Portugal Seeks European Bailout

     Portugal has become the third European economy, after Greece and Ireland, to request a bailout from the European Commission. Now there are fears that Spain could be next.

    It was the moment the Portuguese²(葡萄牙) people - and European investors³ - had feared. Portugal's prime minister took to the nation's airwaves, explaining the time had come for his country's struggling economy to ask for a financial bailout.

    Prime Minister Jose Socrates says he has a responsibility to think about Portugal's national interest, and asking the European Commission for financial help is in that interest. He says "everyone knows" that he regrets it, but the decision was "inevitable⁴."Portugal's economy has long lagged behind other European nations, with high government debt, burgeoning⁵ budget deficits⁷ and soaring unemployment. Vanessa Rossi, an economist⁸ at London's Chatham House think tank, says Portugal - like Greece and Ireland - simply was not in good enough shape to survive the recent global economic problems.

    "The history of Portugal goes back many years, to having a poorly performing economy practically for the past decade, and continual budget deficits that built up to a higher than usual debt level," she said. "This had been a continuous problem they'd tried to address. But particularly when the world economy went into recession in 2009, this has made the struggle so much more difficult."Europe's longest bridge, in Lisbon, stands as an example of European-funded infrastructure⁹ projects that failed to jumpstart Portugal's economy. Now the question is whether a bailout will do the trick, or whether it might go the way of previous European help, failing to truly fix problems at the root of Portugal's economy.

    Rossi says Portugal's short-term emergency will be averted¹⁰, but in the long term, the future is still uncertain.

    "There's not going to be any immediate¹¹ default," she said. "Portugal will have money in order to continue financing itself for the next two or three years. The question is, 'What happens then?' Can you find that new model which will generate a better opportunity to be able to work off this debt in the future. Many people have some doubts about that, given that this is not a new problem, and it seems to have been difficult to tackle in the past."Another big question is how far the economic crisis will spread. Portugal's neighbor Spain has nearly 20 percent unemployment, after its huge housing bubble burst in recent years. The question was put to Spain's economy minister, Elena Salgado, by a local Madrid radio station.

    Salgado says she can "absolutely rule out" the idea of Portuguese contagion¹² spreading to Spain. She says the Spanish economy is "more diversified¹³, more powerful" and "much more competitive than Portugal's."For now, financial markets seem to believe her. Spain was able to sell 4.1 billion euros of government debt Thursday, and investors accepted lower interest rates than expected.

    Rossi says she thinks Spain will fare better than Portugal.

    "To be fair, Spain has made enormous efforts to be able to tackle its problems, in terms of cutting the budget deficit⁶, in terms of looking at the issues of recapitalizing the banks," she said. "It was also true that Spain went into this problem with a far lower level of government debt. Therefore, their ability to cope with this situation is still positive. I think every effort will be made not only by Spain, but also by the rest of the eurozone countries, to make sure that Spain actually continues with its own self-funded solution, and does not turn into a bailout situation such as Portugal."In recent months, Spain has increased taxes, cut public sector¹⁴ wages raised the retirement¹⁵ age from 65 to 67. Spain's total economy is bigger than those of Portugal, Greece and Ireland put together. That means it could be too big to fail - but also more expensive for Europe to bail¹ out.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

2 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

8 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

9 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。

10 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 contagion   

n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延

参考例句：

• A contagion of fear swept through the crowd.一种恐惧感在人群中迅速蔓延开。
• The product contagion effect has numerous implications for marketing managers and retailers.产品传染效应对市场营销管理者和零售商都有很多的启示。

13 diversified   

adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• The college biology department has diversified by adding new courses in biotechnology. 该学院生物系通过增加生物技术方面的新课程而变得多样化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Take grain as the key link, develop a diversified economy and ensure an all-round development. 以粮为纲，多种经营，全面发展。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

15 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。