VOA慢速英语2015 缅甸大型水坝项目引起当地民众反对

AS IT IS 2015-06-15 Huge Dam Project in Myanmar Draws Local Opposition 缅甸大型水坝项目引起当地民众反对

Myanmar officials are making plans for a $6 billion hydropower dam in Shan State. The hydropower dam project has fierce critics, including Shan state residents. They say the project will flood an area nearly the size of Singapore and destroy 100 communities.

Ethnic¹ Shan community groups and environmentalists are appealing for help to fight the "Mong Ton" project. It is just one of five actively² planned hydropower projects planned for the Salween River.

About 16 Shan organizations released a statement in Bangkok this week. It said Myanmar’s government would probably send in troops to secure land for the dam project. The groups warned that an increased military presence could restart civil war. The statement noted³ that the area is already unstable⁴.

The proposed 241-meter high dam would produce more than 7,000 megawatts of electricity. Almost all of it is to be exported to China and Thailand.

Mong Ton would be Myanmar's largest hydroelectric dam and the tallest dam in Asia, except for China and India.

Pianporn Deetes is with the Thai office of the environmental group International Rivers. In his words, "Not many eyes are on this river basin.”

Dam Project Involves Australian Firm

The Shan ethnic group has been involved in several civil wars with Myanmar’s central government over many years. The Shan held several protests in April and May in an attempt to halt work on the project. At the time, a large Australian company was performing environmental and social impact studies. The company is Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation, or SMEC.

The statement from Shan groups criticized SMEC's study process. It said the process was dishonest and that the company planned to support the project from the start.

The statement criticized the actions of SMEC workers last month. It said they "angered local villagers by only explaining the positive impacts of the dam, giving them gifts' which they saw as bribes⁶, and persuading them to sign documents they didn't understand."

This reportedly happened a month after Australian Federal Police raided SMEC International headquarters in New South Wales. The police were said to be investigating reports of foreign bribery⁷.

Australian investigators⁸ have not said whether the reported wrongdoing involves the project in Myanmar. SMEC has not answered questions from VOA about the accusations⁹ made by dam opponents.

China, Thailand Back $6 Billion Project

The $6 billion project involves China's Three Gorges¹⁰ Corporation, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, Myanmar's Ministry¹¹ of Electric Power and International Group of Entrepreneurs, or IGE. Local media say the sons of a powerful former industry minister control IGE.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has long planned to build a dam in the area. A Japanese company did the first feasibility study in 1981. There was a ceremony in 2007 to open the project. But, little work has been done since.

The dam is expected to take 12 years to build. Separate ethnic armies in Shan state have long fought against the central government. The state also is home to most of Myanmar's opium¹² poppy crops.

Local environmentalists say Chinese workers connected to the dam project have been in the area for years. Some of the Chinese workers were kidnapped in May 2011 and later rescued by a Shan army. Since then, thousands of Myanmar government soldiers and police have guarded in the area. They sometimes fight with ethnic rebels.

Shan community groups say the security forces restrict movement along a 32-kilometer stretch of the Salween. The groups say the security forces bar anyone not involved with the project.

Few people live in the area that activists¹³ say would be flooded. A government campaign against rebels in the late 1980's forced about 300,000 Shan villagers to flee.

The Shan statement from Tuesday says, "The remaining (rural) communities continue to suffer from abuses committed with impunity¹⁴ by government troops.”

The Salween is one of the longest free-flowing rivers in the world. It runs 2,800 kilometers from the mountains of Tibet through China, Myanmar and Thailand. Its waters flow into the Andaman Sea.

Myanmar's government has not publicly answered the villager's objections to the project. Officials in the past have praised the Salween dam projects as helpful to the local populations. They have said the dams will help make electricity for Myanmar and lead to peace.

But, critics say the dam will help only wealthy and important people in Thailand and Myanmar. They say those people will profit from selling electricity around a region of fast-growing cities.

Words in This Story

unstable -– adj. likely to change; not secure

impact – n. a powerful or major influence or effect

positive – adj. good or useful

bribe⁵ – n. something valuable (such as money) that is given in order to get someone to do something

feasibility study – n. a study to show if something can be done

impunity – n. freedom from punishment, harm, or loss — usually used in the phrase with impunity

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

5 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

6 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

7 bribery   

n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿

参考例句：

• FBI found out that the senator committed bribery.美国联邦调查局查明这个参议员有受贿行为。
• He was charged with bribery.他被指控受贿。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

10 gorges   

n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕

参考例句：

• The explorers were confronted with gorges(that were)almost impassable and rivers(that were)often unfordable. 探险人员面临着几乎是无路可通的峡谷和常常是无法渡过的河流。 来自辞典例句
• We visited the Yangtse Gorges last summer. 去年夏天我们游历了长江三峡。 来自辞典例句

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

13 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。