驚人的數字

最近在媒體的報導裏讀到不少驚人的數字，有環保方麵的，有政經領域的， 最令我吃驚的是人類自我毀滅的程度與速度。 數字在很多時候是最有說服力的，原想在勃克裏搞一個“數字馬拉鬆，” 就是在一個貼子後麵追加我們看到或知道的“驚人數字”，越另類越好， 越驚人越歡迎：） 比如人的一生會做多少個夢；敲多少個字；中國每年槍斃多少死刑犯；中 國到底有多少失學兒童；中國貪官轉移到國外的贓款究竟有幾百個億；中 國貧困線的生活費每月是幾個人民幣；美國總統與賓拉登秘密通過幾次話； 等等等等。 大家工作在不同的領域，各有專長和專業知識，愛好等，積少成多，加在 一起會很有教育意義的。我先貼第一項令我吃驚的數字： １. 中國人口占全球的２１％，但中國的水資源隻占全球的７％。 ２. 被工業廢物和化肥嚴重汙染的黃河給1.5億中國人提供水源。 ３. 3.6億中國農村人口缺乏安全衛生的引用水。 ４. ２００４年，２６０００平方公裏的亞馬遜森林被砍伐。 ５. ２００４年，全球因恐怖襲擊死傷人數並非如美國國防部宣稱的“下降”，而是升高了５０％。 ６. 每天大約３０００兒童死於可預防性疾病和營養不良。 ７. １９９７年，為預防禽流感，香港在三天內消滅了１５００萬隻［飛］禽。 ８. １９１８－１９１９之間，全球有兩千五百萬至五千萬人因西班牙流感喪生。 ９. 今天，一萬多家美國私人保安公司雇傭的保鏢約兩百萬，是美國警察總數的四倍。 10.　６５％的約翰內斯堡［南非］的居民感覺夜裏在家中也不安全。 11. 每次射精，四千萬名(40，000，000)精子奔赴有去無回的生存競爭。其中至少一千萬 名精子是體格健壯的，勇往直前的，英勇頑強的戰士，結果是，最多隻有一個戰士能存 活，長大成人。[from Shui-dee] from Harper's magazine, Feb., 2005 12. Average number of Americans injured every year by air rifles, paintball weapons, and BB guns: 22,000 [Danielle Laraque, Mount Sinai School of Medicine (N.Y.C.) ] 13. Estimated number of different languages spoken at home by Alaskan school- children : 110 [Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (Juneau) ] 14. Chance that a Japanese grade-school student reports never having seen a sunrise or sunset : 1 in 2 [Kawamura Gakuen Women's University (Chiba, Japan) ] 15. Percentage by which British university graduates are less likely than non-graduates to phone their mothers regularly : 20 [Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex (Colchester, U.K.) ] 16. Rank of the United States among the largest world exporters of cigarettes: 1[U.S. Department of Agriculture ] 17. Rank of the United States among nations that consume the most cigarettes per capita: 16[World Health Organization (Washington)] 18. Average total cost for a U.S. eighty-year-old to live out the rest of his or her days on a luxury cruise ship: $230,497[Lee Lindquist, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago)] 19. Average cost to live them out in an assisted-living facility: $228,075[Lee Lindquist, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago)] 20. Percentage of children who by age seven have had at least one imaginary friend: 65[Dr. Marjorie Taylor, University of Oregon (Eugene)] 21. Percentage of these friends who are animals: 41[Dr. Marjorie Taylor, University of Oregon (Eugene)] from Harper's magazine, 1998 22. Number of people killed worldwide last year by pirates: 51 [International Maritime Bureau (Essex, England)] 23. Number of cars broken into by bears last year at Yosemite National Park: 889 [Yosemite National Park (Yosemite, Calif.)] from The Harper's Mag. 2005 Annual cost of all sixteen U.N. peacekeeping missions currently underway: $3,870,000,000[United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (N.Y.C.)] ____________________________________________ Monthly cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq: $4,100,000,000[U.S. Department of Defense] 四百個美國人裏，至少有一個是無家可歸！ Months before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, volunteer searchers found 6,251 homeless people living in the coastal areas of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. The search was part of an unprecedented count of the nation's homeless population that the federal government asked cities and counties to conduct. That snapshot tally was 727,304 homeless people nationwide, meaning about one in 400 Americans were without a home, according to a USA TODAY survey of all 460 localities that reported results to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in June. (Related story: Search produces wealth of data) ---from alternet.org