VOA慢速英语2011--Investing in the Arab Spring

Economics Report - Investing in the Arab Spring

经济报道 - 投资支持阿拉伯国家改革

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

The "Arab Spring" in the Middle East and North Africa has raised hopes and dreams. But can it raise money to invest in a better future?

“阿拉伯之春”在中东和北非点燃了希望和梦想。但是，它能不能筹集到资金建设一个更美好的未来？

How to respond to the Arab uprisings was a major question for world leaders this week at the Group of Eight meeting in France. Earlier in the week, the head of the World Bank said international support can speed progress -- "but only if coupled with real reform."

如何回应阿拉伯起义是本周在法国举行的八国集团会议上各国领导人的主要议题。本周早些时候，世界银行行长表示，国际援助可以加快这些阿拉伯国家的进展，但必须与实际意义上的改革相结合。

World Bank President Robert Zoellick offered loans to Egypt and Tunisia. Tunisians and Egyptians led democracy protests that overthrew 1 their presidents early this year.

世界银行行长佐利克为埃及和突尼斯提供了贷款。今年早些时候，突尼斯人民和埃及人民领导的民主示威活动推翻了各自的总统。

President Obama discussed American development plans in his Middle East policy speech last week at the State Department.

奥巴马上周在国务院的中东政策演说中讨论了美国的发展计划。

BARACK OBAMA: "The goal must be a model in which protectionism gives way to openness, the reins 2 of commerce pass from the few to the many and the economy generates jobs for the young. America's support for democracy will therefore be based on ensuring financial stability, promoting reform and integrating competitive markets with each other and the global economy. And we are going to start with Tunisia and Egypt."

奥巴马：“必须让这样一个模式成为我们的目标——它使保护主义让位于开放；商贸控制权从少数人转到多数人手中；让经济给年轻人带来就业。因此，美国对民主的支持将基于确保金融稳定；促进改革；让竞争性市场相互融合并与全球经济接轨。我们将从突尼斯和埃及开始。”

The World Bank will offer Egypt four and a half billion dollars in loans over the next two years. The money would be part of a plan with the International Monetary 3 Fund to help control Egypt's budget deficit 4.

未来两年，世界银行将向埃及提供45亿美元贷款。这笔钱将作为国际货币基金组织帮助埃及控制预算赤字的计划的一部分。

The goal is to improve the country's credit rating in order to ease the concerns of investors 5 and reduce borrowing costs. About two billion dollars in loans would be linked to progress in government reforms.

其目标是提高该国的信用评级，从而缓解投资者担忧，降低借贷成本。其中近20亿美元将与政府改革的进展情况联系起来。

The World Bank also promised at least one billion dollars for Tunisia.

世界银行还承诺向突尼斯提供至少10亿美元贷款。

Twenty years ago, the European Bank of Reconstruction 6 and Development was created to help former communist countries after the fall of the Soviet 7 Union. Now, that bank could invest up to three and a half billion dollars in the Middle East and North Africa.

20年前，欧洲在苏联解体后建立了欧洲复兴开发银行用于援助中东欧国家。现在该银行可能向中东和北非投资达35亿美元。

About four hundred million people live in those two areas. A majority are under the age of thirty. The anger of the many educated but unemployed 8 young people has been a driving force in the Arab Spring movement.

大约有2.4亿人生活在中东和北非这2个地区，其中大部分人口小于30岁。受过教育但失业的愤怒青年已经成为阿拉伯之春的一大推动力量。

Oil is the main export for many of the countries. Yet a recent World Bank study showed that oil has not done much to raise wages. Income growth continues to fall behind East Asia and South America.

该地区的大多数国家主要出口石油。然而世界银行最近的一项研究表明，石油在提高收入方面并没有起到太大作用。这些国家的收入增长继续落后于东亚和南美。

Over the years, private investment has been limited largely to the oil industry. But there are some efforts to change that. In March, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised two billion dollars through a government agency known as OPIC.

多年来，私人投资已经在很大程度上限制了石油工业。但也有一些努力试图改变这种状况。今年三月，美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿承诺通过一家名为OPIC的政府机构投资20亿美元。

OPIC is the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. It works with Americans businesses to invest in projects in developing countries.

OPIC全称是Overseas Private Investment Corporation（即美国海外私人投资公司）。它与美国商界合作投资于发展中国家项目。

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.