听力文本

This is the Economics Report from VOA Learning English.

A new report is praising South Africa for its economic growth over the past 20 years. The report comes from the banking company Goldman Sachs. It decided to examine South Africa's economic progress since the end of white minority rule in 1994.

Colin Coleman works for the company.

"South Africa in the last year has tended to have a motional, somewhat negative reaction both domestically and internationally. And my view is that we needed to kind of get some perspective on the past 20 years as to what's been achieved in order to get a better balance in the debate," said Colin Coleman.

The report notes changes to the South African economy over the past 20 years.

"When you look back at what Nelson Mandela inherited in May when he became president, it was really bitter pill, because you had an indebted nation that had no money. There was growing below-population growth with huge unemployment, huge racial disparities, a very volatile political social environment. Effectively, that gave way to a golden period of growth, low inflation, bringing the debt down and an extraordinary performance until the global financial crisis," Coleman said.

The report says the amount of money collected in taxes increased from $114 billion in 1994 to $814 billion. South Africans are not always happy about the direction of the economy, but business leaders and economists were pleased to see a long-term look at some of the improvements.

Joanne Yawitch heads the National Business Initiative, the organization works on efforts to help strengthening the economy.

"There's often a lot of doom and gloom talk about South Africa, but what the report did point out is some fairly of significant achievements over the last 20 years. In particular, there has been an increase in productivity, an increase in employment, there has been a huge increase in the number of people in the middle class. Quite a substantial improvement in the quality of life of a great number of people," said Joanne Yawitch.

But the country still has problems. The report notes South Africa's education system continues to struggle, and the unemployment rate remains at about 24 percent. It says 70 percent of those jobless people are under age 34. There are also great racial inequality, especially in terms of earnings. The reports says 85 percent of blacks are poor, while 87 percent of whites are middle to upper class.

There have been criticisms of the report. Some people say it depends heavily on general information, not cultural evidence.

When Yawitch agrees with some of the criticisms, but she says the report shows the country has come a long way.

"I think the reality certainly for me - I mean I grew up under apartheid and have spent 20 years in this democracy - is that life in South Africa is a lot better for most people than it ever was. But there are very, very big things that still have to happen. And I think that's what the report draws our attention to, is that it's a long journey and that we've made progress and must carry on," Yawitch said. "

And that's the Economics Report from VOA Learning English.

文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载

词汇解释

1.perspective n. 观点；远景；透视图

Try to see the issue from a different perspective.
试以不同的角度看待这件事du5LEm%@1LK#4n])Soo。

2.disparity n. 不同；不一致；不等

The great disparity between the teams did not make for an entertaining game.
两队实力悬殊，所以比赛并不精彩mTdIR^~0C%|M。

3.inequality n. 不平等；不同；不平均

Inequality and poverty breed class conflict.
不平等和贫困滋长阶级对抗u!O&_bT,=;;1y5。

4.apartheid n. 种族隔离

He was an outspoken critic of apartheid.
他公开抨击种族隔离制度vl]poJ(6J)#qv-Ry;q。

内容解析

1.Effectively, that gave way to a golden period of growth, low inflation, bringing the debt down and an extraordinary performance until the global financial crisis.

give way to 给……让路；以…替代，为…所替代，让位于；改变为

A deadlock was reached in the discussions, as neither side would give way to the other.
讨论陷入僵局，因为双方各不相让b@qaM)I%q)M+e9ls-FRH。

He should give way to a younger, more decisive leader.
他应该让位于更年轻、更有决断力的领导者LLO(uT]lyWB8(rLrM^。

2.When Yawitch agrees with some of the criticisms, but she says the report shows the country has come a long way.

come a long way 取得很大进展；远道而来

Computer technology has come a long way since the 1970s.
自70年代以来，电脑技术有了很大的发展mMdN_s-1lM。

He has come a long way in his English.
他的英语有很大的进步&+b3i_9qb4l。

参考译文

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道a_+G1T.E~@Hq)。

一则最新报告称赞南非20年来的经济发展，该报告来自银行公司高盛投资公司，自1994年白人少数统治结束后该公司就决定检查南非的经济发展Kew1R58*HN#hP+EX[g7M。

科林·科尔曼就职于该公司lHB*IhuA1df0h。

“南非去年国内外都经历了一些动态的、有些负面的反作用，我的看法是我们多少有点需要对过去20年获得一些观点，以便于在争论中更好地平衡zd0l]-_T2zn。”

这份报告注重过去20年南非经济的变化lNUKQOV=J!m%4H_JV。

“回顾当时5月份纳尔逊·曼德拉接受的摊子，实在是糟透了，这个国家背负债务，没有资金Ecp4(,AD[rav。人口增长率很低，失业率很高，存在严重的种族不平等，政治社会环境非常动荡cUPw,05@W(。然后就进入发展的黄金阶段，低通胀，债务减少，在全球金融危机之前表现非常出色jasuK#Eb@q|NPF。”

这份报告称税收从1994年的1140亿美元增长到8140亿美元，南非人并不都是满意经济发展的方向，但商界领袖和经济学家们很高兴看到一些发展的长期前景dXy*!N=47i[M8g-n7m)w。

Joanne Yawitch是国家商业计划负责人，该组织致力于帮助加强经济发展jmO&a^iIH#Y-+X4p9%w;。

“通常人们都南非存在很多别悲观的看法，但这份报告指出过去20年来我们做出了非常大的进步,eSDt%oF+@P14。尤其是生产力的提高，就业率的提高，中产阶级人数也有了大幅度增加s&-D.zywNji。大批人口的生活质量有了很大的提高5H9)jjcG6)A。”

但这个国家仍存在问题，报告指出南非的教育体系仍在苦苦挣扎，失业率为24%nsqSlW^mHG0QE2。报告称失业者中有70%的人年龄在34岁以下，同时存在严重的种族不平等，尤其是收入方面v_W1-JN[MXOy@6Ai9。报告称85%的黑人是穷人，87%的白人是中产或上流社会DkY2,|7e5|b|。

这份报告也招来了批评，有人说报告过于依赖一般的信息，缺少文化证据ujETs,T(&WcH;U!3C。

Yawitch赞同某些批评者的意见，但她说这份报告显示该国取得了很大进步n)5fIiE!.Mi=X@dI]ZTh。

“我成长于隔离年代，在这种民主制度下生活了20年，我想这个现实对于我来说，就是对很多人来说，南非的生活比以前好多了LoCflaCYlI4u!j@^P8。但还有很多大的事情要发生，我想这就是这份报告想引起我们注意的地方，我们还有很长的路要走，我们取得了进步，但必须继续前进LN&JJhi[L#LdJ(o6。”

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道xw)_HEDyWC@pe8。

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