2006年VOA标准英语-Some White Zimbabwe Farmers to Get Land Ba

By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
23 April 2006

The Zimbabwe government is making it possible for some white farmers to legally remain on their land, and for others to return home, after they were evicted¹ during the last six years. The government and the farmers' unions want agricultural productivity revived.

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Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa says white farmers who remained on their land need a lease, or an official letter, to make their tenure² legal. He said the government is interviewing farmers carefully to be sure that large-scale commercial farms are leased to people with skills and resources to allow them to farm properly.

He said all land taken from white farmers since 2000 is state land, under the terms of a constitutional amendment³ last year.

The Commercial Farmers Union says more than 200 white farmers have applied⁴ for leases for land. Many of them are on land already, but have no legal status. Other farmers who were evicted, but are living in urban areas, are also hoping to return to their farms.

Prior to a land reform program announced by President Robert Mugabe in 2000, there were about four-thousand white commercial farmers. Many of them were forced off their land in sometimes violent invasions, and many subsequently left Zimbabwe. But some remained, either on small pieces of their original land, or in their homesteads, without access to land to grow crops. Many moved to urban areas, and say they wish they could return to their farms.

Agriculture was the bedrock of the economy. Since agriculture collapsed⁵, the economy contracted dramatically. Inflation stands at nearly one-thousand percent, the highest in the world, according to the International Monetary⁶ Fund.

Zimbabwe also has almost no foreign currency for key imports, like fuel and electricity. Some government officials began making statements last year that agricultural production had to be revived to fix the economy.

1 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

2 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

3 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

4 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

5 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

6 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。