When the World Opened the Gates of China

When the World Opened the Gates of China
  WSJ

With a congressional vote looming in the spring of 2000, President Bill Clinton mustered his best arguments for why lawmakers should approve his proposed deal for China to join the World Trade Organization.

Adding China would link Beijing to Western economies and reduce the government’s ability to control its vast population, he said in a speech that March at Johns Hopkins’s School of Advanced International Studies. “By joining the WTO, China is not simply agreeing to import more of our products, it is agreeing to import one of democracy’s most cherished values, economic freedom,” Mr. Clinton said. “When individuals have the power not just to dream, but to realize their dreams, they will demand a greater say.”

Mr. Clinton’s idealistic rhetoric played well among most of Washington’s elites, but a trade lawyer often dismissed as a protectionist, Robert Lighthizer, was skeptical. As he had warned in a New York Times op-ed a few years earlier, if admitted to the WTO, mercantilist China would become a “dominant” trading nation. “Virtually no manufacturing job in [the U.S.] will be safe,” he wrote.

Mr. Lighthizer is now the U.S. Trade Representative, President Donald Trump’s chief negotiator on global trade. In the administration’s view, allowing China to enter the WTO in 2001 was a historic mistake that cost the U.S. millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in accumulated trade deficits. The U.S. is now bypassing WTO rules and threatening Beijing with tariffs on up to $500 billion of imported goods.

The moves against China are part of Mr. Trump’s wider effort to upend longstanding U.S. policy on trade and also the international institutions and agreements that govern trade. Whether the administration’s shift is a much-needed corrective or a disastrous reversal depends in large part on how one views the original decision to bring China into the international trade regime.

Given China’s enormous presence in the world economy today, it’s difficult to remember how economically backward the country was in the early 1990s. Inflation hit 24% in 1994. Nearly 60% of the population lived on less than $1.90 a day. Bicycles jammed the streets, not cars.

Chinese reformers saw their country’s entry into the WTO as a way to modernize. To join, China would have to reduce sky-high trade barriers and allow a greater role for foreign firms. State-owned firms would finally face competition, and private enterprise, they hoped, would soar. “WTO membership works like a wrecking ball, smashing whatever is left in the old edifice of the planned economy,” said Jin Liqun, China’s vice minister of finance at the time.

The WTO is a membership organization. To get in, China had to cut deals with all the members but most importantly with the U.S., the world’s dominant economy. U.S. officials thought they were driving a hard bargain. The deal forced Beijing to slash tariffs, permit foreign investment in Chinese industries and give foreign banks more freedom to do business. For a dozen years, Beijing also agreed, the U.S. could block Chinese imports that threatened specific American industries.
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In exchange for the Chinese concessions, the U.S. just had to surrender its annual rite of deciding whether to grant China “most favored nation” status as a trading partner, ensuring full access to the American market. China’s allies in Congress had succeeded each year in getting the measure through anyway, but by allowing China into the WTO, the annual reviews would end.

Mr. Clinton also linked China’s WTO accession to the democratic vision of President Woodrow Wilson, who dreamed, he said, of “a world full of free markets, free elections and free peoples working together.” The growth of the internet, in particular, would undermine Beijing’s control and make China more like the U.S., Mr. Clinton argued. (He declined to comment for this article.)

Many shared this hopeful view, pointing to the examples of South Korea and Taiwan, which had shaken off dictatorships as they became more prosperous. Henry Rowen, chairman of the Reagan administration’s National Intelligence Council, forecast in 1999 that China would “join the club of nations well along the road to democracy” in 2015, when he expected its per capita GDP to reach $7,000. As it turned out, China hit that mark two years sooner than he had predicted, but even now, it is far from being a democracy.

A coalition of labor, environmental and human-rights groups opposed China’s admission to the WTO. Robert Scott, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-backed research group, cranked out alarming numbers. In 2000, he forecast that nearly a million U.S. manufacturing jobs would be lost to Chinese competition.

Donald Trump was absent from the debate. In 2000, he toyed with a run for president and wrote a campaign book, “The America We Deserve,” which called China the U.S.’s “biggest long-term challenge.” But he didn’t mention the WTO decision. He did say he would appoint himself U.S. Trade Representative and negotiate better deals.

After the deal, foreign investment in Beijing mushroomed from $47 billion in 2001 to $124 billion a decade later. The lower investment and import restrictions required of China as part of its WTO entry also encouraged multinationals to rush in, as did the prospect of serving the vast Chinese market. China became the world’s manufacturing floor, and Chinese imports to the U.S. soared.

Looking back now, whose expectations for the wider impact of the deal proved most accurate? On the issue of U.S. manufacturing jobs, critics made the right call. A study by the MIT economist David Autor and colleagues calculated that Chinese competition cost the U.S. some 2.4 million jobs between 1999 and 2011, battering factory towns that made labor-intensive goods.

That result haunts one of Mr. Clinton’s senior China negotiators, Robert B. Cassidy, who believes that his work only helped big businesses, not ordinary workers. “When you retire you like to think that you accomplished a lot,” he says now, at age 73. “What kind of benefit did I produce from working around the clock? I was incredibly disappointed.”

Nor did China open up politically, as many WTO advocates had hoped. Beijing tamed the internet by limiting its use to commerce, technology and social media. It blocked political organizing by threatening and sometimes jailing those who posted critical comments. More recently, it has turned the internet itself into an instrument of the state by using it to identify and track dissidents. “It’s Orwellian,” says Jerome Cohen, a New York University law professor and China specialist.

Greater economic growth led to greater political control, said Mark Wu, a professor at Harvard Law School whose research focuses on China and the WTO. China’s leaders believed that they needed unchallenged authority to carry out economic reform in the face of opposition from entrenched interests. According to Mr. Wu, the point of freer markets, in their view, was to encourage competition and prevent the system from becoming sclerotic, not to bolster individual rights.

As for President Clinton and his allies in the WTO debate, they can point to real gains from integrating China into the global economy. According to the World Bank, some 400 million Chinese have been lifted from extreme poverty—that is, from living on less than $1.90 a day—since 1999. And during the global recession of 2008 and 2009, China was able to go on a spending spree that supported global demand. Chinese building projects sucked in iron ore, coal, oil and other commodities, boosting other developing nations.

Today, technology companies tap the Chinese market to boost profits and defray research costs. Last year, about 20% of Apple Computer Inc.’s sales came from China, up from about 12% in 2011. The low inflation associated with cheap imports, together with Chinese purchases of U.S. government bonds, has also helped to hold down interest rates, making it cheaper for Americans to buy not only clothes and electronics but also homes and cars.

Economic reform has waxed and waned in China. The WTO deal was supposed to curb the power of China’s state-owned enterprises, which Beijing pledged would operate on commercial terms only. By some measures, that has occurred. Nicholas Lardy, a China expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, estimates that state-owned firms now account for just 20% of China’s industrial output, down from double that share in 2001.

But there has been a reversal in the past few years, according to Mr. Lardy. State investment in the economy is growing as much as three times faster than private investment, he says. State firms have once again become the heart of Chinese economic policy-making.

Beijing is counting on such firms to become global leaders in semiconductors, electric vehicles, robotics and other high-technology sectors and is funding them through subsidies and financing from state banks. These initiatives have raised protests from U.S. companies that now find themselves competing with the Chinese state. In solar and wind power, for example, state investment created a glut that drove many foreign companies out of business.

China never fully followed through on its WTO pledge to allow foreign banks to operate in its local currency. It also pledged not to force foreign firms to transfer their technology, but today about one in five companies—many in aerospace and chemical industries—say that they’ve been pressured to do just that in order to do business in China, according to a July survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

At a WTO session this month, China’s vice minister of commerce, Wang Shouwen, denied that China twists arms to gain technology. Arrangements on technology are “absolutely contractual behavior based on voluntary business deals,” Mr. Wang said in July, according to a Geneva trade official.

China has also maneuvered to its advantage within the WTO. In one case it blocked exports of scarce raw materials needed by high-tech industries, hurting foreign firms. When the WTO ruled against Beijing on one set of restrictions, it removed the barriers—but then blocked another set of raw materials. “The core issue isn’t whether China lived up to the vast number of obligations, but whether it lived up to the spirit” of the deal, says Prof. Wu.

Other Chinese efforts to win an advantage in trade have happened outside the WTO’s purview. For years after joining the international trade regime, Beijing kept its currency undervalued by 30%, boosting Chinese exports by making them cheaper abroad, says Brad Setser, a currency expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. Former U.S. officials say that China and other WTO members wouldn’t have agreed to a provision punishing countries for such measures.

Charlene Barshefsky, who was Mr. Clinton’s U.S. Trade Representative, says that her successors could have used the WTO to sue China to live up to its agreements. She points in particular to provisions that protected U.S. industries from escalating Chinese imports. President George W. Bush turned down all import-surge cases brought by American companies, and President Barack Obama approved just one. Neither brought any cases on their own.

A former senior Bush administration official said that “the national interest was not served by raising protectionist barriers.” Growth in imports, the former official says, doesn’t mean that China has acted improperly. Obama officials made similar arguments.

Mr. Lighthizer, who is now helping to call the shots on U.S. trade policy, says that if the WTO deal had failed in Congress, “uncertainty would have kept the trade deficit from growing and probably would have saved millions of manufacturing jobs.”

But other WTO opponents believe that congressional rejection wouldn’t have made much of a difference for the U.S. With its vast supply of industrious, low-wage workers, China would have continued to rise as an export powerhouse, they say. Indeed, in the 15 years before its WTO entry, U.S. imports from China grew at a faster rate than in the 15 years after, albeit from a much lower base.

Keeping China out of the WTO might have delayed by a few years the damage to U.S. communities from low-cost imports, though it’s not clear that the extra time would have helped. In the 17 years since China’s entry, the U.S. has poured few resources into worker retraining programs or other social safety net programs for laid-off workers. The programs in which it did invest had mixed results.

“I don’t know that [a defeat for the Clinton WTO deal] would have made a difference,” says David Bonior, a former Democratic House Minority Whip, who led the congressional fight against it.
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Ms. Barshefsky still believes in a multilateral approach to China. She would revive the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade pact between the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations, which Mr. Trump discarded on his first working day in office, and extend it to other Asian nations and Europe. The members could negotiate new rules of trade, cutting tariffs and covering state-owned enterprises, import surges, subsidies and other issues relevant to China. “Then China would need to make a decision,” she says. “It can come on board, or it can decide it doesn’t want full access to 60% of the global economy.”

Mr. Lighthizer has a different view. The U.S. should go it alone and threaten China with heavy tariffs, he says, largely leaving the WTO out of the mix as an adjudicator of U.S. grievances.

“The notion that our problems with China can be solved by bringing more cases at the WTO alone is naive at best and at worst distracts policy makers from facing the gravity of the challenge,” his agency said in a January 2018 report. Instead, the USTR said, the U.S. must rely on its own economic muscle.

“Ultimately, that’s all you have anyway,” Mr. Lighthizer says.

顾家北翻译练习

顾家北翻译练习

翻译1：经常做运动会提高人的自信

Regular exercise can increase one's self-confidence.

用定语从句扩充：

中文翻译：经常参加体育活动能够提高人们的自信心，这不但对年轻人而且对老人很重要。

Participating in sports frequently can boost people's confidence, which is important not only to the youth but also to the elderly.

翻译2： 依赖计算器会影响人的心算能力（mental arithmetic）。

Relying heavily on calculators will have a negative impact on mental arithmetic.

也可以用现在分词扩充：

The excessive reliance on calculators is likely to have an adverse impact on children's mental arithmetic and pose a threat to their intellectual development.

中文翻译：过度依赖计算器可能会对人们的心算能力有负面影响，对孩子的智力发展有威胁。

翻译 3： 很多女孩都不愿意在男人居多的行业里（male-dominated world）找工作。

Many girls are not willing to seek employment in a male-dominated world.

也可以用状语从句扩充：

Numerous women are unwilling to find employment in a male-dominated world because they can face barriers to top-level promotion.

中文翻译： 很多女孩不愿意在男人为大多数的行业找工作，因为她们会面临在高职位升迁中的阻碍。

翻译4：环境问题已经成为公众关心的焦点。

The environmental problem has become the focus of public concern.

Environmental problems such as greenhouse gas emissions have become the focus of public concern and some regulations can be enforced to tackle these problems.

中文翻译：环境问题比如温室气体的发放已经成为公共关注的焦点，因此一些规则应该被实施来处理这些问题。

翻译5：家长和老师应该努力去减少小孩看电视的时间。

parents and teachers should make an effort to limit children’s screen time. 

Parents and teachers should make an effort to limit children's screen time, thereby protecting children's eyesight and encouraging them to do more outdoor  activities. 

中文翻译：家长和老师应该努力去减少孩子看电视的时间，这样会保护孩子的视力，鼓励他们做户外运动。

翻译6：艺术不属于学校的主科。

 The arts are not among core subject areas at school.

The arts are not among core subject areas at school but deserve a place in the curriculum, for these subjects add spice to life.

中文翻译：虽然艺术不属于学校的主要课程，但是它们在课程大纲里值得拥有一席之地，因为这些科目能够给生活添色彩。

翻译7农村的失业问题在某种程度上可以通过城乡转移 （rural-to-urban shift）解决。

Unemployment in rural areas can be addressed partially by the rural-to-urban shift.

The lack of infrastructure and government funding in rural areas is the main cause of unemployment, which can be addressed partially by the rural-tohift.

中文翻译：农村失业问题的主要原因是缺少基础建设和政府资助，这个问题在某种程度可以通过城乡转移解决。

翻译8经济的下滑（economic slowdown）导致失业率的上升

Economic slowdown has led to a climbing unemployment rate.

Economic slowdown has led to a climbing unemployment rate because employers intend to cut overheads and refuse to recruit new employees.

中文翻译：经济下滑已经导致失业率上升，因为雇主打算裁员而且拒绝雇用新员工。

Economic slowdown has led to a climbing unemployment rate, as people balk at starting up new businesses and a number of giant companies downsize their workforce.

中文翻译：经济下滑已经导致失业率上升，因为人们对开展新失业犹豫不决，而且很多大公司裁员。

翻译9因为不够明朗的经济前景（economic outlook），很多公司不可能招聘新的职员。

Because of the uncertainty about the economic outlook, many companies are unlikely to recruit new employees.

Because of the uncertainty about the economic outlook, many companies are unlikely to recruit new employees and a considerable number of graduates fail to find employment.

中文翻译：因为经济前景的不确定，很多公司不可能招聘新人，因此大量的毕业生找不到工作。

翻译10  高层建筑有时候被认为是城市的eyesore 。

High-rise buildings are sometimes regarded as eyesores of the city.

翻译11：经济的发展需要年轻的劳动者

A country's economic development relies on a supply of young workers

A country's economic development relies on a supply of young workers, but the problem is that the aging society has an adverse impact on the labor force.

中文翻译：一个国家的经济发展依靠一定量的年轻劳动力，但是问题是老龄化的社会对劳动力有负面影响。

翻译12：工作很多的人没有时间去休息，去充电（recharge batteries）

People with a heavy workload do not have adequate time to rest and recharge batteries.

People with a heavy workload do not have adequate time to rest and recharge batteries, which can be harmful to their fitness.

中文翻译：工作很多的人没有足够的时间去休息和充电，这样对他们的健康有害。 

翻译13 : 送贵重的礼物（lavish gifts）是中国的习惯

It is customary for Chinese people to exchange lavish gifts.

其他选择：Exchanging lavish gifts is a tradition in China

Exchanging lavish gifts is a tradition in China and many people feel they lose face when giving or receiving inexpensive gifts.

中文翻译：送贵重礼物是一种中国传统，当收到或者送便宜礼物的时候许多人觉得没面子。

翻译14 : 在中国，很多学生晚上都要自习

A large number of students in China have to do self-study at night.

A large number of students in China have to do self-study at night, so extracurricular activities have to give way to studies.

中文翻译：在中国，许多学生都要在晚上自学，所以课外活动不得不给学习让路。

翻译15 : 空运产生很多的温室气体

Air freight is likely to create enormous greenhouse gases.

Air freight is likely to create more greenhouse gases than other modes of transport.

中文翻译：空运可能比其他运输方式产生更多的温室气体。

翻译16 : 未来几十年我们很难保护植物多样性

We will find it difficult to preserve biodiversity in the coming decades.

Unless local authorities reduce the impact of city expansion on vegetation, we will find it difficult to preserve biodiversity in the coming decades.

中文翻译：除非当地政府减少城市扩张对植物的影响，否则在未来几十年里我们会发现保护物种多样性很困难。

翻译17: heritage sites因为城市发展而受到威胁

The development of cities has posed a threat to heritage sites.

The development of cities has posed a threat to heritage sites, but the government has no idea whether to protect or demolish these constructions.

中文翻译：城市的发展已经威胁到历史遗迹，但是政府还没有办法是否去保护还是毁坏这些建筑。

翻译18  孩子很有可能有行为的问题

The children are likely to have behavioral problems.

The children who are exposed to abuse or neglect in the home are likely to behavioral problems.

中文翻译：在家遭受虐待或者忽视的孩子可能会有行为问题。

翻译19人口的扩大是大量垃圾产生的原因

The rapid population expansion is the main reason for the huge accumulation of waste.

Population expansion is the main reason for the huge accumulation of waste, which can take decades to degrade.

中文翻译：人口的扩大是大量垃圾产生的原因，这些垃圾需要几十年才能降解。

翻译20我们不能够忽视面对面的交流

We should not ignore face-to-face communication.

Internet can enrich our social lives, but we should not ignore face-to-face communication, because this has a direct impact on social relationships.

中文翻译：网络能够丰富我们的生活，但是我们不应该忽视面对面的交流因为它对社会关系有直接影响。

翻译21  随着年龄增长，很难和朋友和家人保持联系

With age, people find it difficult to maintain contact with family and friends. 

With age, people find it difficult to maintain contact with family and friends, as they are occupied with work and other commitments.

中文翻译：随着年龄的增加，人们发现保持与亲人和朋友的联系变得困难，因为他们被工作和其他任务占据。

翻译22 严格的惩罚是减少犯罪率的有效手段

Stiff punishment is an effective method to reduce crime.

It is suggested that stiff punishment is an effective method to reduce crime, as offenders are fearful of getting caught and less likely to commit crime.

中文翻译：严厉的处罚是减少犯罪的有效方法，因为犯罪者害怕被抓而不太可能犯罪。

翻译23政府对太空科技的投资可以支持

 The investment in space technology should be supported by the government.

The investment in space technology should be supported by the government because the commercialization of such technology will bring more business opportunities and improve people's living standards.

中文翻译：政府应该支持对太空科技的投资因为这些科技的商业化会带来更多的商业机会，提高人们的生活水平。

翻译24 有些公共服务很难收支平衡

Some public services have problems in breaking even.

Some public services have problems in breaking even and need government funds.

中文翻译：一些公共服务很难收支平衡，需要政府资金。

翻译25我们的环境还是很糟糕

Our environment is still in a dire state.

Unless our modern lifestyle experiences a profound change, our environment will still be in a dire state.

或者： Unless we make profound changes in modern lifestyles, our environment will remain in a dire state.

中文翻译：除非我们的现代生活方式有深远改变，负责我们的环境还是会很糟。

翻译26 因为失业率高升，大学生感到有压力去努力学习

Undergraduates feel under increasing pressure to study hard, because of the soaring unemployment rate.

Students feel pressured to study hard because the unemployment rate is increasing.

翻译27   免费上大学使得家景不好的学生有同等的上学机会

Free university education makes it possible for students from less well-off backgrounds to have equal access to tertiary education.

还可以用名词性从句(believe that )和定语从句(who agree with)扩充

People who agree with free university education believe that this practice makes it possible for students from less well-off backgrounds to have equal access to tertiary education.

中文翻译：同意免费大学教育的人们认为该措施会使那些家境不好的学生有同等上大学的机会。

翻译28   我们需要考虑社会和经济的环境

We have to consider the social and economic context.

We have to consider the social and economic context when analyzing the root causes of juvenile delinquency.

中文翻译：当分析青少年犯罪的根本原因的时候，我们应该考虑社会和经济环境。

翻译29  基因工程让人们能培养新品种农作物

Genetic engineering allows people to nurture crop varieties.

Genetic engineering allows people to nurture crop varieties that are resistant to drought，thereby improving land productivity.

中文翻译：基因工程使人们能培育出抗旱的农作物品种，因此可以提高土地利用率。

翻译30  密度种植对生物多样性造成了威胁

Intensive farming can pose a threat to bio-diversity.

Intensive farming has a great impact on natural flora and can pose a threat to bio-diversity. 中文翻译：密集种植对野生植物有巨大影响，对物种多样性有巨大威胁。

其他选择

Intensive farming has a seriously negative impact on natural flora, and this may pose a threat to sustainable development of agriculture.

中文翻译：密集种植对天然植物有严重的负面影响，这可能对农业的可持续发展有威胁。

翻译31  没有受过高等教育的年轻人只能找到低技术的工作

Young people without tertiary/ˈtəːʃəri/ education qualifications normally end up working in low-skilled jobs.

There is a widely held notion that young people without tertiary education qualifications normally end up working in low-skilled jobs and this can compromise the quality of life.

中文翻译：一个取得广泛共识的概念是没有大学文凭的年轻人通常只能找低技术含量的工作，这也危害到他们的生活质量。

翻译32 体育课可以促进身体健康，增强信心

The PE class improves students’ physical conditions and boosts their confidence.

We should recognize the importance of the PE class, as it improves students' physical conditions and boosts their confidence.

中文翻译：我们应该认识到体育课的重要性，因为它可以促进学生的身心健康，增强他们的自信心。

其他选择：

While academic performance is highly valued, we should not lose sight of the importance of students' physical condition.

中文翻译： 尽管学术表现被高度重视，但我们不应该忽视学生的身体健康的重要性。

翻译33历史文物因为它的历史重要性而被保存

Historical relics /ˈrelik/ should be preserved for their historical significance.

翻译34  学校活动的设置要能让孩子体会到成就感和提升他们的幸福

Sports and other school activities can be designed to give children a sense of accomplishment and to promote their well-being..

翻译35  一些员工 被鼓励着去打破陈规

Some employees are encouraged to break the mould/məuld/.

Nowadays, companies prefer those employees who can break the mould.

中文翻译：现在公司喜欢能够打破常规的员工。

翻译36 平等的教育能帮助解决学生学习成绩不好

Equal access to education can help tackle educational underachievement.

Local authorities should ensure equal access to education, which can help tackle educational underachievement, a problem found among disadvantaged children.

中文翻译：当地政府应该保证平等教育，这样能够帮助落后学生去解决学习的落后。

翻译37种族歧视仍然很严重

Racial stereotyping/ ˈsteriətaip / and discrimination remains a serious problem.

Racial stereotyping and discrimination remains a serious problem, although governments promote equality.

中文翻译：虽然政府促进平等，但是种族歧视仍然是一个严重问题。

翻译38 接触不同的文化可以促进创新

Exposure to different cultures can encourage creativity.

Exposure to different cultures can encourage creativity, which is an asset for enterprises or countries.

中文翻译：接触不同的文化能够促进创新，这是企业或者国家的财富。

翻译39   一些人不支持转基因食品

Some people disapprove of genetically modified food.

Some people disapprove of genetically modified food, as they believe that this type of food does more harm than good.

中文翻译：一些人反对转基因食品，因为他们认为这种食品的弊大于利。

翻译40  上下班的时间变得更长了

Commuting time has been prolonged because of traffic congestion.

中文翻译：因为堵车上下班时间变得更长。

翻译41 旅游景点竭力满足游客的需要和品味

Tourist spots endeavor to cater for tourists' tastes and needs.

翻译42  电脑技能可以运用到学习工作中

Computer skills can be applied in their studies as well as their working lives.

Students can acquire computer skills which can be applied in their studies as well as their working lives.

中文翻译：学生们可以获得电脑技术，这些技术可以应用在他们的学习和工作中。

翻译43     社区改造为罪犯提供了获得职业技能的机会

Community service provides offenders with opportunities to acquire transferable skills.

Community service provides offenders with opportunities to acquire transferable skills and gives them a flying start when they are released.

中文翻译：社区服务给犯人提供获得实用技能的机会，给他们好的起点当他们被释放后。

翻译44   政府应该重视社会福利，尤其是医疗服务。

The government should give priority to social welfare, especially the healthcare.

When it comes to distribution of public funds, some people suggest that the government should give priority to social welfare, especially the healthcare, which helps stop the disadvantaged population dying needlessly.

中文翻译：当谈论到公共资金的分配时，一些人认为政府重视社会福利，尤其是医疗服务，这会帮助阻止弱势群体无助地死去。

翻译45 在竞争激烈的社会，有工作的人关心职业发展。

In a highly competitive society, working adults usually focus on career advancement.

In a highly competitive society, working adults usually focus on career advancement, and have difficulty in achieving work-life balance.

中文翻译：在竞争激烈的社会中，有工作的人关心职业发展，很难实现工作和生活的平衡。

翻译46  经常运动使得人们保持健康的心态

Doing exercise regularly helps people maintain a healthy state of mind.

Doing exercise regularly helps people maintain a healthy state of mind and makes it easier for them to cope with stress.

中文翻译：经常做运动帮助人们保持一个健康的心态，是他们更容易应对压力。

翻译47审美观是因文化而异的。

Perception of beauty differs from culture to culture.

句子结构：

翻译48：环境保护运动可以跨越国界。

Environmental protection campaigns can transcend national boundaries.

翻译49： 规则可能会限制人的创造性。

Regulations may stifle people’s creativity.

翻译50：大部分的环境破坏都可以归咎于人类的活动。

Most of environmental degradation/ˌdegrəˈdeiʃn/ is attributed to human activities.

翻译51：不健康的生活方式让人们处于生病的危险之中。

An unhealthy lifestyle may put people at risk of illness.

翻译52：建造住宅楼有助于解决城市的拥挤问题。

Building apartment blocks helps solve overcrowding in cities.

Apartment blocks, which make the most of land and space, help solve overcrowding in cities.

中文翻译：住宅楼由于其能最大限度地利用土地和空间，所以有助于解决城市的拥挤问题。

翻译53 贫穷的人可以通过努力工作来提高社会地位

People from disadvantaged backgrounds can improve their social status by working hard.

People from disadvantaged backgrounds can improve their social status by working hard and this seems an arduous/ˈɑːdjuəs/ but rewarding process.

中文翻译：贫穷的人可以通过努力工作来提高社会地位，这看起来是一个辛苦但有效的过程。

翻译54: 死记乘法表并不是提高算术能力的最好方式。

Learning the times table by rote/ rəut/  is not the best way to improve numeracy

翻译55: 贫穷国家的首要问题是满足人们基本生存需求

The top priority for deprived countries is to satisfy citizens' basic needs.

The top priority for deprived countries is to satisfy citizens' basic needs, and by doing this, governments can sustain social stability.

中文翻译：贫穷国家的首要问题是满足人们基本生存需求，这是维持国家稳定一个有效方法。

翻译56: 许多孩子每天接触暴力内容

 Many children are exposed to violent content every day.

Many children are exposed to violent content every day and prone to act up, because they treat it as a normal part of everyday life.

中文翻译：很多每天接触暴力内容的孩子容易用暴力，因为他们把暴力当作日常生活的一部分。

翻译57:  因为全球化，人们需要和来自不同背景的人工作。

Because of globalisation, people need to work with those from diverse backgrounds.

翻译58： 家庭环境被认为是小孩成长最重要的影响。

Family environment is widely thought/believed to be the most important influence on children’s development.

翻译59：在大城市有一些贫困的社区。

There are some economically deprived communities in large cities.

翻译60：奖学金可以鼓励更多的学生去学习研究生课程。

Scholarships could encourage more students to take postgraduate courses.

翻译61：我们需要采取措施去解决一些棘手的问题。

We need to take measures to solve some intractable problems. 

翻译62：经费削减让很多年轻人很难接受大学教育。

Budget cuts make it difficult for many young people to receive a college education.

翻译63：按照能力分班和学生的成绩没有明显的联系。

There is no clear link between grouping students by ability and their levels of attainment.

翻译64：随着越来越多的年轻人参加志愿者工作，社区的凝聚力（cohesion ）会加强

With an increasing number of young people participating in volunteer work, community cohesion will be enhanced.

翻译65：基因食物对健康的影响仍然未知。

The health effect of GE food remains unclear.

The health effect of GE food remains unclear, so clear food labeling is strongly advocated.

中文翻译：基因食物对健康的影响仍然未知，所以清楚的食物标签被强烈提倡。

翻译66：移民有时候被认为是社会团结的一个威胁。

Immigrants are sometimes recognised as a threat to social cohesion.

翻译67：教学的质量被认为是决定学生成绩的关键。

The quality of teaching has been identified as a central factor to students’ academic performance.

The quality of teaching has been identified as a central factor to students’ academic performance, and therefore, parents prefer to choose prestigious/ preˈstidʒəs / schools for children.

中文翻译：教学的质量被认为是决定学生成绩的关键，因此，家长喜欢为孩子选择名校。

翻译68：法律应该将醉驾变成刑事犯罪。

Legislation should make drink driving a criminal offence.

翻译69：网络购物对于很多人已经成为生活中的很普通的一部分。

Online shopping has become a normal part of people’s everyday life.

翻译70：乡村地区给人们提供机会去远离现代生活的压力和噪音。

Rural areas provide people with opportunities to escape pressure and noises of modern life.

Rural areas are beneficial to people's health, providing people with opportunities to escape pressure and noises of modern life.

中文翻译：乡村地区对人们的健康有益，因为它给人们提供机会去远离现代生活的压力和噪音。

翻译71：在一个消费社会里，人们不再满足生活必需品（bare necessities

In the consumer society, people are no longer satisfied with bare necessities.

翻译72：电脑对人的文化程度的影响随着年龄变化。

The impact of computers on literacy skills varies across ages.

The impact of computers on literacy skills varies across ages and teachers have mixed feelings on the usage of computers.

中文翻译：电脑对人的文化程度的影响随着年龄变化，老师对电脑的用法有复杂的感情。

翻译73： 媒体通过夸大受害者的伤痛去吸引观众。

The media attracts public attention by exaggerating victims’ suffering.

The media attracts public attention by exaggerating victims’ suffering, while ignoring harmful consequences to these individuals, such as their exposure to the public.

中文翻译：媒体通过夸大受害者的伤痛去吸引观众，而忽视对这些观众的有害结果，比如将他们在公众面前曝光。

翻译74：人们不健康的生活方式是他们倾向于依赖科技的结果。

People’s unhealthy lifestyle is the result of their tendency to rely heavily on technology.