Lesson 20
2009-04-06 英语口语 来源：互联网 作者： ℃
Out in the main metropolises, Beijing and Tianjin are experimenting with a reform scenario of "multiple directions", such as raising rents for public residential housing, encouraging urban residents to buy more State-built housing, arranging funds to build commercial high-rises, setting up housing deposit banks and the like.
Shanghai, the largest city in China, is also drafting its blueprint to quicken the pace of its housing reform in keeping up with their housing requirements.
In Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong, an overall housing reform plan is beginning this month. The municipal government plan stipulates that all residents living in non-privately-owned houses, including those owned by the city's real estate administration departments and by State and collective units, will have to purchase their dwellings or rent them at a rate set by the government.
The housing reform characterized by selling of housing and raising rents will be enormously conducive to the healthy development of China's economy in all sectors, some economists maintain.
2. Why Is Housing Reform Necessary?
During the past few years, the State has spent 30 billion yuan a year on building and maintaining houses and subsidizing rents. But as the investment produces little financial return and funds are tight, housing shortages still persist.
According to calculations by the Leading Group of Housing Reform under the State Council, if only one half of the State-built houses nationwide are sold to urban residents, up to 200 billion yuan will be recouped, which can be further used as investments.to construct more residential dwellings or help the development of other industries.
In this way, the abnormal circle of more house construction and heavier burdens for the State to shoulder will be resolved.
Successful housing reform will have other beneficial effects on the society.
People buying their own houses will restrain the swelling of consuming funds and tighten the State,s grip on any panic buying.
And last but not least, commercialization of housing would stop the practice adopted by some officials of abusing their position to obtain extra or larger houses.
However, the nationwide situation of housing reform is still rather critical. Last year, the government forecast of 80 cities mapping out their scenarios of housing reform was not reached.
3. Tianjin Folks Can Buy Their Own Houses
A double blessing descended upon Wang Jianpo, a worker at the Tianjin Machine Tool Plant, last month.
He married a beautiful young girl and bought a two-room flat--a thing considered by many Chinese young men even harder than finding a wife.
At the wedding ceremony, which took place in the new flat recently, Wang and his wife presented some wedding candies to the city leaders to express their gratitude for the government's efforts to build more housing for sale for local residents.
The young couple is one of the 20, 000 households who moved into new houses built at their own expense last month.
The State covered the expenses for infrastructures such as roads linking all the apartment blocks, waterworks and sewers. Nearby industrial enterprises financed construction of grain shops, groceries and parks.
Construction costs were shared by the local government, would-be buyers and most local enterprises.
"The method is a good way to speed up urban housing construction and tallies with the current consumption level of Chinese urbanites,"said a local government official.
There is no doubt that money collected from house sales will greatly relieve the shortage of funds for new construction, the official added.
4. Housing Reform in Tianjin
For a long time, China practised. a housing system under which work units were held responsible for housing their employees, who paid a nominal rent. Therefore, houses were regarded as State-funded welfare facilities rather than commodities.
Tianjin is one of the 1? pilot citie
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