布莱尔首相演讲:Investment

Transcript¹ of the Prime Minister's broadcast on investment

Wherever you look in our country, you can see the result of decades of under-investment.

Children still being taught in cramped² or prefab classrooms. Patients treated in wards³ built long before penicillin⁴ was discovered.

Our railways and roads fall short of the standards we need. And that's not just bad for travellers but bad for our economy.

And it's not just the fabric⁵ of our country which reveals the signs of this failure to invest.

There was a chronic⁶ shortage of people, of teachers, doctors, nurses when we came into Government three years ago.

Even worse, we found that training places and recruitment had often been cut back.

Now I don't go along with those who claim, for example, that we have a third world health service.

That's an insult to the dedicated⁷ doctors and nurses who work in the NHS.

And it also ignores the fact that thousands of people every day get superb treatment and care.

But we are now the fourth biggest economy in the world. And few people would claim we have the fourth best public services. I certainly don't.

That's because for far too long - we haven't invested. We haven't looked to the long-term. We haven't invested for our future.

And that's largely because of the cycle of boom and bust⁸ which has gripped our economy for so long.

It meant sudden increases of investment followed by panic cut-backs which made it impossible to plan sensibly for the future.

We were so determined⁹ to restore stability to the economy - even if it meant hard decisions and some unpopularity.

We didn't ignore investment in our early years. Indeed we launched the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the health service. The first of these is already open in Carlisle. We invested to make sure that infant class sizes have fallen. Over 10,000 schools have been re-furbished or repaired. Wherever you live, there'll be a school near you which has benefited.

But there is a great deal more to do. And with inflation and interest rates low, billions saved in debt repayments¹⁰ and a record number of people in work, the country can now afford the sustained investment needed in our health service, schools, police and transport systems.

It means a 150% increase in investment in public transport investment desperately¹¹ needed for our roads and railways.

Then there's a £1.4 billion increase in health spending on hospitals, clinics and equipment.

And extra investment, too, for urgent repairs for 7,000 more schools.

But there's little point in having wonderful new schools or hospitals if you don't have the trained staff to go into them.

So we're working hard to tackle the shortage of nurses, doctors and teachers.

We've reversed, for example, the short-sighted cuts in nurse training places. We've expanded medical schools and places.

We are having some success, too - an increase of nearly 5,000 doctors in the health service in the last three years in the health service. An increase of 10,000 qualified¹² nurses too.

And this week we learnt that for the first time in eight years the number of teachers in training has risen.

That is vital because it is the dedicated teachers who are delivering the real progress we're seeing in our schools.

Good teachers can and do make a massive difference to the lives of the children they teach.

Every day, in schools the length and breadth of our country, the hard-work of dedicated teachers give our children the help and encouragement they need to realise their potential.

For far too long however, teachers have felt under-valued and under-rewarded. And that's wrong when you think that there can be few jobs more fulfilling, more challenging or more important to our society's future than being a teacher.

So this welcome increase in the numbers of teachers in training is a sign that we are beginning to get things right.

But there's a lot more that we need to do. I want to see the best and the brightest sign up in their tens of thousands to become teachers, to join that education crusade.

We need more teachers just as we need more doctors, more nurses, more modern schools and hospitals.

It can't be done overnight. It takes years to build a new hospital or train new doctors.

But our hard-won economic stability means we now have the chance at least to plan and invest for the long-term.

A chance to end the years of neglect of our public services and deliver the world-class education, health and transport system that this country needs and deserves. It's a chance that we should all take.

1 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。

2 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

3 wards   

区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态

参考例句：

• This hospital has 20 medical [surgical] wards. 这所医院有 20 个内科[外科]病房。
• It was a big constituency divided into three wards. 这是一个大选区，下设三个分区。

4 penicillin   

n.青霉素，盘尼西林

参考例句：

• I should have asked him for a shot of penicillin.我应当让他给我打一针青霉素的。
• Penicillin was an extremely significant medical discovery.青霉素是极其重要的医学发现。

5 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

6 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

7 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

8 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 repayments   

偿还，报答，偿付的钱物( repayment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The repayments of the loan are spread over 10 years. 贷款可在十年内分期偿还。
• The repayments of the loan are spread over 25 years. 这笔贷款分摊二十五年偿还。

11 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

12 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。