Recently I flew from Los Angeles to China to attend a corporate board-of-directors meeting in Shanghai, as well as customer and government visits there and in Beijing. After the trip was over, in thinking about the United States and China, it was not clear to me which is the developed, and which is the developing, country.

　　最近我從洛杉磯飛往中國(guó)，去上海參加一次公司董事會(huì)會(huì)議，并在京滬兩地拜訪了客戶和政府部門。行程結(jié)束后，在思考美國(guó)與中國(guó)時(shí)，我不清楚哪一個(gè)是發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家，哪一個(gè)是發(fā)展中國(guó)家。

　　Infrastructure: Let's face it, Los Angeles is decaying. Its airport is cramped and dirty, too small for the volume it tries to handle and in a state of disrepair. In contrast, the airports in Beijing and Shanghai are brand new, clean and incredibly spacious, with friendly, courteous staff galore. They are extremely well-designed to handle the large volume of air traffic needed to carry out global business these days.

　　基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施：不要回避，洛杉磯正在衰落。它的機(jī)場(chǎng)促狹而骯臟，容納不下要吞吐的客流量，并且破敗不堪。相比之下，北京和上海的機(jī)場(chǎng)嶄新、干凈、十分寬敞，工作人員也友善而禮貌。這些機(jī)場(chǎng)的設(shè)計(jì)能非常好地應(yīng)對(duì)保證全球商務(wù)順暢進(jìn)行的大流量空中交通。

　　In traveling the highways around Los Angeles to get to the airport, you are struck by the state of disrepair there, too. Of course, everyone knows California is bankrupt and that is probably the reason why. In contrast, the infrastructure in the major Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Beijing is absolute state-of-the-art and relatively new.

　　AFP/Getty Images中國(guó)高速鐵路網(wǎng)目前的通車?yán)锍虨?,000多公里，而剛剛完工的京滬高鐵則是它皇冠上的珍珠。在取道洛彬磯周圍公路前往機(jī)場(chǎng)的時(shí)候，那里的破敗景象也讓你震驚。當(dāng)然誰(shuí)都知道加利福尼亞州破產(chǎn)了，這可能就是原因所在。相比之下，上海和北京等中國(guó)大城市的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施絕對(duì)處于領(lǐng)先水平，并且相對(duì)較新。

　　The congestion in the two cities is similar. In China, consumers are buying 18 million cars per year compared to 11 million in the U.S. China is working hard building roads to keep up with the gigantic demand for the automobile.

　　兩座城市的擁堵?tīng)顩r都差不多。在中國(guó)，消費(fèi)者每年購(gòu)買汽車1,800萬(wàn)輛，美國(guó)是1,100萬(wàn)輛。中國(guó)正在下大力修建道路以容納巨大的汽車增長(zhǎng)量。

　　The just-completed Beijing to Shanghai high-speed rail link, which takes less than five hours for the 800-mile trip, is the crown jewel of China's current 5,000 miles of rail, set to grow to 10,000 miles in 2020. Compare that to decaying Amtrak.

　　乘坐剛剛完工的京滬高鐵，不到五個(gè)小時(shí)即走完1,300公里的行程。中國(guó)高速鐵路網(wǎng)目前的通車?yán)锍虨?,000多公里，2020年時(shí)預(yù)計(jì)將達(dá)到16，000公里，而京滬高鐵則是它皇冠上的珍珠。不妨拿它跟日益衰落的美國(guó)鐵路客運(yùn)公司(Amtrak)比一比。

　　Government Leadership: Here the differences are staggering. In every meeting we attended, with four different customers of our company as well as representatives from four different arms of the Chinese government, our hosts began their presentation with a brief discussion of China's new five-year-plan. This is the 12th five-year plan and it was announced in March 2011. Each of these groups reminded us that the new five-year plan is primarily focused on three things: 1) improving innovation in the country; 2) making significant improvements in the environmental footprint of China; and 3) continuing to create jobs to employ large numbers of people moving from rural to urban areas. Can you imagine the U.S. Congress and president emerging with a unified five-year plan that they actually achieve (like China typically does)?

　　政府領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力：美中兩國(guó)在這方面的差別大得驚人。在我們和本公司四家不同客戶、以及中國(guó)政府四個(gè)不同部門的代表們舉行會(huì)談期間，東道主在介紹情況前總是先簡(jiǎn)短談一下中國(guó)新制定的五年規(guī)劃，也就是2011年3月份公布的十二五規(guī)劃。每一批與我們座談的人都提醒說(shuō)，新的五年規(guī)劃主要側(cè)重于三個(gè)方面：1）提升中國(guó)的創(chuàng)新；2）讓中國(guó)的環(huán)境狀況得到明顯改善；3）繼續(xù)創(chuàng)造就業(yè)，吸納從農(nóng)村轉(zhuǎn)移到城鎮(zhèn)的大量人口。你能否想象美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)和總統(tǒng)能拿出一個(gè)統(tǒng)一的五年規(guī)劃，并（像中國(guó)在通常情況下那樣）真正實(shí)現(xiàn)它？

　　The specificity of China's goals in each element of the five-year plan is impressive. For example, China plans to cut carbon emissions by 17% by 2016. In the same time frame, China's high-tech industries are to grow to 15% of the economy from 3% today.

　　中國(guó)為這個(gè)五年規(guī)劃的每一個(gè)方面都設(shè)定了非常具體的目標(biāo)，比如計(jì)劃在2016年之前將碳排放量削減17%。同樣在這個(gè)時(shí)間段內(nèi)，中國(guó)高科技行業(yè)占中國(guó)整個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)的比重，要從當(dāng)前的3%提高到15%。

　　Government Finances: This topic is, frankly, embarrassing. China manages its economy with incredible care and is sitting on trillions of dollars of reserves. In contrast, the U.S. government has managed its financials very poorly over the years and is flirting with a Greece-like catastrophe.

　　政府財(cái)政：坦白地講，這個(gè)話題真不好意思講起。中國(guó)管理其經(jīng)濟(jì)極其慎重，并擁有數(shù)萬(wàn)億美元的外匯儲(chǔ)備。相比之下，美國(guó)政府多年來(lái)財(cái)務(wù)管理不力，目前有陷入希臘式災(zāi)難的危險(xiǎn)。

　　Human Rights/Free Speech: In this area, our American view is that China has a ton of work to do. Their view is that we are nuts for not blocking pornography and antigovernment points-of-view from our youth and citizens.

　　人權(quán)/言論自由：我們美國(guó)人認(rèn)為，中國(guó)在這一領(lǐng)域還需付出大量努力。中國(guó)人認(rèn)為，美國(guó)不對(duì)年青人和民眾屏蔽色情和反政府言論是瘋狂的。

　　Technology and Innovation: To give you a feel for China's determination to become globally competitive in technology innovation, let me cite some statistics from two facilities we visited. Over the last 10 years, the Institute of Biophysics, an arm of the Chinese Academy of Science, has received very significant investment by the Chinese government. Today it consists of more than 3,000 talented scientists focused on doing world-class research in areas such as protein science, and brain and cognitive sciences.

　　科技/創(chuàng)新：為了讓大家了解中國(guó)要在技術(shù)創(chuàng)新方面成為全球佼佼者的決心，請(qǐng)?jiān)试S筆者引用我訪問(wèn)過(guò)的兩家中國(guó)機(jī)構(gòu)的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)。在過(guò)去十年中，中國(guó)科學(xué)院生物物理研究所獲得了中國(guó)政府的大量投資。該研究所目前擁有3,000多名有天分的科學(xué)家，他們?cè)诘鞍踪|(zhì)科學(xué)、腦科學(xué)及認(rèn)知科學(xué)等領(lǐng)域所從事的研究都是世界級(jí)的。

　　We also visited the new Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, another arm of the Chinese Academy of Science. This gigantic science and technology park is under construction and today consists of four buildings, but it will grow to over 60 buildings on a large piece of land equivalent to about a third of a square mile. It is being staffed by Ph.D.-caliber researchers. Their goal statement is fairly straightforward: "To be a pioneer in the development of new technologies relevant to business."

　　我們還訪問(wèn)了中科院新成立的上海高等研究院。這個(gè)巨大的科技園區(qū)正在建設(shè)中，它目前擁有四座大樓，今后將在面積相當(dāng)于三分之一平方英里（約86公頃）的一大塊土地上建成60多座大樓。上海高等研究院將全部由博士水平的研究人員組成。他們的目標(biāo)陳述相當(dāng)直白：成為商業(yè)相關(guān)領(lǐng)域的新技術(shù)研發(fā)先鋒。

　　All of the various institutes being run by the Chinese Academy of Science are going to be significantly increased in size, and staffing will be aided by a new recruiting program called 'Ten Thousand Talents.' This is an effort by the Chinese government to reach out to Chinese individuals who have been trained, and currently reside, outside China. They are focusing on those who are world-class in their technical abilities, primarily at the Ph.D. level, at work in various universities and science institutes abroad. In each year of this new five-year plan, the goal is to recruit 2,000 of these individuals to return to China.

　　中科院下屬各家研究機(jī)構(gòu)都將大幅擴(kuò)大規(guī)模，而人才隊(duì)伍建設(shè)將得到一項(xiàng)名為“千人計(jì)劃”的人才引進(jìn)新計(jì)劃的幫助。這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃是中國(guó)政府吸引留學(xué)并定居海外的中國(guó)學(xué)者回國(guó)的一項(xiàng)努力。中國(guó)政府將引進(jìn)海外人才的重點(diǎn)放在那些在海外各類大學(xué)和研究院工作、具有世界級(jí)水平科研能力的人身上，主要著眼于擁有博士學(xué)位的人才。這項(xiàng)新五年計(jì)劃的目標(biāo)是今后五年內(nèi)每年吸引2,000名此類人才回國(guó)。

　　Reasons and Cure: Given all of the above, I think you can see why I pose the fundamental question: Which is the developing country and which is the developed country? The next questions are: Why is this occurring and what should the U.S. do?

　　原因與解決辦法：鑒于以上情況，我認(rèn)為讀者可以理解我為何要提出以下這個(gè)帶有根本性的問(wèn)題：究竟哪個(gè)國(guó)家是發(fā)展中國(guó)家，哪個(gè)國(guó)家是發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家。下一個(gè)問(wèn)題是：為什么會(huì)出現(xiàn)這一情況，美國(guó)應(yīng)該怎么做？

　　Let's face it─we are getting beaten because the U.S. government can't seem to make big improvements. Issues quickly get polarized, and then further polarized by the media, which needs extreme viewpoints to draw attention and increase audience size. The autocratic Chinese leadership gets things done fast (currently the autocrats seem to be highly effective).

　　讓我們直面問(wèn)題──我們正被擊敗是因?yàn)槊绹?guó)似乎不能做出重大改善。所有問(wèn)題在美國(guó)很快就會(huì)被兩極化，而媒體會(huì)擴(kuò)大這種分歧，它們需要極端的觀點(diǎn)來(lái)吸引關(guān)注并增加受眾規(guī)模。行事專斷的中國(guó)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人卻可以快速解決問(wèn)題。（目前看來(lái)，獨(dú)斷專行似乎非常有效。）

　　What is the cure? Washington politicians and American voters need to snap to and realize they are getting beaten─and make big changes that put the U.S. back on track: Fix the budget and the burden of entitlements; implement an aggressive five-year debt-reduction plan, and start approving some winning plans. Wake up, America!

　　解決辦法是什么？華盛頓的政客和美國(guó)選民需要認(rèn)識(shí)到他們正在被擊敗，他們需要做出重大改變以使美國(guó)重新走上正軌：解決政府預(yù)算和公民應(yīng)享權(quán)益方面的問(wèn)題；推行一項(xiàng)強(qiáng)有力的五年債務(wù)削減計(jì)劃，并批準(zhǔn)一些可以使美國(guó)獲勝的計(jì)劃。醒來(lái)吧，美國(guó)！