GREECE'S state sector shut down yesterday as civil servants walked off the job in a 24-hour strike, demanding the government take back stringent austerity measures designed to pull the country out of a debt crisis.

Tax and customs offices, schools and universities were closed, while state-run hospitals were functioning on emergency staff as doctors walked off the job.

Flights were to be grounded for four hours yesterday afternoon as air traffic controllers joined in the protests with a work stoppage. Greece's two main airlines, Olympic Air and Aegean, canceled or changed the times of dozens of other flights during the day because of the strike.

Greece narrowly avoided defaulting on its debts in May after the International Monetary Fund and other European Union countries using the euro granted it rescue loans under a three-year 110 billion euro (US$152 billion) package. In return, the government has imposed austerity measures that included trimming pensions, cutting civil servants' salaries and increasing taxes.

Unions and businesses have complained that the measures are stifling the economy, leading to layoffs and the closure of hundreds of small businesses squeezed between higher taxes and consumers' lower purchasing abilities.

"Every day that goes by, it becomes clear that this policy by the government, the IMF and the EU, which leads workers and society to poverty and misery, is also a dead end for the economy," said the main civil servants' union, ADEDY.

The government predicts in its 2011 draft budget that unemployment will jump from this year's projected 11.6 percent to 14.5 percent in 2011 and 15 percent in 2012.

Labor unions have carried out a series of strikes and demonstrations this year against the austerity plan.

But the government insists it has no choice but to implement the measures, which aim to overhaul the country's ailing economy and have also included reforms to Greece's ailing pensionsystem.

Hundreds of civil servants gathered in central Athens for protest rallies, with demonstrators expected to march to the nearby Parliament.

The government has pledged to cut its budget gap to 7 percent of gross domestic product by the end of next year, lower than the IMF and EU target of 7.8 percent under the aid package, from the 2009 figure of 13.6 percent.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• traffic [´træfik] n.交通，运输 (初中英语单词)
• greece [gri:s] n.希腊 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• european [juərə´pi:ən] a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人 (初中英语单词)
• rescue [´reskju:] vt.&n.救援；挽救 (初中英语单词)
• package [´pækidʒ] n.包(裹) vt.组装 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• poverty [´pɔvəti] n.贫穷(乏，瘠)；不足 (初中英语单词)
• misery [´mizəri] n.痛苦；悲惨；穷困 (初中英语单词)
• series [´siəri:z] n.连续；系列；丛书 (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• parliament [´pɑ:ləmənt] n.议(国)会 (初中英语单词)
• domestic [də´mestik] a.家庭的；本国的 (初中英语单词)
• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)
• emergency [i´mə:dʒənsi] n.事变；紧急关头 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• budget [´bʌdʒit] n.&vi.(做)预算；安排 (高中英语单词)
• unemployment [,ʌnim´plɔimənt] n.失业；失业人数 (高中英语单词)
• implement [´implimənt] n.工具 vt.执行 (高中英语单词)
• pension [´penʃən] n.津贴 vt.给予...抚恤 (高中英语单词)
• athens [´æθinz] n.雅典 (高中英语单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• narrowly [´nærəuli] ad.勉强地；严密地 (英语六级单词)
• monetary [´mʌnitəri] a.金融的；货币的 (英语六级单词)