China Promises to Help the Poor

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
这里是美国之音慢速英语新闻报道节目。
About three thousand delegates from around China are in Beijing for this year's meeting of the National People's Congress.
近3千名来自全国各地的人大代表齐聚北京，参加今年的全国人大会议。
The government wants to prevent social problems, and Premier¹ Wen Jiabao says one way to do that is to help the poor.
中国政府希望解决社会问题，国务院总理温家宝表示，解决的办法之一就是帮助穷人。
(SOUND)
温家宝讲话。
Premier Wen recently held a public online chat. He said improving peoples' living conditions will be the starting point for every rule in China's next five-year plan. The plan lists Communist Party goals for twenty eleven through twenty fifteen.
温总理最近与网民举行了一次公开网上交流。他表示，改善民生将成为下一个五年计划所有规划的出发点。该计划将列出党在2011年到2015年要实现的目标。
The legislature will give final approval to the plan during its week-long meeting starting Saturday.
人大将在本周六开始的为期一周的会议中，对该计划做出最终批准。
Premier Wen suggested that the government also plans to deal with two other problems, corruption² and inflation. Inflation in January was just under five percent, but food prices rose more than ten percent.
温总理指出，政府还计划应付其他两个问题--腐败和通货膨胀。1月份，通货膨胀率低于5%，但食品价格上涨了超过10%。
On Friday, a legislative³ spokesman said China will increase defense⁴ spending by almost thirteen percent. This has been about the average since nineteen eighty-nine, except for a smaller increase last year.
本周五，人大发言人称，中国将增加13%左右的国防支出。这次增长大约是1989年以来的平均值，除了去年增长较小之外。
Chinese officials have pointed⁵ out that their defense budget is much smaller than the American total. But some experts say China spends a lot more than its official amount.
中国官方指出该国国防预算比美国少得多。但一些专家称，中国实际军费支出超过了官方公布的金额。
China says it needs to modernize⁶ its forces. It says its plans are not a threat to any country.
中国表示需要对军队进行现代化建设。并表示，该计划不会对任何国家构成威胁。
Security expert James Nolt is dean of the New York Institute of Technology campus at Nanjing University in China. He says much of the defense increase will go toward rising costs for new equipment. He also says some of the money will be spent on higher wages for people with higher skills.
安全专家詹姆斯·诺尔特（James Nolt）是纽约理工学院南京大学分校区的校长。他表示，增长的大部分军费将用于新设备不断攀升的成本。他还表示，其中一些支出将用于高技能人才的加薪。
JAMES NOLT: "In my view it does not represent a significant change in capability⁷. It represents an increase in costs in order to maintain existing capabilities⁸, relative to other countries."
诺尔特：“在我看来，这并不代表国防能力的显著变化。相对于其他国家来说，这仅代表维持现有国防能力成本的增加。”
Even so, Japan's foreign minister says his country "cannot help worrying about what all the money is used for."
即便如此，日本外务大臣表示，日本“不得不对这些钱花在什么地方感到担心”。

1 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

2 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。

3 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

7 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

8 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓