Incumbent cabinet holds final meeting

 　　BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The incumbent¹ State Council, China's cabinet, held its final executive meeting on Wednesday, as this administration's term nears its end.

　　Premier² Wen Jiabao presided over the meeting that reiterated³ policies to tame the hot property market, a major source of public concern in recent years.

　　The cabinet has held a total of 234 executive meetings since it took office on March 19, 2008.

　　It studied and discussed 611 topics, including how to combat the global financial crisis, improve people's livelihoods⁴, deepen the reform and opening up and strengthen the government's ability to improve itself.

　　All of these are prominent issues that have emerged amid China's economic and social development over the past five years.

　　Zhang Liqun, an analyst⁵ with the Development Research Center of the State Council, said the country has stood up to all sorts of difficulties and challenges and made great achievements in the past five years.

　　"The government's work has laid a solid foundation for the country's future reforms and development," Zhang said.

　　Tackling the global financial crisis is the main theme tying together this government's work in the past five years.

　　Between 2008 and 2009, when the global economy bottomed out, China also felt the pinch, as a slew⁶ of enterprises suspended production, thousands of migrant workers lost employment and all economic indicators⁷ dropped sharply.

　　The State Council held a flurry of intensive meetings during that period. It convened⁸ twice on Nov. 5, 2008, rolling out a package of 10 stimulus⁹ measures aimed at boosting domestic consumption and economic growth.

　　Economic conditions have been extremely volatile¹⁰ both at home and abroad over the past five years. The cabinet decided¹¹ to hold an executive meeting every quarter to study the changes, in addition to other meetings scheduled when necessary.

　　The timely responses proved effective. It only took half a year for China to reverse the country's economic downward trend.

　　During the past five years, China's economy has maintained an average annual growth rate of 9 percent. Meanwhile, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) doubled from 26 trillion yuan (4.14 trillion U.S. dollars) to 52 trillion yuan to become the world's second-largest economy.

　　Improving people's livelihoods has been at the center of the government's work during the past five years. Executive meetings focused on more than 100 topics, including housing, medical care, education, employment and social security.

　　The central government spent around two-thirds of its budget on improving people's lives during the past five years.

　　The establishment of a social security network covering both urban and rural areas highlights China's efforts to improve people's livelihoods in the past five years.

　　A basic pension system, the world's largest such pension network, now covers the entire country.

　　Over 95 percent of China's 1.3 billion people enjoy the benefits of a basic medical insurance system formed in the past five years.

　　China launched affordable¹² housing construction on an unprecedented¹³ scale over the past years. The country started construction on 30 million units of affordable homes and housing units renovated¹⁴ from shantytowns.

　　Some 17 million units have been completed to date.

　　An executive meeting was convened to study how to help low-income families and orphans¹⁶ and allocate¹⁷ subsidies¹⁸ for them. In addition, the basic pension level for company retirees rose for nine consecutive¹⁹ years.

　　Issues regarding agriculture, rural areas and farmers remained among the government's priorities in the past five years.

　　The central government earmarked a total of 4.47 trillion yuan over the past five years for the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, representing an annual growth rate of 23 percent.

　　Pushing forward reforms in major areas has also been an important point in executive meetings since 2008.

　　The cabinet has also concentrated on significant reform areas, including value added tax (VAT¹⁵), the pricing mechanism²⁰ of refined oil products and fuel tax.

　　The VAT reform reduced companies' tax burden by more than 120 billion yuan in 2009.

　　Other fields of reform have included determining taxation²¹ on natural resources, promoting private investment and the development of small enterprises, improving the income distribution system and streamlining the administrative²² approval process.

　　Over the past five years, the cabinet has worked on improving the country's pharmaceutical²³ and healthcare systems at least seven times.

　　Every year, the State Council also held a meeting on comprehensive arrangements for the reform of the country's economic structure.

1 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

2 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

3 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

4 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

7 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

8 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

9 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

10 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

13 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

14 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。

15 vat   

n.(=value added tax)增值税，大桶

参考例句：

• The office is asking for the vat papers.办事处要有关增值税的文件。
• His father emptied sacks of stale rye bread into the vat.他父亲把一袋袋发霉的黑面包倒进大桶里。

16 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

17 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

18 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

20 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

21 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

22 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

23 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。