VOA慢速英语:E. Coli Outbreak A Top Economic Worry For Europe

European agriculture ministers met in Luxembourg this week to discuss the spread of E. coli bacteria. E. coli infections have killed at least thirty people since late May. Nearly three thousand others were sickened. Most of the victims were in Germany.
欧洲国家农业部长这周在卢森堡进行会谈讨论大肠杆菌的传染问题。从五月底，大肠杆菌已经导致至少30人死亡，另外大约3000人受到感染。大部分受害者居住在德国。

European officials have not been able to find the cause of the infections. At first, German officials suggested that cucumbers from Spain were to blame. Russia and other countries quickly banned vegetable imports from Spain and other European countries.
欧洲官员还未能找出这种传染病的根源。起初，德国官员提出从西班牙进口的黄瓜是罪魁祸首。俄罗斯和其他国家立即禁止从西班牙和其他欧洲国家进口的蔬菜。

The Spanish agriculture minister, Rosa Aguilar, demanded that Germany pay for her country's losses.
西班牙农业部长Rosa Aguilar要求德国赔偿她的国家的损失。

John Dalli of Malta is the European Union’s Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy. He spoke this week about the risk of passing judgment too soon.
来自马尔他的John Dalli是欧盟卫生和消费者政策专员。他这一周发表了关于太早下判断的危害的讲话。

JOHN DALLI: "It is crucial that national authorities do not rush to give information on source of infection which is not proven by bacteriological analysis, as this spreads unjustified fears in the population all over Europe, and creates problems for our food producers selling products in the EU and outside of the EU."
John Dalli：“国家有关部门在还没进行细菌学分析的情况下，不应该急着提供有关传染病根源的信息，因为它在整个欧洲人群中引起了不明的恐慌，并导致食品制造商在欧盟内外销售产品出现问题。”

Russia has refused to end its ban on European vegetables. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said his country will not lift the ban until the EU provides details about the source of the infections. Some critics say Russia is using the issue to gain entry to the World Trade Organization. Russia is the largest economy without WTO membership.
俄罗斯拒绝停止从欧洲进口蔬菜的禁令。俄罗斯总理普京称，直到欧盟提供关于传染病来源的详细信息，他的国家才会取消禁令。一些评论家称俄罗斯利用这个问题获得加入世界贸易组织的权利。俄罗斯是世界贸易组织成员国之外的最大经济体。

Earlier this week, EU Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos proposed farm aid of two hundred twenty million dollars. The goal was to help European farmers recover at least fifty percent of their losses. By Wednesday, Mr. Ciolos had raised the amount to over three hundred million dollars. EU officials estimate the bacterial outbreak has cost farmers millions of dollars.
这周早些时候，欧盟农业委员会委员Dacian Ciolos提议拨出2.2亿美元进行农业援助。目的是为了帮助欧洲农民挽回至少50%的损失。周三，Ciolos已经将这个数字提高到3亿美元。欧盟官员估计此次爆发的大肠杆菌已经导致农民损失了上百万美元。

But that is not the only issue troubling Europe. European governments and the International Monetary Fund are considering as much as sixty-five billion dollars in new loans to Greece. Greek debt continues to drop in value as some officials now admit that earlier rescue loans were not enough.
但是这并不是欧洲面临的唯一困难。欧洲政府和国际货币基金组织正考虑借给希腊650亿美元。由于现在一些官员承认早期的救助贷款还不够，所以希腊的债券继续贬值。

This week, the Greek cabinet approved measures to cut budget deficits. But thousands of government workers protested the planned cuts on Thursday.
这周，希腊内阁同意减少预算赤字的措施。但是，数千名政府工作人员周二抗议减少预算赤字的计划。

Separately, French Finance Minster Christine Lagarde is continuing her campaign to become the next head of the IMF. She visited China this week after traveling to India. Mexican Central Bank Chief Agustin Carstens also wants the job. He is seeking to become the first non-European to lead the international lender.
与此同时，法国财政部部长Christine Lagarde继续竞选下一届国际货币基金组织负责人。在访问印度后这周她访问了中国。墨西哥中央银行行长Agustin Carstens也想获得这个职位。他寻求成为领导IMF这个国际贷款机构的首位非欧洲人。