Level 5-Day 28.Arthur Scargill: ' Criticism of Tory Policies' (1)

詞匯提示

1.Tories 保守黨

2.utter 徹底的

3.eroded 侵蝕

4.devastation 破壞

5.mortgage 抵押貸款

6.derelic 廢棄的

7.vulnerable 脆弱的

8.negotiating 談判

原文

ArthurScargill: ' Criticism of Tory Policies' (1)

Todayour nation, after eight years under the Tories, is on the brink of utter chaos,facing both social and economic collapse.

Ourbasic industries have been butchered.

Ourmanufacturing base has been eroded with hundreds of businesses, large andsmall, gone to the wall while the nation has become increasingly dependent onimported goods.

Thehuman consequences of this industrial and economic devastation are terrible.

Overeight million people struggle for survival on or below the poverty line andfour and a half million people are unemployed.

Thousandsof families are homeless: the number of homeless families in Britain hasdoubled since 1978, while the enforced repossession of homesis at an all-time record because so many can no longer manage to maintainmortgage payments.

Evenmore people, meanwhile, try to cope as best they can in derelict, oftendangerous dwellings - one and a quarter million homes are unfit to live in, whilehouse-building investment throughout Britain has been slashed by sixty per centsince 1979.

Sicknessand ill health of all kinds are rampant, and they are made even more terribleby the crisis in the National Health Service and throughout the welfare system.

TheTories have been utterly ruthless in their butchery of health and welfareprovisions.

TheNHS, once the pride of our nation, has been reduced to a critical conditionthrough hospital closures, medical staff cutbacks, the lack and withdrawal ofresources and vital equipment, and the privatization of key services.

Approximately700,000 people wait today for hospital treatment and an increasing number willnot receive that treatment before it is too late.

Thousandsof people who are suffering from serious, often fatal diseases are being turnedaway through lack of hospital beds and staff.

Oursocial services are faced with ever-increasing family and community problems asTory attacks take their toll, with children and old people among those mostvulnerable.

Oureducation system is also in chaos, as students and teachers struggle againstyet more cutbacks, fewer resources - and for our youngsters it must seem oftena pointless exercise, with jobs, training and access to higher education becomingmore and more difficult to attain.

Theirteachers meanwhile, like many other trade unionists, have had their negotiatingrights removed by the Government, and their commitment to teaching the nation'schildren treated with contempt.

Thishas become a grim and desperate society - fulled by unemployment and its socialconsequences, frustration, rage and despair are rampant all around us.

Moreand more people, I believe, are coming to see themselves as under attack - andthey are correct.

翻譯

阿瑟·斯卡吉爾:“對(duì)保守黨政策的批評(píng)”(1)

今天，在保守黨執(zhí)政八年后，我們的國(guó)家正處于徹底混亂的邊緣，面臨著社會(huì)和經(jīng)濟(jì)的崩潰。
我們的基礎(chǔ)工業(yè)遭到了破壞。
我們的制造業(yè)基礎(chǔ)受到侵蝕，數(shù)以百計(jì)的大大小小的企業(yè)倒閉，而這個(gè)國(guó)家越來(lái)越依賴進(jìn)口商品。
這種工業(yè)和經(jīng)濟(jì)破壞對(duì)人類造成的后果是可怕的。
800多萬(wàn)人在貧困線上或貧困線以下掙扎求生，450萬(wàn)人失業(yè)。
成千上萬(wàn)的家庭無(wú)家可歸:自1978年以來(lái)，英國(guó)無(wú)家可歸家庭的數(shù)量翻了一番，而強(qiáng)制收回房屋的數(shù)量達(dá)到了歷史最高水平，因?yàn)樵S多人無(wú)法再支付抵押貸款。
與此同時(shí)，更多的人試圖在廢棄的，往往是危險(xiǎn)的住房中盡可能地應(yīng)對(duì)——125萬(wàn)套住房不適合居住，而自1979年以來(lái)，英國(guó)的住房建設(shè)投資已經(jīng)削減了60%。
各種各樣的疾病和不健康狀況都很嚴(yán)重，而國(guó)民醫(yī)療服務(wù)體系和整個(gè)福利體系的危機(jī)使它們變得更加可怕。
托利黨在削減醫(yī)療和福利方面一直非常無(wú)情。
國(guó)民保健制度曾經(jīng)是我們國(guó)家的驕傲，但由于醫(yī)院關(guān)閉、醫(yī)務(wù)人員裁減、資源和重要設(shè)備的缺乏和撤回以及關(guān)鍵服務(wù)的私有化，它已淪落到危急的境地。
今天大約有70萬(wàn)人在等待醫(yī)院治療，越來(lái)越多的人得不到治療，否則就為時(shí)已晚。
由于缺乏醫(yī)院床位和工作人員，成千上萬(wàn)患有嚴(yán)重、往往是致命疾病的人被拒之門外。
由于保守黨的攻擊，我們的社會(huì)服務(wù)面臨著越來(lái)越多的家庭和社區(qū)問題，兒童和老人是最脆弱的群體。
我們的教育體系也陷入混亂，學(xué)生和教師都在努力應(yīng)對(duì)更多的削減和更少的資源——對(duì)于我們的年輕人來(lái)說，這似乎是一項(xiàng)毫無(wú)意義的工作，工作、培訓(xùn)和接受高等教育的機(jī)會(huì)變得越來(lái)越難獲得。
與此同時(shí)，他們的教師像許多其他工會(huì)成員一樣，被政府剝奪了談判權(quán)利，他們對(duì)教育全國(guó)兒童的承諾受到蔑視。
這已經(jīng)變成了一個(gè)嚴(yán)峻而絕望的社會(huì)——充滿了失業(yè)及其社會(huì)后果，挫折、憤怒和絕望在我們周圍猖獗。
我相信，越來(lái)越多的人開始覺得自己受到了攻擊——他們是對(duì)的。