VOA常速英语2008年-West African Governments Try to Stem More Price

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
11 April 2008

Governments across West Africa are working hard to avoid more protests about the soaring cost of living.  As VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our bureau in Dakar, governments are reducing prices where they can and searching for long-term solutions as well. 

Senegal's prime minister, Cheikh Aguibou Soumare, is trying to quell¹ the unrest in his country as a result of rising food and fuel costs.

He says government money is being spent to cut taxes on salaries and open fixed² price stores.

He adds that the government is talking to rice importers to see how they can lower their prices for Senegal's many rice consumers.

Soumare says the government is developing a program of self-sufficiency for growing rice to resolve what he called a very dysfunctional system.

In Senegal's main market in the capital Dakar, rice seller NDongo Diouf says it is getting harder and harder to deal with importers. 

He says they jack³ prices up more than necessary, taking advantage of an already bad situation.

Diouf says he now hides rice bags for his best customers and for his family as well, because they are getting harder and harder to find, but he has no confidence in Senegal one day being able to make good quality rice.

Night school student Antoinette, 20, is sifting⁴ through a 50-kilogram bag of rice, which now costs between $35 and $40, compared to about $25 a few months ago.

She says the price for a package of spaghetti recently jumped in one day from 70 cents to double that amount. 

She says she believes the only way for Senegalese to survive in what she calls this globalized oil-dependent world is to start eating and producing local food.

She says even if it is lower quality, Senegalese know how to cook, and they will manage to make it taste nice.  She says another benefit is that local rice is healthier as well.

1 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

2 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句