急速退步的美国，已不再是我们想象中那个国家
‘We’re No. 28! And Dropping!’
纪思道
2020年9月11日
This should be a wake-up call: New data suggest that the United States is one of just a few countries worldwide that is slipping backward.
这应该是一个警钟：新数据表明，美国是世界上少数几个正在倒退的国家之一。
The newest Social Progress Index, shared with me before its official release Thursday morning, finds that out of 163 countries assessed worldwide, the United States, Brazil and Hungary are the only ones in which people are worse off than when the index began in 2011. And the declines in Brazil and Hungary were smaller than America’s.
在周四上午正式发布之前，我得到了最新的社会进步指数(Social Progress Index)。该指数发现，在全世界接受评估的163个国家中，只有美国、巴西和匈牙利人民的生活比2011年该指数创建时更糟糕，而巴西和匈牙利的下降幅度小于美国。
“The data paint an alarming picture of the state of our nation, and we hope it will be a call to action,” Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor and the chair of the advisory panel for the Social Progress Index, told me. “It’s like we’re a developing country.”
“这些数据描绘了我们国家令人震惊的状况，我们希望它能成为行动的号召，”哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)教授、社会进步指数(Social Progress Index)顾问团主席迈克尔·波特(Michael Porter)告诉我， “我们就像一个发展中国家。”
The index, inspired by research of Nobel-winning economists, collects 50 metrics of well-being — nutrition, safety, freedom, the environment, health, education and more — to measure quality of life. Norway comes out on top in the 2020 edition, followed by Denmark, Finland and New Zealand. South Sudan is at the bottom, with Chad, Central African Republic and Eritrea just behind.
该指数受诺贝尔经济学奖得主的研究启发，收集营养、安全、自由、环境、健康、教育等50项幸福指数来衡量生活质量。在2020年版中，挪威高居榜首，其次是丹麦、芬兰和新西兰。南苏丹垫底，排在它前面的是乍得、中非共和国和厄立特里亚。
The United States, despite its immense wealth, military power and cultural influence, ranks 28th — having slipped from 19th in 2011. The index now puts the United States behind significantly poorer countries, including Estonia, Czech Republic, Cyprus and Greece.
尽管美国拥有巨大的财富、军事实力和文化影响力，但其排名从2011年的第19位下滑至第28位。该指数现在把美国排在爱沙尼亚、捷克共和国、塞浦路斯和希腊等明显更为贫穷的国家之后。
“We are no longer the country we like to think we are,” said Porter.
“我们不再是我们想象中的那个国家，”波特说。
The United States ranks No. 1 in the world in quality of universities, but No. 91 in access to quality basic education. The U.S. leads the world in medical technology, yet we are No. 97 in access to quality health care.
美国在大学质量方面排名世界第一，但在获得优质基础教育方面排名第91位。美国在医疗技术方面领先世界，但在获得高质量医疗服务方面排名第97位。
The Social Progress Index finds that Americans have health statistics similar to those of people in Chile, Jordan and Albania, while kids in the United States get an education roughly on par with what children get in Uzbekistan and Mongolia. A majority of countries have lower homicide rates, and most other advanced countries have lower traffic fatality rates and better sanitation and internet access.
社会进步指数发现，美国人的健康统计数据与智利、约旦和阿尔巴尼亚人不相上下，而美国孩子所受的教育与乌兹别克斯坦和蒙古孩子所受的教育大致相当。大多数国家的凶杀率比美国低，大多数其他发达国家的交通死亡率比美国低，卫生条件比美国好，互联网接入条件也比美国好。
The United States has high levels of early marriage — most states still allow child marriage in some circumstances — and lags in sharing political power equally among all citizens. America ranks a shameful No. 100 in discrimination against minorities.
美国早婚率很高——大多数州在某些情况下仍然允许童婚——而且在所有公民平等分享政治权力方面也很落后。在对少数族裔的歧视问题上，美国可耻地排在第100位。
The data for the latest index predates Covid-19, which has had a disproportionate impact on the United States and seems likely to exacerbate the slide in America’s standing. One new study suggests that in the United States, symptoms of depression have risen threefold since the pandemic began — and poor mental health is associated with other risk factors for well-being.
最新指数的数据收集是在新冠病毒之前，新冠病毒对美国的影响非常大，似乎有可能加剧美国排名的下滑。一项新的研究表明，在美国，抑郁症状自大流行开始以来增加了三倍，而心理健康状况不佳与其他影响幸福感的风险因素有关。
Michael Green, the C.E.O. of the group that puts out the Social Progress Index, notes that the coronavirus will affect health, longevity and education, with the impact particularly large in both the United States and Brazil. The equity and inclusiveness measured by the index seem to help protect societies from the virus, he said.
发布社会进步指数组织的首席执行官迈克尔·格林(Michael Green)指出，新冠病毒将影响健康、寿命和教育，对美国和巴西的影响尤其大。他说，该指数所衡量的公平性和包容性，似乎有助于保护社会免受病毒侵害。
“Societies that are inclusive, tolerant and better educated are better able to manage the pandemic,” Green said.
“包容、宽容和受教育程度较高的社会能够更好地控制疫情，”格林说。
The decline of the United States over the last decade in this index — more than any country in the world — is a reminder that we Americans face structural problems that predate President Trump and that festered under leaders of both parties. Trump is a symptom of this larger malaise, and also a cause of its acceleration.
在过去十年中，美国在该指数上的下滑超过世界上任何国家，这提醒我们，美国人面临着结构性问题，它们在特朗普总统之前就已经存在，并且来自两党的领导人使其不断恶化。特朗普是这个大问题的一个症状，也是这种问题加速的一个原因。
David G. Blanchflower, a Dartmouth economist, has new research showing that the share of Americans reporting in effect that every day is a bad mental health day has doubled over 25 years. “Rising distress and despair are largely American phenomenon not observed in other advanced countries,” Blanchflower told me.
达特茅斯学院经济学家戴维·G·布兰奇弗劳尔(David G. Blanchflower)的最新研究表明，认为自己的每天心理健康状况处于不良状态的美国人，在过去25年里增加了一倍。“不断上升的痛苦和绝望主要是美国的现象，在其他发达国家都没有观察到，”布兰奇弗劳尔告诉我。
This decline is deeply personal for me: As I’ve written, a quarter of the kids on my old No. 6 school bus in rural Oregon are now dead from drugs, alcohol and suicide — what are called “deaths of despair.” I lost one friend to a heroin overdose this spring and have had more friends incarcerated than I could possibly count; the problems are now self-replicating in the next generation because of the dysfunction in some homes.
对我来说，这种下降是极为个人化的：正如我写过的，在俄勒冈农村地区，我以前坐的6号校车上，现在已经有四分之一的人死于毒品、酒精和自杀——所谓的“绝望之死”。今年春天，我的一个朋友因为海洛因过量去世，而我被关进监狱的朋友都已经数不清了。由于一些家庭的功能失调，这些问题正在下一代身上自我复制。
You as taxpayers paid huge sums to imprison my old friends; the money would have been far better invested educating them, honing their job skills or treating their addictions.
你们是纳税人，你们支付巨额费用来监禁我的老朋友们；如果把这些钱投资在教育他们、提高他们的工作技能或者治疗他们的毒瘾上，效果会好得多。
That’s why this is an election like that of 1932. That was the year American voters decisively rejected Herbert Hoover’s passivity and gave Franklin Roosevelt an electoral mandate — including a flipped Senate — that laid the groundwork for the New Deal and the modern middle class. But first we need to acknowledge the reality that we are on the wrong track.
这就是为什么这次选举类似1932年的那一次。就在那一年，美国选民果断地拒绝了赫伯特·胡佛(Herbert Hoover)的消极态度，并通过选举向富兰克林·罗斯福(Franklin Roosevelt)授权——包括参议院的翻转——这为新政和现代中产阶级奠定了基础。但首先，我们需要承认现实，我们走错了路。
We Americans like to say “We’re No. 1.” But the new data suggest that we should be chanting, “We’re No. 28! And dropping!”
我们美国人喜欢说“我们是第一”。但新的数据表明，我们应该高呼：“我们是第28！而且还在下降！”
Let’s wake up, for we are no longer the country we think we are.
醒醒吧，因为我们不再是我们想象中的那个国家。
