感染的速率。

Not anymore, though. New data released this month show that 2013 was thefirst year when more people started getting treatment than became infected withHIV. Why does that matter? Because treating people not only keeps them alive, italso dramatically reduces the odds that they will pass the virus on to anyoneelse. As the epidemiologists say, we can start to bend the curve of thedisease.

今非昔比。這個月的新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，2013年是第一年接受治療的人比感染艾滋病病毒的人多了。這為何顯得意義非凡?因為病人的治療不僅僅是延續(xù)他們的生命，還急劇減少了將病毒傳染給別人的幾率。正如流行病專家所說的那樣，這是一個轉(zhuǎn)折點。

We still have a long way to go before we can declare the end of AIDS, butthis is a big milestone.

在能宣告艾滋病已經(jīng)無所可畏之前，我們還有很長的路要走，但是這確實是里程碑式的一步。

3.Rotavirus Vaccine is Reaching More Kids Than Ever

比起以往更多的孩子接受了輪狀病毒疫苗接種

When I read an article in the late 1990s that mentioned a diarrheal diseasecalled rotavirus killed hundreds of thousands of kids a year, I couldn t believesomething I d never even heard of was killing that many children.

當我在20世紀90年代閱讀一篇提到名為輪狀病毒引發(fā)的腹瀉病，一年里能導(dǎo)致成千上萬的兒童死亡，我不敢相信這種我從來沒聽過的病毒殺死了那么多孩子。

But rotavirus doesn t get much press because it s almost never deadly inrich countries—and the world tends to ignore diseases that only affect theworld s poorest people.

但是輪狀病毒沒受多大重視，因為在發(fā)達國家?guī)缀鯊牟粫�致�?mdash;—所以全世界都傾向?qū)�這個只影響貧窮國家人民的疾病視而不見。

In many ways, rotavirus was a catalyst for my commitment to globalhealth—in fact, one of our foundation s first grants supported efforts againstrotavirus. Since then, the number of kids dying from this illness has been cutnearly in half thanks to a cheap and effective vaccine. And today, that vaccineis reaching more kids than ever before.

從很多方面來看，輪狀病毒是我致力委身于全球健康的催化劑——事實上，我們基金會的第一筆補助就是幫助對抗輪狀病毒。從那以后，多虧了廉價又高效的疫苗，死于這種疾病的兒童就減少了近乎一半。同過去相比的今天，更多孩子接受了疫苗接種。

 本文來源：新東方