Thailand Ends Controversial Rice Support Program
泰國(guó)停止有爭(zhēng)議的大米補(bǔ)貼計(jì)劃
From the VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)農(nóng)業(yè)報(bào)道。
The military government of Thailand is ending payments to rice farmers to support the price of their crop. The policy was put in place by the civilian government ousted recently by the military. Officials are investigating charges of corruption and the possible loss of billions of dollars.
泰國(guó)軍政府停止了對(duì)稻農(nóng)進(jìn)行補(bǔ)貼來(lái)支持他們所種植農(nóng)作物價(jià)格的計(jì)劃。這政策是最近被軍政府趕下臺(tái)的文政府所實(shí)施的。現(xiàn)在官員們正在對(duì)貪污腐敗和數(shù)十億美元可能損失的指控進(jìn)行審查。
The military government says different measures are needed to increase agricultural development and support farmers. The rice support program was one of the most important policies of the government of ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. It helped her party win the 2011 election.
軍政府稱需要實(shí)施不同的措施來(lái)提高農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展和加大對(duì)農(nóng)民的支持。這個(gè)大米補(bǔ)貼計(jì)劃是前任總理英拉·西那瓦所領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的政府最重要的政策之一。這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃還幫助她的政黨贏得了2011年大選。
Under the policy, the government paid farmers 50 percent more than world market rice prices. The government said because Thailand was then the largest exporter of rice, it could use its power to increase the price of rice around the world.
根據(jù)這一規(guī)定,政府支付給農(nóng)民高于國(guó)際市場(chǎng)大米價(jià)格50%的價(jià)格。政府稱,因?yàn)樘﹪?guó)當(dāng)時(shí)是世界上最大的大米出口國(guó),它可以利用這一優(yōu)勢(shì)來(lái)提高世界大米的價(jià)格。
But problems affected the program, which cost more than $19 billion. India became the world's largest rice exporter. The Thai government angered people by refusing to release information about the payments. And the program failed.
但是這個(gè)耗資190億美元的計(jì)劃被一些問(wèn)題所影響。印度變成了世界上最大的大米出口國(guó)。泰國(guó)政府因拒絕發(fā)布有關(guān)大米補(bǔ)貼的信息而激怒了人民,該計(jì)劃宣告失敗。
Thailand was not able to force an increase in the price of rice, and millions of tons of rice are now in storage buildings. Reports say 18 million tons of rice are being stored in Thailand, that is twice as many as normal levels.
泰國(guó)無(wú)力推動(dòng)大米價(jià)格的上漲,致使現(xiàn)在數(shù)百萬(wàn)噸大米堆積在糧倉(cāng)里。據(jù)報(bào)道稱,有1800萬(wàn)噸大米被堆積在泰國(guó),是其正常儲(chǔ)藏量的兩倍。
The payments to rice farmers ended last year. Hundreds of thousands of farmers were not paid. Reports said about 20 farmers killed themselves because of financial problems. Others protested, gathering on the streets of the capital Bangkok to demand payments. In March, the government tried to make money by selling rice on the world market at lower prices.
對(duì)稻農(nóng)的補(bǔ)貼計(jì)劃在去年已經(jīng)結(jié)束,幾十萬(wàn)農(nóng)民未得到補(bǔ)貼。據(jù)報(bào)道稱,有大約20個(gè)農(nóng)民因經(jīng)濟(jì)問(wèn)題而自殺。其他人則聚集在首都曼谷的街道上進(jìn)行抗議,要求補(bǔ)貼。今年3月份,政府試著在國(guó)際市場(chǎng)上以較低的價(jià)格出售大米來(lái)籌集資金。
David Dawe is a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization -- a United Nations agency.
David Dawe是聯(lián)合國(guó)糧食農(nóng)業(yè)組織機(jī)構(gòu)的高級(jí)經(jīng)濟(jì)師。
"One of the ways that they were raising money is they realized that they were going to have to sell some of the huge stocks that they had. They just couldn't continue to borrow money and sit on all these stocks and so they just started selling stocks," Dawe said.
Dawe說(shuō):“他們籌集資金的方法之一是他們意識(shí)到他們不得不去銷售他們所擁有的大量庫(kù)存。他們只是不能再坐擁這些庫(kù)存而繼續(xù)去借錢,所以他們開(kāi)始出售庫(kù)存。”
There is some good news. The U.S. Agriculture Department predicts Thailand will be the world's biggest exporter of rice by next year. The department says Thailand will export almost 10 million tons, that is the largest amount since the country exported 10.6 million tons in 2011.
這也有一些好消息稱,美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)部預(yù)測(cè)明年泰國(guó)將會(huì)成為世界上最大的大米出口國(guó)。該農(nóng)業(yè)部稱,泰國(guó)將會(huì)出口大約1000萬(wàn)噸的大米,這將會(huì)是自2011年該國(guó)出口了1060萬(wàn)噸大米后至今最大的出口量。
And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English. I'm Christopher Cruise.
這就是今天的美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)農(nóng)業(yè)報(bào)道,我是克里斯多夫·克魯斯。
[page]聽(tīng)力原文[/page]
Thailand Ends Controversial Rice Support Program
From the VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
The military government of Thailand is ending payments to rice farmers to support the price of their crop. The policy was put in place by the civilian government ousted recently by the military. Officials are investigating charges of corruption and the possible loss of billions of dollars.
The military government says different measures are needed to increase agricultural development and support farmers. The rice support program was one of the most important policies of the government of ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. It helped her party win the 2011 election.
Under the policy, the government paid farmers 50 percent more than world market rice prices. The government said because Thailand was then the largest exporter of rice, it could use its power to increase the price of rice around the world.
But problems affected the program, which cost more than $19 billion. India became the world's largest rice exporter. The Thai government angered people by refusing to release information about the payments. And the program failed.
Thailand was not able to force an increase in the price of rice, and millions of tons of rice are now in storage buildings. Reports say 18 million tons of rice are being stored in Thailand, that is twice as many as normal levels.
The payments to rice farmers ended last year. Hundreds of thousands of farmers were not paid. Reports said about 20 farmers killed themselves because of financial problems. Others protested, gathering on the streets of the capital Bangkok to demand payments. In March, the government tried to make money by selling rice on the world market at lower prices.
David Dawe is a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization -- a United Nations agency.
"One of the ways that they were raising money is they realized that they were going to have to sell some of the huge stocks that they had. They just couldn't continue to borrow money and sit on all these stocks and so they just started selling stocks," Dawe said.
There is some good news. The U.S. Agriculture Department predicts Thailand will be the world's biggest exporter of rice by next year. The department says Thailand will export almost 10 million tons, that is the largest amount since the country exported 10.6 million tons in 2011.
And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English. I'm Christopher Cruise.
瘋狂英語(yǔ) 英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法 新概念英語(yǔ) 走遍美國(guó) 四級(jí)聽(tīng)力 英語(yǔ)音標(biāo) 英語(yǔ)入門 發(fā)音 美語(yǔ) 四級(jí) 新東方 七年級(jí) 賴世雄 zero是什么意思自貢市貢爵府(時(shí)代大道126號(hào))英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流群