2007年VOA标准英语-Cubans Struggle in Province Rich in Tobacco, To

By VOA News
Pinar del Rio, Cuba
14 February 2007
 
watch Inside Cuba: part 2

This week we are bringing you a special series of reports called "Inside Cuba - Reporter's Notebook."

The series is based on the reporting of a video crew that contributes material to VOA on a regular basis. The crew made an unofficial ten-day visit to the island. To protect the identities of those who spoke¹ to the journalists, we will not show their faces nor provide any images that could endanger them. We also are withholding² the names of the crew, in a further effort to protect those who expressed their opinions.

For the second part of "Inside Cuba", the crew visited Pinar Del Rio, Cuba's westernmost province.

 
Man harvests tobacco at farm in Cuba's Pinar del Rio region
Known for its rich tobacco crop, the province also is a popular tourist destination, part of a $2 billion-a-year industry that has become Cuba's top foreign exchange earner. But as we hear in this report, few Cubans share in the wealth.

Days are long, sunny and quiet in this small town in Cuba's western province of Pinar del Rio.

The streets are lined with freshly-painted private houses that owners rent out to a growing number of foreign tourists. And also catering³ to those tourists are tour guides -- both young and old.

One of them offers his services to us on an unofficial basis -- and later explains the difference he sees between the Cuba for tourists and the Cuba that exists for most Cubans.

"You are tourists and you have money, you can eat the best of the best, visit the best places and you can do whatever you want. But if I have money and I want to go stay in the same hotel as you, I can't do it. It's forbidden. I can't even get inside the hotel lobby," the man says.

 
Cubans wait to get into a money exchange to retrieve⁴ funds sent from abroad
Most Cubans get paid in local pesos, earning the equivalent of about $10 U.S. a month. But those who work in the tourist industry have a chance to earn the country's parallel, convertible⁵ currency.

It is that second currency that the islanders must use to purchase goods that otherwise are impossible to get. Those with pesos can only shop at government-run stores where the shelves are often bare.

Also, remittances⁶ from overseas are an important part of Cuba's wealth. Between one-third and two-thirds of the island's 11 million inhabitants are believed to receive money from abroad -- mostly from Cuban-Americans living in exile in the United States.

And those who do not get any support from the outside world, have no choice but to struggle on their own.

 
Many on the island live in conditions of poverty
The fields of this small tobacco and coffee plantation⁷ are worked by a farm family. "This year, we had a good weather, but it depends on the rain. No rain, no crop," said one family member.

Whether it has been a good year or not, the family is obliged to give 90 percent of their crop to the Cuban government for a small, fixed⁸ fee. The rest can be sold to support the family.

But even though the family is producing some of the most highly sought-after tobacco in the world, they find it difficult to keep themselves clothed and fed.

"It's difficult to get milk, and it gets bad quickly in the house," the farmer explains. "As for meat, we have chicken sometimes and we eat pork once a year. There's nowhere to buy food anyway, if there was a place to buy it we would buy more."

The house has neither electricity, nor running water -- a common situation, they say, in many rural homes in Cuba.

Residents of Pinar del Rio province are historically known for their resistance to Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. But these days, the government's propaganda is everywhere -- from schools to private homes.

Education in Cuba remains⁹ free-to-all, and the country is widely-admired in Latin America for its high literacy rate. But some young Cubans who have emerged from the educational system believe that massive change on the island is inevitable¹⁰.

"Yes. I think the change is going to happen when "our uncle" dies," says one resident. "I am sure when the Americans hear that Fidel Castro is dead, everybody will come," he says.

But American tourists will only be free to visit Cuba when the U.S. economic embargo¹¹ of the island is lifted. And that will only happen if the country embraces democracy.

Many Cubans hope change will improve their economic well-being¹², but for now they compete with one another for highly-prized jobs that earn them hard currency.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 withholding   

扣缴税款

参考例句：

• She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
• The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。

3 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

4 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

5 convertible   

adj.可改变的，可交换，同意义的；n.有活动摺篷的汽车

参考例句：

• The convertible sofa means that the apartment can sleep four.有了这张折叠沙发，公寓里可以睡下4个人。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了。

6 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网

7 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

8 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 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。

11 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

12 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。