VOA标准英语2014--Poor Economy Forces Ukraine Miners into Illegal Operations 经济不景气迫使乌克兰矿工违规操作
时间：2019-01-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2014年(四月)
Poor Economy Forces Ukraine Miners into Illegal Operations 经济不景气迫使乌克兰矿工违规操作
DONBASS, UKRAINE — The Donbass coal field in eastern Ukraine is a huge reserve that once made this region one of the most powerful in the former Soviet 1 Union. But with the collapse 2 of the Soviet empire, industrial production has declined, forcing many local people to find work in dangerous illegal coal mines.
Under the crumbling 3 industrial landscape of eastern Ukraine, many are forced to scratch a living out of the earth in illegal coal mines like this one.
There are thousands of illegal mines across this region that operate without licenses 4 or safety checks, and miners say with the complicity of local police, organized crime groups and politicians.
Some pits are 300 meters deep and lack adequate support and ventilation. Miners stack the coal into carts pulled up to the surface on these pulleys. The men often work without safety equipment, insurance or any hope of a pension. Some say hundreds of miners perish under the earth each year.
“Every week we have accidents. Two weeks ago on our part of the mine there was an accident, one guy died and another became an invalid 5. Almost every day I hear news of accidents in different mines where somebody was wounded or killed," said illegal miner Valera Mardanenitsa.
Like many others, Valera lost his job at a state run mine when the Soviet Union collapsed 6 in 1991. As the Donbass region went into economic free-fall, he turned to drink and crime, and spent more than 10 years in prison. Now illegal mining is the only work he can find.
“I could go to the state mine, but I would have to pay $400 for a job and I might then be fired any time in the future," he said.
He can earn around $18 a day, but because the industry is unregulated, sometimes his bosses do not pay him at all.
"Owners often lie to workers, I know a team who were paid less and less each week they worked, and eventually they had to leave their jobs," he said.
Cheap coal from illegal pits now supplies up to 12 percent of Ukraine’s total output and is undercutting state owned mining, an outmoded industry that is heavily subsidized and estimated to be losing more than $120 million a year.
And while officials in Europe and the United States worry about a possible Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine, many here cannot see what assets Russia would hope to gain.
- Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
- Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。
- The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
- The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
- 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。
- Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句
- He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
- A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。