EU says 2011 will be economically painful year

    BRUSSELS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The year 2011 will be economically challenging(挑战的) and painful, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned here Wednesday.
    After two years of economic recession（衰退）, Barroso expects a difficult year ahead and underlined the need for Europe to make progress on economic governance and policy coordination¹.
    "2011 will not be an easy year, it will in fact be a very challenging year. Sometimes it will be painful also in economic terms," he said.
    "More economic governance and coordination is not an ideological² dream. It is a pragmatic need. Those defending it are not utopians, but realists," he said.
    Barroso is expected to present the bloc's annual growth survey next week, thus launching the first European Semester, a six-month period during which the member states' economic and budgetary policies will be assessed to identify any discrepancies³ and imbalances.
    In addition to promoting economic governance and coordination, the commission regards energy and innovation（创新） as two important priorities that will be discussed at the next European Council meeting in February.
    Barroso hopes the Council will agree on key missing energy infrastructure⁴ links, on the way to overcoming all obstacles to the creation of a truly European energy market, and on concrete measures to reach the 20 percent target on energy efficiency by 2020.
    In order to improve the bloc's external energy policy, the president will travel to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan next week to support the Southern Corridor project, which aims at ensuring security and diversification⁵ of energy supplies.
    Barroso also highlighted the importance of the European Council's endorsement⁶ of the European Union (EU)'s strategic approach to innovation, whereby innovation is overarching policy objective.
    The president stressed the need to complete the European Research Area by 2014, launch European Innovation Partnerships⁷, support public procurement⁸ of innovative⁹ products and services, improve access to finance, and cut red tape.
    "We all know that innovation is essential to drive growth and employment. We need this kind of innovation for Europe's competitiveness," Barroso said.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

2 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

3 discrepancies   

n.差异，不符合（之处），不一致（之处）( discrepancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• wide discrepancies in prices quoted for the work 这项工作的报价出入很大
• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 diversification   

n.变化，多样化；多种经营

参考例句：

• The seminar was to discuss diversification of agriculture. 该研讨会讨论的是农业多种经营。 来自辞典例句
• Firm diversification is increasingly achieved by the means of takeover and merger. 通过接管和兼并，厂商经营范围日益多样化。 来自辞典例句

6 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

7 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

8 procurement   

n.采购；获得

参考例句：

• He is in charge of the procurement of materials.他负责物资的采购。
• More and more,human food procurement came to have a dominant effect on their evolution.人类获取食物愈来愈显著地影响到人类的进化。

9 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。