[E424]Who fights, and who pays
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist 2016年第21期，International版块。
Boots-and cash-on the ground
May 21st 2016
The UN's first peacekeeping mission[维和任务/部队], which started in 1948, was to keep a truce[1] after the creation of Israel[以色列].Seven decades later, that mission continues, and the total number of peacekeeping operations worldwide has grown to 16, deploying more than 100,000 military personnel[军事人员;军方人员]. Most are in Africa; the largest, in the Democratic Republic of Congo[刚果民主共和国], involves 18,900 blue helmets[蓝盔士兵,联合国维(持)和(平)部队队员].
Contributions to the cost of peacekeeping are worked out using a complicated formula that includes economic heft[影响,势力;重要性;分量(经济实力)]; America pays more than a quarter of the total, and the top ten countries account for four-fifths between them. But when it comes to personnel, the pattern is very different. Since some of its men were killed when a helicopter was shot down in Somalia[索马里] in 1993, America has almost stopped sending troops; it now has only 74 military personnel involved in peacekeeping, only half of them soldiers.
Altogether, the top ten budget contributors supply only 6% of personnel; African and Asian countries provide the lion's share[2][最大的份额]. Tiny Rwanda[卢旺达(东非国家)] contributes 6,140 military personnel but almost no money. The UN pays countries $1,330 a month per soldier, meaning that peacekeeping is lucrative[3] for poor nations.
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注释
[1]truce：a short interruption in a war or argument, or an agreement to stop fighting or arguing for a period of time 讲和（协议）；休战，停战（协定）
[2]the lion's share：the largest part or most of something 最大份额，大部分
Reputable charities spend the lion's share of donations on aid and a tiny fraction on administration.
声誉好的慈善机构将捐款的大部分都花在援助上，只有极少部分用于管理。
[3]lucrative：(especially of a business, job or activity) producing a lot of money （尤指生意、职位或活动）赚钱的，盈利的
The merger proved to be very lucrative for both companies.
事实证明，这次兼并使两家公司都获利丰厚。
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以上言论不代表本人立场。
原文摘自The economist，仅外语学习之用。
其中生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries
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