VOA慢速英语2011--New Plan Aims to End European Debt Crisis

IN THE NEWS - New Plan Aims to End European Debt Crisis

 

新闻报道 - 欧盟试图“修约”终结欧洲债务危机

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语新闻报道。

Most members of the European Union have agreed to a deal to increase central control over the budgets of individual governments. The plan to increase economic ties was announced Friday at a meeting of European leaders in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

欧盟多数成员通过了一项增加对各国政府在财政预算上集中控制的协议。周五在比利时首都布鲁塞尔举行的一次欧洲领导人峰会上宣布了这一增加经济联系的方案。

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi praised the agreement.

欧洲央行总裁马里奥·德拉吉（Mario Draghi）称赞该协议。

MARIO DRAGHI: "It's a very good outcome for the euro area, very good. It's quite close to a good fiscal¹ compact, and certainly it's going to be a basis for a much more disciplined economic policy for euro-area members, and certainly it's going to be helpful in the present situation."

德拉基：“这对欧元区来说是一个非常好的结果，它非常接近于良性财政结构压缩。它也必将成为欧元区国家建立更加自律的经济政策的基础，对当前形势极有帮助。”

All seventeen countries that share the euro currency agreed to the deal. All together, twenty-three of the twenty-seven European Union nations agreed to it. EU president Herman van Rumpoy said three more members are considering it. That would leave Britain as the only country against the plan.

所有欧元区17个国全部通过了这一协议。欧盟27个成员国中，共有23个国家也通过了这一协议。欧盟主席赫尔曼·范龙佩（Herman van Rumpoy）表示，还有3个成员国正在考虑当中，这将使得英国成为唯一反对这一方案的国家。

HERMAN VON RUMPOY: "Our preference went to a full-fledged treaty change with the twenty-seven, changing the treaties of the European Union. We tried it, but because there was not a unanimous decision, we have to take another decision."

范龙佩：“我们选择与27个成员国一起，对欧盟条约做出全面修改。我们做了努力，但由于无法取得一致，我们必须重做决定。”

EU heads of state stand for a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday. But deep divisions on the future of Europe remain.

The plan is an effort to solve the debt problems that have threatened the euro and driven Europe into an economic crisis.

这一方案是为了解决已经威胁到欧元并将欧洲推入经济危机的债务问题。

Britain is the strongest of the ten non-euro countries. Prime Minister David Cameron defended his decision to reject the deal.

英国在10个非欧元区国家中最为强大。卡梅伦首相为自己否决这一方案做了辩解。

DAVID CAMERON: " I'm glad we're not in the euro. And so I think the idea of Europe being more of a network – where you choose the organizations you join, you choose those organizations you don't join -- is actually a way that Britain can get what we want and what we need in Europe."

卡梅伦：“我很高兴英国不在欧元区。而且我认为欧盟超出一体化的这样一种理念，也就是你可以选择要加入与不加入的组织，实际上是英国在欧洲获得自己所想所需的一种方式。”

Stock prices and the value of the euro rose Friday after the agreement. But economists³ were divided in their opinions about whether the plan would do enough to end the current problems and prevent future ones.

在协议之后，股价和欧元汇率周五上涨。但经济学家对这一方案是否足以结束当前问题，并防止未来危机存在分歧。

Greece, Portugal and Ireland have received international financial help over their high levels of government debt. Some experts worry that Spain and Italy could have even greater needs. Some economists think the euro area has already entered a recession.

希腊、葡萄牙和爱尔兰已经在其高额政府债务上获得了国际金融援助。一些专家担心西班牙和意大利可能存在更大（国际援助的）需求。一些经济学家认为，欧元区已经进入衰退。

Germany and France are the two strongest economies in the euro area and led the calls for more central budget supervision⁴. German Chancellor⁵ Angela Merkel said more unity⁶ will make the euro more secure by punishing countries that do not control their budget deficits⁷.

德国和法国是欧元区最强的两个国家，两国带头呼吁集中预算监管。德国总理默克尔表示，一个更团结的欧盟能够通过惩罚不控制其预算赤字的国家，使欧元更加安全。

EU members that follow the new treaty must keep their deficits below one-half of one percent of their economic output.

遵循新条约的欧盟成员国必须保持其赤字低于其经济产值的0.5%。

European leaders said they expect to sign the treaty by March. But an agreement among politicians is one thing. Passing a new treaty into law is another. Some countries will decide that parliamentary approval is enough. Others, however, may put the treaty to a popular vote.

欧盟领导人表示，他们希望明年3月签署该条约。但政治家之间的协议是一回事，使之通过并成为法律是另一回事。一些国家将只需议会通过即可，但另一些国家可能会对新条约进行全民公决。

The leaders also agreed on other measures. These include giving the International Monetary⁸ Fund more money to try to stop the eurozone crisis from spreading.

领导人还通过了其它一些措施。其中包括为国际货币基金组织提供更多资金以试图阻止欧元区危机蔓延。

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the leaders meeting in Brussels took a step in the right direction.

国际货币基金组织总裁克里斯蒂娜·拉加德(Christine Lagarde)表示，布鲁塞尔领导人峰会向正确方向迈进了一步。

CHRISTINE LAGARDE: "Number one, they want to really consolidate⁹ their fiscal union. Number two, they've decided¹⁰ to accelerate the European stability mechanism¹¹. And number three, they've decided to add to the resources of the International Monetary Fund by an amount of two hundred seventy billion dollars, that is to be confirmed within ten days. So, that's, that's a really good step in the right direction."

拉加德：“第一，他们想真正巩固其财政联盟；第二，他们已经决定加快欧洲稳定机制；第三，他们已经决定向国际货币基金组织提供2700亿美元，这将在10天内确定。因此，这是向正确方向迈进了一步。”

But Simon Tilford, chief economist² at the Center for European Reform, in London, says the new treaty does nothing to solve Europe's debt crisis.

但位于伦敦的欧洲改革中心首席经济学家西蒙·迪尔福特（Simon Tilford）表示，新条约并没有解决欧洲债务危机。

SIMON TILFORD: "The problem is that fiscal austerity will not solve this crisis -- at least not alone. Fiscal austerity has in many ways become part of the crisis. Enforcing unending austerity on countries in the periphery¹² has already made their predicaments much worse and threatens to make a bad situation in Spain and Italy even worse than it currently is."

迪尔福特：“问题是，财政紧缩不会解决这场危机，至少不是单独的财政紧缩可以解决。 财政紧缩在很多方面成为危机的一部分。在外围国家执行无休止的紧缩已经使得他们的困境更为糟糕，并威胁到使西班牙和意大利比现在的情况更为糟糕。”

Mr. Tilford says whether Britain will be weaker for staying out of the deal depends on what happens to the euro area.

迪尔福特先生说，英国是否会由于置身协议之外而被弱化，取决于欧元区会发生什么。

SIMON TILFORD: "If the eurozone does master this crisis and holds together, and we see increased integration¹³ between the participating countries within the eurozone, then Britain will become progressively marginalized within the EU.”

迪尔福特：“如果欧元区确实控制住危机并抱成团，我们将看到欧元区参与国日益融合，接着英国将在欧盟内逐步边缘化。”

And if the eurozone breaks apart? Then that, he says, is another story.

如果欧元区崩解呢？他说，如果那样，就是另一回事了。

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
___

Contributing: Lisa Bryant and Dominic Laurie

1 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

2 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。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

5 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

6 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

7 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

8 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。

9 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

12 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

13 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。