2007年VOA标准英语-Brazil President Visits India to Boost Trade Ti

By Steve Herman
New Delhi
04 June 2007

Brazil's President and a delegation¹ of more than 100 Brazilian business executives are in India to boost trade ties. As VOA's Steve Herman reports from New Delhi, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, says the two countries should use their rapidly increasing clout² to exert more influence over world economics and politics.

Brazil's president,

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

says his trip to India is his most important foreign visit of the year.

The three-day state visit comes as Brazil and India have both become trillion dollar economies. After Mr. da Silva met Monday with Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, the two leaders witnessed their trade officials sign a number of economic cooperation agreements, including one giving Brazil's Petrobras a share of three oil exploration blocks on India's eastern coast.

The burgeoning³ relationship between the two countries goes beyond business. Speaking to corporate⁴ leaders here, Mr. da Silva called on India to join Brazil to use their combined clout to lead the G20 alliance of developing nations.

He says the time has passed for either India or Brazil to use physical distance to justify⁵ disinterest. He added that the United States and the European Union could no longer negotiate agreements with the developing world unless they contend with India and Brazil.

The two nations are key players in the stalled Doha Round of world trade talks - putting up a formidable barrier to positions being advanced by the U.S. and European Union.

India and Brazil also advocate restructuring the United Nations Security Council with both countries saying they deserve a permanent seat at that table.

This visit's focus is on trade however, and India's minister of state for external affairs, Anand Sharma, announced that chief executive officers have pledged to quadruple the value of Indian-Brazilian commerce by 2010.

"The leaders have sent the benchmark of raising the economic cooperation or trade to $10 billion," he said. "And the CEO's have assured that they accept the challenge and perhaps would like to exceed that. "

India hopes to take advantage of technology Brazil has acquired as an agriculture superpower while Brazil desires Indian know-how⁶ in the pharmaceutical⁷ sector⁸.

India, with dire⁹ energy requirements, hopes to make up for some of its shortfalls by tapping Brazilian uranium reserves - the world's largest - and the South American nation's bio-fuels capacity.

1 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

2 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

3 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

4 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

5 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

6 know-how   

n.知识；技术；诀窍

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
• I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。

7 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

8 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

9 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。