2006年VOA标准英语-Chadians React to World Bank Loan Suspensi

By Joe Bavier
Abidjan
08 January 2006

Chadian workers guide a pipe down a well in the Doba oil fields in southern Chad where a $3.7 billion project was officially inaugurated
(File photo - Oct. 10, 2003)   
  
Chad's government is calling for the World Bank to reconsider its decision to suspend loans to the country. The suspension was in response to Chad's decision to change bank-mandated laws. But public reaction to the loan suspension is mixed.

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Chad's finance minister, Mahamat Ali Hassan, said Saturday that Chad was surprised by, what he called, the brutality¹ of the move by the World Bank to suspend around $124 million in loans.

He said the decision by the head of the financial body, Paul Wolfowitz, comes at a particularly difficult time for Chad. He said he hoped the bank would reconsider.

Mr. Wolfowitz said he made the decision only after repeated attempts at mediation² failed. He said Chad's government went ahead unilaterally with modifications³ to laws required by the World Bank under a 1999 deal to fund an oil pipeline⁴ to Cameroon.

That law required Chad, Africa's newest oil producing state, to set aside 10 percent of oil revenue in a fund for future generations. Chad's government says the law is too inflexible⁵, and hindered its efforts to fight poverty in the short term.

Some Chadians, like this man in Ndjamena, see it as an issue of sovereignty.

He says the World Bank decision has come as a great relief to Chadians, who want to see their country grow up and stand on its own two feet. But, he says, times are tough. And, he says, it seems the World Bank waited until conditions in Chad were at their worst before making this decision.

Another man says that the money Chad will be missing out on could have helped pay government workers, who have not received their salaries in months.

He says the World Bank is right and wrong at the same time. But it is the responsibility of the government to meet the bank half way, he says, and revise the law. It is the government's fault too, he says.

Chad has produced oil since late 2003. But the country has become increasingly unstable⁶ in recent months, as the government has begun a military campaign against two rebel groups on its eastern border with Sudan.

1 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

2 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

3 modifications   

n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变

参考例句：

• The engine was pulled apart for modifications and then reassembled. 发动机被拆开改型，然后再组装起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The original plan had undergone fairly extensive modifications. 原计划已经作了相当大的修改。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 inflexible   

adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的

参考例句：

• Charles was a man of settled habits and inflexible routine.查尔斯是一个恪守习惯、生活规律不容打乱的人。
• The new plastic is completely inflexible.这种新塑料是完全不可弯曲的。

6 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。