VOA标准英语2008年-UN: Africa Falling Behind In Export Growth
时间：2019-02-05 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2008年（九月）
A U.N. report finds two decades of trade liberalization have successfully removed many of the barriers that used to limit trade from the continent. But, the report by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development says progress has been less than expected. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from UNCTAD headquarters in Geneva.
The report says trade liberalization in Africa has led to a slight increase in exports. But, it says these increases are far below those achieved in other developing regions.
UNCTAD Senior Economist 1 and report author Charles Gore 2 says Africa's share in world agricultural trade stood at 3.2 percent in 2006. He says this was lower than in 1985 when agricultural exports stood at 5.4 percent.
"Even more worrying from the point of view of the report, is that there has been little diversification 3 in the export composition. Diversification into high-value agricultural exports has only been successful in a few countries, notably 4 Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. And there has also been very little diversification into manufactures exports," he said.
Gore says diversification of African economies could ensure more robust 5 and stable growth, but this has not occurred. He says the manufacturing sector 6 could potentially yield higher profits and higher living standards.
He says governments must take effective steps to reverse several worrisome trends. These include decades of relative neglect of agriculture that have hindered African countries at a time of climbing commodity prices. "After trade liberalization, imports have increased as a share of GDP much more quickly than exports. And thus African countries have experienced a worsening trade balance. Overall, one may therefore characterize the export performance as modest, though in value terms this has been masked by the recent commodity price boom," he said.
The report says Africa is experiencing a food crisis mainly because of the negligence 7 in development policies pursued during the past 25 years. U.N. Economists 8 say a number of factors are hindering African agricultural performance.
Key constraints 9 include poor physical infrastructure 10, inefficient 11 product markets, lack of credit, and weak land and labor 12 markets. They say gender 13 division of labor and constraints on access for women to land also create problems.
The report says developed countries have an important role to play in helping 14 African countries improve their export performance, notably through aid-for-trade initiatives.
- He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
- He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。
- The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
- Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。
- The seminar was to discuss diversification of agriculture. 该研讨会讨论的是农业多种经营。 来自辞典例句
- Firm diversification is increasingly achieved by the means of takeover and merger. 通过接管和兼并，厂商经营范围日益多样化。 来自辞典例句
- Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
- A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。
- She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
- China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。
- 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。
- They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
- The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。
- 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》
- Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
- What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
- 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。
- The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
- Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。
- We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
- He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。
- French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
- Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。