The “standard of living” of a country means the average person' s② share of the goods and services which the country produces. A country’ s standard of living， therefore， depends first and foremost on its capacity to produce wealth. “Wealth” in this sense is not money， for we do not live on ② money but on things that money can buy： “goods” such as food and clothing， and “services” such as transport and entertainment.

　　A country's capacity to produce wealth depends upon many factors， most of which have an effect on one another. Wealth depends to a great extent upon a country’s natural resources， such as coal， gold， and other minerals， water supply and so on. Some regions of the world are well supplied with coal and minerals， and have a fertile soil and a favorable climate; other regions possess none of them.

　　難點提示：

　　①一般人，老百姓

　　②靠……為生

　　參考譯文：

　　任何一個國家的生活水平，指的是那個國家生產的產品和提供的服務為普通老百姓分享的情況。因此，一個國家的生活水平，首先取決于它創造財富的能力。在這個意義上，財富并不是指金錢，因為我們生存靠的不是錢，而是靠錢能買到的東西：比如食物和衣服這些“產品”，交通和娛樂這些“服務”。

　　一個國家創造財富的能力取決于很多因素，其中大部分因素相互作用。財富在很大程度上依賴于一個國家的自然資源，比如煤礦、金礦和其他礦物質、水源等等。世界上有些地區煤礦和礦物質的儲量豐富，土壤肥沃，氣候適宜，其他地區卻一樣都不具備。