Fiona的新聞英語：Finland trials basic income for unemployed

芬蘭於2017年實驗 universal basic income。這個概念在近一兩年來愈來愈紅，大致上意思就是政府會無條件給每個人同樣的基本所得，所以無論有沒有工作，都會拿到一個基本的薪水，如果有工作的話，薪水是加在基本所得之上的。

2017年歐洲以及其它各國開始小規模實驗這個概念。各國的實驗方式各不相同。有一些國家是有條件的，所以沒有完全符合所謂的 universal 這個概念。

這個概念在數十年前做過非常小的實驗，但是由於規模太小，也不太有人研究，因為很少人知道。近幾年由於機器愈來愈有取代人工的趨勢，未來會有愈來愈多人失業，解決的方法之一，就是由政府發給每個人一個基本的收入。

芬蘭是歐洲第一個實驗直接發放沒有工作的人固定所得的國家。他們的作法是，兩千位芬蘭人一個月會直接獲得560歐元。就算他們後來找到工作，他們還是可以繼續領取這560歐元。

其它西方國家會陸續跟進，進行他們各自的實驗。這些國家包含義大利、英國、加拿大、荷蘭等等。

以英國來說，蘇格蘭的Fife 跟Glasgow兩個地區有可能今年會開始進行實驗。最近在英國新聞上討論得蠻熱烈的。有些人覺得這是一個很有社會主義理想的作法，有一些則是認為這個方法完全行不通，因為沒有工作的人有固定的薪水之後，更加不會想找工作，而有工作的人則可能寧願辭去工作，在家閒著也能過生活。
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unconditional: 無條件的

monthly sum: a monthly total amount of money, this refers to the 'basic income'

gathering interest: gathering is an adj.; increasing interest

pilot scheme: an initial, experimental plan

social security body: 'body' refers to a government body, a government body is a government office 

trigger: cause something to happen

capital grant: 'capital' refers to 'money' and 'grant' is a subsidy or a payment, this refers to the basic income

the populist Finns party: populist means 民粹的

coalition: 聯合，這裡指聯合執政

a leaner, less bureaucratic welfare system: 'leaner' means more efficient especially in terms of spending, 錢花在刀口上, 'bureaucratic' means 官僚的

the concept is steadily gaining traction: more and more people are aware of and agree with the idea

automation: 自動化作業

no means test: 'means' here refers to one's livelihood; 'no means test' means the government will not check if the recipient of the basic income has a salary or some form of income; the basic income is unconditional

did not have government backing: 'backing' means support

unemployment benefit: 'benefit' means (N.) 福利

obligation: duty

with an obligation to seek work - and sanctions- attached: this means the basic income is not unconditional, there are conditions which must be met before one can get the basic income grant

partly owing to: partly due to or partly because of

the gig economy: this refers to self-employed people who do undertake contractual jobs; examples include freelance translators and website designers;  'gig' refers to the internet

unwieldy: originally meant to describe a weapon that is too large to carry around easily, this refers to an organisation that is too bureaucratic to be efficient

equitable: related to being equal

credible: believable

that grew in line with: if A grows in line with B, the two are highly related and grow together, there is a positive correlation between the two 兩者有正相關

incentivise: motivate

​www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/03/finland-trials-basic-income-for-unemployed​