七国集团提议让海啸灾国延期偿付债款

 

Debt Moratorium¹ Proposed for Asian Countries Devastated² by Tsunami³

七国集团提议让海啸灾国延期偿付债款

 

The G7 group of industrialized nations will work out the details of the debt moratorium at next week's meeting of the Paris Club.

 

U.S. Congressman⁴ Dan Burton, co-chairman of the Indonesian Caucus⁵, tells VOA he supports the debt relief proposal.

 

Dan Burton: And that means deferring⁷ action on debt that is owed to the United States or other countries I think that we ought to seriously consider that. And I think that we will. I think that (debt) can be deferred⁸ and I think it will help the people with the recovery efforts over there.

 

The U.S. government has so far pledged $350 million for tsunami relief efforts. In addition, the United States has committed 13,000 military personnel to the effort, along with more than a dozen ships and hundreds of aircraft, including nearly 100 helicopters.

 

Meanwhile, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that American relief charities have raised more than $245 million, much of that in the form of on-line donations.

 

But with analysts⁹ placing the economic cost estimate of the tsunami disaster near $14 billion dollars, aid groups say much more is still needed.

 

Neil Watkins, Co-coordinator of the Jubilee¹⁰ USA Network, an organization dedicated¹¹ to debt relief for the world's poorest countries, says given the magnitude of the damage governments should be talking about full debt cancellation¹².

 

Neil Watkins: We think that we need to see a debt moratorium, but we think we need to see even more. We need to see that debt moratorium not only applies to bilateral¹³ debts, or debts owed to our government or the British government or other governments, but also multilateral debts. Debts owed to the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which is a huge percentage of the debts these countries are actually paying.

 

The G7 is urging the World Bank, International Monetary¹⁴ Fund and Asian Development Bank to do what they can to provide emergency assistance to the tsunami nations.

 

Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund issued a statement outlining different ways in which the Fund can help the countries affected¹⁵. Among the options are emergency lending and technical assistance to help the affected countries assess the economic consequences of the disaster -- but not debt cancellation.

 

Serena Parker, VOA news.

 

注释：

moratorium [7mCrE5tC:riEm] n. 延期偿付

defer⁶ [di5fE:] v. 推迟，延期

personnel [7pE:sE5nel] n. 人员，职员

chronicle [5krCnikl] n. 编年史

philanthropy [fi5lAnWrEpi] n. 慈善事业

charity [5tFAriti] n. 慈善，慈善团体

cancellation [kAnsE5leiFEn] n. 取消

1 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

2 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

3 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

6 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

7 deferring   

v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的现在分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• Recently, the Supreme Court has focused on an additional reason for deferring to administrative agencies. 最近，最高法院强调了尊重行政机构的另一种理由。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Think of it as deferring part of the compiler's job to runtime. 可以认为这是将编译器的部分工作延迟到了运行时。 来自互联网

8 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划

9 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

10 jubilee   

n.周年纪念；欢乐

参考例句：

• They had a big jubilee to celebrate the victory.他们举行盛大的周年纪念活动以祝贺胜利。
• Every Jubilee,to take the opposite case,has served a function.反过来说，历次君主巡幸，都曾起到某种作用。

11 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

12 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

13 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

14 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。

15 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。