VOA标准英语2013--South Sudan Hopes New Mining Law Will Unearth Treasures

 

South Sudan Hopes New Mining Law Will Unearth¹ Treasures

This “gold mine” in Nanakanak, Eastern Equatoria state, is just one of many spots across South Sudan’s east where a gold rush has hit.

Adele Natogo said that like countless² others, she left her nine children and village - an eight-hour walk from Nanakanak - a month ago to sift³ through the endless piles of terracotta rubble⁴ for gold.

“There are so many people that have come here. They are all over the bush, everyone looking for gold. This is a big place,” said Natogo.

But many of the miners say the golden era of finding nuggets is over.

Now they squint⁵ at their plastic basins for the tiniest speck⁶ of gold and hope machines will arrive soon to help their hunt.

Trader Samuel Kivuva in the nearest town, Kapoeta, said that when foreigners gave metal detectors⁷ to artisanal miners last year, their yield more than doubled from 5 kilograms of gold per week.

“Per week they were collecting 12 kilograms of this gold and at least they were performing, not in the way of these people that use basins and whatever,” said Kivuva.

At the Ministry⁸ of Mines in Juba, undersecretary of mining Andu Ezbon Adde said the government suspended previous small-scale mining licenses⁹ while putting the finishing touches to a mining law aimed at pulling in big investors¹⁰ - and big money - to extract the gold, copper¹¹, iron ore and other metals thought to lie under the eastern region.

“Coming out of war, things were not well organized. Giving out the licenses was not well organized, so the government decided¹² to stop any exploration work until the law has been signed. Now the law has been signed we are working on now what they call regulations, which may not be clear to the common man. So I’m sure that this year, we will be giving out licenses,” said Adde.

But until machines arrive to replace the picks and pans, farmers-turned-panners in this impoverished¹³ and drought-stricken region are tasked with uncovering the minerals that in years to come could wean the new nation off its dependency on oil revenue. 

1 unearth   

v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出

参考例句：

• Most of the unearth relics remain intact.大多数出土文物仍保持完整无损。
• More human remains have been unearthed in the north.北部又挖掘出了更多的人体遗骸。

2 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

3 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

4 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

5 squint   

v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的

参考例句：

• A squint can sometimes be corrected by an eyepatch. 斜视有时候可以通过戴眼罩来纠正。
• The sun was shinning straight in her eyes which made her squint. 太阳直射着她的眼睛,使她眯起了眼睛。

6 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。

7 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

8 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。

9 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

10 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

11 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。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》