斯里兰卡学校因缺纸暂停考试

近日，斯里兰卡教育部门官员宣布，由于斯里兰卡国内纸张匮乏和印刷机器不足， 原定于下周一开始的为期一周的学期考试将无限期推迟。

无注释原文：

Sri Lanka cancels school exams over paper shortage

ChannelNewsAsia

Sri Lanka cancelled exams for millions of school students as the country ran out of printing paper with Colombo short on dollars to finance imports, officials said Saturday (Mar 19).

Education authorities said the term tests, scheduled a week from Monday, were postponed indefinitely due to an acute paper shortage as Sri Lanka contends with its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948.

"School principals cannot hold the tests as printers are unable to secure foreign exchange to import necessary paper and ink," the department of Education of the Western Province said.

Official sources said the move could effectively hold up tests for around two thirds of the country's 4.5 million students.

Term tests are part of a continuous assessment process to decide if students are promoted to the next grade at the end of the year.

A debilitating economic crisis brought on by a shortage of foreign exchange reserves to finance essential imports, has seen the country run low on food, fuel and pharmaceuticals.

The cash-strapped South Asian nation of 22 million announced this week that it will seek an IMF bailout to resolve its worsening foreign debt crisis and shore up external reserves.

The International Monetary Fund on Friday confirmed it was considering President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's surprise Wednesday request to discuss a bailout.

Around US$6.9 billion of Colombo's debt needs to be serviced this year but its foreign currency reserves stood at about US$2.3 billion at the end of February.

Long queues have formed across the country for groceries and oil with the government instituting rolling electricity blackouts and rationing of milk powder, sugar, lentils and rice.

Sri Lanka earlier this year asked China, one of its main creditors, to help put off debt payments but there has been no official response yet from Beijing.

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为机器翻译仅供参考，并非一一对应

含注释全文：

Sri Lanka cancels school exams over paper shortage

ChannelNewsAsia

Sri Lanka cancelled exams for millions of school students as the country ran out of printing paper with Colombo short on dollars to finance imports, officials said Saturday (Mar 19).

斯里兰卡（Sri Lanka）官员周六（3月19日）说，由于该国的印刷纸用完了，而斯里兰卡首都科伦坡（Colombo）缺少美元来资助进口，因此取消了数百万名学生的考试。

finance

表示“向…提供资金”，英文解释为“to provide the money needed for something to happen”举个🌰：

The city council has refused to finance the project.

地方政府拒绝为这项计划提供资金。

import

可用作动词，也可以作名词，表示“进口”，英文解释为“to buy or bring in products from another country”举个🌰：

We import a large number of cars from Japan.

我们从日本进口大量的汽车。

反义词：

📍export表示“出口；输出”，英文解释为“to send goods to another country for sale”。

Education authorities said the term tests, scheduled a week from Monday, were postponed indefinitely due to an acute paper shortage as Sri Lanka contends with its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948.

教育当局说，由于纸张严重短缺，原定于周一开始的学期考试被无限期推迟，因为斯里兰卡正在应对自1948年独立以来最严重的金融危机。

schedule

表示“为…安排时间；安排，排定”，英文解释为“to arrange that an event or activity will happen at a particular time”举个🌰：

The meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

会议安排在明天下午。

postpone

表示“推迟”，英文解释为“If you postpone an event, you delay it or arrange for it to take place at a later time than was originally planned.”举个🌰：

He decided to postpone the expedition until the following day.

他决定将探险活动推迟到第二天。

indefinitely

表示“不确定地；不清楚地；无限期地”，英文解释为“for a period of time with no fixed end”举个🌰：

The negotiations have been put off/postponed indefinitely.

谈判被无限期地推迟了。

acute

1）表示“严峻的”，英文解释为“You can use acute to indicate that an undesirable situation or feeling is very severe or intense.”举个🌰：

There is an acute shortage of water.

水严重短缺。

2）表示“（疾病）急性的”，英文解释为“an acute illness is one that has quickly become severe and dangerous”如：acute appendicitis 急性阑尾炎。

contend with

表示“必须处理，必须应对（困境或不愉快的事）”，英文解释为“to have to deal with a difficult or unpleasant situation”举个🌰：

At the age of nine, he had the death of both parents to contend with.

9岁时他就不得不面对父母双亡这一境况。

"School principals cannot hold the tests as printers are unable to secure foreign exchange to import necessary paper and ink," the department of Education of the Western Province said.

西部省教育厅说：“由于印刷厂无法获得外汇来进口必要的纸张和墨水，学校校长无法举行考试。”

Official sources said the move could effectively hold up tests for around two thirds of the country's 4.5 million students.

官方消息称，此举实际上可能会耽误全国450万学生中约三分之二学生的考试。

hold up

表示“耽搁”，英文解释为“To hold up a person or process means to make them late or delay them.”举个🌰：

Why were you holding everyone up?

你为什么要耽搁大家？

Term tests are part of a continuous assessment process to decide if students are promoted to the next grade at the end of the year.

学期考试是持续评估过程的一部分，以决定学生是否在年底升入下一个年级。

promote

1）表示“使（学生）升级”，英文解释为“If a student is promoted, he or she goes up to the next level in school.”

2）表示“提升，晋升”，英文解释为“to raise someone to a higher or more important position or rank”举个🌰：

If I'm not promoted within the next two years, I'm going to change jobs.

如果我在今后两年内得不到提升，我就换工作。

A debilitating economic crisis brought on by a shortage of foreign exchange reserves to finance essential imports, has seen the country run low on food, fuel and pharmaceuticals.

由于外汇储备不足，无法为必要的进口产品提供资金，导致该国的粮食、燃料和药品供应不足，从而引发了一场破坏性的经济危机。

debilitate

debilitate /dɪˈbɪlɪˌteɪt/ 作动词，表示“使虚弱；削弱，使衰弱”，英文解释为“to make someone or something physically weak”举个🌰：

Chemotherapy exhausted and debilitated him.

化疗使他感到非常疲惫虚弱。

🎬电影《上帝保佑美国》（God Bless America）中的台词提到：They do not care that l suffer from debilitating migraines and insomnia. 他们不在乎我患有衰弱性偏头痛和失眠症。

reserve

表示“贮藏（物）；储备（物）；备用（物）”，英文解释为“the act of keeping something or a supply of something until it is needed, or a supply that you keep”举个🌰：

She keeps a little money in reserve (= for use if and when needed).

她留下了一些钱以备不时之需。

pharmaceutical

pharmaceutical /ˌfɑːməˈsjuːtɪkəl/ 作形容词，表示“制药的；配药的；卖药的”，英文解释为“connected with making and selling drugs and medicines”，如：pharmaceutical products 药物，pharmaceutical companies 制药公司，the pharmaceutical industry 制药业。

也可以直接作名词，常用复数，pharmaceuticals表示“药品，药物，药剂”，英文解释为“a medicine”。

The cash-strapped South Asian nation of 22 million announced this week that it will seek an IMF bailout to resolve its worsening foreign debt crisis and shore up external reserves.

这个拥有2200万人口、财政困难等南亚国家本周宣布，它将寻求国际货币基金组织的救助，以解决其不断恶化的外债危机并支持外部储备。

cash-strapped

表示“缺钱的，财政困难的”，英文解释为“not having enough money”如：cash-strapped universities 财政困难的大学。

bailout

表示“紧急财政援助；（通常指从经济上）帮助（某人或机构）脱离困境”，英文解释为“A bailout of an organization or individual that has financial problems is the act of helping them by giving them money.”举个🌰：

Three years of huge losses forced the bank to seek a government bailout.

长达3年的巨额亏损迫使银行向政府寻求援助。

shore up

1）表示“支撑”，英文解释为“to stop a wall or a building from falling down by supporting it with building materials such as wood or metal”举个🌰：

Boundary walls have had to be shored up.

边界墙须用支柱支撑。

2）表示“改善，提高”，英文解释为“to support or improve an organization, agreement, or system that is not working effectively or that is likely to fail”举个🌰：

The new public relations manager has the difficult task of shoring up the company's troubled image.

新任公关经理面临改善公司不良形象的艰巨任务。

The International Monetary Fund on Friday confirmed it was considering President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's surprise Wednesday request to discuss a bailout.

国际货币基金组织周五证实，它正在考虑总统戈塔巴亚·拉贾帕克萨（Gotabaya Rajapaksa）周三突然提出的讨论紧急财政援助的请求。

Around US$6.9 billion of Colombo's debt needs to be serviced this year but its foreign currency reserves stood at about US$2.3 billion at the end of February.

科伦坡今年需要偿还约69亿美元的债务，但截至2月底，其外汇储备约为23亿美元。

service

作动词，熟词僻义，表示“还债”，英文解释为“to make payments to pay back a debt”举个🌰：

The country is still spending $3 million a week servicing debt.

国家依然每星期要花3百万美元还债。

Long queues have formed across the country for groceries and oil with the government instituting rolling electricity blackouts and rationing of milk powder, sugar, lentils and rice.

由于政府实行轮流停电，并对奶粉、糖、扁豆和大米进行定量供应，全国各地出现了购买食品杂货和油的长队。

groceries

复数，表示“食品杂货”，英文解释为“food and other goods sold by a grocer or at a supermarket”。

institute

熟词僻义，作动词，表示“建立，制定（体系、政策等）；开始；实行”，英文解释为“to start or cause a system, rule, legal action, etc. to exist”举个🌰：

She is threatening to institute legal proceedings against the hospital.

她威胁说要对该医院提起诉讼。

institute作名词，表示“研究所；学院”（an organization where people do a particular type of scientific, educational, or social work, or the buildings that it uses），如：the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 麻省理工学院（MIT）。

⚠️注意区分：institute & constitute

constitute

除了表示“组成”，等同于make up，还可以表示“构成，被视为，被算作”，英文解释为“If something constitutes a particular thing, it can be regarded as being that thing.”，如：constitute a professional and legal offence 构成职业和法律犯罪；举个🌰：

Failing to complete the work constitutes a breach of the employment contract.

不能完成工作被视为违反雇用合同。

The rise in crime constitutes a threat to society.

犯罪率上升对社会构成了威胁。

🎬电影《空中危机》（Flightplan）中的台词提到：A teddy bear does not constitute an inaccurate passenger manifest. 有一只泰迪熊并不代表 乘客名单出了错。

🎬电影《从足球流氓到黑帮崛起3》（Rise of the Footsoldier 3）中的台词提到：High on drink and pills does not constitute as a defense. 醉药 醉酒 不能作为辩护证据。

rolling

1）表示“逐渐的；逐步的；规则的；周而复始的”，英文解释为“gradual；done in regular stages or at regular intervals over a period of time”举个🌰：

The plan is for a rolling extension of the tax over the next ten years.

计划是在未来十年中将这一税种的征收范围逐步扩大。

2）表示“（山峦）平缓起伏的”，英文解释为“(of hills) gently rising and falling”举个🌰：

The train journey took us through a valley past rolling hills.

我们乘坐火车沿一条山谷穿过绵延起伏的山峦。

📍什么是rolling blackout？轮流停电 A rolling blackout is an intentionally engineered electrical power shutdown in which electricity delivery is stopped for non-overlapping periods of time over different parts of the distribution region. Rolling blackouts are a last-resort measure used by an electric utility company to avoid a total blackout of the power system.

blackout

1）表示“灯火管制时期；断电时期；断电，停电”，英文解释为“a time when all lights must be hidden by law, or when there is no light or power because of an electricity failure”如：wartime blackouts 战时灯火管制，举个🌰：

Power lines were blown down and we had a blackout of several hours.

电线被吹断了，我们停了几个小时电。

2）表示“消息封锁”，英文解释为“the action taken to make certain that information about something is not reported to the public”如：a news blackout 新闻封锁。

🎬电影《科洛弗道10号》（10 Cloverfield Lane）中的台词提到：In the wake of this afternoon's widespread blackout 在今天下午的大面积停电之后，...

rationing

rationing /ˈræʃ.ən.ɪŋ/ 表示“配给制；定量配给”，英文解释为“a system of limiting the amount of something that each person is allowed to have”如：fuel rationing 燃料配给。

lentil

lentil /ˈlen.t̬əl/ 表示“小扁豆，兵豆”，英文解释为“a very small dried bean that is cooked and eaten”如：lentil soup 扁豆汤。

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