VOA慢速英语2011--Greek Spending Cuts Clear Way for Loans

Economics Report - Greek Spending Cuts Clear Way for Loans

经济报道 - 希腊批准紧缩措施为获得救援贷款扫清道路

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

Greece has approved a plan to raise taxes, cut spending and sell government-owned assets. This clears the way for seventeen billion dollars in loans from the International Monetary 1 Fund and the European Union. The loans are a share of the one-hundred-fifty-six-billion-dollar rescue deal that Greece secured last year.

希腊批准了一项增加税收、削减支出和出售政府资产的计划。这将为希腊获得国际货币基金组织和欧盟的170亿贷款扫清道路。该贷款是希腊去年促成的1560亿救援协议的一部分。

The money will help the government to operate and pay its debts until the middle of September. But the austerity plan led to a national strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, along with violent demonstrations 2 in Athens.

这笔钱将在9月中旬前，帮助希腊政府运作以及偿付债务。但这项紧缩计划导致了周二和周三的全国性罢工，以及雅典的暴力示威。

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Several hundred protesters and police were injured.

数百名示威者和警察受伤。

The Greek parliament approved the forty-billion-dollar plan on Wednesday and the details on Thursday. Prime Minister George Papandreou won more support than expected for his proposals. He appealed to parliament to do everything possible to avoid defaulting on the debts of the birthplace of democracy.

希腊议会周三批准了这项400亿美元的计划，并于周四通过了该计划的具体细节。希腊总理乔治·帕潘德里欧(George Papandreou)的这项提案获得的支持远超预期。他呼吁议会尽一切可能避免作为民主发源地的希腊拖欠债务。

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"There is a choice," he said. "We can remain a Greece which has a huge public sector 3, or change to a Greece which has an effective democratic and productive public sector."

Greece is expected to seek more international help, even though years of government borrowing led to the crisis.

希腊预计将寻求更多的国际援助，尽管正是政府连年举债才导致了这次危机。

Many protesters said their government is making decisions that serve the interests of wealthy nations.

许多示威者表示，政府制定的决策是为富裕国家利益服务的。

WOMAN: "I want to feel Greek again. But I’m not Greek. I’m German, I’m American. I don’t know what I am.”

女子：“我想再度感受自己是希腊人。但我觉得自己不是希腊人，而是德国人、美国人。我都不知道我到底是哪国人。”

（意为希腊政府不是为希腊，而是为德国美国等富裕国家服务）

But other Greeks, including this man, see the need for austerity.

但其他希腊人，包括这名男子在内，则看到了紧缩措施的必要性。

MAN: “I think the policies are a good step towards finding common ground with the European Union, which is I think a vision that all Greeks should aspire 4 to. I don’t think any country can operate in isolation 5 these days, especially a country the size of Greece.”

男子：“我认为这些政策是寻找与欧盟共同点的良好开端，而这应该是所有希腊人所乐于看到的景象。我认为在当今世界，任何国家都不能孤立运作，尤其是一个像希腊这么小的国家。”

Also this week, the International Monetary Fund chose French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as managing director. Ms. Lagarde received support from the United States and European nations as well as Russia, Brazil and China. Her five-year term starts Tuesday.

同样是在本周，国际货币基金组织（简称IMF）同意法国财长克里斯汀·拉加德(Christine Lagarde)出任新总裁。拉加德女士得到了美国、欧洲各国以及俄罗斯、巴西和中国的支持。她的五年任期将于下周二开始。

Dominique Strauss-Khan had to resign in May. He is under house arrest in New York, charged with sexually attacking a hotel maid. He denies the charges.

国际货币基金组织前总裁多米尼克·斯特劳斯-卡恩（Dominique Strauss-Khan）五月被迫辞职。他被指控性侵犯一名酒店女佣，现被软禁于纽约。他否认了这项指控。

The international lender has always been led by a European, but Ms. Lagarde will be the first woman.

国际货币基金组织一向由欧洲人把持，但拉加德将成为国际货币基金组织首任女总裁。

Ms. Lagarde has promised to be a strong voice for developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa. But international monetary expert Domenico Lombardi says being a European will also help.

拉加德承诺将成为发展中国家，特别是亚、非地区的发展中国家的坚实后盾。但国际货币专家多梅尼科·隆巴迪（Domenico Lombardi）表示，拉加德身为欧洲人（对成功当选IMF总裁）也有帮助。

DOMENICO LOMBARDI: "And one key factor in guiding this decision is certainly the ability for Christine Lagarde as a European coming from a key euro area country to exert pressure, leverage 6 on her European fellow finance ministers in terms of taking a more aggressive stance on the European crisis."

隆巴迪：“导致这一结果（指IMF总裁人选决定）的其中一个关键因素当然是由于拉加德作为来自关键欧元区国家的欧洲人，在采取更积极态度应对欧洲危机方面，可以向欧洲各国财长施加压力和影响的这样一种能力。”

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Steve Ember.

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Contributing: Mil Arcega and Selah Hennessy