美国国家公共电台 NPR--Syrians struggle with soaring prices, currency collapse and fuel shortages

Syrians struggle with soaring prices, currency collapse¹ and fuel shortages

Transcript²

Syrians say they're facing worse economic hardship than at any other time during more than a decade of civil war — even though the president's regime has solidified³ its hold on much of the country.

DWANE BROWN, HOST:

In Syria, fighting in the civil war has become less frequent and the regime of President Bashar Assad has solidified its hold on much of the country. But even in places controlled by the government, Syrians are struggling with soaring prices, a currency collapse and fuel shortages. NPR's Ruth Sherlock spoke⁴ with a Syrian visiting Lebanon about how even the basics are hard to get.

RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE⁵: Sitting in an old armchair outside the apartment block in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, where he now sometimes stays, this Syrian man tells me, through an interpreter, about life now in his hometown of Sweida in Syria.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) The line to get a bag of bread is three or four hours.

SHERLOCK: He says constant power cuts mean that dairy and meat products are often rotten.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) Most shops, they don't have enough diesel⁶ to run their generators⁷ to have their fridges running correctly all the time.

SHERLOCK: The Syrian man asks that we don't use his name because he fears that the Syrian regime, still a brutal⁸ dictatorship, might arrest him for speaking about Syria's problems with foreign media. Most of his family has fled Syria. He still goes back to Sweida to check on his property there.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

SHERLOCK: He says without power, classrooms are too cold for children to stay in school. Hospitals are so short of supplies that they sometimes ask the relatives of patients to find their own medications. And the poverty is extreme.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

SHERLOCK: He tells me of friends and neighbors who managed to keep their apartments through more than a decade of war.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) And now they're homeless, and they live in the streets and they're eating from the garbage. The amount of need that is there is beyond what people can help on an individual basis. And if you want to help everyone you want to help, then you will become like them. You will not be able to afford your own life.

SHERLOCK: The United Nations says more than 15 million Syrians out of a total population of around 22 million are in need of humanitarian⁹ aid. Samah Hadid from the Norwegian Refugee Council says this is more than at any other point during the conflict.

SAMAH HADID: People have to skip meals on a daily basis. They're skipping urgent medical procedures. They can't afford medicine. They have to send their children to work instead of school in order just to get food on the table. Countless¹⁰ parents have told us, time and time again, they lie awake at night, deeply worrying about how they're going to be able to purchase food the next day.

SHERLOCK: So why are things so bad now?

JIHAD YAZIGI: Obviously, you have the impact of the war, the combination of the destruction, migration¹¹, the breakdown¹² of institutions and so on and so forth¹³.

SHERLOCK: Jihad Yazigi, the editor-in-chief of the Syria Report, an online bulletin focused on Syria's economy, says the reasons are complex. The collapse of the banking¹⁴ sector¹⁵ in neighboring Lebanon in 2019 froze billions of dollars of Syrian deposits. Then there are the biting Western sanctions, often cited by Syrian leaders, and the impact of global inflation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Corruption¹⁶ has made things worse. In some ways, the government has acknowledged the difficulties. It told workers they can save fuel by not coming to their offices on some days last month. The severe fuel shortage, Yazigi says, is partly because Iran, a long-time ally of the Syrian regime, is now limiting the supply of oil that Damascus depends on. Yazigi says the reason for this may be political.

YAZIGI: So the most likely explanation is the Iranians using their oil supplies as a means, if you want, to extract some concessions¹⁷ from the Syrian regime on a number of issues.

SHERLOCK: He says Iran, which fought with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the war, wants Damascus to give it more economic advantages in Syria, like more access to phosphate mines. And Iran is concerned about Syria rebuilding ties with regional countries like Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. While all these complex politics unfold, however, it is Syrian citizens who, having already survived more than a decade of war, are left to suffer.

Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Beirut.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 solidified   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• Her attitudes solidified through privilege and habit. 由于特权和习惯使然，她的看法变得越来越难以改变。
• When threatened, he fires spheres of solidified air from his launcher! 当危险来临，他就会发射它的弹药！

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

7 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

11 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

12 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

13 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

14 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

15 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• 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。

16 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

17 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。