Trade was the mainstay of the urban economy in the Middle East, as caravans negotiated the surrounding desert, restricted only by access to water and by mountain ranges.

因为商队只能通过水路和山脉进入沙漠，贸易就成为了中东城市的主要经济支柱。

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Farming, a mainstay of the economy, is also being liberalised.

农业这一经济的支柱也被自由化了。

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Meanwhile, private consumption-the mainstay of the Philippine economy-fell somewhere between these two extremes.

同时菲律宾经济的支柱部分——私人消费居于这两种极端情况之间。

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Since then, untaxed services have become the mainstay of the economy, so sales taxes now contribute only about 22%.

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Visitors pass through miles of wheat fields before arriving in town, and agriculture has long been the mainstay of the economy.

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The tourism industry, the mainstay of the economy in many of the small Eastern Caribbean Islands, is still very much beach orientated.

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