2007年VOA标准英语-ADB Promises to Focus on Poor, While Adapting t

By Kurt Achin
Kyoto
07 May 2007

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda answers to questions during a press conference, at Kyoto International Conference Center, 07 May 2007

The chief of the Asian Development Bank says the organization will not sacrifice its efforts to help Asia's poor, despite a restructuring effort to offer services to increasingly wealthy nations. The Bank just wrapped up its annual Board of Governors' meeting in Japan, where delegates discussed the organization's future role. VOA Correspondent Kurt Achin reports from the meeting in Kyoto.

Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda says the organization is not about to forget the reason it was founded.

"We must respond to the changing needs of the region as a regional bank. But that does not mean that the bank can dilute¹ its devotion to poverty reduction," he said.

As he formally closed a four-day meeting of senior ADB officials in Kyoto, Kuroda sought to ease fears about the bank's plans to reinvent itself.

 

When the ADB was established in 1966, most of Asia was desperately² poor and unable to secure capital for badly needed investments.

Forty-one years and billions of dollars in loans later, Asian nations hold a combined $3 trillion in foreign currency reserves. The region is home to export powerhouses like China, Japan, and South Korea.

An ADB report predicted last month that by 2020, most Asians will live in "middle income" countries.

That report sets out a blueprint³ for the bank in a region less starved for capital. It urges the ADB to take the lead on regional integration⁴, financing infrastructure⁵, and improving the financial sectors⁶ of wealthier Asian nations.

The report's recommendations were the focus of an intense series of discussions during the Kyoto conference. Some ADB members are concerned the bank will lose its focus on the poor.

Afghanistan's Finance Minister, Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, said Friday Asia's growth had bypassed his country, and made a plea with the ADB to remain engaged with "fragile states" like his own.

United States delegate Kenneth Reed urged the bank to stick to its core mission and not to seek new mandates⁷.

Indonesian Finance Minister Mulvani Indrawati warned some of the services the ADB hopes to provide to wealthier nations may be better carried out by other organizations.

"This is all becoming the comparative advantage, or strong point, for many other multilateral institutions, say, the World Bank or even the IMF [International Monetary⁸ Fund]. So the question is whether the ADB will compete or complement⁹ the other two institutions," said Indrawati.

Last month's report predicted that by 2020 absolute poverty, that is, people living on less than $1 a day, would be essentially¹⁰ eradicated¹¹ in Asia. But ADB President Kuroda pointed¹² out Friday that 60 percent of Asians would still be living on $2 or less per day.

"And can you say that $2 a day is not poverty? I think even $2 a day means still poverty," said Kuroda.

Whichever way the bank is steered¹³, ADB officials say it will certainly contribute to building Asia's infrastructure, which will require hundreds of trillions of dollars in investment in the coming decades. The bank says it will also try to ensure that Asia invests in clean energy projects, and plans to devote a billion dollars of ADB money to that end this year.

1 dilute   

vt.稀释，冲淡；adj.稀释的，冲淡的

参考例句：

• The water will dilute the wine.水能使酒变淡。
• Zinc displaces the hydrogen of dilute acids.锌置换了稀酸中的氢。

2 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

3 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

4 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

8 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。

9 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

12 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

13 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》