CNN 2010-11-29

　　After months of wondering, the Irish people now know what’s in the next four years are going to be. As far as an austerity program, here in Ireland, this is it - 138 pages of details of how the Irish government will cut spending and raise taxes. The ideas they need to bring down their massive budget deficit¹ down to blow 3% of GDP by 2014. Now, there will be $20 billion worth of austerity in this country over the next four years but it includes cutting thousands of public sector² jobs, also cutting the minimum wage by one euro an hour, also rising the value added tax that’s the national sales tax. The goal, the Irish Prime Minister said is to bring Ireland back to where it was just a few years ago.
This is a time for us to pull together as a people. It's a time for us to confront this challenge and to do so in a united way. To do so in a way which ensures those who have most will make the most contribution, those who have least will be protected to the greatest extent we possibly can, knowing that the size of the crisis means no one can be sheltered from a contribution that has to be made toward national recovery.
Now, for this austerity program to work, the government has had to make some assumptions on growth over the next two years. Some economists³ say maybe they are a bit too rosy⁴. They might have to go over the figures again next year. But I talked to the enterprise minister earlier on Wednesday, and he said despite all this austerity that Ireland is definitely open for business.
We would safeguard, in the middle of this recession, education. And we would safeguard all research and development. We are developing a smart economy. And we are still appealing very much to the multinational⁵ companies, particularly, in the U.S.A. And I'm only back from a visit to the U.S.A., where we visited 13 multinationals⁶. And I would say 10 of them will be locating, either expanding business here, or locating as new entities⁷ here over the next number of years.
What’s the next year in Ireland? Well, the government is still negotiating with the IMF for what we think will be an 85-billion-euro investment from the IMF and the European Union. The money will go to the government here in Ireland. They can use that to help bring down the budget deficit, also to recapitalize the cripple banks. It’s expected that the number of these banks will be all but nationalized in a few weeks time. The government then also has to have next year’s budget passed by razor-thin majority in the parliament. This government is very unpopular and it’s expected that it will be a new government after an election early next year. So the government that’s putting this program together may very likely not be the government. That’s gonna have to push it through, push that pain through all of the Irish people.
Jim Boulden, CNN, Dublin.

1 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。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

5 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

6 multinationals   

跨国公司( multinational的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These local companies are only small fry compared with the huge multinationals. 同那些跨国公司比，这些当地的公司不过是小鱼小虾。
• Some people believe that the multinationals have too much power. 有人认为跨国公司的权力太大了。

7 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。