希腊穷人担心自己的生存问题

AS IT IS 2015-07-12 Poor People in Greece Worried About Their Survival 希腊穷人担心自己的生存问题

Politicians in Europe continue to discuss whether Greece will remain in the Eurozone, the group of countries that use the Euro as their money. These discussions likely seem far away for Greeks who are poor. They have been dealing¹ with reduced levels of public services for more than five years. 

If Greece is to remain in the Eurozone and if lenders agree to provide additional loans, it is likely that there will be even more cuts in government spending. This will lead to even fewer public services. Greeks know this, and they are answering the crisis by helping² one another as much as they can.

Greeks who are homeless, jobless, old or poor seek medical care from groups like Doctors of the World, in the capital Athens. Many immigrants have also come to the clinic for free care.

Volunteer doctors and dentists treat everyone. They do not ask who they are or why they are there. The medical workers are struggling to deal with the number of people who need help.

Dr. Bettina Krumbholz says the country’s health care system began to deteriorate³ when the debt crisis began in 2008.

“We used to have a very good system, and it really used to work quite efficient(ly). But after they had to fire so many doctors, the system got very poor. And there’s a lack of nurses, there’s a lack of doctors. So the people, they’re waiting for 10, 12, even more hours in the line.”

Dr. Krumbholz says the limits put in place two weeks ago on how much money Greeks can withdraw from the bank have made the situation worse.

“They don’t have money to get the medicine. So we have even many Greek patients that come here only to get their medication. We cannot leave people dying on the streets, out of hunger, out of lack of medication, of medicine, out of lack of doctors.”

Greeks are dealing with the crisis by giving one another health care, legal advice and food.

Konstantinos Polychronopoulos is cooking a large meal of chicken stew⁴ at what he calls the “Social Kitchen” in Monastiraki Square in the center of Athens. Mr. Polychronopoulos lost his job as a marketing⁵ manager four years ago. He has tried to get another job but employers tell him that, at 51, he is too old. Others said he was too highly-educated for the low-skill jobs for which he was applying. So he now spends his time giving free meals to everyone, whether they are rich or poor.

He says he began giving away meals when he saw two boys fighting about who would eat a piece of food they had found at a garbage dump. He said the fight did not bother him as much as seeing other people ignore it.

Even if Europe agrees to another deal to rescue Greece, many Greeks will continue to suffer, especially those who are already suffering the most.

Words in This Story

clinic – n. a place where people get medical help

deteriorate – v. to become worse as time passes

system – n. a way of managing, controlling, organizing or doing something that follows a set of rules or a plan

efficiently⁶ – adv. producing desired results without wasting materials, time or energy

fire – v. to dismiss (someone) from a job

garbage dump – n. an area where trash and food waste is placed; a place where things that are no longer useful or wanted have been thrown out

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

4 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

5 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

6 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。