VOA标准英语2009年-EU Leaders Urge More Funds to Fight Global Econ

European leaders meeting in Brussels have agreed to add more than $150 billion in additional support to the International Monetary¹ Fund and struggling eastern European countries. The pledge came Friday at the end of a two day summit.
　
German Chancellor² Angela Merkel (2nd l), shares a word with French President Nicolas Sarkozy (r), and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde (l) at an EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, 20 Mar³ 2009

European Union leaders wrapped up their summit in Brussels with no surprises. They were not expected to agree to plow⁴ more money into their own economies to battle the financial crisis -- and they did not.

They were expected to agree to increase funds to help the International Monetary Fund and Eastern EU members to deal with the financial crisis and they did.

The 27-member bloc⁵ agreed to double loans available to eastern European countries to $68 billion and to contribute about $100 billion to the IMF as part of an overall funding increase so the institution can help countries worldwide battle the economic downturn.

European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso hailed what he called Europe's common approach to battling the crisis ahead of the G-20 meeting in London of top world economies in early April. The Brussels meeting wasn't just talk, he told reporters, but achieved concrete results.

"It was five billion euros in additional money for the interconnection to Europe. It was the decision to double our financial facility to support balance of payments in countries that might need support their balance of payments from 25 billion to 50 billion (euros), it was a decision to put more resources for the IMF. So I am not just talking about agreement in principle but concrete results regarding spending and solidarity," he said.

But those decisions also leave Europe at odds⁶ with the Obama administration, which has pushed European countries to spend more on domestic economic stimulus⁷ plans. And while Europe wants to double the IMF's resources to $500 billion, Washington is pushing for a higher increase of $750 billion.

Separately, EU leaders backed boosting aid to six former Soviet⁸ states by about $800 million. But they refused to commit themselves to a figure on helping⁹ developing nations battle climate change, saying they would wait to see what other countries offered first.

1 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 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。

3 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

4 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

5 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。

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 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。

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 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。