????雖然用意良善，但薩克斯給人的印象是易怒、傲慢以及超級(jí)自負(fù)。最令人沮喪的是，薩克斯似乎脫離了千禧村項(xiàng)目實(shí)地的現(xiàn)實(shí)，脫離了他手下工作人員的努力，尤其脫離了他試圖改善其生活的那些人們。在芒克的敘述中，薩克斯幾乎不會(huì)花時(shí)間待在村子里，而是乘坐那種裝甲SUV到處穿梭，只會(huì)停留在高檔酒店和非洲國(guó)家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的辦公室之間。薩克斯在村莊的時(shí)間只夠他接受村民們給予的英雄式歡迎，這些村民都熱衷于得到資金援助——芒克明確表示，這是一種表演。與此同時(shí)，“偉大的教授”——這是最初被薩克斯迷住的一位工作人員對(duì)他的叫法——拒絕外界對(duì)千禧村項(xiàng)目進(jìn)行評(píng)估。而且芒克還發(fā)現(xiàn)證據(jù)，證明這個(gè)組織自身的報(bào)告存在報(bào)喜不報(bào)憂(yōu)的行為。

????盡管薩克斯和他暴躁的脾氣為這本書(shū)提供了最有料的內(nèi)容，但芒克也帶領(lǐng)讀者認(rèn)識(shí)了那些認(rèn)真負(fù)責(zé)、身為千禧村項(xiàng)目工作人員的非洲人，他們（跟芒克一樣）對(duì)這個(gè)項(xiàng)目越來(lái)越失望。他們被授以不可能完成的工作，既要負(fù)責(zé)處理實(shí)地的狀況，又要遵從朝令夕改、不切實(shí)際的指令，而這些指令都來(lái)自千禧村項(xiàng)目位于紐約的總部。一位村莊協(xié)調(diào)員被要求為一份建立小規(guī)模奶制品工廠的商業(yè)計(jì)劃書(shū)撰寫(xiě)多份草案，而他所在的村莊正面臨非常嚴(yán)重的饑荒和干旱，以至于憤怒的人們襲擊了一位水車(chē)的司機(jī)。

????這樣的時(shí)刻可能會(huì)讓讀者感到，對(duì)外援助的狀態(tài)以及戰(zhàn)勝貧困的前景非常黯淡。芒克完成了一項(xiàng)出色的工作，她向讀者傳達(dá)了開(kāi)發(fā)工作以及對(duì)外援助中所涉及的復(fù)雜的制衡體系。

????盡管薩克斯存在過(guò)錯(cuò)，盡管千禧村項(xiàng)目遭遇了種種失敗，但芒克對(duì)他還是有些苛刻了。芒克在書(shū)中不止一次地提到了千禧村項(xiàng)目村莊取得進(jìn)展的實(shí)例——死亡率和瘧疾患病率下降了；就學(xué)率提高了——然而這些顯著的成就讓人感覺(jué)被那些小失敗的聲音所掩蓋了。薩克斯仍然是解決全球貧困問(wèn)題極少數(shù)激烈的公共倡導(dǎo)者之一，芒克描繪的形象很是刺痛人心，以至于讓人很容易忘記這個(gè)事實(shí)。當(dāng)然，作為一個(gè)博得大量關(guān)注和資源的精神領(lǐng)袖，薩克斯理應(yīng)接受這種審視。但他也理應(yīng)得到比這書(shū)中描寫(xiě)更多的認(rèn)可——但只是稍微更多一些。在這本書(shū)的末尾，甚至連薩克斯本人也顯露出謙卑的姿態(tài)。他承認(rèn)，雖然這少數(shù)幾個(gè)村莊的情況有所改善，但找到戰(zhàn)勝貧困的全球性解決方案仍然有一段很長(zhǎng)的路要走。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：王燦均??

????Though well-intentioned, Sachs comes across as prickly, dismissive, and supremely arrogant. Most damningly, he appears disconnected from the on-the-ground realities of MVP, the efforts of his staff, and particularly the lives he's trying to improve. By Munk's telling, Sachs barely spends any time in the villages, but rather blows through the region, being shuttled in those armored SUVS, between high-end hotels and the offices of African leaders. He drops into villages, only long enough to receive a hero's welcome—a performance, Munk makes clear—from villagers who are keen to keep the money coming. Meanwhile "the great professor"—as one initially smitten staff member calls him—resists external evaluation efforts of MVP, and Munk finds evidence the organization's reports are leaving out bad news.

????While Sachs and his short temper provide the book's juiciest bits, Munk effectively draws readers into the stories of the earnest, committed, and (like Munk) increasingly disillusioned group of Africans who work as MVP field staff. They have impossible jobs; tasked with managing the on-the-ground situation while keeping up with the constantly changing and increasingly pie-in-the-sky orders that come down from the New York-based MVP headquarters. While one village coordinator is being asked to write multiple drafts of a business plan for small-scale milk production, his village is facing famine and a drought so severe that an angry mob beats the driver of a water truck.

????Moments like this can leave readers feeling awfully bleak about the state of foreign aid and the prospects of ever overcoming poverty. Munk does a good job conveying the complexities of development work and the system of trade-offs involved in foreign aid.

????Yet for all of his faults and MVP's failures, Munk is a bit hard on Sachs. More than once, she offers examples of progress in the MVP villages —drops in mortality and malaria rates; improved school attendance—yet these notable feats feel overshadowed by the steady drumbeat of small failures. Sachs remains one of a very few fierce, public advocates for addressing global poverty. Munk's portrait is so stinging, it's easy to forget that fact. Certainly, as a figurehead who commands considerable attention and resources, Sachs deserves the scrutiny. He also deserves more credit than he gets here—but only slightly more. By the end of her book, even Sachs seems humbled, and admits that while things are better in these few villages, a global solution for poverty still a long way off.