VOA标准英语2014--埃博拉重创西非经济

 

West African Economies Hard-Hit by Ebola 埃博拉重创西非经济

In 2013, the World Bank ranked Sierra Leone and Liberia as second and sixth respectively among the top 10 countries with the fastest-growing GDPs.  But the ongoing¹ Ebola outbreak is threatening to change that.  As the numbers of cases and deaths continue to rise, financial institutions like the World Bank say the economies of the three most affected² countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, are being hit hard - and the impact could grow if the Ebola epidemic³ is not quickly contained.

The death toll⁴ from Ebola in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone is approaching 4,000.  If the epidemic continues, the World Bank says the impact on the countries' economies could be disastrous⁵.

At a gathering⁶ in Washington, the presidents of those three countries pleaded with global development leaders for help.  Sierra Leone’s Ernest Bai Koroma and Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf joined the conversation via video conference.

“Ebola is now causing great destruction to agricultural, mining, manufacturing, construction, tourism, transportation and posing a significant threat to human development, state security and poverty reduction.  Government revenues are drying out," said Koroma.

“Restrictions imposed on air and sea travel resulted in increased cost of travel and increase commodity prices affecting the poor," said Sirleaf.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim says growth projections⁷ for 2014 have already been cut significantly and will be cut again next year if this disease is not contained.

“As much as $32.6 billion could be lost by the end of 2015. This is a potentially catastrophic impact," said Kim.

David Evans, a World Bank senior economist⁸, says the countries have already been hit with serious losses.

“Across the three countries, we are seeing more than $350 million of lost output.  What that means is that Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea will  be more than $350 million poorer than they would have been in the absence of this disease," said Evans.

Take West Africa's flight industry, for example.

“What we’ve seen is that through August we’ve had more than 30 flights per week going in and out of Sierra Leone; that has dropped to six in September. We see fuel sales and other leading indicators⁹ [like] cement sales are dropping significant percentage points, so people are just afraid to invest," said Evans.

Amadou Sy, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says the consequences go beyond what’s happening right now.

“On the [one] hand, all your revenues are going down because of the reduced economic activity and on the other hand you have these health expenditures¹⁰, security, so you are having a fiscal¹¹ deficit¹² that’s going to be much bigger than you expected," said Sy.

Guinea's President Alpha Conde, who was at the meeting in person, confirmed that view, saying his country and others are going to need "budgetary support" to fund the fight against Ebola.

1 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。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

8 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

9 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

10 expenditures   

n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费

参考例句：

• We have overspent.We'll have to let up our expenditures next month. 我们已经超支了，下个月一定得节约开支。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pension includes an allowance of fifty pounds for traffic expenditures. 年金中包括50镑交通费补贴。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

12 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。