【英语语言学习】巴拿马运河

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Panama Canal was built almost 100 years ago and is now undergoing a major expansion. The waterway will be widened, making room for bigger ships, and that means more cargo¹ and more revenue. The expansion promises big rewards for Panama and the Americas. But will those benefits trickle² down in a country were almost 40 percent of the population is in poverty? Tim Padgett of member station WLRN in Miami went to Panama to find out.

TIM PADGETT, BYLINE³: Each year, ships like this one move 330 million tons of cargo through Panama. The U.S. built the canal in 1914, but more important to most Panamanians, is what happened 14 years ago. That's when the U.S. handed over to ownership to Panama. And Panama has made the most of it - turning the waterway into a business that generates $2.5 billion a year.

Panama's economy is growing faster than any other in Latin America. Panama City has a new subway. It's waterfront skyline now supports the region's tallest skyscraper⁴, the Trump⁵ Ocean Club. In fact, Panama, today, rivals the U.S. as a prime shopping destination for foreign visitors.

CARLOS URRIOLA: When you go to Miami, you will see a lot of people with their luggage in the malls buying things. Today, you see this in Panama.

PADGETT: Carlos Urriola is an executive with the Manzanillo International Terminal, a port that serves the canal.

URRIOLA: It's amazing that a small country of 3.5 million people have so much influence in what happens in world commerce.

PADGETT: And that influence promises to grow thanks to this - the $5 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. When the wider locks and channels are completed next year, the canal will be able to serve more massive ships. That should almost double the canal's annual revenues over the next decade and help Panama become a global maritime⁶ and financial hub.

But the canal hasn't solved Panama's glaring social inequality. Even the canal's top booster warns that could threaten the country's future. Jorge Quijano heads the Panama Canal Authority. He cites Panama's education system, rated one of the world's worst, as one deficiency that could ultimately scare away foreign investors⁷.

JORGE QUIJANO: There's so much investment coming in from outside and eventually what's going to happen is if we don't have the right people, those investments will go elsewhere.

PADGETT: The problems go beyond education. Close to 40 percent of Panamanians still live in poverty. Half the country's children are poor and almost a fifth suffer malnutrition⁸.

ELADIA CORDOBA: (Through translator) All the canal wealth isn't getting to poor people or the barrios. It's not coming to anyone's rescue here.

PADGETT: Eladia Cordoba is a widowed, unemployed⁹ mother in Panama City's El Chorrillo slum. The barrio sits practically beneath the capital's gleaming new office and condo towers. Córdoba spoke¹⁰ to me inside her tiny walk-up apartment while feeding her four young children a lunch of pasta and ketchup¹¹. And she's not confident that the winner of last month's presidential election, Juan Carlos Varela will do much to change her situation.

CORDOBA: (Through translator) As soon as they become president in Panama, they take care of the rich.

PADGETT: On the other side of the isthmus¹², next to the canal's Caribbean entrance, the larger predominately black port city of Colon¹³ has been left out of Panama's prosperity. Unemployment there is about 50 percent. And in recent years, frustrations¹⁴ have morphed into deadly street protests.

Roberto Darkins has taken part in those demonstrations¹⁵. He sells clothing on Colon's main street. Despite Panama's building boom, he, his wife and four kids can only afford a one-bedroom apartment in a decaying 19th century building.

ROBERTO DARKINS: You make a building and you charge $500, $700 a month. And the salary here is like, $200, $300 a month. Then who do you expect to go and live in those buildings?

political system will devour¹⁶ the fruits of the enlarged canal.

DARKINS: The more money you make, the more corruption¹⁷ they going to do.

PADGETT: All of which could undermine Panama's expansion, no matter how well it expands it's canal. For NPR News, I'm Tim Padgett.

1 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

2 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

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 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

10 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。

11 ketchup   

n.蕃茄酱，蕃茄沙司

参考例句：

• There's a spot of ketchup on the tablecloth.桌布上有一点番茄酱的渍斑。
• Could I have some ketchup and napkins,please?请给我一些番茄酱和纸手巾？

12 isthmus   

n.地峡

参考例句：

• North America is connected with South America by the Isthmus of Panama.巴拿马海峡把北美同南美连接起来。
• The north and south of the island are linked by a narrow isthmus.岛的北部和南部由一条狭窄的地峡相连。

13 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

14 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

15 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

16 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

17 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。