2016-2017学年高中英语Unit23Conflict单元话题阅读课件北师大版选修8.pptVIP

There are many conflicts in the world，such as the conflict in Ukraine.What do you think caused the Ukrainian conflicts？Please read the following passage to get the answer. 在当今世界，不稳定的因素很我，冲突有时发生。那么冲突是怎样发生的呢？冲突发生的根源是什么？怎样避免冲突呢？ The Ukrainian crisis is quickly becoming a geostrategic conflict.But economic forces also have shaped this confrontation，especially Ukraine’s record as the world’s worst performing industrial economy over the last 20 years. It was popular discontent with this disastrous performance that fomented (激起) the recent dissent.This，in turn，triggered a bloody response from ousted (罢黜) Crimean President Viktor Yanukovych.His response consolidated the opposition and ultimately cost Yanukovych his job. Beyond this week’s political and military maneuvers (行动)，the outstanding question is：who will bail out the Ukrainian economy？Russia，or the EU and the United States？A bailout will be the price of drawing Ukraine into one of the two trading systems on offer. Stated simply，Ukraine is the economic equivalent of a failed state.After gaining independence in 1991，the country moved briefly to liberalize its economy along the same lines as most of Eastern and Central Europe. However，Ukraine soon threw away its reforms in favor of the state-oligarch model，which was also evolving in Russia.Some 20 years later，Ukraine’s GDP has shrunk 30 percent. Even Russia’s sorry economy is 20 percent larger than it was in 1991.And Poland’s economy，which looked much like Ukraine’s in 1991，has grown 130 percent over the same period. Ukraine’s economic performance has been so terrible and for so long that its sovereign debt issues are now considered the equivalent of junk bonds.Even before the crisis，Ukraine’s credit rating was worse than Greece’s.And it was no better than that of Argentina，a global financial pariah for its mismanaged debt defaults and summary expropriation (没收) of foreignowned companies. Ukraine’s debts will soon be due，with some $15 billion in sovereign