跟读练习: Universal Basic Income Explained – Free Money for Everybody? UBI - 通过视频学习英语口语

选择练习模式

每种模式都会打开全屏练习室。

114 句

如果句子过短或过长，请点击 Edit 进行调整。

What if the state covered your cost of living?

Would you still go to work?

Go back to school?

Not work at all?

What would you do?

This concept is called Universal Basic Income, or UBI, and it's nothing less than the most ambitious social policy of our times.

In 2017, basic income is gaining momentum around the world.

First trials are ongoing or on their way, and the growing number of countries are considering UBI as an alternative to welfare.

How would it work, and what are the key arguments for and against?

Right now, people can't really agree what universal basic income is or should be.

Some want to use it to eliminate welfare and cut bureaucracy.

Others want it as a free extra for existing programs, or even want it to be so high that work itself becomes optional.

For this video we'll talk mostly about the minimum basic income, enough money to be above the poverty line.

In the US this means about $1,000 a month or $12,000 a year.

The money would not be taxed and you could do whatever you wanted with it.

In this scenario, UBI is a way of transferring the wealth of a society while still keeping the free market in tax.

But if we hand out free money, will people just spend it on booze and stop working?

A 2013 study by the World Bank specifically examined

if poor people waste their handouts on tobacco and alcohol if they receive it in the form of cash.

The clear answer?

No, they don't.

The opposite is true.

Other studies have shown that the richer you are, the more drugs and alcohol you consume.

The lazy and drunk poor person is a stereotype rather than reality.

What about laziness?

Universal basic income test runs done in Canada in the 1970s showed that around 1% of the recipients stopped working, mostly to take care of their kids.

On average, people reduced their working hours by less than 10%.

The extra time was used to achieve goals like going back to school or looking for better jobs.

But if laziness and drugs are not a huge deal, why doesn't our current welfare state solve poverty?

Welfare or unemployment programs often come with a lot of strings attached, like taking part in courses,

applying to a certain number of jobs a month, or accepting any kind of job offer, no matter if it's a good fit or what it pays.

Besides the loss of personal freedom, these conditions are often a huge waste of time and only serve to make the unemployment statistics seem less bad.

Often your time would be much better spent looking for the right job, continuing education or starting a business.

Another unwanted side effect of many welfare programs is that they trap people in poverty and promote passive behavior.

Imagine a benefit of $1,000 each month.

In a lot of programs, if you earn a single dollar extra, the whole thing is taken away.

If you take a job that's paying $1,200, you might not only lose your benefits, but because of your taxes and other costs like transportation,

you might end up having less money than before before.

So if you actively try to better your situation and your total income is not improving or even shrinking,

welfare can create a ceiling that traps people in poverty and rewards passive behavior.

A basic income can never be cut and therefore getting a job and additional income will always make your financial situation better.

Work is always rewarded.

Instead of a ceiling it creates a floor from which people can lift themselves up.

But even if UBI is the better model, is it economically feasible?

What about inflation?

Won't prices just rise, making everything just like it was before?

Since the money is not being created by magic or printers, it needs to be transferred from somewhere.

It's more of a shift of funds than the creation of new ones.

Hence, no inflation.

Okay, but how do we pay for it?

There's no right answer here because the world is too diverse.

How well off a country is?

What the local values are?

Are things like high taxes or cutting the defense budget politically acceptable or not?

How much welfare state is already in place and is it effective?

Each country has its own individual path to a UBI.

The easiest way to pay for a UBI is to end all welfare and use the free funds to finance it.

Not only would this make a number of government agencies disappear, which in itself saves money, it would also eliminate a lot of bureaucracy.

On the other hand, cutting them could leave many people worse off than before.

If the goal is to have a foundation for everybody, there still need to be programs of some sort, because just like countries, people are not the same.

The second way, higher taxes, especially for the very wealthy.

In the US, for example, there's been a lot of economic growth, but most of the benefits from it have gone to the richest few percent.

The wealth gap is rapidly widening, and many argue that it might be time to distribute the spoils more evenly to preserve the social peace.

There could be taxes on financial transactions, capital, land value, carbon or even robots.

But UBI is not necessarily expensive.

According to a recent study, a UBI of $1,000 per month in the US could actually grow the GDP by 12% over 8 years

because it would enable poor people to spend more and increase overall demand.

What about the people who do the dirty work?

Who will work in the fields, crawl through sewers, or lift pianos?

If you don't need to for survival, will people still do hard, boring and unfulfilling labour?

UBI might give them enough leverage to demand better pay and working conditions.

A study calculated that every extra dollar going to wage earners would add about $1.21 to the national economy,

while every extra dollar going to high-income Americans would add only 39 cents.

There would still be very rich and poor people, but we could eliminate fear, suffering and existential panic for a significant part of the population.

Making poor citizens better off could be a smart economic tactic.

For some, this isn't enough.

They want a UBI large enough to live a middle-class existence.

If we set the financial obstacle aside, this idea fundamentally challenges how our society is constructed.

By earning money, you earn the possibility to take part in society.

This determines your status and options, but it also forces many people into spending huge chunks of their time on things they don't care about.

In 2016, only 33% of US employees were engaged at work,

16% were actively miserable, and the remaining 51% were only physically present.

Would 67% of people stop working if they could?

It would be unfair to portray work as just a chore.

Work gives us something to do.

It challenges us.

It motivates us to improve.

It forces us to engage.

Many find friends or partners at work.

We work for social status, wealth and our place in the world.

We're looking for something to do with our lives.

And for many people, work gives them meaning.

There are other concerns with UBI.

If all welfare programs were exchanged for one single payment, payment, this gives the government a lot of leverage.

Individual programs are easier to attack or cut than a multitude.

Or populists might promise drastic changes to the UBI to get into power.

And a universal basic income doesn't tackle all problems when it comes to inequality.

Rents for example.

While $1,000 might be great in the countryside, it's not a lot for expensive metropolitan areas,

100

which could lead to poor people moving outwards and the difference between rich and poor becoming even more extreme.

101

And of course, for some people, the concept of work itself not being essential for survival is appalling.

102

So is the universal basic income a good idea?

103

The honest answer is that we don't know yet.

104

There needs to be a lot more research, more and bigger test runs.

105

We need to think about what kind of UBI we want and what we're prepared to give up to pay for it.

106

The potential is huge.

107

It might be the most promising model to sustainably eliminate poverty.

108

It might seriously reduce the amount of desperation in the world and make us all much less stressed out.

109

This video was made possible by a universal basic income provided by you, our viewers.

110

10,000 people around the world gift us a monthly income on patreon.com slash kurzgesagt

111

You enable us to pay salaries

112

and buy new hardware You enable us to make more videos and you enable us to spend more time on them

113

Kurzgesagt would truly not be what it is today without your help

114

You help us stay independent and you give us the freedom to put quality before quantity Thank you so much

下载应用

流利口语所需的一切

AI 发音评分逐句打分

音标练习掌握每个音

词汇学习建立你的词库

词汇游戏边玩边学

扫码

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

同频道

FOR YOU

本课的词汇与口语要点

这段视频共有 114 个句子、1506 个单词可供跟读。讲话部分时长为 9:48。说话人语速自然，每分钟约 154 个词，接近日常对话。 85% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词，其余的词建议在练习前先学一下。

视频中的重点词汇

视频中 15 个值得学习的单词，附发音和释义：

单词	发音	释义
welfare 名词	/ˈwɛlˌfɛɚ/	福利, 幸福
universal 形容词	/ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/	宇宙的
poverty 名词	/ˈpɑːvɚti/	貧窮 /贫穷, 貧困 /贫困
eliminate 动词	/ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/	消滅 /消灭, 消除
earn 动词	/ɝn/	掙 /挣, 賺 /赚
survival 名词	/sɚˈvaɪ.vəl/	生存
reward 名词	/ɹɪˈwɔɹd/	報酬 /报酬, 獎勵 /奖励
trap 名词	/tɹæp/	陷阱, 圈套
unemployment 名词	/ʌn.ɪmˈplɔɪ.mənt/	失業 /失业
ceiling 名词	/ˈsilɪŋ/	天花板, 天棚
inflation 名词	/ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/	通貨膨脹 /通货膨胀, 通脹 /通胀
passive 形容词	/ˈpæs.ɪv/	被動 /被动
leverage 名词	/ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/	槓桿 /杠杆
bureaucracy 名词	/bjʊˈɹɑ.kɹə.si/	官僚體制 /官僚体制
necessarily 副词	/ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/	必然地, 必定地

视频中出现的短语动词

单词	释义
end up 动词	到达
hand out 动词	分配

视频中的语法

说话人最常用的结构，并附上视频中的原话：

结构	视频中的用法
条件句 if + 从句，will/would + 动词 — 条件及其结果	if we hand out free money, will people
被动语态 be + 过去分词 — 强调发生了什么，而不是谁做的	is called · would not be taxed · is taken
现在完成时 have/has + 过去分词 — 过去发生但与现在仍有关联的事	have shown · there's been

需要注意的发音

说话人用了 12 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 don't, doesn't, we're。请按听到的简短形式来说。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: inflation /ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/, transaction /tɹænˈzækʃən/, ambitious /æmˈbɪʃ.əs/, optional /ˈɑp.ʃə.nəl/, desperation /ˌdɛspəˈɹeɪʃən/
长单词——注意重音位置: universal /ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/, eliminate /ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/, unemployment /ʌn.ɪmˈplɔɪ.mənt/, bureaucracy /bjʊˈɹɑ.kɹə.si/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/

如何用这段视频练习

先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 welfare, universal, poverty 这类单词。

什么是跟读法？

跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟读法: 阅读完整分步指南 →

跟读练习: Universal Basic Income Explained – Free Money for Everybody? UBI - 通过视频学习英语口语

选择练习模式

下载应用

Your Skeleton Is Electric

Queen Ant Clones Another Species

Why Ebola Keeps Coming Back

Your Brain Peaked at Birth

How Caffeine Works

Can Earth Run Out of Water?

Could Humans Evolve Flight?

Would You Upload Your Mind?

The Beginning of Everything -- The Big Bang

Your Brain on Magic Mushrooms

What If You Never Slept?

Let’s Steal a New Moon

Nuclear Energy Explained: How does it work? 1/3

How Stress Changes Your Brain

What Happens AFTER Nuclear War?

3 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Awesome! 3/3

YOU Own the Moon. And Mars. And Venus.

The True Cost of War

What Is Life? Is Death Real?

How Antidepressants Work

🇬🇧 Real English Conversation - Money 🇬🇧 Intermediate English Listening Practice B1/B2

Great Moments in Unintended Consequences: Obscenity Blocks, Cooking Oil, DC's Tipped Wage (Vol. 19)

Crypto Is a Brilliant Scam and I Can Prove It

How the rich avoid paying taxes

Why Trillions of Foreign Aid Hasn’t Solved Poverty

15 Questions Every Adult Should Answer

Why One Income No Longer Pays For The American Dream

Give me 12 minutes, I'll open your eyes to how to actually become rich using AI

International Business Explained: Why Go International?

The (Inevitable) United States Debt Crisis

If you Don't Understand CREDIT, You Don't Understand Money

Why can’t prices just stay the same?