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Looking at the basic biological systems, the world is not doing very well.
觀察基礎(chǔ)生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，這個世界運作的并不是甚好。
Yet, economic indicators show the world is prospering.
但經(jīng)濟預(yù)測表明這個世界正在高速發(fā)展。
Despite a slow start at the beginning of the eighties,
盡管八十年代初有一個較為緩慢的開始，
global economic output increased by more than a fifth during the decade.
世界經(jīng)濟在那十年增長了五分之一以上。
The economy grew, trade increased, and millions of new jobs were created.
經(jīng)濟發(fā)展，貿(mào)易額增加，成千上萬的新崗位誕生。
How can biological indicators show the opposite of economic indicators?
為什么生態(tài)指標(biāo)和經(jīng)濟指標(biāo)顯示出截然相反的情況呢？
The answer is that the economic indicators have a basic fault:
答案是經(jīng)濟指標(biāo)有一個基本的錯誤：
they show no difference between resource uses that sustain progress and those uses that will hurt it.
可持續(xù)發(fā)展的資源利用和不可持續(xù)發(fā)展的資源利用之間沒有顯示出差別。
The main measure of economic progress is the gross national product - GNP.
衡量經(jīng)濟發(fā)展的主要標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是國民生產(chǎn)總值GNP。
In simple terms, this totals the value of all goods and services produced and subtracts loss in value of factories and equipment.
簡單地說，就是產(chǎn)出的所有商品和服務(wù)的價值總和，減去工廠和設(shè)備的支出。
Developed a half-century ago, GNP helped establish a common way among countries of measuring change in economic output.
半個世紀(jì)前發(fā)展而來的GNP，幫助國家了解經(jīng)濟產(chǎn)出的變化。
For some time, this seemed to work reasonably well, but serious weaknesses are now appearing.
一段時間內(nèi)看上去運作的很好，但嚴(yán)重的弱點正暴露出來。
As indicated earlier, GNP includes loss in value of factories and equipment.
正如之前提到的那樣，GNP包含了工廠和設(shè)備的支出。
But it does not take into account the loss of natural resources,
但并不包含自然資源的損失，
including nonrenewable resources, such as oil or renewable resources, such as forests.
比如石油這樣的不可再生資源，或是森林這樣的可再生資源。
This basic fault can produce a misleading sense of national economic health.
這個基本錯誤可能會導(dǎo)致對國家經(jīng)濟健康狀況的誤解。
According to GNP, for example, countries that overcut forests actually do better than those that preserve their forests.
舉例來說，根據(jù)GNP來衡量，亂砍濫伐森林的國家反而比保護(hù)森林的國家經(jīng)濟更好。
The trees cut down are counted as income but no subtraction is made for using up the forests.
被砍伐的數(shù)目被記為收入，但耗盡森林資源卻不被記為支出。
