VOA标准英语2009年-British Aid Agency Calls for G20 to Live U

By Selah Hennessy
London
23 September 2009

As leaders of the G20 group of major economies prepare to meet in the United States this week, a British aid agency is calling for them to live up to promises made for more financial aid to the world's poorest nations. The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development says poor countries have been hit hardest by the global recession and need help now. 

The British aid agency says it wants to remind G20 leaders to live up to promises of aid.

Catholic Agency for Overseas Development policy chief George Gelber says G20 leaders will be discussing the 'green shoots of recovery' at their summit, but in many parts of the world the worst effects of the global crisis are still to come.

Gelber says in many of the poorest countries across the world the financial crisis is leading to devastating¹ social decline.

In Zambia, he says, the downturn in global demand for copper² - the country's main export - has led to unemployment across the country.  Almost 20,000 miners have been laid off since the economic downturn began, and Gelber says many of their children will not be going back to school.

"Of course in our own country in Britain we are going through the downturn like the United States. But all children, virtually, have
returned to school in September. We cannot say the same in Zambia. In fact we made a calculation that up to 11 percent of their school children - that is 250,000 children - might not be returning to school," said Gelber.

Gelber says the G20 need to contribute more money toward the world's poorest through a new fund set up earlier this year. The Rapid Social Response Fund targets the most vulnerable families, often at a local, household level.

"Back in April, the G20 made no commitment as to a particular target for this fund, but they said it would depend on voluntary allocations and as we say in the report it is still less than half a percent of the total $50billion. And we would like to see more money pledged to that fund, and we would like to see that fund dispersing³ money rapidly to developing country governments and NGOs as well, so that they can use it to help the
poorest and most vulnerable families," he said.

Political analyst⁴ Tom Cargill from the London-based research organization Chatham House, says a failure by world leaders to provide money pledged to the developing world is an ongoing⁵ problem.

"It is the whole story that there has been in terms of the disconnect between pledges and actual delivery of monies, and this is very common
and has been the case for many years now. We see the world food program closing camps in Somalia because pledged money has not come through. I am afraid that in terms of the track record of rich countries in following up on pledges it is patchy to say the least," said Cargill.

More financial aid to the world's poorest is needed, he says, but aid alone is not enough.

"That is just one small part of what needs to happen in terms of promoting private sector⁶ investment into Africa. And really moving towards an economic growth agenda rather than a development agenda. These African states deserve and indeed, I believe, will play an increasingly prominent role in global economic affairs and they need to be supported in doing that," said Cargill.

G20 leaders are to meet Thursday and Friday of this week in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh. It will be the third summit in less than a year in which world leaders have come together to discuss their reactions to the global financial crisis. 

1 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

2 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

3 dispersing   

adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Whereas gasoline fumes linger close to the ground before dispersing. 而汽油烟气却靠近地面迟迟不散。
• Earthworms may be instrumental in dispersing fungi or bacteria. 蚯蚓可能是散布真菌及细菌的工具。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。