2007年VOA标准英语-Iraq's Kurdish Region Struggles with Power Shor

By Brian Padden
Irbil, Iraq
23 August 2007

The electricity shortage in Iraq continues to plague the country.  Power blackouts have become a telling symbol of the difficulties Iraq's government and the United States are having in improving life for ordinary Iraqis.  But power plants being built in the Kurdish region could end the local electrical shortage and send power to the rest of the county.  VOA's Brian Padden reports from Irbil in the heart of the Kurdish region of Iraq.  

Generator1 salesman Ahmed Muhammad, 22, tidies up his merchandise in central Baghdad, Iraq, 4 Aug. 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070831/1413210.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Generator salesman Ahmed Muhammad, 22, tidies up his merchandise in central Baghdad, Iraq, 4 Aug 2007

Irbil currently provides residents, free of charge, only about eight hours of electric power a day.

And when the power goes out, it is the job of Mohammad Qatar and other private generator operators to turn the lights back on.

Qatar runs a diesel² generator that provides electricity for about 300 homes.  An average household pays $60 a months for this service.  Qatar says he expects to be in business for a long time to come. 

He says if the government starts supporting the city full time, he will change jobs, but he does not see it happening anytime soon. 

Qatar has reason to feel confident. In all of Iraq electricity output has been actually slightly lower this summer than last year. 

Until recently, the energy needs of the Kurdish region have been ignored.  Officials say during his reign³, Saddam Hussein tried to control the region by making it dependent on Baghdad for power. 

Hoshyar Siwaily, the minister of electricity for the region, says the new Iraqi government has been unable to meet its needs.

"Unfortunately, for the past few years or the last three years, our budget, this ministry⁴'s budget was part of the federal ministry of electricity's budget," he said.  "They did not construct and build one single important project in the region."

The Kurdish regional government is now acting⁵ independently to increase electrical energy output through foreign assistance and private investment projects. 

The U.S. government has financed the building of four electrical substations that can transmit significantly more power to both the Kurdish region and the Iraqi national grid⁶.  Each substation cost between $4 million to $5 million. 

 A company called Mass Jordon is building a $390 million power plant outside the city of Irbil.  This facility is expected to start producing electricity later this year.  Three other privately-owned power plants in the Kurdish region are also in various stages of a construction. 

The Kurdish regional government will initially⁷ pay for the electricity produced with oil revenue, but says over time residents will have to start paying for this electricity.  Minister Siwaily says eventually the region also expects to send power to the rest of Iraq. 

"That's our aim," he said.  "In fact to give electricity to the other parts of Iraq."

Minister Siwaily expects that by 2009 the region will produce enough energy to keep the lights on 24 hours a day.

1 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

2 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

3 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。