Enjoy Rendering!: Сборник текстов для перевода и реферирования. Батурина С.А. - 15 стр.

black economy, that figure is exceptionally low. As a first step towards                             Desperate Measures
raising it, Mr Berlusconi's reforms propose that, from January 1st, any-
body of pensionable age who chooses to stay at work will get a bonus              Beijing
                                                                                  Protests against forced relocation are getting worse
worth 32,7 % of their salary, representing the cash they would other-
wise have taken for their pensions.                                                Attempting suicide by burning one-self in public is a particularly
       Yet when asked by Il Messaggero, only 28 % said they would           powerful form of protest in China, to which even the most desperate
take the money rather than opt for the deckchair. Italians may not be       rarely resort. Yet in the past seven weeks, at least three people have tried
lazy; but they certainly have what economists call a high leisure prefer-   to kill themselves in this way. Their grievances have been the same:
ence. And that may be harder for Mr Berlusconi to tackle than even the      forced relocation from their homes to make way for commercial devel-
noisiest protests.                                                          opments. The extent of public anger over the brutality and unfairness
                                                                            involved in China's urban makeover is starting to alarm the leadership.
      1. Vocabulary notes:                                                         This weekend, the Central Committee of China's Communist
      1) burlesque – пародия, карикатура                                    Party begins a meeting to set policy guidelines for the leaders who took
      2) be under fire – служить мишенью нападок                            office late last year and early this. The new party chief, Hu Jintao, pre-
      3) vacillation – колебания, нерешительность                           sents himself as a man attuned to the sufferings of those pushed aside
      4) tortuous – извилистый, уклончивый                                  by China's breakneck development. Addressing the complaints of those
      5) water down – смягчать, ослаблять                                   whose shabby old homes are being demolished is hard.
      6) siphon off – откачивать                                                   The number of protests triggered by urban redevelopment has
      7) deep-seated – укоренившийся, глубокий                              risen fast in recent years. According to the official China Economic
      8) thrust – толчок, удар, выпад                                       Times, 8 516 petitions were delivered to the central government in
      9) revere – почитать, чтить                                           2001 complaining about forced relocation. The figure increased to
      10) scribble – заниматься сочинительством, быть писакой               13 513 last year and already stood at 11 641 for the first eight months
      11) no spring chicken – не первой молодости                           of this year. Frenzied investment in construction-up 33 % between
      12) deckchair – шезлонг/ лонгшез                                      January and August compared with the same period a year ago-is fuel-
      13) tackle – иметь дело с, решать, постараться переубедить            ling the greed of developers and of officials who take bribes in return
                                                                            for development rights.
      2. Make up a plan of the text in English.                                    The protests have become more potent recently. On August
                                                                            22nd, a man set fire to himself in the eastern city of Nanjing after his
                                                                            house was destroyed to make way for a new business district. On Sep-
      3. Give a summary of the text.
                                                                            tember 15th,a man did the same in Tiananmen Square, and another
                                                                            tried on September 25th in eastern Beijing.
                                                                                   China Daily, an official newspaper, noted that according to the
                                                                            law, the government cannot take away residents' land-use rights except
                                                                            for public-welfare projects. In practice, local officials often sell land-
                                                                            use rights without consulting the occupants of buildings on the land.
                                                                            Developers, with official connivance, sometimes intimidate occupants
                                                                            into accepting meagre compensation. The residents may get newer
                                                                            housing, but often far from their work.

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