美国国家公共电台 NPR Amid Economic Crisis, Even Sugar Becomes A Luxury In Egypt

Amid Economic Crisis, Even Sugar Becomes A Luxury In Egypt

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And let's turn now to a country that has long been an important part of American foreign policy, and that's Egypt. It is facing its worst financial crisis in decades. And that means in the Middle East's most populous² country people are having trouble putting food on the table. NPR's Jane Arraf went to a market in Cairo to see how poor Egyptians are getting by.

JANE ARRAF, BYLINE³: This is one of the big food markets in central Cairo. You can find almost anything here that's raised or grown in Egypt - live chickens, piles of mangoes and pomegranates, red and yellow dates fresh from the tree. But all of those have become too expensive for a lot of Egyptians. That's why dozens of people are crowding around a nearby Army truck. Rising costs and a falling currency have made times so tough that Egypt has sent the army into neighborhoods to sell cartons full of a mix of basic foods at cut-rate prices.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Foreign language spoken).

ARRAF: These people are shouting, I want a carton.

(CROSSTALK)

ARRAF: The crowd is full of old people holding up tattered⁴ bills.

So there is an Army truck here, but they're just closing the doors even though people are holding up money. The boxes are supposed to cost 25 pounds each, less than $2. And people are waving money, but the soldiers are telling them there's none left.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ARRAF: Sugar, a carton with sugar and butter and macaroni - that's what this woman says she's waiting for. Most of them are going home empty handed to try again another day. Egypt has 90 million people in it, and it imports most of its food. For decades, the government has subsidized everyday necessities like food and electricity. But the economy is in terrible shape. Tourism has dried up. Oil and gas prices are down, and a shortage of foreign currency means the government doesn't have money for imports. Recently, it ran out of money to import sugar, and that's when things got really serious. It's the only luxury the poor can afford. At the market, I meet Ateeyah Saleh, a furniture maker⁵, with his son Salah, who's 6. They haven't been able to find sugar in the grocery store.

ATEEYAH SALEH: (Foreign language spoken).

ARRAF: "A kid like that, how will he drink his milk if we don't put sugar in it," he says. The International Monetary⁶ Fund has agreed to lend Egypt $12 billion, but there are conditions attached. The government has to cut those subsidies⁷ that Egyptians have always taken for granted. It slashed⁸ the value of the Egyptian currency, and it will have to make huge structural⁹ changes to encourage foreign investment and create jobs in the private sector¹⁰. The question is whether Egyptians will become so fed up they'll come out in the streets to protest. After all, it was poverty that sparked protests five years ago and toppled governments in the Arab world, including in Egypt.

ZIAD BAHA AL-DIN: On the whole, Egyptians, after five years of political change, don't have a lot of appetite for dramatic change. And most people I think are really willing to endure a lot in order to avoid other forms of turmoil¹¹.

ARRAF: That's Ziad Baha al-Din, an economist¹² and former deputy prime minister. He says the government has to make genuine reforms to make sure the economic pain Egyptians are going through isn't wasted. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Cairo.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

3 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。

4 tattered   

adj.破旧的，衣衫破的

参考例句：

• Her tattered clothes in no way detracted from her beauty.她的破衣烂衫丝毫没有影响她的美貌。
• Their tattered clothing and broken furniture indicated their poverty.他们褴褛的衣服和破烂的家具显出他们的贫穷。

5 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

6 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

7 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

10 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。

11 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

12 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• 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。