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When an official from China's National Development and Reform Commission noted (in Chinese) that the country has graduated to 'upper-middle income' status, the reaction online was cynical.
當中國國家發(fā)展和改革委員會的一名官員稱中國已進入“中高收入國家”行列時，網絡上出現(xiàn)了激烈的反應。
Xu Lin, head of the NDRC's planning office, may have meant to draw attention to China's achievements in economic development, but he only stirred up a wasp's nest of sardonic commentary noting China's stark inequalities, as well as the rising house prices and shortage of white-collar jobs that make the middle classes so mad.
發(fā)改委規(guī)劃司司長徐林的本意或是想吸引人們關注中國經濟發(fā)展的成就，但他這一言論卻捅了中國網民情緒的馬蜂窩，網民們紛紛對中國巨大的貧富差距、高房價和白領崗位不足等中產階級不滿的問題大加嘲諷。
Yet Mr. Xu was right, at least according to the World Bank. The organization's definition of upper-middle income is sufficiently generous to include China, with a lower threshold of just $4086 a year in gross national income (a slightly different yardstick from the more often used gross domestic product). On this measure, China is slightly richer than Namibia but slightly poorer than Peru.
圖表：世界收入地圖 不過至少以世界銀行(World Bank)的數據來看，徐林的話是對的。世界銀行對中高收入國家的定義足以將中國囊括其中，其下限僅為年人均國民收入(GNI)（該指標與國民生產總值(GDP)略有差異）4086美元。以這一指標衡量，中國略富于納米比亞，但略窮于秘魯。
The World Bank's list of upper-middle income countries has 55 members and covers much of Latin America, the less-wealthy parts of the middle east, the poorest countries in Europe and the richest countries in Africa. As our map shows, China's economic peers range from Colombia to Kazakhstan.
世界銀行的中高收入國家名單內有55個國家和地區(qū)，包括拉丁美洲的大部分國家、中東地區(qū)不太富裕的國家，歐洲最貧窮的國家和非洲最富裕的國家。正如地圖所示，與中國收入水平相當的還包括哈薩克斯坦和哥倫比亞等國家。
On one level, it is an achievement for China to make it into a club that also includes Brazil, Mexico and South Africa - though it still brings up the rear of that group. As of 2012, China's per capita GNI was about half of Brazil's. Still, a generation ago, China lagged much further behind.
從某種層面上講，中國已躋身一個包括巴西、墨西哥、南非等國的俱樂部，這對中國來說算是一大成就，盡管中國在該俱樂部中的排名仍然靠后。截至2012年，中國的人均國民總收入(GNI)只有巴西的一半。當然，幾十年前，中國人均GNI排名還要落后得多。
But all of these countries face long odds when it comes to matching western living standards in the forseeable future. Many of them have gone through spurts of high growth accompanied by wild optimism, only to slip into the economic doldrums again.
但說到是否能在可預見的未來趕上西方生活水平，這些國家的勝算都不大。其中的許多國家都曾經歷井噴式的高速經濟增長，并伴隨著盲目的樂觀，但隨之而來的是經濟再度陷入低迷。
Argentina began the twentieth century as one of the richer countries in the world; today, after becoming the most prolific national defaulter, it is wrestling with a tumbling currency and soaring inflation.
在二十世紀初，阿根廷曾是世界上比較富裕的國家之一。但在成為全球最大倒賬國之后，如今阿根廷正艱難應對本幣貶值和通脹飆升。
Likewise, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Brazil logged some of the highest growth rates in the world - only to see the 'Brazlian economic miracle' floored by runaway inflation and a debt crisis that turned the 1980s into a 'lost decade.'
同樣，在1960年代末到1970年代初，巴西經濟增速曾創(chuàng)下世界之最，然而“巴西經濟奇跡”隨后迎來惡性通脹和一場債務危機，使巴西在1980年代經歷了“失去的十年”。
Only a handful of economies have escaped from this so-called 'middle income trap.' Despite a few wobbles, South Korea and Taiwan have virtually achieved western living standards, leaving economists - not least in China - debating what these Asian tigers did right that so many Latin American countries did wrong.
只有少數經濟體避開了所謂的“中等收入陷阱”。雖然有點跌跌撞撞，但韓國和臺灣實際上已經達到西方的生活水平，這促使經濟學家們（尤其是中國的經濟學家們）就亞洲四小龍當時做對了什么、許多拉美國家做錯了什么展開激辯。
