2016年5月21日雅思写作考试真题语料分享：国际援助该不该？

2016年05月24日14:06 来源：小站教育作者：小站雅思编辑

参与（3） 阅读（19693）

Some people argue that countries should have a moral obligation to help each other; on the other hand, some people argue that a large amount of aid money does not reach the poor of the world. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

有人认为国家之间应该有相互帮助的道义责任。另一方面，有人认为大量的援助款没有到达世界上穷人的手中。讨论这两种说法并给出自己的观点。

aid的定义：

In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another.

Aid may serve one or more functions: it may be given as a signal of diplomatic approval, or to strengthen a military ally, to reward a government for behaviour desired by the donor, to extend the donor's cultural influence, to provide infrastructure needed by the donor for resource extraction from the recipient country, or to gain other kinds of commercial access. Humanitarian and altruistic purposes are at least partly responsible for the giving of aid.

Aid may be given by individuals, private organizations, or governments. Standards delimiting exactly the types of transfers considered "aid" vary from country to country.

aid的种类：

cash aid/financial aid 资金援助

in-kind aid(aid in kind)实物援助

technical assistance: Aid involving highly educated or trained personnel, such as doctors, who are moved into a developing country to assist with a program of development.

globalization and interdependence:全球一体化与相互依存性

Earth has entered the Anthropocene — the age of humans. Our impact has now pushed the planet beyond its usual operating state that has provided a remarkable climatic stability for 11,700 years. Increasingly, shocks reverberate globally thanks to interconnectivity from communications, trade, financial systems and politics — the global financial crisis is a prominent example. The people hit hardest, ironically, are those who have done the least to cause them — the poorest.

The 21st century will be defined by three drivers: increasing complexity where societies and ecosystems become even more intertwined; global interconnectivity, from local to global scales; and, surprise.

腐败对国际援助的影响：

In many countries poverty is widespread, and so is also corruption. Foreign aid is given to countries in need to combat poverty, but unfortunately corruption has a restraining effect on the effectiveness of aid. One method that is well-founded is to withdraw all financial aid to countries with widespread corruption, and only focus on non-financial aid to decrease money flows and to build functioning public institutions. When corruption is eliminated, financial aid will be more effective and private investors will be attracted, and thus poverty reduction will increase.

Corruption not only reduces the net income of the poor but also distorts programmes aimed at meeting their basic needs — from water and sanitation to education and healthcare. Corruption results in the misallocation of resources to the detriment of poverty reduction programmes. In both donor and recipient countries there is an increasing awareness that aid is in danger of not fully reaching the poor unless corruption is countered.

对国际援助的冷思考：

A very wide range of interpretations are in play ranging from the argument that foreign aid has been a primary driver of development, to a complete waste of money. A middle of the road viewpoint is that aid has shown modest favorable impacts in some areas especially regarding health indicators, agriculture, disaster relief, and post-conflict reconstruction.[36] Statistical studies have produced widely differing assessments of the correlation between aid and economic growth, and no firm consensus has emerged to suggest that foreign aid generally does boost growth. Some studies find a positive correlation,[37] while others find either no correlation or a negative correlation.[38] In the case of Africa, Asante (1985) gives the following assessment:

Summing up the experience of African countries both at the national and at the regional levels it is no exaggeration to suggest that, on balance, foreign assistance, especially foreign capitalism, has been somewhat deleterious to African development. It must be admitted, however, that the pattern of development is complex and the effect upon it of foreign assistance is still not clearly determined. But the limited evidence available suggests that the forms in which foreign resources have been extended to Africa over the past twenty-five years, insofar as they are concerned with economic development, are, to a great extent, counterproductive.

综合观点：不管是天灾(地震，海啸，疫情)，还是人祸(战争，冲突，环境破坏)，国家之间是该相互帮助的，这基本是定论。因为全球化是大势所趋，国与国之间越来越相互依存，谁也没办法独善，像环境问题，经济问题，恐怖主义问题，都是世界性的。而人道主义援助确实有各种障碍，比如腐败，比如坏政策，低能的管理。其中腐败是最为可怕。腐败的结果就是最穷的，最需要救助的人往往得不到救助。但这些并不构成我们放弃人道主义援助的理由，如何在克服腐败的干扰的同时，采用更科学完善救助体制，更好地实行援助才是我们应该去思考和努力的。

几个有关的词mismanagement embezzlement misappropriation corruption