VOA常速英语2007年-Donors Pledge Billions for Palestinian Recovery

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
17 December 2007

International donors¹ pledged $7.4 billion over the next three years to help the cashed-strapped Palestinian government. Lisa Bryant has more for VOA from the Paris donors' conference.

 

Spread out over a three-year period, the $7.4-billion pledged far exceeded the initial $5.6 billion requested by Palestinian leaders at the start of the one-day meeting. The money is to help the Palestinian government pay its immediate² expenses - and consolidate³ a Palestinian dream of a separate state now under discussion in peace talks with Israel.

 

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad thanked participants from 90 nations for their generosity⁴.

"We see it as a vote of confidence in our plan going forward," said Salam Fayyad. "The plan which was the basis for this conference as you know tried to cover our vision in terms of what our needs are for the next three years, both in the institutional sphere and the development sphere and it also included coverage⁵ of the reform effort that we intend to undertake in those three years."

 

The European Union pledged the largest donation of $650 million for 2008 alone, with the United States earmarking $555 million for the same period. A number of other countries, including Saudi Arabia and conference host France, are pledging several hundred million dollars over three-year periods.

 

Mr. Fayyad said most of the aid would initially⁶ go to reducing his government's huge budget deficit⁷. It would gradually be shifted to pay for development projects.

"The plan covers the needs of our people both in the Gaza strip and the West

Bank in all areas of the West Ban and Gaza including refugee camps for sure," he said. "What we need is here and [the] division [of the money] is for all areas."

While Mr. Fayyad governs the West Bank, the other Palestinian territory, Gaza is currently being governed by the Hamas party, which the United States, Israel and the European Union consider a terrorist organization.

 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Paris conference was the last hope to save the Palestinian government from bankruptcy⁸.

1 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

4 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

7 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。

8 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。