2006年VOA标准英语-Bread Shortage Expands in Zimbabwe

By Tendai Maphosa
Harare
20 September 2006
 
Bread shelves in most Zimbabwean shops were empty Tuesday as bakers¹ scaled down production. 

		Zimbabwean man walks past empty bread shelves in central Harare, September 20, 2006

The shortage of the standard loaf of bread comes after a crackdown on bakers selling bread at prices not approved by the government. But bakers have insisted the issue involves a shortage of flour rather a the crackdown. The retail² price of the standard loaf shot up by more than 50 percent last week to more than $1.30.

The government responded by arresting the executive of one of the country's leading bakeries. A baker's association spokesman told VOA Monday that other top bakery managers had gone into hiding for fear of arrest.

Burombo Mudumo the chairman of the National Bakers Association told the state-controlled daily newspaper, The Herald³, that there is very little flour in the country and bakers were trying to stretch the available flour as far as possible.

Zimbabwe does not produce enough wheat to meet its needs. Production has been further affected⁴ by President Robert Mugabe's sometimes-violent land reform program launched in 2000. The country does not have enough foreign currency to import wheat to plug the deficit⁵.

A bakers' association official told VOA on condition of anonymity⁶ that his association since last year made numerous approaches to the government for a review of bread prices. He says the government has not responded. He blamed Zimbabwe's hyper-inflationary environment for the increase. Inflation stands at more than 1,200 percent.

A visit to some bakeries in Harare revealed empty bread shelves, but a glut⁷ of other products on which there is no price controls such as fancy bread loaves and rolls.

For a majority of Zimbabweans, these are prices well out of reach with an estimated 80 percent of the country's workforce⁸ unemployed⁹ and the majority of those with jobs earning salaries way below the poverty line.

In a separate development internet traffic through the country's biggest international link, which is controlled by the state telecommunications company, TelOne, has been cut off as the company has failed to settle a debt of $700,000. Internet companies that route most of their traffic through TelOne are the worst affected but traffic on all providers has been slower than normal for the past week.

1 bakers   

n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三

参考例句：

• The Bakers have invited us out for a meal tonight. 贝克一家今晚请我们到外面去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bakers specialize in catering for large parties. 那些面包师专门负责为大型宴会提供食品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

3 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

4 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。

5 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。

6 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。

7 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

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 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。