You might think things are bad: economic crisis, hunger, Israel versus Iran, Vladimir Putin, Joseph Kony, etcetera. Viewed through the prism of daily news, things do indeed suck. But if you imagined an annual “state of the world” report, the audience would be dancing the conga in the aisles. These are the best times in history, even though it won’t look that way if you’re reading this in a slum in Mogadishu. Here are some key measures of life on earth:
你也許會認爲人類目前的處境很糟:經濟危機、飢餓、以色列與伊朗衝突、弗拉迪米爾•普丁(Vladimir Putin)、烏干達惡魔約瑟夫•科尼(Joseph Kony)等等。從每天的新聞來看,情況確實很糟。但如果你編撰一份年度「世界形勢」報告,讀者們會興奮地手舞足蹈起來。眼下是歷史上最好的時刻——不過,如果你是在索馬利亞首都摩加迪沙的一個貧民窟裏讀到這份報告的話,看上去可能並非如此。以下是世界上一些關鍵的衡量生活的標準: