双语阅读：调查显示香港贫富差距进一步扩大

2012-06-21 00:00:00来源：可可英语

　　The city"s wealth gap now outstrips that of Singapore, the United Kingdom and Australia as well as other major cities notorious for inequality such as Washington and New York City, says the Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department. In 2011, the city's Gini coefficient-an index from 0 to 1 that measures the wealth gap-rose to 0.537, up from 0.525 in 2001. It's a figure that exceeds various estimates even of inequality across the border in mainland China.
　　香港政府统计处(Census and Statistics Department)表示，香港目前的贫富差距水平已经超过了新加坡、英国和澳大利亚，甚至超过了其他因贫富差距大而闻名的城市，如华盛顿和纽约。2011年，香港的基尼系数上升到了0.537，而2001年的水平为0.525。基尼系数是衡量居民之间贫富差距的一个指标，取值区间为从0到1。2011年香港的基尼系数水平甚至超过了中国内地贫富差距水平的各种估计数据。
　　This latest figure comes as the city's leader, career civil servant Donald Tsang, prepares to step down after seven years in office that critics say were hamstrung by inertia and lack of action to help the poor. Mr. Tsang-who also faces a flurry of public outrage over his use of taxpayer money to fund lavish overseas trips-will leave office on June 30. His successor, Leung Chun-ying, has pledged to do more for Hong Kong's poorest, including restarting the city's poverty commission, which was disbanded under Mr. Tsang in 2007.
　　最新的数据出炉之际，正值香港特首、职业公务员曾荫权在任职七年之后离任的前夕。批评人士说，由于在帮助穷人方面反应迟钝、缺乏切实行动，曾荫权在任期间可以说是碌碌无为。曾荫权同时还面临着香港公众因其使用纳税人的钱进行豪华公务旅行而爆发的愤怒。曾荫权将于6月30日卸任。他的继任者梁振英承诺为香港最贫困的群体做更多事，比如重新设立扶贫委员会等。2007年曾荫权任职期间，扶贫委员会遭解散。
　　"As front-line social workers, we see life has become more difficult [under Mr. Tsang]," says Christine Fang, who leads the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, citing exorbitant housing prices and rising inflation. "Their livelihood has worsened while they see that society has prospered," she says of Hong Kong's poor. "That's why we can sense the antagonism between those who have and those who have not."
　　香港社会服务联会(Hong Kong Council of Social Service)行政总裁方敏生说，作为一线社会服务工作者，我们发现，曾荫权执政期间民生更加艰难。她举出了高房价和通胀日益严重过的例子。她在提到香港穷人时说，他们在看到社会繁荣的同时，却发现自己的生计更加艰难，这就是为什么我们可以感受到富人和穷人之间的对立情绪。
　　Thousands people living in Hong Kong's notorious "cage homes," which in some cases measure just a handful of square feet, are some of the more searing images associated with the city's poverty. But the middle class has also been squeezed, analysts say, as housing prices have surpassed even the levels seen during the city's 1997 bubble.In recent years, as travel restrictions for mainland Chinese have loosened, rows of swanky storefronts catering to such tourists have cropped up across the city, including glittering temples to luxury handbags and jewelry, spurring resentment among Hong Kongers who feel they've been left out of the city's economic boom.
　　大量香港人住在声名狼藉的“笼屋”中。笼屋是这个城市中与贫穷有关的最刺眼的景象，有的笼屋面积甚至仅有几平方英尺。但是分析人士说，由于香港目前的房价甚至超过了1997年泡沫时期的水平，中产阶级同样感受到了压力。最近几年，由于政府放松了对中国内地赴港旅游的限制，香港到处都是为满足这些蜂拥至香港的内地游客需求而开设的出售奢侈手袋和珠宝的奢华店面，这让香港人愤怒不已，它们感到自己成了香港经济繁荣的看客。
　　Today, Hong Kong's median home price is 12.6 times the annual median household income, according to research group Demographia. By contrast, that figure is 5.1 in the United Kingdom and just 3.0 in the U.S.
　　研究机构Demographia的数据显示，如今，香港房价中值是香港人年收入中值的12.6倍。相比之下，英国的这一比例为5.1，美国为3.0。
　　The government was quick this week to downplay the latest evidence of the widening wealth gap, noting that after factoring in social benefits and taxes, the city's Gini coefficient was 0.475, a figure unchanged from 2006. It also cited demographic factors as an explanation for the rise in income disparity, noting that as the population has aged, the number of households without active income has increased.
　　香港政府本周很快对数据做出反应，强调表明贫富差距加大的最新证据其实并没有那么重要。港府指出，如果计入社会福利和税收等因素，香港的基尼系数为0.475，与2006年持平。港府还用人口因素解释了收入差距的上升，指出由于人口老龄化，没有活动收入的家庭数量有所增加。
　　In explaining Hong Kong's entrenched wealth gap, analysts cite the economy's overwhelmingreliance on the services sector, particularly finance, which has created wealth for some but failed to provide significant numbers of well-paying jobs across the board. While income grew 60% among the city's top 10% of earners between 2001-2010, it dropped by 20% among those in the bottom 10%.
　　在解释香港严重的贫富差距问题时，分析人士指出，香港经济运转主要依靠服务业，特别是金融业，这些领域为一些人创造了财富，但是从整体来看没有提供大量薪水丰厚的职位。从2001到2010年间，香港薪酬最高10%人群的收入增长了60%，而薪酬最低10%人群的收入则下降了20%。