VOA常速英语2007-Sierra Leone's Diamonds Fail to Fuel Growth

By Naomi Schwarz
Bo, Sierra Leone
22 October 2007

As Sierra Leone's recently elected president, Ernest Koroma, begins governing, many observers are watching to see how he will tackle corruption¹. Some say corruption is the reason the country's huge diamond wealth has failed to benefit most Sierra Leoneans, including those who mine the diamonds. Naomi Schwarz recently visited the southern town of Bo, and his this VOA report.

A wide river a few kilometers outside Bo cuts through the landscape. In the dry season, the banks are filled with diamond miners, but the rainy season forces the miners to retreat from the swollen² river.

They follow slippery trails through the green brush to man-made pits filled with muddy water.

Young workers walk deeper into the brush to fill old rice sacks with dug up rubble³. They carry the sacks on their heads back to the water holes, where they pour the contents into massive piles.

A second group of workers puts the rubble into wide, round sieves⁴. Standing⁵ knee deep in the brown water, they rinse⁶ the stones, shimmying them back and forth⁷ through the water to wash off the mud, and, they hope, to spot any diamonds lurking⁸ among the pebbles⁹.

Ibrahim Sesay has been mining for diamonds since he was a child. He says he is very poor, but mining is all he knows. He says feeding his wife and three children is hard, but he prefers to work here than to steal.

Sesay says days and sometimes months pass without finding a single diamond. Some of the young workers say they have been there for more than six months and have never found any.

Sesay says he has found diamonds, but only very little ones.

He says you need special machinery¹⁰ to dig deep enough to find the bigger diamonds and he cannot afford it.

A former aid worker native to the region, Dennis Mackavorey, says, even when miners find diamonds, they are often not paid a fair price.

"The miners get, they feel, what is good," said Mackavorey. "They do not know the valued cost of what they are mining. They do not know the valued cost of a diamond -- just mine it and sell it blindly."

Christian¹¹ Lawrence, of Sierra Leone's Campaign for Good Governance, says the people get cheated a second time, when the government gives diamond-tax money back to the mining areas.

"Even the kind of tax, which mining companies do give to paramount¹² chiefs in these mining areas, those taxes are principally for undertaking¹³ development activities for those particular areas as a form of compensating¹⁴ those communities," said Lawrence. "Most of these monies given to the paramount chiefs and local authorities are actually siphoned."

Lawrence says, as a result of practices like this, the people of Sierra Leone remain incredibly poor, despite their substantial natural resources.

"We really, really have resources locally that, if well-utilized could actually develop the country," said Lawrence. "But that is not happening. We have gold, we have diamond, we have bauxite¹⁵, you name it, mineral deposit, even to fish, marine¹⁶ resources, we have enough. Even cash crops, cocoa, coffee, cassava, palm oil, you name it, we have it. But, in spite of all of these resources, Sierra Leone is still backward."

Through the decades since Sierra Leone's independence, frustration¹⁷ over this paradox¹⁸ has festered. It was eventually one of the root causes of the civil war that broke out in the early 1990s.

The war ended in 2002, but Lawrence says the pervasive¹⁹ corruption has continued.

In the recent presidential elections, Sierra Leoneans voted for a new government. On election day, then-candidate Ernest Koroma, said he would fight corruption.

"I am democratic, I am honest, and I am going into this ticket on corruption," said Koroma. "I am the only candidate who can stand up and say I am corrupt-free."

He said he would strengthen anti-corruption bodies, and bring cases to a special, independent court.

Lawrence says this would be a welcome change.

"What most Sierra Leoneans would see as a positive step in combating corruption is to actually ensure that the big guys, quote-unquote 'the big fish' are actually being caught," said Lawrence. "People actually want to see politicians being investigated, prosecuted²⁰ and punished."

He says only small players have been prosecuted.

Lawrence says there are important steps he hopes the new government will take to prevent corruption.

He says mining contracts have been negotiated in secrecy²¹, and organizations like his have to fight to find out the terms.

He says civil advocacy groups need to be able to take part in those negotiations²², to make sure the needs of regular people are respected. And, he says, people need to know the terms to make sure the people get what they are supposed to.

Lawrence says Sierra Leone is developing, slowly, but diamond miner Sesay does not agree.

He says since the war, life has only gotten harder.

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

3 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

4 sieves   

筛，漏勺( sieve的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This thesis emphasized on the preparation of mesoporous molecular sieves MSU. 中孔分子筛MSU是当今认为在稳定性方面很有发展前途的一种催化新材料。
• The mesoporous silica molecular sieves Zr-MCM-41 were synthesized in ethylenediamine. 以乙二胺为碱性介质合成了Zr-MCM-41介孔分子筛。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 rinse   

v.用清水漂洗，用清水冲洗

参考例句：

• Give the cup a rinse.冲洗一下杯子。
• Don't just rinse the bottles. Wash them out carefully.别只涮涮瓶子，要仔细地洗洗里面。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 lurking   

潜在

参考例句：

• Why are you lurking around outside my house? 你在我房子外面鬼鬼祟祟的，想干什么？
• There is a suspicious man lurking in the shadows. 有一可疑的人躲在阴暗中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

10 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

11 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

12 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

13 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

14 compensating   

补偿，补助，修正

参考例句：

• I am able to set up compensating networks of nerve connections. 我能建立起补偿性的神经联系网。
• It is desirable that compensating cables be run in earthed conduit. 补偿导线最好在地下管道中穿过。

15 bauxite   

n.铝土矿

参考例句：

• Aluminum is made from bauxite.铝是从铝土矿中提炼出的。
• The United States was vulnerable to shortages of chrome,bauxite,and platinum.美国的弱点是缺少铬、矾土和铂。

16 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

17 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

18 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

19 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

20 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

21 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

22 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。