VOA常速英语2008年-Cambodia Hit Hard By Inflation
时间:2019-01-31 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2008年(四月)
Phnom Penh
21 April 2008
As in other developing countries from Egypt to Haiti, soaring inflation has recently emerged as a threat to Cambodia's hard won social stability. While wages have remained low, the prices of rice and other staples 2 have rocketed - pushing millions deeper into poverty. While the Cambodian government says it is doing its best to curb 3 the worst effects of inflation, opposition 4 politicians say it is not doing enough. Rory Byrne reports for VOA from Phnom Penh.
On the face of it, Cambodia's economy is doing well. Double-digit growth in recent years has created a resurgent middle class, eager to take advantage of new business opportunities.
Phnom Penh and other cities in Cambodia are undergoing a building boom and expensive new cars are everywhere. But while some are prospering 5, many of the country's poorest people are slipping deeper into poverty.
While the incomes of the poor have remained constant, the prices of food and other staples have risen dramatically.
Cambodia's annualized rate of food inflation hit 24 percent last month, the highest in almost a decade, and one of the highest in Southeast Asia.
Haggling 6 in the market is fierce these days as the price of staple 1 goods has fluctuated week by week. Prices for pork, chicken, beef, and prahok - a pungent 7 fish paste that is the main source of protein for millions of poor Cambodians - have all jumped.
The prices of non food items - such as gasoline and cooking gas - have also increased, adding to the country's inflation problem.
But it is the high cost of rice that is causing the most concern, according to the World Food Program, which feeds almost a million poor Cambodians.
Thomas Keusters, the WFP's Country Representative in Cambodia, says the high cost of rice on the world market has led many growers to export their crop, driving up the domestic cost of the grain:
"There are not that many big exporters of rice, so obviously those who are producing rice in this country see a benefit of seeing the rice going out of the country," he said. "Secondly 8, in general I think there has been an increase in the cost of producing rice, so by definition, people are producing, or selling rice more expensively."
Keusters says that the World Food Program is in danger of running out of its remaining rice reserves in a matter of weeks:
"Because of the increasing cost of the food, and the insufficient 9 support we have been receiving from the international and the national donor 10 community, we are going to very much face a risk of stopping our operation within a matter of weeks," Keusters said.
That could have a devastating 11 effect on Cambodia's rural poor, who make up about 80 percent of the population.
Many are poor rice farmers who only grow enough rice to feed themselves and their families for half the year
For the rest of the year they rely on handouts 12 from the World Food Program, or they harvest wild plants and fruits from the forest which they sell to buy rice. High prices at the market mean that they cannot buy enough to feed their families.
Chanmom, 46, lives with her sick husband and three young children in a small village in Kompong Speu province north of Phnom Penh. She is the only breadwinner.
She says she sells fruit and bamboo to make a living and that is all she can do to stay alive. She says does not have any cows or rice fields, only an old house. She says it is very difficult to feed her family because the price of food and rice is increasing.
Inflation has become a highly politicized issue in Cambodia. Marchers in a recent demonstration 13 organized by the main opposition party in Phnom Penh accused the government of not doing enough to curb soaring prices.
Sam Rainsey is the leader of the main opposition Sam Rainsey Party.
"We want the government to take appropriate measures to stop or to curb inflation," he said. And we want the government to increase salaries for civil servants, wages for workers."
The government says it is doing what it can. On the orders of Prime Minister Hun Sen, rice exports were banned for two months, while tons of surplus rice were released onto the market at reduced prices.
A ban on pig imports was also lifted in a bid to lower pork prices.
While these measures have had some short-term success, economists 14 expect that, as in the rest of the world, prices will continue to rise over the long term. And that - the World Food Program says - could have damaging long-term consequences:
"A lot of people who are now on the verge 15 of surviving are going to face even more difficulties to make ends meet and really survive," he said. "This is condemning 16, possibly, a whole lot of generations because people will not go to school, people will not go into productive activities, because they will really be constrained 17 by their search for food."
Most poor rice farmers in Cambodia are expected to run out of their remaining rice stocks by June, at which point they will have to buy rice at the market.
- Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
- Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。
- The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
- I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句
- I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
- You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。
- The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
- The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
- Our country is thriving and prospering day by day. 祖国日益繁荣昌盛。
- His business is prospering. 他生意兴隆。
- I left him in the market haggling over the price of a shirt. 我扔下他自己在市场上就一件衬衫讨价还价。
- Some were haggling loudly with traders as they hawked their wares. 有些人正在大声同兜售货物的商贩讲价钱。 来自辞典例句
- The article is written in a pungent style.文章写得泼辣。
- Its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hideouts.它的刺激性气味会令恐怖分子窒息,迫使他们从藏身地点逃脱出来。
- Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二,动脑筋提出自己的见解。
- Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次,需要确定所作用的载荷。
- There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
- In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代,科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。
- In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下,接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
- The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。
- It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
- Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。
- Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
- Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后,他仍然很骄傲,不愿接受施舍。
- His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
- He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
- 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》
- The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
- She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。
- The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
- I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服,他觉得不得不接受。
- I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。