背景介绍:
Happy Finns
快乐的芬兰人
The secret behind the world’s happiest country
世界上最幸福国家背后的秘密
For the seventh year running Finland has just been declared the world’s happiest country by the World Happiness Report, launched in 2012 to promote the sustainable development goals of the United Nations (UN).
芬兰连续第七年被《世界幸福报告》评为全球最幸福的国家。该报告自2012年发布以来,一直致力于推动联合国可持续发展目标的实现。
Those surveyed were asked to evaluate their lives on a scale of one to ten, with ten the highest. While Scandinavian countries as usual occupied the top spots, both America and Germany fell out of the top 20.
接受调查的人被要求在1至10分的范围内评估自己的生活,其中10分为最高分。尽管斯堪的纳维亚一如既往地占据榜首,但美国和德国都跌出了前20名。
War- and revolution-racked Afghanistan held the bottom spot in the ranking of 143 countries, with a score of only 1.7 compared with Finland’s 7.7 and Denmark’s 7.6.
饱受战争和革命困扰的阿富汗在143个国家中排名垫底,得分仅为1.7分,而芬兰和丹麦分别为7.7分和7.6分。
Gender equality, trust in national institutions and fellow citizens, and low corruption are all important factors in Finns’ happiness, says Kai Sauer, Finland’s ambassador to Germany. In 1906 Finland became the first country in the world to give women both the full right to vote and to run in parliamentary elections.
芬兰驻德国大使凯·绍尔表示,性别平等、对国家机构和同胞的信任以及低腐败率是芬兰人幸福的重要因素。1906年,芬兰成为世界上第一个赋予妇女全面投票权和参加议会选举权的国家。
When last year a reporter for Reader’s Digest, a magazine, pretended to lose 12 wallets with cash and contact details in 16 cities around the world to test citizens’ honesty, Helsinki, the Finnish capital, turned out to be the most honest of the lot; 11 of the 12 wallets were returned.
去年,《读者文摘》杂志的一名记者在全球16个城市假装丢失了12个装有现金和联系方式的钱包,以测试市民的诚信度,结果芬兰首都赫尔辛基成为最诚实的城市;12个钱包中有11个被归还。
And according to the latest annual index by Transparency International, a Berlin-based organisation, Finland is the second-least-corrupt country in the world—after Denmark.
根据总部位于柏林的透明国际发布的最新年度指数,芬兰是仅次于丹麦的全球第二清廉国家。
Excellent free education, universal health care and family-friendly policies play an important role in making Finns content with their lives. Finland’s education system ranks eighth among the world’s best educated countries according to the UN World Population Review. Health services are not free, but they are affordable.
优质的免费教育、全民医疗保健和关爱家庭的政策在芬兰人安居乐业方面发挥了重要作用。根据联合国世界人口审查的数据,芬兰的教育体系在全球受教育程度最高的国家中排名第八。医疗服务虽然不免费,但价格合理。
Yet some argue that the real reason is that the Finns sweat out their negative thoughts. Finland has roughly 3.5m saunas, more than one per two Finns. All government buildings have saunas.
但也有人认为,真正的原因是芬兰人通过蒸桑拿排出他们的负面情绪。芬兰大约有350万间桑拿房,平均下来每两个芬兰人就有一间。所有政府大楼都设有桑拿房。
An exhibition in Berlin called Die Sauna. Echt heiss. Echt finnisch. sponsored by the Finnish embassy, is celebrating sauna culture with photos, videos and, you guessed it, a sauna. It’s a huge hit. All its remaining sessions are booked out.
柏林有一个名为“桑拿房,真热,真芬兰。”的展览,它由芬兰大使馆主办,通过照片、视频和一间桑拿房(你猜对了)来庆祝桑拿文化。这个展览非常受欢迎,所有剩余场次均已预订一空。
重难点词汇:
corruption [kəˈrʌpʃn] n. 贪污;腐败;出错;讹误
be booked out 全部预定完毕,没有剩余空位
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