(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
In January, the Pew Research Center published a public opinion study that showed more than 60 percent of Americans support the renewal of full diplomatic relations with Cuba. In December, President Obama announced he had decided that the two nations should officially recognize one another. It was the first step toward ending a trade embargo that had been in place since the 1960s.
In January, during his State of the Union speech, the president called on Congress to begin the work of ending the embargo. Some state and federal lawmakers strongly support the proposal. Others strongly oppose it.
Many American farmers and agriculture organizations want the trade embargo to end. Then, they could sell more of their crops to Cuba more easily. Cuba imports about 80 percent of its food.
Thomas Marten is a farmer in the central American state of Illinois. He says ending the embargo could increase his profits by 15 percent. He will plant his crops in the next few months. He says he grows a lot of special corn, including non-GMO. He says almost all of the product goes to export markets.
Mr. Marten says his father could not have imagined ever selling his crops to Cuba. He said the embargo was in place the entire time his father and his father's brothers were farming.
Mr. Marten is part of a group of farmers and business leaders pressuring lawmakers to support the end of the trade embargo.
People in Cuba were eating from crops grown in Illinois even before Mr. Obama said he would end the embargo. Mark Albertson is a director of market development at the Illinois Soybean Association.
He says the Trade Sanctions and Reform Act under former President Bill Clinton permitted agriculture trade to Cuba. But he says there were a lot of difficulties still.
One of the difficulties is that it is illegal for the United States to permit Cuba to make payments over time for a shipment of food. This means Cuba must pay the complete amount owed for the food when it is sent.
Mr. Albertson says other countries give financial credit to Cuba making them more competitive than American farmers. He says there has been a sharp drop in agriculture-related exports to Cuba in recent years.
The business group, U.S. Agricultural Coalition for Cuba is leading a group of about 75 farmers and business leaders on a trip to Cuba later in March. Thomas Marten is going. It will be his second trip to the island nation.
He told VOA he is optimistic about the future of trade with Cuba. He thinks the embargo has failed to pressure the country's leaders to improve the lives of the Cuban people. But he says he knows there are problems that must be dealt with.
"As both a farmer and a Catholic, you know, I definitely saw that there's a lot of churches closed there, and that's something that definitely concerns me in Cuba -- is their human rights record. That said, 54 years of our embargo has done very, very little as far as improving the human rights conditions in Cuba."
Mr. Marten says he hopes that some of the corn and soy from his next harvest will be sold to Cuba.
I'm Marsha James.
词汇解释
1.embargo vt. 禁止出入港口；禁止或限制贸易；征用或扣押 n. 禁令；禁止；封港令
The United Nations imposed an arms embargo against the country.
联合国对该国施行了武器贸易禁运。
2.renewal n. 更新，恢复；复兴；补充；革新；续借；重申
They will discuss the possible renewal of diplomatic relations.
他们将讨论恢复外交关系的可能性。
3.Catholic adj. 天主教的；宽宏大量的 n. 天主教徒；罗马天主教
At least nine out of ten Mexicans are baptized Catholics.
至少十分之九的墨西哥人是受过洗礼的天主教徒。
内容解析
1.He said the embargo was in place the entire time his father and his father's brothers were farming.
in place 在适当的位置上；适当的，恰当的；就地
The United States plans to tighten the economic sanctions currently in place.
美国计划加大现有经济制裁的力度。
A strong community cannot be built until the basics are in place.
只有基本原则确立了才能建立起一个强大的团体。
参考译文
1月份，皮尤研究中心发布了一项民调结果，显示60%以上的美国人支持与古巴重新建立全面的外交关系。去年12月，奥巴马总统宣布决定，两国应该正式承认彼此，这是朝着结束20世纪60年代开始实施的贸易禁运的第一步。
1月份，总统在国情咨文讲话中呼吁国会开始结束贸易禁运的工作。一些州和联邦议员强烈支持此举，但也有人强烈反对。
许多美国农民和农业组织希望结束贸易禁运，这样，他们就能更轻易地将更多作物出售给古巴，古巴80%的食物需要进口。
托马斯·马丁是美国中部州伊利诺州农民，他说结束禁运让他增加15%的收益。未来几个月他将多种植作物，他说自己种了大量特种玉米，包括非转基因玉米，他说几乎所有产品都进入出口市场。
马丁说他的父亲不能想象向古巴出售作物，他说在父亲和父亲的兄弟从事农业的全部时间里，贸易禁运都一直存在。
马丁是一个农民和商业领袖组织的成员，该组织向议员们施压，要求终结贸易禁运。
就在奥巴马表示要结束贸易禁运之前，古巴人就已经在食用来自伊利诺伊州的作物了，马克·爱博森是伊利诺伊州大豆协会市场开发部主任。
他说前总统比尔·克林顿时期颁布的贸易制裁和改革法案允许对古巴的农业贸易，但他说仍存在很多困难。
其中一个困难就是，对美国来说，允许古巴延期支付一批粮食是非法的，这意味着古巴必须在粮食发出后就支付清全部货款。
爱博森说其他国家给古巴提供金融信用，这样这些国家比美国农民更具竞争力。他说最近几年对古巴的农业相关出口有了急剧下降。
商业组织美国古巴农业联盟3月底将率领由75名农民和商业领袖组成的团队前往古巴，托马斯·马丁也要去，这将是他第二次来到这个岛国。
他告诉美国之音，他对未来与古巴的贸易感到乐观，他认为禁运政策未能给该国的领导人施压，使其改善古巴人民的生活。但他说他知道仍存在必须要解决的问题。
“作为一名农民和天主教徒，我看到古巴有很多教堂都在关闭，古巴还有些问题让我很担忧，也就是它们的人权纪录。即便如此，我们54年的禁运措施对改善古巴的人权状况所起作用甚微。”
马丁说他希望他下次收获的一些玉米和大豆将能售往古巴。
我是玛莎·詹姆斯。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
