VOA常速英语2008年-President Bush Says African Success Stories are

By Scott Stearns
Dar es Salaam
16 February 2008

President Bush is in Africa at the start of a five-nation trip focusing on economic development and the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria¹. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Mr. Bush began his trip in Benin for talks with President Boni Yayi.

President Bush says this second trip to the continent is meant to demonstrate America's commitment to improving the lives and livelihoods² of Africans.

"I am here to really confirm to the people of Benin and the people on the continent of Africa that the United States is committed to helping³ improve peoples' lives," he said.

The Bush administration is funding primary education and family health projects in Benin including a program to provide anti-malarial bed nets to every family.

President Yayi says his country's cotton-based economy is also helped by lower tariffs⁴ under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

"My country is also benefiting from the president's Millennium⁵ Challenge Account initiative as well as the AGOA whose ultimate goal is to create the conditions favorable to economic growth in a sustainable manner in order to reduce poverty and build an emerging nation," he said.

President Yayi, who is the former director of the West African Development Bank, says he and President Bush discussed diversifying⁶ Benin's economy away from its dependence⁷ on cotton, which accounts for 40 percent of Gross Domestic Product and roughly 80 percent of official exports.

One-third of Benin's nearly seven million people live in poverty. Building on reforms which began in the 1990's, Benin signed a $307-million compact with the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account in 2006.

Those funds are meant to improve property rights by reducing the time and cost of obtaining a land title. The program also intends to expand access to financial services, train more members of the judicial⁸ system, and boost imports and exports through the port of Cotonou.

U.S. officials say the compact is expected to lift nearly a 250,000 Beninois out of poverty by 2015.

After Benin, President Bush spends two days in Tanzania before visiting Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia.

1 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

2 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

5 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

6 diversifying   

v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的现在分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• Some publishers are now diversifying into software. 有些出版社目前正兼营软件。 来自辞典例句
• Silverlit is diversifying into new markets, such as Russia and Eastern Europe. Silverlit正在使他们的市场变得多样化，开发新的市场如俄罗斯和东欧国家。 来自互联网

7 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

8 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。