SOON AFTER the second world war, America went looking for(开始寻找) a place to test its fast-expanding nuclear arsenal(武库，军火库). It settled on the Marshall Islands, then an American-administered collection of atolls scattered across a vast stretch of the Pacific.(它最终选定了马绍尔群岛——当时由美国管理、散布在太平洋广阔海域的一群环礁。) Over 12 years the Americans carried out 67 nuclear tests. The resulting radiation(辐射) did lasting damage to(对…造成持久伤害) the health of the Marshallese, but it also shaped(塑造了) the islands’ relationship with America.
第二次世界大战结束后不久，美国开始寻找地点测试其快速扩张的核武库。它最终选定了马绍尔群岛——当时由美国管理、散布在太平洋广阔海域的一群环礁。在12年间，美国进行了67次核试验。由此产生的辐射对马绍尔人的健康造成了持久伤害，但也塑造了这些岛屿与美国的关系。
These days the country of 42,000 people is independent, but gets aid from America under a “compact of free association(自由联系协定)” in exchange for(作为交换) allowing it military access. Some of that money is now financing(资助) a different sort of experiment. For nearly a year every citizen in the Marshall Islands, including children, has been getting a quarterly(每季度的) payment of about $200. The precise amount varies, because the government shares a fixed pot equally among all those enrolled(登记注册的).
如今，这个拥有4.2万人口的国家已经独立，但根据《自由联系协定》从美国获得援助，以换取美国军事准入。其中一部分资金现在正资助一项不同类型的实验。近一年来，马绍尔群岛的每位公民（包括儿童）每季度都能领取约200美元。具体金额有所浮动，因为政府将固定资金池在所有登记在册者之间平均分配。
The programme, Enra Jen Lale Rara (sharing plates to care for those around us), is believed to be the world’s first national universal basic income (UBI) scheme, a term that describes unconditional government payment given to all citizens as a supplement to or replacement for wages.(该项目名为“Enra Jen Lale Rara”（意为“分享餐盘，关爱身边人”），据信是全球首个国家级全民基本收入（UBI）计划。UBI指政府无条件向所有公民发放、作为工资补充或替代的款项。) (Other UBI experiments have covered small groups of people, or individual cities, provinces or groups of villages.)
该项目名为“Enra Jen Lale Rara”（意为“分享餐盘，关爱身边人”），据信是全球首个国家级全民基本收入（UBI）计划。UBI指政府无条件向所有公民发放、作为工资补充或替代的款项。（其他UBI实验仅覆盖小群体，或个别城市、省份、村庄群。）