2007年VOA标准英语-Liberian Government Negotiates New Deal with Fi

By Selah Hennessy
Dakar
09 May 2007

The government of Liberia is negotiating with Firestone over a new concession¹ agreement with the rubber producer. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been pushing for a new agreement with Firestone since she came into office. The government recently signed a new contract with Dutch-based steel conglomerate² Arcelor Mittal, another key investor³ in the country. Selah Hennessy reports from VOA's West Africa bureau in Dakar.

The new contract will replace a deal signed between U.S-based Firestone, a subsidiary of the Japanese tire company Bridgestone, and Liberia's transitional government in 2005.

Patrick Alley⁴ of London-based watchdog group Global Witness says the 2005 agreement is one-sided and must be changed. But he is optimistic that the new government is pushing for a more balanced agreement.

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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at VOA (21 Mar 2006)

"I think that President Sirleaf is showing more leadership in this area than almost anyone I can think of. And she said very early on she would re-negotiate deals signed during that transitional period and she is keeping to that," said Alley.

Information Minister Dr. Laurence Konmla Bropleh says the government wants to keep Firestone in Liberia, but agrees that changes will have to be made to the agreement.

"We do not mind having Firestone here but we want to make sure that Firestone's agreement, by which it operates, will conform to the norm and standards of what this government believes the country needs to go," he said.

Speaking as workers continue a strike at the rubber plantation⁶ near Monrovia, he says improved rights for workers must be central to a new agreement.

Firestone has repeatedly denied it abuses its workers, and says it strives to improve their working conditions.

An unidentified worker inspects collected latex at the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia, 22 Jan 2007

But the striking workers, whose union has been set up by management, say they have no way to establish an independent union under the current contract

Some activists⁷, like Robert Nyahn of the Liberian Forest and Human Rights Campaign, say big changes are needed .

"Let them make holistic⁸ change and not put in cosmetic⁹ changes just to paint themselves white on the outside while their inside is very black," said Nyahn.

Firestone is Liberia's biggest private-sector employer with at least 6,000 workers.

1 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

2 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

3 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

4 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

5 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

6 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。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

9 cosmetic   

n.化妆品；adj.化妆用的；装门面的；装饰性的

参考例句：

• These changes are purely cosmetic.这些改变纯粹是装饰门面。
• Laughter is the best cosmetic,so grin and wear it!微笑是最好的化妆品，所以请尽情微笑吧！