VOA标准英语2011--Iraq Struggles To Create Jobs and Wealth
时间：2019-01-13 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2011年(十二月)
Iraq Struggles To Create Jobs and Wealth
Iraq has some of the largest oil reserves in the world, but its economy suffers from high unemployment, war damage and the lingering effects of past international sanctions.
Crumbling 1 infrastructure 2 and political bickering 3 also weigh down economic growth.
Oil dominates Iraq’s 82 billion-dollar a year economy, yielding most of the government’s revenues and export income. It dwarfs 4 all other sectors 6 of the economy, and some economists 7 say it could spur double-digit growth.
That impresses U.S. President Barack Obama.
"In the coming years, it's estimated that Iraq's economy will grow even faster than China's or India's."
Mr. Obama spoke 8 after a recent meeting in Washington with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Iraq has the second-largest proven oil reserves in the world, but most of that potential wealth is still in the ground. Prime Minister Al-Maliki:
"Iraq ... needs experience and expertise 9 and American and foreign expertise to help Iraq exploit its own wealth in an ideal way."
Foreign oil companies have made some deals in Iraq, but are hesitant to make more investments until the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government agree on clear laws governing this critical economic sector 5. They have haggled 10 for years over who has the right to approve agreements with foreign oil companies and how to structure those deals.
Ben Lando heads the website Iraq Oil Report. He spoke to VOA via Skype.
"It's a have a fundamental dispute as to what the future of the state looks like, and the oil is where you can see it most starkly 11 playing out."
Iraq's economy is recovering slowly from war and sanctions. At one point, gross domestic product per person fell to just $800, but is now about $3000. But that is lower than Iraqi incomes in the 1970s. Unemployment is at least 18 percent, but the oil industry's growing efficiency means it will provide fewer jobs than it did in the past.
Mohsin Khan is with the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
“Refineries 12, people say that you can run refineries that would take 1,000 people in the 1970s, now with 10 [people]. Because of computerization and so on, you don’t need people.”
But Iraqis need jobs. Nearly a quarter of the nation's 32 million citizens live in poverty.
- an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
- The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。
- We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
- We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。
- The children are always bickering about something or other. 孩子们有事没事总是在争吵。
- The two children were always bickering with each other over small matters. 这两个孩子总是为些小事斗嘴。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句
- The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
- The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。
- Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
- Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
- The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
- We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
- You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。
- The cook and the grocer haggled over the price of eggs. 厨师和杂货商为蛋价计较个没完。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- After they had haggled for some time, the two men decided to close the bargain. 那两个人经过一番讨价还价以后，决定成交。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
- Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。