PBS高端访谈:希腊将会就财政紧缩政策进行公投么?

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: PBS NewsHour special correspondent Malcolm Brabant has been covering the latest developments and joins me now from Athens.

　　You've been reporting on this for the past several weeks for us and other places. You've been talking to people on the street. The polls say that this vote is incredibly close. What's the feeling that you get on the street?

　　MALCOLM BRABANT, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: It's impossible to tell which way this vote is going to go because it's a hugely difficult and complex vote for people to make. The question on the ballot¹ paper is, is something that would probably baffle economic students.

　　So, for ordinary people leaving out of the country, miles from Athens, it's a very difficult choice.

　　But basically, it distills down to whether or not you want to vote for more of the same, which is increased austerity, which may be more severe that has been going on for the past five years, or something that is a step into the unknown, because nobody really knows what is going to happen if the country votes no.

　　The government here is basically saying that they're going to have a better — better terms possibly with the creditors². But that's something that really s undecided.

　　And so, this is the most difficult question in Greece's modern history.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: It's been a week since the banks have been closed, since money has been rationed³, what are the impacts that you see? Are there shortages of goods in stores now due to import restrictions⁴?

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: No. We're not seeing shortages yet, but that's certainly something that people are talking about in the future. There are concerns that people just won't get the goods that they want to.

　　The problem is that everybody now wants cash and — because cash is in short supply. And so, suppliers aren't giving materials to shops without getting cash. Customers are reluctant to part with their cash.

　　And so, the actual liquidity⁵ of the whole country is shrinking, and that makes the difficult for the society to survive.

　　The ironic⁶ thing is what the creditors really wanted to have is a sort of a modern society, financial society with credit and with money sort of going backwards⁷ and forwards electronically. But we're going backwards in that respect. It's going back to the 1980s.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, what are the possibilities on Monday in either way that the vote turns out? Do the central bankers, when they meet, could they approve bail-out funding if the yes side wins, or could they say, you're out of the Eurozone if the no side wins?

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: I don't think so it's going to happen as quickly as that. I mean, this has been a much slower slide than people had imagined.

　　People would have thought that after the default that there would have been sort of Armageddon and that simply hasn't happened. The slide downwards⁸ has been sort of fairly gentle.

　　But the problem is, that the money is running out of the banks here. And the big question is, if there is a no vote, will the banks actually dry out because the European Central Bank may feel compelled not to give the banks here anymore — more money at all.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And what about the social tension regardless of which way the vote goes?

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: It is really sort of quite intense because the country is completely divided. People are talking about this being the levels of hatred⁹ that might exist after this, is being something as deep as those that happened during the civil war which started 70 years ago.

　　This is a country which always had this tendency to turn on itself and to fight to itself. It's got kind of a self destructed past in a way.

　　People here have always fought against each other. And after the civil war ended in 1950, it took about 30 years for the country to be almost unified¹⁰.

　　And so, those are the kind of tensions that we're talking about. They're really immense. Although if you were to look around the city tonight, you would you say that it was relaxed. But there's an awful lot of tension under the surface.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right. Malcolm Brabant joining us from Athens, Greece, tonight — thanks so much.

1 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

2 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 rationed   

限量供应，配给供应( ration的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We were rationed to two eggs a day. 每天配给我们两个鸡蛋。
• The army is well rationed. 部队给养良好。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

6 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

7 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

8 downwards   

adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）

参考例句：

• He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
• As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。

9 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

10 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。