英伦广角 2010-11-07 欧盟预算谈判多纷争

Something never changes soon. The fabled¹ EU gravy² train, those fancy cars, long lunches, chocolate and beer filled Brussels lifestyle, all of it, a permanent source of indignation and anger to Euro skeptics.
In times of plenty, when European economies were booming, no one cut back on the EU budget. Now in times of austerity, one mighty³ expect a different approch. But in fact, David Cameron's last-ditch real guard action is an attempt to enforce not a cut, not a freeze, but just a lower increase in the budget that is likely to be approved.
At a time when European countries including the United Kindom are taking tough dicisions on their budgets, and having to cut some departments. It's completely wrong that European Institution should be spending more money on themseleve in the way they propose. Six percent is not acceptable, I want to build the alliance, work with colleagues put a stop to that, and see if we can see something better. And that is what I'm gonna do today.
The European Commission and indeed the European Parliament want to see a rise in the EU budgets of six percent. That would represent an increase British contribution of nine hundred million pounds. But David Cameron is pretty much resign to accept an increase of two point nine percent.
But even that, it's five hundred million pounds more, not a sort of thing that's going to make British government departments happy when they are facing a cut of nineteen percent on average over the coming four years.
It did seem extrordinary that at the very moment that George Osborne was on his feet in the House of Commons announcing the most significant budget retrenchment⁴ since 1920s to deal with the deficit⁵. But at that moment, MEPs were recalling for these huge increases to pay for among other things more stuff for themselves and higher entertainment budgets for European Commissioners⁶.
The problem for David Cameron is that the budget isn't even on the former agenda for the summit. And other European leaders are intensely preoccupied⁷ by controversial plans to impose strick new fiscal⁸ rules on the Euro Zone.
The rules are being drawn⁹ up to ensure no other country should get into the sort of trouble Greece has, provoking riots internally and a bailout from its European neighbors.
This is an argument where Britain is on the sidelines and wants it to stay that way. But the wrangling¹⁰ is so intense that it might be hard for the British Prime Minister to draw the argument back toward what he thinks are more important this years.

1 fabled   

adj.寓言中的，虚构的

参考例句：

• For the first week he never actually saw the fabled Jack. 第一周他实际上从没见到传说中的杰克。
• Aphrodite, the Greek goddness of love, is fabled to have been born of the foam of the sea. 希腊爱神阿美罗狄蒂据说是诞生于海浪泡沫之中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 gravy   

n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快

参考例句：

• You have spilled gravy on the tablecloth.你把肉汁泼到台布上了。
• The meat was swimming in gravy.肉泡在浓汁之中。

3 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

4 retrenchment   

n.节省，删除

参考例句：

• Retrenchment will be necessary. 有必要进行紧缩。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Defense planners predict an extended period of retrenchment. 国防规划人员预计开支紧缩期会延长。 来自辞典例句

5 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。

6 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 wrangling   

v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The two sides have spent most of their time wrangling over procedural problems. 双方大部分时间都在围绕程序问题争论不休。 来自辞典例句
• The children were wrangling (with each other) over the new toy. 孩子为新玩具（互相）争吵。 来自辞典例句