VOA慢速英语2010年-Development Report - US Launches Effor

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The Obama administration has launched the first in a series of projects to support entrepreneurs in Muslim communities worldwide. The Global Entrepreneurship Program will provide advice and other help for businesses to succeed.

Partnerships¹ between public and private organizations aim to assist with everything from securing financing to writing a business plan.

The first project is being launched in Egypt. A second project in Indonesia is expected to follow soon.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked about the programs at a Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship.

HILLARY CLINTON: "Now these initiatives comprise a first wave of programs to promote global entrepreneurship. But they reflect the Obama administration's commitment to a new approach to development -- one based on investment, not aid. On supporting local leadership and ideas, rather than imposing² our own."

Attendees of the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship listen as President Barack Obama speaks, Monday, April 26, 2010, in Washington.

More than two hundred fifty people attended the two-day summit meeting held in Washington in late April. Most were from majority Muslim countries.

President Obama promised to hold a summit on entrepreneurship in his speech to the Islamic world last June in Cairo. He says the business market is the most powerful force for economic growth and lifting people out of poverty. He also says entrepreneurship is an area where countries can learn from each other.

Tim Kane is with the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation, a nonprofit in the United States that works to increase entrepreneurship worldwide. He says the World Bank has found that simpler rules and other regulatory reforms make it easier to do business in the Middle East.

TIM KANE: "One of the things the World Bank measured was how long it takes to start a business. Typical Middle Eastern country in two thousand four was forty-two days. You have an idea, have to file a bunch of paperwork -- ten forms, forty-two days. Nowadays the average company in the Middle East takes twenty-one days to start a business. In Saudi Arabia it takes five days. So, it's things like that where they can learn from each other about how to get more efficient, how to help entrepreneurs get off the ground."

The Global Entrepreneurship Program in Egypt will create several partnerships between American and Egyptian groups. These include the Egyptian Junior Business Association and the American University in Cairo. The United States Agency for International Development has a team of entrepreneurs in Egypt to supervise the program.

The Obama administration plans to expand the program to twelve countries within the next two years.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms, with additional reporting by Meredith Buel. Transcripts³, MP3s and podcasts are at voaspecialenglish.com. We're also on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 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

2 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

3 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句