VOA标准英语2009年-British Leader Condemns Strikes Against Foreign
时间：2019-01-13 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2009年(二月)
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned 1 the strikes spreading across Britain protesting the employment of foreign European workers, while unemployment soars in the country.
Britain's PM Gordon Brown speaks on Britain and the Global economy (File)
What began as a protest last week against legal foreign European construction workers at an oil refinery 2 on the east coast of England quickly spread to at least a dozens different locations at energy plants throughout Britain.
The wildcat strikes have come under the backdrop of rapidly rising unemployment.
The question is will those strikes be escalating 3 in the coming days.
Interviewed on BBC Television Sunday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged calm.
"That is not the right thing to do and it is not defensible. What we have set up is a process to deal with the questions people have been asking about what has happened in this particular instance," said Mr. Brown.
The independent mediation 4 service has been asked to step in to investigate and help resolve the matter. Prime Minister Brown says while the strikes in his view are wrong, he acknowledges that job security is big concern for many right now.
"The worries that they have about what is happening to the international economy are real. I mean, people are worried about what is happening to jobs in every part of our country. I am determined 5 that we take action early so that jobs that can be saved, can be saved and we have made some arrangements to do so," he said. "Where people lose their jobs, we help them back into jobs as quickly as possible."
Under E.U. law, European workers are generally free to work in other member states and they can accept lower pay than local employees if they wish.
In this case, British protesters say the Italian and Portuguese 6 construction workers at a refinery in Lincolnshire are taking jobs that Britons should have been offered, but were not.
Tensions have been rising rapidly as Britain's economy shrinks and jobs go away. According to the International Monetary 7 Fund, the British economy will contract by about 2.8 percent this year. That would make it the worst-hit country among the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations.
- They built a sugar refinery.他们建起了一座榨糖厂。
- The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。
- The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句
- The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
- The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。
- I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
- He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
- They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
- Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。