VOA标准英语2014--Poor Economy Forces Ukraine Miners into Illegal Operations 经济不景气迫使乌克兰矿工违规操作

 

Poor Economy Forces Ukraine Miners into Illegal Operations 经济不景气迫使乌克兰矿工违规操作

DONBASS, UKRAINE — The Donbass coal field in eastern Ukraine is a huge reserve that once made this region one of the most powerful in the former Soviet¹ Union.  But with the collapse² of the Soviet empire, industrial production has declined, forcing many local people to find work in dangerous illegal coal mines.

Under the crumbling³ industrial landscape of eastern Ukraine, many are forced to scratch a living out of the earth in illegal coal mines like this one.  

There are thousands of illegal mines across this region that operate without licenses⁴ or safety checks, and miners say with the complicity of local police, organized crime groups and politicians.

Some pits are 300 meters deep and lack adequate support and ventilation.  Miners stack the coal into carts pulled up to the surface on these pulleys.  The men often work without safety equipment, insurance or any hope of a pension.  Some say hundreds of miners perish under the earth each year.

“Every week we have accidents.  Two weeks ago on our part of the mine there was an accident, one guy died and another became an invalid⁵.  Almost every day I hear news of accidents in different mines where somebody was wounded or killed," said illegal miner Valera Mardanenitsa.

Like many others, Valera lost his job at a state run mine when the Soviet Union collapsed⁶ in 1991.  As the Donbass region went into economic free-fall, he turned to drink and crime, and spent more than 10 years in prison.  Now illegal mining is the only work he can find.

“I could go to the state mine, but I would have to pay $400 for a job and I might then be fired any time in the future," he said.

He can earn around $18 a day, but because the industry is unregulated, sometimes his bosses do not pay him at all.

"Owners often lie to workers, I know a team who were paid less and less each week they worked, and eventually they had to leave their jobs," he said.

Cheap coal from illegal pits now supplies up to 12 percent of Ukraine’s total output and is undercutting state owned mining, an outmoded industry that is heavily subsidized and estimated to be losing more than $120 million a year.

 

And while officials in Europe and the United States worry about a possible Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine, many here cannot see what assets Russia would hope to gain.

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

4 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

5 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。