2017年12月四级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 1 原文翻译及答案解析

Nobody really knows how big Lagos is. What's indisputable is that it's growing very quick between now and 2050, the urban population of Africa could triple. Yet cities in sub-Saharan Africa are not getting richer the way cities in the rest of the world have. Most urban Africans live in slums (贫民窟); migrants are often not much better off than they were in the countryside. Why?

没人真正知道拉各斯有多大。无可争议的是，它正迅速增长，从现在到2050年，非洲的城市人口可能会增长三倍。然而，撒哈拉以南非洲的城市并没有像世界其他地区的城市那样变得更富裕。大多数非洲城市居民住在贫民窟；移民往往并不比他们在农村时富裕多少。为什么？

The immediate problem is poverty. Most of Africa is urbanizing at a lower level of income than other regions of the world did. That means there's little money around for investment that would make cities liveable and more productive. Without upgrades and new capacity, bridges, roads and power systems are unable to cope with expanding populations. With the exception of South Africa, the only light rail metro system in sub-Saharan Africa is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Traffic jam leads to expense and unpredictability, things that keep investors away.

直接问题是贫困。非洲大部分地区的城市化发生在比世界其他地区更低的收入水平上。这意味着几乎没有资金用于投资使城市更宜居和更高效。如果没有升级和新增容量，桥梁、道路和电力系统无法应对不断增长的人口。除了南非，撒哈拉以南非洲唯一的轻轨地铁系统位于埃塞俄比亚的亚的斯亚贝巴。交通拥堵导致费用增加和不可预测性，这些因素让投资者望而却步。

In other parts of the world, increasing agricultural productivity and industrialization went together. More productive farmers meant there was a surplus that could feed cities; in turn, that created a pool of labour for factories. But African cities are different. They are too often built around consuming natural resources. Government is concentrated in capitals, so is the money. Most urban Africans work for a small minority of the rich, who tend to be involved in either cronyish (有裙带关系的) businesses or politics. Since African agriculture is still broadly unproductive, food is imported, consuming a portion of revenue.

在世界其他地区，农业生产力提高和工业化是同步进行的。更高效的农民意味着有盈余可以养活城市；反过来，这为工厂创造了劳动力储备。但非洲城市不同。它们往往围绕着消耗自然资源来建设。政府集中在首都，资金也是如此。大多数非洲城市居民为少数富人工作，这些富人往往涉足有裙带关系的企业或政治。由于非洲农业总体上仍缺乏生产力，粮食需要进口，消耗了部分收入。

So what can be done? Though African countries are poor, not all African cities are. In Lagos, foreign oil workers can pay as much as $ 65,000 per year in rent for a modest apartment in a safe part of town. If that income were better taxed, it might provide the revenue for better infrastructure. If city leaders were more accountable to their residents, they might favour projects designed to help them more. Yet even as new roads are built, new people arrive. When a city's population grows by 5% a year, it is difficult to keep up.

那么能做些什么呢？尽管非洲国家贫穷，但并非所有非洲城市都如此。在拉各斯，外国石油工人每年可能支付高达65,000美元的租金，用于在城市安全区域租住一套普通公寓。如果能对这些收入更好地征税，可能会为改善基础设施提供资金。如果城市领导对居民更加负责，他们可能会更倾向于那些旨在更好地帮助居民的项目。然而，即使新路建成，新人口又来了。当一个城市的人口每年增长5%时，很难跟上步伐。