VOA标准英语2008年-Stalled Car Factory Costing Jobs, Splitting Nei

Indian carmaker, Tata Motors, plans to launch the world's cheapest car, the Nano, in October. But the Nano plant in West Bengal has run into serious trouble from protests by local activists². VOA's Raymond Thibodeaux reports from Barispada, near the Nano factory, which is just outside Kolkata, the capital of India's West Bengal state.
　
Indians walk to participate in a demonstration³ near the Tata Motors factory site on the Calcutta-Delhi highway at Singur, north of Calcutta, India, 28 Aug 2008

"We support Mamata Banerjee." "We want answers." "We want answers from Tata."

These were some of the slogans shouted by tens of thousands of people during Tuesday's protests at Tata's sprawling⁴ Nano factory in Singur.

Mamata Banerjee is chief of the Trinamool Congress, the opposition⁵ party in West Bengal. She has taken up the plight⁶ of more than a thousand farmers in Singur who have been displaced by land buyouts to make room for Tata's thousand-acre car factory.

Banerjee, farmers and other opposition parties have staged massive protests that have virtually shut down Tata's Nano plant, which could stall the carmaker's October rollout of the world's cheapest car.

"Singur is a role model for the whole world," said Becharam Manna, the local vice⁷ chairman for the Trinamool Congress Party. "They have set an example before the world and for Third World countries where the big corporate⁸ houses come and grab the land. They have stopped that."
　
Supporters of Trinamul Congress and alliance parties block Kolkata-Delhi national highway during demonstration in front of Tata Motors factory at Singur, about 40 kilometers west of Kolkata, 24 Aug 2008

The Tata controversy⁹ has become a major showdown in India between big industry and small farmers, part of India's growing pains as its old, agrarian¹⁰ economy makes way for a more modern economy fueled by industry and technology.

Analysts¹¹ say the biggest hurdle¹² for industry has been acquiring land. Across India, about 92,000 acres of farmland are being investigated for land-grabbing practices by industrial giants, according to several media reports. The land disputes affect more than a half million farmers.

Biren Pakira is a 52-year-old potato farmer in Barispada. Like many farmers here, he says he was pressured to sell his land to West Bengal's government at far below the fair market value.

He says, the government captured the land that is now inside the Tata factory and he did not get much money for it. There were 14 people who owned five acres and they were paid 40 lakhs for it, he says.

That is just more than $7,000 apiece. Pakira says they should have made at least four times that much, but he was able to build a bigger house for his wife and three children.

After weeks of protests, the Tata issue has boiled down to about 300 acres that the farmers want back. Tata says, no.

West Bengal's government is trying to mediate¹³ the crisis, but without much success. Banerjee has vowed¹⁴ to fight on.
　
A first look at the world's cheapest car, Tata's Nano, 10 Jan 2008

Tata's problems in West Bengal are scaring off other industries hoping to locate here, including Infosys, a software maker¹ that wants to build a business park that would provide 5,000 jobs.

Kartik Chandra Malik, 57, runs a tea shop near the boundary wall of Tata's Nano factory.

He says he is frustrated¹⁵ that the factory has been stopped. He says wants it to open, because when it is open he can do more business selling tea and biscuits. He is hoping his son, who just graduated from college, will get a good job at the factory.

Many of Malik's neighbors in Barispada are tight-lipped when it comes to talking about Tata's troubles. There is growing tension in the villages near the Tata factory as the protests continue and the plant remains¹⁶ closed. The Tata crisis pits neighbors against each other.

Malik says many of his neighbors are being pressured by opposition groups to protest against the carmaker. But many here already have jobs lined up at the factory or hope to.

A young man at Malik's tea shop said he got a job loading trucks at the Tata plant. For that, many of neighbors have called him a traitor¹⁷.

 

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 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》

3 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

4 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 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。

9 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

10 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

13 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

14 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

15 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 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。

17 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。