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TEXT 66
经济学人:社会平衡器与富人之间的距离
Special report: (A special report on Singapore) The rich are always with us Inequality. But we don't like them that much.
✪特别报道：（一份新加坡的特别报道）虽然富人总与我们同在，但是我们并不喜欢他们
Measured by its Gini coefficient, Singapore is among the world's most unequal countries.
✪如果根据基尼系数来衡量，新加坡是世界上最不平等的国家之一。
The comparison is unfair: Singapore is also a city, and Hong Kong, New York and London all have higher Gini coefficients than it does.
✪这种比较方法是不公平的：新加坡是一个城市，而同为城市的香港、纽约和伦敦的基尼系数都比它高。
But Singapore measures its coefficient rather differently, excluding shorter-term foreign workers and non-working families.
✪不过新加坡测量基尼系数的方法与众不同，不包括短期的外籍劳工和非工作家庭。
And, understandably, it includes employers' CPF contributions as income.
✪而且可以理解的是该计算方法将劳工的公积金上缴额包含在收入内。
Since these are capped for higher-paid workers, that narrows the income gap.
✪因为这些措施限制了高薪者的收入，缩小了贫富差距。
Egalitarians are troubled by Singapore's reliance on several hundred thousand low-paid foreigners.
✪新加坡对于数十万低收入外籍劳工的依赖困扰着平等主义者。
They are ubiquitous on building sites.
✪建筑工地随处可见他们的身影。
Many live in crowded dormitories or worse.
✪许多人住在拥挤的宿舍或者更糟的地方。
The frustrations some suffer were exposed by a riot in December 2013 after an Indian construction worker, on his Sunday off, was run over and killed by a bus.
✪2013年12月，一名印度籍建筑工人星期日休假时被一辆公共汽车碾死，一些人的挫折感在这次事件中暴露无遗。
But such events are highly unusual.
✪但这样的事件是极不寻常的。
Lee Hsien Loong thinks Singapore should not fret overly about its inequality rankings.
✪李显龙认为新加坡不应过度担心不平等排名。
“If I can get another ten billionaires to move to Singapore,” he said in 2013, “my Gini coefficient will get worse but I think Singaporeans will be better off, because they will bring in business, bring in opportunities, open new doors and create new jobs.”
✪2013年他说，“如果我能让另外十大亿万富豪搬到新加坡，我国的基尼系数将变得更糟。但我认为新加坡人将过更好的，因为他们将带来生意、机会，开启新的大门、创造新的工作。”
A generation ago people at all levels of society believed that a rising tide would lift all ships: they were better off than their parents, and knew their children would be better off still.
✪建国一代的社会各层人民一致认为，水涨船高，惠泽众生--他们过得比父母们好，而他们的孩子将会更好。
But that may no longer be true.
✪但这种理论可能再也站不住脚。
In April, in one of a stimulating series of lectures to mark SG50, Ho Kwon Ping, a successful businessman, discussed waning faith in meritocracy.
✪4月份，在一场纪念新加坡建国50周年激动人心的系列演讲中，功成名就的商人何光平讨论了对精英体制衰落的信心。
He warned that “the original social leveller”, the education system, may now “perpetuate intergenerational class stratification”.
✪他警告说，“原先的社会平衡器”--教育系统，现在反而固化了代际的阶层分化。
Only 40% of the children in the most prestigious primary schools live in HDB flats, home to about 80% of all children.
✪全国生活在政府组屋的儿童达80%，其中只有40%就读于最负盛名小学。
Singapore's government, unlike New York's or London's, is its citizens' overall tax authority, and its tax system is regressive.
✪与纽约或伦敦的政府不同，新加坡政府是公民的总体税务机关，并且是递减的征税体制。
It has no capital-gains or inheritance taxes, and income tax is low: even after a recent rise, the top rate is 22%.
✪没有资本收益税和遗产税，所得税很低--即使最近涨了，所得税最高税率才22%。
In future elections it will face growing pressure to redistribute wealth more actively.
✪在未来的选举中，新加坡政府在更加积极分配社会财富方面将面临日渐增长的压力。
At every stage it will balk, wary of the “slippery slope” towards effete welfarism. But it has the resources.
✪在每个阶段，它都拒绝并且担心滑向无能的福利主义。但是它还有很多资源可以利用。
✪注释
1.income gap 收入差距
例句:The force of economic convergence depends on the income gap between developing and developed countries. 经济整合的力量取决于发展中国家和发达国家的收入差距。
2.better off 富裕的；状况好的
例句:He's much better off than before. 他手头比过去宽多了。
3.get worse 转坏；变糟糕的
例句:In fact, things could get worse in the short run. 事实上，事情在短期内可能会变得更加糟糕。
4.run over 碾过；匆匆看
例句:He was run over by a train. 他被火车轧了。
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