国际货币基金组织会议拒绝抗议者要求

 

IMF Dismisses Anti-Globalization Criticism

Barry Wood

Washington

31 Aug 2001 07:04 UTC

 

The International Monetary¹ Fund is 1)dismissing a set of demands issued by a group planning protests during the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Washington at the end of next month. The threat of potentially 2)disruptive demonstrations² by anti-globalization protesters earlier led the IMF to shorten the meeting from one week to two days (September 29-30).

Police in Washington say they expect as many as 100,000 protesters in Washington during the IMF-World Bank annual meeting. Millions of dollars are being spent on security and a fence that will seal off a four-kilometer area of downtown.

IMF spokesman Tom Dawson says the 3)heightened security means these meetings will be less open than in the past. That, he says, is the 4)fault of the demonstrators who argue that IMF and World Bank policies are 5)destructive to developing countries.

At a briefing for reporters, Mr. Dawson rejected the protesters' 6)assertion that IMF policies squeeze the poor and cause borrower countries to reduce social spending.

"The idea that the Fund or the Bank go into countries and slash³ social spending is simply not the case," said Mr. Dawson. "We do - at least in the case of the Fund - tend to go into countries that are in difficulty. That makes it natural that the 7)budgets will be under pressure. But our belief is that countries with Fund programs - the poorest countries with Fund programs - tend to show increases, not decreases, in social spending, as compared to countries without Fund programs."

Mr. Dawson similarly dismissed the protest organization's call for the IMF and World Bank to stop supporting privatization of state-owned enterprises in developing countries. "They [the protesters] seem to have a model in which there shouldn't be any privatization," he said. "I think the record of the past few decades is that market forces work, and that private ownership leads to better performance and better growth prospects⁴."

Mr. Dawson also addressed a demand by the self-styled Mobilization for Global Justice group that the debts of all impoverished⁵ countries be canceled. "Not 8)withstanding this demand for debt 9)forgiveness, this is not a demand we are hearing from our member countries," he went on to say. "Remember, we're an organization of 183 member countries, and they are not asking us to forgive the debt because they understand the nature of the problem and how best to deal with it -- that, while debt forgiveness is appropriate in some cases, they recognize that good policies and 10)retaining access to capital markets is important."

The IMF and World Bank have led efforts to offer debt 11)relief to more than 20 of the world's poorest countries.

Anti-globalization protests began at a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, Washington, in November 1999, and over the past year have been held at a number of 12)regional and global economic meetings.

 

 

(1)      dismiss[dIs5mIs]vt.解散, 下课, 使(或让)离开vi.解散

(2)      disruptive adj.使破裂的, 分裂性的

(3)      heighten[haItEn]v.提高, 升高

(4)      fault[fC:lt]n.过错, 缺点, 故障, 毛病vt.挑剔vi.弄错

(5)      destructive[dI5strQktIv]adj.破坏(性)的

(6)      assertion[E5s:F(E)n]n.主张, 断言, 声明

(7)      budget[5bQdVIt]n.预算vi.做预算, 编入预算

(8)      withstand[wIT5stAnd]vt.抵挡, 经受住

(9)      forgiveness[ fE5^IvnIs]n.宽恕, 宽仁之心

(10)      retain[rI5teIn]vt.保持, 保留

(11)      relief[rI5li:f]n.(痛苦等的)减轻, (债务等的)免除, 救济

(12)      regional[5ri:dVEn(E)l]adj. 地方的, 地域性的

 

 

 

1 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。

2 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。

3 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

4 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

5 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》