Sri Lanka's cabinet resigns

正文

Sri Lanka's cabinet resigns as street protests pressure government

街头抗议向政府施压，斯里兰卡内阁辞职

Sri Lanka's cabinet resigned en masse Sunday amid street protests and a dire economic crisis, leading to a vacuum in the leadership of a country largely controlled by its president's powerful family.

周日，在街头抗议和严重的经济危机中，斯里兰卡内阁集体辞职，导致这个国家出现领导层真空，而这个国家主要是由势力强大的总统家族控制的。

Every member of the cabinet except for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother stepped down.

除了总统戈塔巴雅·拉贾帕克萨和他的哥哥之外，所有的内阁成员都辞职了。

The midnight resignations occurred as protesters swarmed streets across Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, and its suburbs. The protesters say they are angry and frustrated over the dwindling standard of living in Sri Lanka as the country experiences a severe economic crisis, marked by cuts in electricity service that have lasted as long as 13 hours a day. ***

午夜辞职事件发生之时，抗议者涌上斯里兰卡首都科伦坡及其郊区的街道。他们表示，斯里兰卡正在经历一场严重的经济危机，生活水平日益下降——显著的标志是每天长达 13 个小时的供电中断，他们对此感到愤怒和沮丧。

Sri Lanka's tourism-reliant economy was hit hard after the Easter Sunday bombings of 2019. After Gotabaya Rajapaksa won elections that November, he introduced a sweeping tax cut, and the coronavirus pandemic that soon followed put pressure on the currency, the Sri Lankan rupee.

自 2019 年复活节爆炸案以来，斯里兰卡依赖旅游业的经济受到了沉重打击。当年 11 月，戈塔巴雅·拉贾帕克萨赢得选举之后，他推出了一项大规模的减税政策，随后的新冠疫情给斯里兰卡货币——斯里兰卡卢比——带来了压力。

The central bank decided to peg the rupee to the dollar, rather than continuing to let it float. Analysts say that created a parallel black market and arbitrage opportunities that sent the value of Sri Lanka's sovereign debt into free fall. At the same time, the country's foreign reserves dropped to dangerous lows, making it hard to purchase essential imports, including medicine, gas and fuel.

斯里兰卡中央银行决定将卢比与美元挂钩，而不是继续让其自由浮动。分析人员表示，这创造了一个并行的黑市和套利机会，导致斯里兰卡国债价值直线下跌。与此同时，斯里兰卡的外汇储备降至危险的低点，使其难以购买必不可少的进口产品，包括药品、天然气和燃料。

How Rajapaksa responds to the public protests will be watched closely as a measure of how much, or how little, he has changed since his family was last in power.

拉贾帕克萨如何应对公众抗议将受到密切关注，人们会以此来衡量自他的家族上次掌权以来，他改变了多少，或者说，他是不是根本没有改变。

主编：颍楠

品控：XP

审核：Jack

重点词汇

cabinet

/ˈkæb.ən.ət/

n. 内阁；储藏柜

例句：The presidnet called a cabinet meeting.

resign

/rɪˈzaɪn/

v. 辞职

词义辨析：quit, resign

quit 和 resign 都可以表示“辞职”，不过 quit 是比较口语化的用法，而 resign 更为正式。

例句：She resigned from the government last week.

pressure

/ˈpreʃ.ɚ/

v. 对......施加压力

词性拓展：pressure（n. 压力）

例句：Parents should never pressure their children to get married.

en masse

/ˌɑ̃ː ˈmæs/

adv. 全体，一起

英文释义：as a whole

例句：The soilders marched en masse.

dire

/daɪr/

adj. 极其严重的，可怕的

英文释义：extremely serious or terrible

搭配短语：dire consequences

搭配短语：in dire need of sth.

例句：We are in dire need of food.

vacuum

/ˈvæk.juːm/

n. 空缺；真空

搭配短语：a vacuum cleaner

搭配短语：power vacuum

搭配短语：political vacuum

step down

下台，辞职

词义辨析：step down, resign

step down 和 resign 都表示“辞职”，但 step down 更强调“从某个重要职位上辞职”。

英文释义：resign from an important position

例句：He stepped down as CEO lask week.

swarm

/swɔːrm/

v. 成群结队地移动

词性拓展：swarm（n. 一大群）

例句：Photographs were swarming around the celebrities.

dwindle

/ˈdwɪn.dəl/

v. 逐渐缩小，逐渐减少

英文释义：to gradually become less and less or smaller and smaller

例句：The elephant population is dwindling.

reliant

/rɪˈlaɪ.ənt/

adj. 依赖的，依靠的

相关词汇：rely（v. 依赖，依靠）

近义词：dependent

搭配短语：reliant on

例句：Most college students remain reliant on their parents' support.

sweeping

/ˈswiː.pɪŋ/

adj. 范围广的，影响大的

相关词汇：sweep（v. 扫；迅速传播）

例句：Jazz music is sweeping the country.

搭配短语：sweeping changes

peg

/peɡ/

v. 把（价格等）固定在某个水平，与......挂钩；用钉子固定

词性拓展：peg（n. 钉子）

例句：The bank wants to peg rates at 9%.

float

/floʊt/

v. （货币）自由浮动；漂浮

搭配短语：ice floating in the river

搭配短语：allow a currency to float

parallel

/ˈper.ə.lel/

adj. 相似的，同时发生的；平行的

例句：Lines AB and CD are parallel.

英文释义：similar and often happening at the same time

例句：The two movie stars have parallel careers.

arbitrage

/ˈɑːr.bɪ.trɑːʒ/

n. 套利，套汇

sovereign debt

国债

相关词汇：sovereign（adj. 有独立主权的）

例句：This country declared itself to be a sovereign republic.

相关词汇：debt（n. 债务）

free fall

骤减，直线下降；自由落体

相关词汇：free（adj. 自由的）

相关词汇：fall（v. 落下）

例句：Stock prices have gone into free fall.

reserve

/rɪˈzɝːv/

n. 储备

词性拓展：reserve（v. 预留）

搭配短语：reserved parking space

搭配短语：cash reserves

搭配短语：oil reserves

measure

/ˈmeʒ.ɚ/

n. 衡量标准

词性拓展：measure（v. 测量，衡量）

例句：Exam results are not the only measure of a student's abilities.

in power

掌权，执政

相关词汇：power（n. 政权，统治权）

例句：He has been in power since 2019.