2007年VOA标准英语-US City Expected to Block Money to Firms Linked
时间:2019-01-30 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(七月)
Miami
11 July 2007
The U.S. city of Miami Beach is to vote on whether to block public pension funds from investing in firms linked to the governments of Iran and Sudan. In Miami, VOA's Brian Wagner reports officials are expected to approve the ban intended to pressure the countries that U.S. officials have named as state sponsors of terrorism.
Miami Beach city officials sought to become the first in Florida to implement 2 a state law taking aim at the governments of Iran and Sudan. Officials say the measure hopes to channel the outrage 3 over both nations' support of Islamic militants 4 and other violent groups, and over Sudan's alleged 5 role in violence in the western Darfur region.
Under the ban, public-pension officials will identify international companies that are involved in the military or oil sectors 7 in Sudan, or in Iran's energy sector 6, and cut those investments.
State Senator Ted 1 Deutch drafted the state law, and says the restrictions 8 are intended to go beyond U.S. policies that limit the activities of American companies.
"It would focus on those foreign companies who are not subject to American sanctions, who currently have made the decision that it is more important to them to seek the extra dollar by investing in Iran and helping 9 Iran develop nuclear weapons," he said.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (file photo)
Deutch said the ban has received strong support, especially among the area's large retiree population, which includes some Holocaust 10 survivors 11. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sparked international condemnation 12 for calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.
The Florida law is one example of how U.S. states are trying to raise pressure on Iran and Sudan, as well as other U.S.-designated state sponsors of terrorism: Cuba, North Korea, and Syria.
The director of investment research firm Divest 13 Terror, Christopher Holt, has helped several states to draft similar policies, but he says placing restrictions on state pension systems is only the first step. He says one proposal in the state of Louisiana would create a list of investment indices that include companies linked to state sponsors of terrorism, and make the list available to the general public.
"Once a terror-free index is formed, the possibility exists that mutual 14 funds available to individual investors 15 like you and me will be formed, so that you and I can invest terror-free," he said.
Holt said much of the public support for these measures comes from moral outrage over atrocities 16 blamed on state sponsors of terrorism, and is not based on foreign policy decisions made in Washington.
He adds that the spending bans may have limited impact, because foreign oil companies in Europe, China and elsewhere find it profitable to deal with Iran and Sudan.
"They [companies] know exactly what they are doing," he added. "They have made it their marketing 17 plan to pursue these rogue 18 nations, because they know that the U.S. companies cannot."
Holt says it is the responsibility of investors and officials in other nations to draft measures or exert pressure against business with ties to state sponsors of terrorism.
- The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
- She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。
- Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划,除非你能完成这项计划。
- The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。
- When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
- We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。
- The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来,反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
- Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此,巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。
- It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
- alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为
- 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》
- I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
- a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
- The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
- Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀,因为他像希特勒一样残忍。
- The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
- survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者
- There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
- The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。
- I cannot divest myself of the idea.我无法消除那个念头。
- He attempted to divest himself of all responsibilities for the decision.他力图摆脱掉作出该项决定的一切责任。
- We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
- Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。
- a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
- a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
- They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
- He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。