Shownotes Transcript
嘉宾简介： 王继辉，北京大学英语系教授、博士生导师，北京语言大学特聘教授、博士生导师；原教育部考试中心考研英语命题组组长；“博雅翻译文化沙龙”创始人、理事会主席。 英文文本： Achieving common prosperity is a basic requirement of socialism and an important feature of the Chinese path to modernization. The common prosperity that we pursue, both material and cultural, is for all of our people; it is not for a small minority, nor does it imply an absolute equality in income distribution that takes no account of contribution. Based on thorough research, we should map out phased goals of common prosperity for different development stages: By 2025, the end of the 14th Five-year Plan period (2021-2025), a solid step will have been taken towards common prosperity, steadily narrowing the gap between people's income and consumption. By 2035, more substantial progress will have been made in promoting common prosperity, ensuring equal access to basic public services. By the middle of the 21st century, common prosperity for all will have largely been achieved, narrowing the gap between people's income and consumption to a reasonable level. To realize the above phased goals, we must lose no time in devising an action plan that contains an effective system of indicators, and a set of evaluation methods suited to China's actual conditions. In promoting common prosperity, we must uphold the following four principles: – Encouraging people to pursue prosperity through hard work and innovation. A happy life is earned by hard work; common prosperity is achieved through diligence and ingenuity. We must seek to ensure and improve people's wellbeing through development, and prioritize high-quality development. We will create more inclusive and equitable conditions for all to receive a better education, so as to improve their capacity for development; we will also improve China's human capital, and the professional skills, employability, entrepreneurial competency, and the ability to create wealth through its workforce. We must encourage social mobility, facilitate smooth channels for people to move up the social ladder, and create opportunities for more people to become prosperous. The aim is to create an enabling environment in which everyone participates. We do not want a rat-race, nor do we want a society of layabouts. – Upholding the basic economic system. As China remains in the primary stage of socialism, we must consolidate and develop the public sector, and at the same time encourage, support and guide development of the non-public sector. We must follow the principle that public ownership plays the dominant role while developing together with other forms of ownership. We should give full play to the key role of the public sector in promoting common prosperity, and at the same time facilitate the sound development of the non-public sector and of people working in this sector. We should encourage part of the population to prosper first and urge these people to guide and help the rest on their way to a better life. We should encourage people to become leaders in pursuing a better life through hard work, bold entrepreneur- ship, and lawful business operation. Accumulating wealth through dubious means must not be encouraged, and any action that breaks laws or regulations must be punished in accordance with the law. – Doing everything within our capacity. We must establish a system of sound public policies and a rational distribution system in which everyone enjoys a fair share of benefits. We should adopt more robust and solid measures so that people have a greater sense of gain. At the same time, we must be aware that there is still a wide development gap between China and the developed countries. We should strike a balance between what is necessary and what is feasible, securing and improving people's wellbeing on the basis of ensuring economic growth and financial sustainability. We will not set unrealistic goals, neither will we make unfulfillable promises. The government cannot take on everything. Instead, it should focus on providing inclusive public services, meeting people's essential needs, and ensuring basic living standards for people in difficulty. Even in the future when China develops further to a higher level and has more financial resources, we still should not set over-ambitious goals, nor should we provide excessive social benefits; otherwise, we will slip into the trap of encouraging idlers by providing excessive welfare. –Pursuing incremental progress. Common prosperity is a long- term goal. It takes time and is a step-by-step process. It cannot be achieved overnight. We should be fully aware of the long duration, arduous nature, and complexity of this mission. It can neither wait nor be rushed. Some developed countries have been pursuing industrialization for centuries, but have not achieved common prosperity due to institutional and systemic problems; instead they are facing an ever widening gap between the rich and the poor. We must have the patience to do things well, practically, and efficiently, one step at a time. We should work hard on the project of the Zhejiang Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity Through High-quality Development, encourage all localities to explore feasible and effective approaches to common prosperity in light of their local conditions and their distinctive strengths, sum up their experience, and then steadily roll out their successful experience nationwide. The overarching principle is to uphold the people-centered development philosophy and promote common prosperity through high-quality development. We must balance efficiency and fairness in income distribution and devise an institutional framework within which distribution, redistribution and third distribution are coordinated and operate in parallel. Efforts should be intensified to improve the role of taxation, social security and transfer payments in adjusting income distribution, particularly for targeted social groups. The proportion of the middle-income group in the entire population should be increased, the low-income group should have their incomes raised, the high-income group should have their incomes reasonably readjusted, and illicit income should be confiscated, so as to form an olive-shaped distribution structure. The goal is to increase social fair- ness and justice, promote well-rounded development of the individual, and enable the people to make solid progress towards common prosperity.