2006年VOA标准英语-Chadians Struggle Despite Oil Wealth

By Joe Bavier
N'Djamena
15 May 2006

It has been three years since Chad became an oil-exporting nation. The promise of petroleum¹ revenues had fueled hope that the central African country, long one of the world's poorest, would embark² on the road to prosperity. But there are few, if any, visible signs of improvement. Joe Bavier recently traveled to Chad and filed this report.

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As temperatures creep towards 50 degrees Celsius³ along the main commercial street in Chad's capital N'Djamena, 35-year-old Yankal Dankor sits in what shade he can find, a cautious five meters from his stock of smuggled⁴ fuel.

"Gasoline catches fire just like that," he says. "I have seen it happen. People get killed. In 1984, we had a barrel that exploded. Gas went everywhere. People were burned alive. It was here on this road."

Despite producing more than 160,000 barrels a day in oil, most Chadians buy their gasoline from used soda⁵ and liquor bottles  
  
Chad has insufficient⁶ refineries⁷, so many Chadians still rely on gas smuggled from abroad.

Despite the dangers involved, Dankor has been doing this job for more than 20 years. He says it is the only one that will allow him to support his family of eight. On a good day, he says he can earn as much as five dollars.

Three years ago, Chad joined a handful of African nations as an oil exporter. Today, it exports around 170,000 barrels a day and has, so far, received around $400 million in oil revenues.

The World Bank estimates that the new income will boost Chad's annual budget by 40 to 50 percent during the next 25 years. 

A sheep and goat market in N'djamena, Feb. 22, 2006.  Before Chad became an oil-exporting country in 2003, one of its main exports was sheep, goats, cattle and camels to neighboring countries  
  
But since production began, the population has grown even poorer. In 2002, Chad ranked eighth to last on the U.N human-development index. Today, it is among the bottom five.

"We do not have anything here," says Dankor. He says the "suffering you see here, its even worse than it was before."

In Africa, for ordinary citizens oil has usually been more of a curse than a blessing⁸. Nearby Nigeria is among the worlds top 10 oil producers and is sub-Saharan Africa's sole OPEC member country. But production in its oil-rich Niger Delta⁹ has become synonymous with armed conflict, corruption¹⁰ and environmental destruction.

Things were meant to be different in Chad.

In 1998, the government agreed to set aside the majority of its oil revenues to pay for social projects as part of a deal with the World Bank to fund the construction of a 1,070-kilometer-long pipeline¹¹ to neighboring Cameroon.

Ten percent of revenues were to be held in a trust fund for future generations. Eighty percent of royalties¹² and 85 percent of dividends¹³ were to pay for education, health, rural development and infrastructure¹⁴ and environmental projects. Five percent of royalties were destined¹⁵ for reinvestment in oil-producing areas.

But last December, Chad's parliament voted to change the law. Government officials said they needed more control over the money to carry out immediate¹⁶ poverty reduction projects and to combat a growing rebel insurgency¹⁷ in the east. 

Idriss Deby    
  
Earlier this year, President Idriss Deby said Chad was planning to use some of the money to buy arms.

The World Bank accused Chad of reneging on its agreement, froze off-shore oil accounts and suspended its assistance to the country. Chad replied by threatening to block oil exports.

Chad's finance minister, Abbas Tolli, says as the position of the World Bank hardened, "we felt it was better to cut off production if we were not going to have access to the revenues anyway."

In April, lender countries agreed to an interim¹⁸ deal with Chad that will allow 30 percent of oil revenues to go directly to government coffers. But Tolli says it is not enough, and much of the World Bank deal will need to be renegotiated.

The U.S. government has been involved in the poverty reduction scheme from the very beginning. And though U.S. ambassador to Chad, Marc Wall, admits there have been setbacks, he says there are signs the deal has in some ways benefited Chad's people.

"It is an experiment," he said. "And it has had its ups and downs. Revenue has been going into poverty reduction programs. It takes time for these projects to bear fruit, and people are always impatient. But there has been some progress."

For his part, Dankor says he not sure who to blame for the lack of progress. The government should be doing more, he says. But he says he has little hope that the situation will change anytime soon. 

Chadian woman casts her vote in N'djamena  
  
On Sunday, President Deby was declared the winner of a May 3 presidential election, which observers say were marred¹⁹ by instances of fraud and low turnout.

Chad has never experienced a non-violent transfer of power.

Dankor says nothing changes in Chad. He says its the suffering that gets worse. He says he has never seen the oil. "I could not even tell you what color it is," he said.

1 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

2 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

3 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

4 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

5 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

6 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

7 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

8 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

9 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

10 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。

11 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

12 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

13 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

14 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

15 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

16 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

17 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

18 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

19 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。