When it comes to problem-solving on a global scale, we remain weighed down by cynicism, defeatism and outdated institutions. A world of untrammeled market forces and competing nation-states offers no automatic solutions to these challenges. The key will lie in developing new sustainable technologies and ensuring that they rapidly reach all those who need them. If the trillions of dollars that the U.S. is squandering in Iraq was instead being invested in clean energy, disease control and new, ecologically sound ways of growing food, we wouldn't be facing the cusp of a rapidly weakening dollar, soaring food and energy prices and the threats of much worse to come.
要在全球范围内解决问题，我们依然受犬儒主义、失败主义和过时的社会机构的制约。这是个国与国之间市场竞争自由的世界，它无法提供一种自动应对这些挑战的机制。成功的关键在于必须得有一种全新的可持续技术，同时能保证可以迅速达到所有我们的要求。如果把美国浪费在伊拉克的数万亿美元用来投资能源清理、疾病控制和食物增产的新新生态研究上，我们现在就不用面对美元的快速贬值，食物和能源价格的飞涨，以及即将出现的更加严重的威胁。
Here are four bold but achievable goals for the U.S. and the rest of the world: — Sustainable systems of energy, land and resource use that avert the most dangerous trends of climate change, species extinction and destruction of ecosystems — Stabilization of the world population at 8 billion or below by 2050, through a voluntary reduction of fertility rates, rather than the current trajectory of more than 9 billion by midcentury — The end of extreme poverty by 2025, and improved economic security within the rich countries as well — A new approach to global problem-solving based on cooperation among nations and the dynamism and creativity of the nongovernmental sector.
以下是对美国及世界上其它国家都适用的四个大胆但是可行的目标：
What will it take to attain these goals? The greatest successes in global cooperation combine four elements: a clear objective, an effective technology, a clear implementation strategy and a source of financing.
那么实现这四个目标需要采取那些措施呢？要想取得全球合作的最大成功，必须满足以下四要素：清晰明确的目标、高效得力的技术、和经济支持。
Smallpox eradication, for example, started with a clear objective (the eradication of the disease) and an effective vaccine. It built on a clear implementation strategy, in which smallpox vaccines were given for free on a mass basis, and local outbreaks were quickly isolated through careful surveillance and response. The effort was funded on a sustained basis by several donor governments, including the U.S.'s. Similarly, the Green Revolution in Asia, which lifted China and India out of chronic hunger, built on a clear objective (raising food yields), an effective technology (a combination of high-yield seeds, fertilizer and irrigation), a clear implementation strategy (mass distribution of the input package at below market cost) and large-scale funding (from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations and the U.S. government, in addition to local financing).
以根治天花为例，这项工程有明确的目标（根除天花）和有效的疫苗。其立足于简洁可行的实施策略，在一定范围人群里注射3枚天花疫苗，一旦发现疫情爆发的地区立即仔细隔离并采取积极回应。这些工作都基于有稳定的基金支持，包括美国类似（U.S.'s. Similarly）和亚洲绿色革命（Green Revolution in Asia）等多家政府出资支援。其中亚洲绿色革命帮助中国和印度脱离了长期的饥荒。它首先制定了明确的目标（提高粮食产量），采用有效的技术（结合高产种子、肥料和灌溉），简洁的实施策略（以低于市场成本价大量向公众配发），有强大的经济支持（美国政府、食品和洛克菲勒基金、及当地财政支援）。
Other examples abound of measurable progress against once daunting challenges: the rapid, if incomplete, expansion of primary schooling and literacy around the world; the systematic control of many killer diseases, including guinea worm disease, leprosy and African river blindness; and the voluntary decline of high fertility rates through access to family planning in almost all parts of the world, with sub-Saharan Africa the last remaining region awaiting a "demographic transition."
那些曾尽让人望而却步的挑战也取得了很惊人的成绩，如，虽然进行的并不彻底，但是全世界范围内快速扩展的基础教育和扫盲活动；很多致命性疾病的系统化控，包括麦地那龙线虫病、麻风病和非洲河盲病；几乎在全世界范围内实施的计划生育工作自发地降低了出生率，虽然在亚撒哈拉非洲的最后留守地区仍处在“人口过渡”时期。
We live in a time of cynicism about achieving global public goals, yet whenever we have made the effort to mobilize our powerful technologies, we have succeeded. Measles deaths in Africa are down more than 90% in the past seven years, at a time when many people mistakenly believe that nothing can be accomplished in large parts of Africa. Polio is nearly eradicated. Food production is soaring in Ethiopia and Malawi because modern farming techniques have been brought to peasant communities. Children have filled the schools wherever school meal programs are introduced and school fees are dropped. There is no shortage of examples of how we can attain our goals, only a shortage of will and stamina so far to carry these successes to scale, and to other vital arenas.
我们生活在这样一个时代，对实现全球共同目标持嘲笑挖苦态度，但是一旦能发动起我们强大的技术，我们就能成功。过去7年，非洲的麻疹的死亡率降低了90%以上，而7年前人们还一直误以为没有任何东西能在非洲的大部分土地的上取得成功。小儿麻痹症几乎灭绝。得益于现代农业技术在农村的推广，埃塞俄比亚和马拉维的粮食产量激增。所有提供膳食的学校孩子们积极就读，学费降低。现实中不乏我们实现目标的例子，我们缺乏的是将这些成功推进到更广，更多需要的地方的意志和毅力。
Our generation's great environmental challenges can be met with similar resolve and technological focus. Climate change threatens our food supplies, coastlines, health and the survival of countless species. Yet powerful technological solutions are within reach. Coal-fired power plants can capture and store the carbon dioxide that they produce, rather than releasing the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
我们这一代面对的重大环境挑战得到了类似的解决和技术关注。气候改变威胁着我们的食物供给、海岸线、健康及无数物种的生存。当然强大的技术解决方法也开始应用。火力发电厂可以将发电产生的二氧化碳储存起来，而不是将其排放到大气中。
