Question

求大神指教 一句英语翻译~

if you want to reach back to 1964, we have spent maybe $15 trillion, and yet poverty seems to be pretty flat. 这里面pretty flat 什么意思啊 flat 不就是平坦的意思么~~

Answer 1

flat 就是平坦的意思，引申为维持原状。（别忘了采纳，不然大神都不回答问题了。）
"That's not a great deal when you consider how much money we've spent," he said. "If you want to reach back to 1964, we've spent maybe $15 trillion, and yet poverty seems to be pretty flat."
坦纳说：“这不是很大的改善，要是你考虑我们已经花了多少钱的话。如果你想回溯到1964年，我们已经花了大概15万亿美元，但贫困似乎仍维持原状。”

全文如下：摘自VOA
向贫困开战50年取得进展，但未取得胜利
In January 1964, President Johnson was aware that almost one in every five Americans lived in poverty.
1964年1月，约翰逊总统意识到，差不多每五个美国人中，就有一个生活在贫困中。
In his first State of the Union address, just weeks after taking office, he proposed a solution.
在他刚上任几星期后的第一个国情咨文中，他提出了一项解决方案。
"And this administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America," he said, issuing his first salvo in the "war" that would take the form of new programs to improve nutrition, health care, education and job training.
美国时任总统约翰逊说：“本届政府今天，此时此刻，向美国的贫困无条件宣战。”他的“战争”采取的形式是改善营养、保健、教育和职业培训的新计划。
"Our chief weapons in a more pinpointed attack will be better schools, and better health, and better homes, and better training, and better job opportunities," he said.
约翰逊说：“我们在一个更有针对性的进攻中的主要武器将是更好的学校，更好的健康，更好的家园，更好的培训和更好的就业机会。”
According to James Jones, who later became Johnson's chief of staff, the president wanted to complete the unfinished domestic agenda of previous Democratic Party presidents.
据后来出任约翰逊的办公厅主任的詹姆斯•琼斯说，约翰逊想完成之前的民主党总统未完成的国内议程。
"Things such as Medicare, which [then-President] Harry Truman first proposed in around 1946-47, and nothing had been done on that," said Jones. "Things such as fair housing, which, again, went back to the Truman administration, and nothing had happened in 20 years."
琼斯说：“诸如医疗保险，当年的杜鲁门总统在1946-47年左右首次提出，但在这方面没有作为。诸如公平住房，又是追溯到了杜鲁门政府，20年内毫无建树。”
When President Johnson and his wife toured impoverished areas in 1964, 19 percent of Americans lived in poverty. Today's figure is 15 percent, not good enough according to Michael Tanner, senior fellow at Washington's Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
当约翰逊总统和夫人1964年巡视贫困地区时，19%的美国人生活在贫困中。据华盛顿的卡托研究所高级研究员迈克尔•坦纳说，今天的贫困人口为15%，还不够好。
"That's not a great deal when you consider how much money we've spent," he said. "If you want to reach back to 1964, we've spent maybe $15 trillion, and yet poverty seems to be pretty flat."
坦纳说：“这不是很大的改善，要是你考虑我们已经花了多少钱的话。如果你想回溯到1964年，我们已经花了大概15万亿美元，但贫困似乎仍维持原状。”
Critics in Congress say spending on poverty reduction programs is out of control, and the Republican-led House of Representatives recently voted to cut funding for the Food Stamp assistance program by about $4 billion a year.
国会的批评人士说，对减贫计划的支出失控了。共和党主导的众议院最近投票通过对食品券援助计划资金每年削减大约四十亿美元。
Tanner also says the wide availability of welfare benefits reduces the incentive to work.
迈克尔·坦纳还表示，福利待遇的广泛应用降低了人们的工作积极性。
"Look, poor people are not lazy, but they're also not stupid," he said. "If you pay people more not to work than they could make by working, then chances are many of them are going to consider — think twice, at least — about working."
坦纳说：“你看，穷人不懒，但他们也不傻，如果你付给不干活的人比干活的人更多钱，那么很可能很多人就要考虑还要不要干活。”
Still, Johnson's initiatives, despite their flaws, have lifted millions out of poverty, says Ron Haskins, a former White House and congressional advisor on welfare issues and co-director of the Center on Children and Families at The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based non-profit research organization.
不过，美国布鲁金斯学会资深研究员罗恩•哈斯金斯说，约翰逊提出的措施尽管有其缺憾，但已经使数百万人摆脱了贫困。
"The general direction and the focus on poverty and some of the specific programs have been enormously successful," said Haskins. "The country is better off because Johnson did it."
哈斯金斯说：“总的方向和把贫困作为聚焦点以及一些具体计划取得了巨大成功。因为约翰逊做了这件事，国家受益了。”
Former aide Jones says the programs that arose from the War on Poverty were among Lyndon Johnson's top achievements.
琼斯说，向贫困开战的计划属于林登·约翰逊的最辉煌成就之一。
"I think, now that history has had a 50-year look at his time, I think they're beginning to appreciate that he really was an outstanding president," he said.
琼斯说：“我认为，现在，历史在50年后回头去看他的时期，我想他们开始赞扬他真的是一位杰出的总统。”

Answer 2

回观过去1964年时，我们花费了15万亿，现在的贫穷看起来不怎么起眼（不景气）。
adj. 平的；单调的；不景气的；干脆的；平坦的；扁平的；浅的
平的，所以不起眼
望采纳~

Answer 3

flat 在这里是 “不景气”的意思，
整句话意思 “回首1964， 尽管我们已花费15万亿美元，但贫穷似乎还未有多大改善。”

Answer 4

你这个翻译是直译，所有的词语一旦进入文章或者语句中，都要根据上下文进行一定的意译，这个可以翻译成“然而贫穷依然没怎么得到解决”就是说花费了那么多钱，贫穷却依然保持平坦的发展状态吧。