2006年VOA标准英语-UN: Palestinian Economy on Verge of Collapse

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
12 September 2006
 

A new U.N. report warns the Palestinian economy is on the verge¹ of collapse².  In its annual report on Assistance to the Palestinian People, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development is calling for intensified³ aid and urgent action to prevent this from happening.

The report finds dwindling⁴ donor⁵ support has left the Palestinian Authority in a perilous⁶ financial position.  UNCTAD projections⁷ indicate that per-capita income for 2006 will be half pre-2000 levels.  It says unemployment will affect half the Palestinian workforce⁸ by the end of the year, and two out of three Palestinian households will fall below the poverty level. 

Coordinator⁹ of UNCTAD Assistance to the Palestinian People Raja Khalidi says it is possible to help the Palestinian economy recover given the right remedies.  But he adds that requires both political and economic factors that do not appear to be at hand.

"The scale of decline is such that recovery will take a lot longer than it would have taken - that it took, say, in the last three years between 2002 to 2005," Khalidi says.  "So, it is not an irreversible situation, but there are no, for the moment, there are no indications of any political or financial means of reversing it." 

The report notes the Palestinian economy is small, highly integrated and dependent on Israel.  It says between 2002 and 2005, the Palestinian trade deficit¹⁰ widened by 60 percent, increasing to $2.7 billion in 2005.

It says international aid to the Palestinian people was not sufficient to pay for the unbalanced trade with Israel.   

Also, since the increase of violence and the election of the Hamas-led government, the number of Palestinians working in Israel has been reduced from 150,000 to less than 50,000. 

Since Hamas took power five months ago, the international community has withheld¹¹ aid, except for humanitarian¹² needs, because of the militant¹³ group's refusal to recognize Israel and renounce¹⁴ violence.

As a consequence, UNCTAD says the Palestine Authority has not been able to pay the salaries of 150,000 civil servants.  They no longer have the money to support the local economy.

Khalidi also points out that tax receipts in trade collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestine Authority have not been transferred during the past six months.

"We are talking about a $1.5 billion per annum cut in transfers received either from the donor community or from tax collected by Israel on their behalf. Most of that went to the government budget and for the moment that is not coming in.   It has now been six months.  So, we are talking about losses which are up to already over $500 million in terms of the income that the economy otherwise would have had in this year.  So, that is a pretty dire¹⁵ situation," Khalidi says.

Khalidi says this serious economic deprivation¹⁶ has led to an increase in criminality and in mental illnesses.  He says professionals are looking for jobs in other countries and this will cause a so-called brain drain.

He says the international community should try to separate politics from the developmental needs of the Palestinian people.  

1 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

5 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

6 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

7 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

8 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

9 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

10 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

11 withheld   

withhold过去式及过去分词

参考例句：

• I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract. 他们履行合同后，我才付款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was no school play because the principal withheld his consent. 由于校长没同意，学校里没有举行比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

13 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

14 renounce   

v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系

参考例句：

• She decided to renounce the world and enter a convent.她决定弃绝尘世去当修女。
• It was painful for him to renounce his son.宣布与儿子脱离关系对他来说是很痛苦的。

15 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

16 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。