VOA常速英语2007-Major Iraq Reconstruction to Transition from US
时间:2019-01-31 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA常速英语(十月)
Pentagon
19 October 2007
The U.S. military's effort to rebuild major infrastructure 1 in Iraq will be winding 2 down during the coming year, leaving the Iraqi government to fund the effort and to find engineers capable of handling the projects. In a VOA interview, the American general who has been in charge of the effort for the past year said Iraq could turn to such countries as China, India and Iran to provide the expertise 3 it needs. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
Brigadier General Michael Walsh of the U.S. Army Corps 4 of Engineers says the next 12 months will be a time of transition in Iraq's reconstruction 5 effort. He says the $22 billion the U.S. government provided four years ago to help rebuild large-scale facilities will have been spent by this time next year on such services as electricity, power and oil, as well as health care and schools. By then, he says, the 650 Americans working on Army Corps projects, most of them civilians 6, will come home.
The general says the Corps also employs 500 Iraqi engineers, who will have to work under a new structure led and funded by the Iraqi government.
"The Iraqi government needs to pick up the difference between what the U.S. government put in and what the requirement is," he said. "The thoughts were in 2003 that that difference would be picked by donor 7 nations from the U.N., or from the Iraqi government. And so the donor nations have been a little bit slow in getting their funds in place. But the Iraqi government put $10 billion of their oil revenues into reconstruction last year, and I suspect they'll put another $10 billion in for '08."
At $10 billion per year, the Iraqi funding is much higher than what the United States and other donors 8 have been providing. But there is a long way to go. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that Iraq would need a total of $80 billion for reconstruction. And General Walsh says that estimate would likely be higher now. And the general notes that replacing the American effort will also require an infusion 9 of expertise, which he says the Iraqi government is already seeking around the world.
"They'll be hiring people from outside the government of Iraq to assist them," he addedl "Certainly, they talked about Chinese engineers, Indian engineers, perhaps some Iranian engineers coming in and helping 10 them do some of the construction, as well as American firms."
The Army Corps of Engineers has also been training Iraqi technical experts and government officials on how to continue the construction effort, and how to maintain new systems that have been built and installed in recent years.
Although the major U.S. effort on large-scale projects in Iraq is ending, smaller-scale efforts led by the State Department will continue. President Bush announced an expansion of the Provincial 11 Reconstruction Teams when he unveiled his new Iraq strategy in January.
But on Thursday, the special U.S. government inspector 12 general for Iraq reconstruction said the program is making only "incremental 13" progress, and predicted that the slow pace will continue. The official, Stuart Bowen, said the effort will require "years of steady engagement." The U.S. embassy in Baghdad agreed with that last comment, but questioned how Bowen measured the teams' work. A spokesman said the teams have achieved "measurable" progress in a short time.
The Provincial Reconstruction Teams may have faced one problem that affected 14 the Army Corps of Engineers' larger projects in recent months - disruptions caused by the surge in security operations. But General Walsh says that period has passed.
"As the kinetic 15 operations went up during the surge, as expected, it did have impacts on the reconstruction. As kinetic forces would be chasing al-Qaida into a particular area, we would have to slow down construction or stop construction in there until the kinetic operations were completed," he noted 16. "And now that the security environment is getting better, we're also able to get the construction with less impact from the security impacts."
General Walsh says up to 19 percent of his projects were disrupted on any given day during the height of the surge operations. But now, he says, the disruption is down to its normal level of around 12 percent.
And General Walsh agrees that the Iraq reconstruction efforts will have to be long-term.
"Thirty years of neglect is not going to be turned around in three or four years of work," he said. "So it's going to take a number of years to turn around that neglect. And what I see is everybody is expecting 24 hours of electricity tomorrow. They're not going to get 24 hours of electricity in Iraq until 2013."
The general says electricity supplies in some parts of Iraq are up to 15 hours a day now, from about eight hours when he arrived a year ago. But he acknowledges the progress is not keeping up with Iraqis' expectations.
- 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。
- A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
- The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。
- 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 medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
- When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时,他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
- The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后,该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
- In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期,技术决定一切。
- the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
- At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后,至少有300名平民下落不明。
- 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。
- Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去,请给我们发电子邮件。
- About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Old families need an infusion of new blood from time to time.古老的家族需要不时地注入新鲜血液。
- Careful observation of the infusion site is necessary.必须仔细观察输液部位。
- 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。
- City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
- Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。
- The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
- The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。
- For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说,提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
- By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法,已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句
- She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
- His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
- There exist many sources of energy both potential and kinetic.存在着许多势能和动能的能源。
- The kinetic theory of gases is the best known example.气体动力学理论就是最有名的例子。