VOA标准英语2010年-Dubai's Doldrums Spark Exodus of Migra

About 10 million foreigners work in the Gulf¹ states. But, with Dubai's economic boom ground to a halt, foreign workers - including many from South Asia - are being sent home … often to uncertain futures².

Raymond Thibodeaux | Kochi, India 24 February 2010

Two employees supervise uploading containers at Jebel Ali port terminal 1 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (file)

Abdul Wahab is in the kitchen of his new house.  His wife, Neeza, pours glasses of orange drink for him, their two children and some friends. He is back from Dubai and, for the first time in 24 years, his visit is not just a few weeks of home leave.  He and about 1,700 other dockworkers at the Dubai Ports Authority were recently laid off. There was no warning, no chance to look for alternative employment.  It all happened in one day.

After his shift they came and gave them the paper saying their job was over.  There was no time to think.  The workers' camp is surrounded by the military. So they simply went back home.

But coming back to India has been bittersweet for Abdul.  He says tough choices lie ahead for them, as with many of those returning from Dubai.  Abdul is considering selling his new house for a smaller one, using the profit to keep their two children in private schools.  Still, Neeza could not be happier that he is home.

She says she hopes that he is back for good. She says working a government job and raising two children, alone, take a toll³.

Abdul is part of a reverse migration⁴ of tens of thousands of migrant workers from South Asia who have looked to the Gulf countries as a source of employment since the oil boom of the 1970s. The boom helped Dubai finance huge construction projects.

"[The oil boom] triggered massive demand for overseas workers. And, that was a golden opportunity for low-skilled and mid-level-skilled people to find highly paid jobs," said Binod Khadria, an economics professor who directs the international migration and diaspora studies project at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

Of the six million people who live in the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, more than five million are foreign nationals, and more than three million of them are registered as unskilled foreign workers.

Khadria says most of those laborers⁵ come from India and most of the Indians come from Kerala, where one in six workers is employed overseas.  But, with Dubai's once-soaring economy hit by a global downturn and many construction projects put on hold or abandoned, migrant workers are being shipped home by the planeload.

"The psychology⁶ is on, now that it's coming to an end.  They have that sense, but they also are hopeful that the gravy⁷ train can find other routes.  Europe is opening up.  East Asia is opening up.  Those are other avenues [for employment]," said Khadria.

Kerala's economy is counting on it.  People from Kerala working abroad sent home about $5 billion a year. Their remittances⁸ boosted Kerala's economy by nearly 25 percent.

Rafeek Ravuther is host of Migrants World. It is a TV show about Keralans working overseas. He says returning Indians complain that even in a rising India, salaries are way too low.  Some have had to take their children out of private schools.  But Rafeek has noticed something else.

"If they are coming back to Kerala, the kinds of jobs they did in Dubai, they will not do in Kerala," he said.

Why not?

"Because they will not go for low, meager⁹ jobs," he said.

Ravuther says it is a pride thing. ANY job in Dubai was seen as so prestigious¹⁰ that bride-seeking bachelors often added "works in Dubai" in their matrimonial ads.  Now, with those jobs looking more tenuous¹¹, potential brides are not as impressed.
 

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

5 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

6 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

7 gravy   

n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快

参考例句：

• You have spilled gravy on the tablecloth.你把肉汁泼到台布上了。
• The meat was swimming in gravy.肉泡在浓汁之中。

8 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网

9 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。

10 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

11 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。