VOA标准英语2013--Russia’s Winter Olympics to Break Spending Records

 

Russia’s Winter Olympics to Break Spending Records

It is the largest construction site in Europe: 100,000 men and 500 companies are working around the clock.

They are building hotels, skating rinks and ski jumps for next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, on Russia's southern Black Sea coast.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that construction would meet the deadlines for the February Olympics, fireworks greeted the president’s progress report.

Oleg Krachenko manages the Bolshoy Ice Dome², a completed rink, where President Putin launched the one year countdown on February 7.

Standing³ in front of the smooth ice of the new hockey rink, he said, “We want to show that even here, in the south of Russia, even in this southern city, you can have the Winter Olympics.”

But there is a price to pay. At $51 billion, the Sochi Olympics will be the most expensive in the history of the Games. They are running five times over the initial budget of six years ago.

The Sochi Olympics will cost almost six times as much as the last Winter Olympics, in Vancouver.

Vladimir Kimaev is a Sochi environmentalist. He said the Kremlin is wasting money on a prestige project that will last two weeks.

“Is it normal for state money to be spent on facilities that will not be needed in the future,” he asked, speaking over the construction din¹ in downtown Sochi. “New information says that the ski jump will be completely removed.”

Kimaev and others say much of the $51 billion has disappeared as a result of corruption⁴. Looking at the 48-kilometer road and rail link between skating rinks on the Black Sea and snow venues⁵ in the Caucasus Mountains, he said "it cost the Mars project about $2.5 billion to fly to Mars,” giving a high estimate to the cost of the U.S. Mars Exploration Rover. “The road to Kransnaya Polyana costs from $7.5-10 billion. So, actually it is like a road of gold,” he added.

Semyon Simonov, a labor⁶ lawyer in Sochi, said many contractors⁸ have cheated Central Asian construction workers.

“Very often, when employers hire foreign workers, they take their documents, supposedly to give them work permits, but in actuality they don’t process them,” said Simonov, who researched abuses for a report by Human Rights Watch. “And therefore these people are here illegally and can be sent away at any moment,” he added.

In the report, Simonov cited dozens of cases of Olympic employers shortchanging immigrant workers.

One of them is Hussein Karimovich, a construction worker from Uzbekistan.

“Ten people would work during the day and 10 people would work at night,” said Karimovich. “That’s how they organized it so the ski jump could be finished faster.”

He said when the work was finished, the contractor⁷ disappeared, leaving $6,500 in unpaid⁹ wages.

But with the one-year countdown now under way, the Kremlin is hoping that hoopla and excitement will carry the day in February, when Russia hosts its first Winter Olympic games.

1 din   

n.喧闹声，嘈杂声

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• They tried to make themselves heard over the din of the crowd.他们力图让自己的声音盖过人群的喧闹声。

2 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

8 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。