VOA标准英语2010年-Medvedev Seeks to Remake Russia with S

Peter the Great, Joseph Stalin and now Russian President Dmitri Medvedev all set ambitious goals of modernizing¹ Russia. Last September, Mr. Medvedev published an essay entitled "Go, Russia!" that spelled out a new strategy to use technology and innovation to boost economic efficiency. Part of the plan is to create an innovation center called Skolkovo, the Kremlin's answer to Silicon² Valley. But, many in Russia are skeptical³ about the project's success.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev began a visit to the United States earlier this summer not at the White House, but in California's Silicon Valley, where he met with Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger and established contacts with potential business partners at the world's leading technology companies. The main reason - Russia's ambitious plans for its own Silicon Valley, or Skolkovo.

"This center will serve as an engine for forming an innovation system in our country," said Dmitri Medvedev. "It has to be represented as fully⁴ competitive from the very beginning, and its competitiveness has to be global. This will make a major difference from what we've done before. Now we have to start the work."

 

This is Skolkovo now - 370 hectares of empty land, 20 kilometers from Moscow. Over the next three years, the government plans to spend more than $5 billion to build a science and innovations hub here, focusing on energy, information technology, communication, biomedical research and nuclear technology.

The project has already attracted interest from Siemens, Microsoft, Google, Nokia and Intel. Cisco Systems will become the first tenant⁵, having promised to invest $1 billion during Mr. Medvedev's visit to California. Oil and aluminum⁶ billionaire Viktor Vekselberg has been appointed Skolkovo's general manager. He says he hopes Russian companies also will come on board.

"The status of participants will be active for 10 years," he said. "There will be breaks on value-added tax - in some cases zero taxation⁷ - no tax on land or property, tax breaks on pension payments. All that creates very attractive conditions not only for startup companies but for existing scientific research centers that could decide to move and organize their activity at Skolkovo."

In the past 10 years, much of Russia's revenue has come from oil and gas sales. Nikolai Petrov from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Moscow says the Kremlin hopes Skolkovo will help to change that.

"The general idea is connected with the fact that the model of Russia's economic development based on natural resources is almost over and it's vitally needed for the country to look for a different model," he said.

Supporters also hope that Skolkovo helps to lure⁸ back hundreds of thousands of talented Russians - technology specialists, scientists and entrepreneurs - who have left Russia since the fall of the Soviet⁹ Union. But Petrov says one single project will not solve the problem.

"Unfortunately, you know, it's like in agriculture - you can try to grow a plant, but you need to have the whole environment friendly, otherwise this pretty weak plant will not survive," said Petrov. "So it's possible to attract those Russians who left from the country, but if it's not for a short while, not for just a visit, it's needed to offer them conditions similar to those where they live now.

A recent poll in Russia says most Russians think their country's modernization¹⁰ plans should focus more on getting rid of corruption¹¹ and bureaucracy than building technology. But plans are to start construction at Skolkovo sometime in 2011, and the Kremlin hopes in three years Russia's new technology hub will be in business. 
 

1 modernizing   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的现在分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• Modernizing a business to increase its profitability and competitiveness is a complicated affair. 使企业现代化，从而达到增加利润，增强竞争力的目的，是一件复杂的事情。
• The young engineer had a large share in modernizing the factory. 这位年轻工程师在工厂现代化的过程中尽了很大的“力”。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

6 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

7 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

8 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

9 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

10 modernization   

n.现代化，现代化的事物

参考例句：

• This will help us achieve modernization.这有助于我们实现现代化。
• The Chinese people are sure to realize the modernization of their country.中国人民必将实现国家现代化。

11 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。