I ended 2013 by compiling something slightly unusual: a list of some of thegood news you might have missed. I thought it was a pretty good note to end theyear on, and people seemed to like reading about some of the ways the world isbecoming a better place. This year, I thought I d do it again.

　　2013年我编辑了一些有点不同寻常的东西来作为年终总结：一张你可能错过了的好消息清单。我觉得作为年终总结，这是一份相当不错的笔记，而且人们似乎喜欢读一些世界在哪些方面变得更好的故事。今年，我想我又要这么干了。

　　Of course, we can t ignore the fact that it s been a turbulent year, in theUnited States and many other countries. But it s worth taking a moment tocelebrate some of the good news too. More children are surviving than everbefore. We re making progress against some of the world s deadliest diseases.These are some of the most fundamental ways to measure the world s progress—andby that measure, 2014 was definitely another good year.

　　当然了，在美国和其他很多国家，我们不能忽略这是充满骚乱动荡不安的一年。但是花点时间为些好消息庆祝也是很值的。同从前相比，更多的孩子存活了下来。和世界上的一些致命的疾病作斗争，我们正在进步。这些是衡量世界进步的最根本的方法——而且通过以下的估量，2014绝对又是让人欢喜的一年。

　　1.More Fifth Birthdays Than Ever Before

　　和从前相比，更多孩子过上了5岁的生日。

　　To me, one of the best ways to measure progress is to look at how manychildren are dying of preventable causes.

　　对我而言，衡量进步最好的方法之一就是看看，有多少孩子的死亡可以避免。

　　And today, more kids are living to see their fifth birthday than everbefore. This year, for at least the 42nd year in a row, the child mortality ratehas fallen. And it s not just moving in the right direction—it s falling fasterthan anyone expected.

　　同过去相比的今天，更多的孩子活着过上了5岁的生日。在今年，至少是连续第42年儿童的死亡率有所下降。而且不仅仅是朝正确的方向——它比任何人期望的都下降的快。

　　The Economist ran a great article about this in September, where itestimated that just since 2001, the world has saved 13.6 million children slives. It s hard to think of a better sign the world is improving.

　　《经济学人》在9月写了一篇关于这个问题的长文，自从2001年开始，预计全世界已拯救了1360万儿童的生命。不难想象，这就是世界正在变好的标志。

　　2.We Hit a Big Milestone in Fighting AIDS

　　我们在对抗艾滋病上取得了里程碑式的进步

　　The world has done an impressive job of providing treatment to peopleliving with HIV. But for years we were falling behind, because for all thepeople who started getting treatment, even more would become infected.

　　对于艾滋病病毒感染者的治疗，全世界已经取得了令人钦佩的进步。但是这些年来，我们一直很落后，因为算上所有开始接受治疗的人，也及不上更多的人受感染的速率。

　　Not anymore, though. New data released this month show that 2013 was thefirst year when more people started getting treatment than became infected withHIV. Why does that matter? Because treating people not only keeps them alive, italso dramatically reduces the odds that they will pass the virus on to anyoneelse. As the epidemiologists say, we can start to bend the curve of thedisease.

　　今非昔比。这个月的新数据显示，2013年是第一年接受治疗的人比感染艾滋病病毒的人多了。这为何显得意义非凡?因为病人的治疗不仅仅是延续他们的生命，还急剧减少了将病毒传染给别人的几率。正如流行病专家所说的那样，这是一个转折点。

　　We still have a long way to go before we can declare the end of AIDS, butthis is a big milestone.

　　在能宣告艾滋病已经无所可畏之前，我们还有很长的路要走，但是这确实是里程碑式的一步。

　　3.Rotavirus Vaccine is Reaching More Kids Than Ever

　　比起以往更多的孩子接受了轮状病毒疫苗接种

　　When I read an article in the late 1990s that mentioned a diarrheal diseasecalled rotavirus killed hundreds of thousands of kids a year, I couldn t believesomething I d never even heard of was killing that many children.

　　当我在20世纪90年代阅读一篇提到名为轮状病毒引发的腹泻病，一年里能导致成千上万的儿童死亡，我不敢相信这种我从来没听过的病毒杀死了那么多孩子。

　　But rotavirus doesn t get much press because it s almost never deadly inrich countries—and the world tends to ignore diseases that only affect theworld s poorest people.

　　但是轮状病毒没受多大重视，因为在发达国家几乎从不会致死——所以全世界都倾向对这个只影响贫穷国家人民的疾病视而不见。

　　In many ways, rotavirus was a catalyst for my commitment to globalhealth—in fact, one of our foundation s first grants supported efforts againstrotavirus. Since then, the number of kids dying from this illness has been cutnearly in half thanks to a cheap and effective vaccine. And today, that vaccineis reaching more kids than ever before.

　　从很多方面来看，轮状病毒是我致力委身于全球健康的催化剂——事实上，我们基金会的第一笔补助就是帮助对抗轮状病毒。从那以后，多亏了廉价又高效的疫苗，死于这种疾病的儿童就减少了近乎一半。同过去相比的今天，更多孩子接受了疫苗接种。

(责任编辑：田学江)