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

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.
美国参议院已经投票通过削减一个项目，该项目每年直接向农民支付50亿美元补贴。但参议员又增加了新的补贴，批评人士称这会给其他国家农民带来比现有的项目更大的危害。

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.
该投票是一个9550亿美元的农业法案的一部分，该法案在参议院同时得到了民主党和共和党的广泛支持。在未来10年它会削减240亿美元预算，部分是通过削减直接补贴。无论年头好坏，农民都能收到这些款项。

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.
但高粮价伴随处于历史高位的农业利润，以及联邦支出减少使得这种补贴在政治上不受欢迎。取消这种补贴是新农业法案中的一个很大变化。
Senator Debbie Stabenow heads the Agriculture Committee.
参议员Debbie Stabenow是农业委员会的负责人。

"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."
“这是一个改革法案，它会结束补贴，将我们推向风险管理。我们对我们所做的工作感到无比自豪。”

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.
参议院这项法案将有助于农民应对恶劣天气和不利市场的风险。它会通过向之前未被保险覆盖的种植农作物的农民提供农作物保险来实现这点。如果粮价下降太多，它还会向农民支付补贴。

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.
Steppernow诺参议员称，她们目标是帮助为美国提了供安全、价格合理的食品供应的农民。但批评者称该法案太过了。

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.
Vince Smith是蒙大拿州立大学的经济学家。他说，粮价下降太多就补贴农民的这一新的保障措施可能会让美国在世界贸易组织遇到麻烦。

"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."
“当价格从目前的水平回落，就会向所有过剩农作物提供补贴。这时候巴西等国家就会发起贸易争议案件声称全球市场上价格受抑。”

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.
巴西已经针对美国的棉花补贴赢得了一起世贸组织案件。Smith先生说，这项新的农业法案会重新引起这一争议。

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.
该法案也将导致美国政府在危机发生地周边购买6000万美元的粮食紧急援助。支持者称，这样做比从美国运粮食更快更便宜，可能挽救更多生命。

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.
Eric Munoz是扶贫组织乐施会的工作人员。他说这是一个很好的一步。但他指出，这只是超过10亿美元的粮食援助预算中的极小一部分。

"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."
“这是一个大项目中非常小的一部分。所以我觉得这只是建立灵活粮食援助的开始，我们希望看到它规模变得更大。”