美国欧盟寻求达成自由贸易协定一托福阅读机经背景.docxVIP

智课网TOEFL备考资料美国欧盟寻求达成自由贸易协定一托福阅读机经背景 The United States and the European Union are likely to begin negotiations as early as June on what some are calling a ground breaking free trade agreement. International trade experts say such an agreement would have substantial economic benefits on both sides of the Atlantic. But the obstacles are many and success is far from guaranteed. 最早在今年六月，美国和欧洲可能将开启被称为“具有开拓性意义的自由贸易协定”的谈判，国际贸易专家称，这一协定可能会为大西洋两岸带来大量的经济利益。但是由于阻碍重重，协议的成功还远不能保证。 President Barack Obama raised the prospects of a Transatlantic free trade zone at his annual State of the Union address. 在今年的国情咨文讲话中，奥巴马总统提出了跨大西洋自由贸易区的前景。 Because trade that is free and fair across the Atlantic supports millions of good paying Americans jobs, Obama said. 他说：“跨越大西洋的自由和公平的贸易能为美国提供上百万份的高薪就业机会。” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quick to endorse the proposal, saying a comprehensive trade deal with the U.S. would boost Europes flagging economy. 欧盟委员会主席若泽?曼努埃尔?巴罗佐很快就对这一提议表示支持，他认为，一个全面的欧美贸易协议能够强有力地促进欧洲疲软的经济。 It is estimated that when this agreement is up and running, the European economy will get a stimulus of a half percent of our GDP, which translates into tens of billions of euros every year and tens of thousands of new jobs, Manual Barroso said. 他说：“据估计，如果这项协议达成并实施，欧洲GDP会提高0.5个百分点，这将每年带来数百亿欧元的收入和几十万的新工作。” In short -- a win-win for developed western nations. 新的贸易协定对西方国家来说是一个双赢的机会。 But Sharan Burrow at the International Trade Union Confederation warns an agreement based purely on economic gain will hurt workers in the U.S. and Europe. 但是，国际工会联盟的夏朗?巴罗警告说，一个仅仅基于经济利益的贸易协定将损害美国和欧洲工人的利益。 Now -- if its collaborative, if its built on a value set that says we want to share the wealth so tools like collective bargaining are absolutely at the core, so we get the distributional effects // it could be very interesting, Burrow said. 他说：“既然这份协议是建立在我们想要协作而共享财富的价值观上，那么集体谈判就必须是一种核心方式，这样就会有分配效应。这很有意思。” The concern is that eliminating barriers to trade and investments will