VOA标准英语2009年-EU Summit Focuses on Economic Stimulus

European Union leaders are in Brussels for a two-day meeting amid heavy pressure to pump more money into their economies to fight the global financial crisis. The Europeans will seek a united front two weeks before a key meeting of the top 20 world economies in London.
　
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, shares a word with German Chancellor¹ Angela Merkel, center, and EC President Jose Manuel Barroso during EU summit in Brussels, 19 March 2009

The Brussels summit is the latest in a series of talks about how to tackle the economic downturn that has hard hit the 27-nation European Union, along with the rest of the world. At a meeting of top world finance ministers outside London last weekend, the United States and Europe sought to present a common stance in dealing² with the most severe crisis in decades.

As British Chancellor Alistair Darling told reporters there, each country must feel free to establish their own policies.

"We are not, in anything we said today, prescribing what individual countries have to do," Darling said. "They have to make their own choice and it follows from that, of course, that central banks in different countries have different objectives, different terms of reference. And we would not seek to disturb that."

But behind the talk of unity³, there is strong pressure from the United States, in particular, for Europeans to do more. The EU is spending about 3.3 percent of its gross domestic product on economic stimulus⁴ measures. But critics like American Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman say that is not enough.

Krugman, who was visiting Brussels this week, also faults the deficit⁵ cap, known as the stability pact⁶, for EU members using the euro currency.

"These are unusual times," Krugman said. "These are times when virtue⁷ is vice⁸ and prudence⁹ is folly¹⁰. This is a time when deficits¹¹ are what we need, not a problem. The stability pact is way off. Think of the United States, I think the U.S. is doing the right thing, maybe not even enough of it, and we are looking for a deficit of 12 to 13 percent of GDP. That is the right thing to do. The stability pact really needs to be put on ice for now."

Ordinary Europeans are also critical of their government's economic recovery plans. That was evident Thursday in France, when hundreds of thousands of French took to the streets in protest.

But a number of European countries, including France and Germany, say they have spent enough, for now.

The EU summit will also be dominated over divisions about how to spend $7 billion in infrastructure¹² projects, and how much money should be made available for eastern European members of the bloc¹³, which have been among those worst hit by the financial crisis.

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 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。

3 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

4 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

5 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。

6 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

7 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 prudence   

n.谨慎，精明，节俭

参考例句：

• A lack of prudence may lead to financial problems.不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。
• The happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.幸运者都把他们的成功归因于谨慎或功德。

10 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

11 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

12 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。

13 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。