VOA慢速英語:US Senate Repeals One Farm Subsidy, Adds Another

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語農業(yè)報道。

The United States Senate has voted to cut a program that makes $5 billion a year in direct payments to farmers. But senators added new subsidies that critics say could hurt farmers in other countries more than the existing program.

美國參議院已經投票通過了削減一個每年向農民提供50億美元直接補貼的項目。但參議員又增加了新的補貼項目，批評人士表示，它會給其他國家農民帶來比舊項目更大的傷害。

The vote was part of $955 billion Farm Bill approved by a wide majority in the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans. It would cut about $24 billion from the budget over 10 years, in part by cuttting the direct payments. Farmers received these payments, whether they had good years or bad.

這次投票是一項價值9550億美元的農業(yè)法案的一部分，該法案在參議院同時獲得了民主黨和共和黨的廣泛支持。在未來10年它會削減240億美元預算，部分是通過削減直接補貼。無論年頭好壞農民之前都能獲得這項補貼。

But high crop prices along with historically high farm profits, and reduced federal spending made the payments politically unpopular. Eliminating the payments was a big change in the new farm bill.

但高糧價伴隨處于歷史高位的農業(yè)利潤，以及聯(lián)邦支出減少使得這種補貼在政治上不合時宜。取消這種補貼是新農業(yè)法案中的一個很大變化。

Senator Debbie Stabenow heads the Agriculture Committee.

參議員黛比·施塔貝諾(Debbie Stabenow)是(美國參議院)農業(yè)委員會的負責人。

"It's a reform bill, it ends subsidies and moves us in the direction of risk management and we are very proud of the work that we have done."

她說，“這是一項改革法案，它會取消補貼，將我們推向風險管理。我們對自己所做的工作感到非常自豪。”

The senate bill would help farmers manage the risks of bad weather as well as bad markets. It would do this by offering crop insurance to farmers raising crops that have not previously been covered by the insurance. And it would make payments to farmers if prices drop too much.

這項參議院法案將有助于農民管理惡劣天氣和不利市場的風險。它會通過向之前未被保險覆蓋的種植農作物的農民提供農作物保險來實現這點。如果糧價下降太多，它還會向農民提供補貼。

Senator Steppernow says the goal is to help the farmers who provide the United States with a safe, affordable food supply. But critics say the bill goes too far.

施塔貝諾參議員表示，其目標是幫助為美國提了供安全、價格合理的食品供應的農民。但批評人士稱該法案有點過度。

Vince Smith is an economist at Montana State University, he says the new guarantee to pay farmers if prices drop too much could cause trouble for the United States at the World Trade Organization.

文斯·史密斯(Vince Smith)是蒙大拿州立大學的經濟學家，他表示糧價下跌過多就補貼農民的這一新的保障措施可能會讓美國在世貿組織遇到麻煩。

"When prices fall from the current levels, subsidies to a whole plethora of crops go up. Well, that's exactly when countries like Brazil will bring trade dispute cases claiming price suppression in world markets."

他說，“如果價格從目前的水平下跌，就會向所有過剩農作物提供補貼。這時候巴西等國家就會發(fā)起貿易爭議案件聲稱全球市場上價格受抑。”

Brazil has already won a WTO case against the United States over cotton subsidies. Mr Smith says the new Farm Bill could revive that dispute.

巴西已經針對美國的棉花補貼贏得了一起世貿組織案件。史密斯先生表示，這項新的農業(yè)法案會再次激起這一爭議。

The bill would also lead the government buy $60 million in emergency food aid closer to where a crisis is happening. Supporter say doing that is faster and cheaper that shipping food from the United States and could save more lives.

該法案也會導致美國政府在危機發(fā)生地周邊購買6000萬美元的糧食緊急援助。支持者表示，這樣做比從美國運糧食更快更便宜，還能挽救更多生命。

Eric Munoz with the anti-poverty group Oxfam says it is a good step. But he notes that it is a very small part of a food aid budget of more than $1 billion.

埃里克·穆尼奧斯(Eric Munoz)就職于扶貧組織樂施會(Oxfam)，他表示這是一個很好的舉措。但他指出，這只是超過10億美元的糧食援助預算中的極小一部分。

"It is a very small portion of a relatively large program. So I think we're just at the beginning, really, of creating the kind of flexibility for food aid that we'd like to see on a much larger scale."

他說，“這是一個規(guī)模相當大的項目中極小的一部分。所以我認為這只是建立糧食援助的這種靈活性的開始，我們希望看到它規(guī)模變得更大。”