VOA常速英语2020--美国国际开发署帮助中东抗击新冠肺炎（在线收听）

Next, an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.The United States Congress has “generously put forward a tremendous supplemental appropriation…to deal with COVID…in the Middle East region,” said Michael Harvey, USAID Assistant Administrator for the Middle East in a recent interview.Between USAID and the State Department, the United States has contributed over 205 million dollars to the COVID-19 response in the Middle East -- part of the more than $1.5 billion the U.S. has committed to date to fight the pandemic world-wide. These funds are specifically aimed to help governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations improve public health education, protect healthcare facilities; and increase laboratory, disease-surveillance, and rapid-response capacity.Assistant Administrator Harvey said that in the Middle East, the funds to fight COVID-19 have reached “pretty much every country across the region.”

接下来是一篇反映美国政府观点的社论。美国国会“慷慨地提出了一项巨大的补充拨款……以解决中东地区的的新冠肺炎疫情，”美国国际开发署中东事务助理署长迈克尔·哈维最近在接受采访时表示。在美国国际开发署和国务院之间，美国已经为中东地区新冠肺炎应对提供了超过2.05亿美元——美国此前承诺为世界各地抗击疫情拨款15亿美元，这是承诺的一部分。这些基金专门用于帮助各国政府、国际组织和非政府组织改善公共卫生教育，保护医疗设施，增设实验室、加速疾病监测和提高快速应对能力。助理署长哈维说，在中东，抗击新冠肺炎的资金“几乎遍及中东地区的每一个国家”

Mr. Harvey emphasized that while countries in the region are under tremendous stress because of conflicts in Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Syria,“their own health systems actually performed very, very well” in response to the pandemic:“And we are extremely proud of that because we have invested so heavily in building the capacity of those health care systems and they have done well. The political leadership also managed it with a seriousness that we have seen in few other regions. The economic cost of the shutdown is now what we are really worrying about. How do we get the recovery to rapidly get economic growth back up?”Assistant Administrator Harvey noted that one country in the Middle East refused the U.S. offer to help when the novel corona virus started its deadly spread:“Iran declined…It is tragic and heartbreaking how hard the Iranian people were hit by COVID…This is a country with a lot of multigenerational households. And what we’re learning around the world is that multigenerational households are particularly hard hit. So we will continue to watch, and we will continue to stand ready to help.”The U.S. Government has allocated $20.5 billion to benefit the global COVID-19 response and is determined to remain a leader in the worldwide effort against the disease.“The United States,” said Assistant Administrator Harvey, “has always helped when people are in need.”That was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.

哈维强调，虽然由于利比亚、也门、伊拉克和叙利亚的冲突，中东地区的国家承受着巨大的压力，但在应对此次疫情时，“它们自己的卫生系统实际上表现得非常好”：“我们为此感到非常自豪，因为我们在建设这些卫生保健系统的能力方面投入了大量资金，而且他们做得很好。我们发现在其他少数地区的政治领导层也以严肃态度来处理这一问题。现在我们真正担心的是停滞的经济成本。我们如何让经济复苏，如何迅速恢复经济增长？”助理署长哈维指出，当新型冠状病毒开始致命传播时，中东有一个国家拒绝了美国的援助提议：“伊朗拒绝了……可悲的是，伊朗人民受到冠状病毒重创……这是一个有着大量的多代同堂的家庭的国家。我们从全世界了解到，多代同堂的家庭受到的打击尤其严重。因此，我们将继续观察，并将继续随时准备提供帮助。”美国政府已经拨款205亿美元用于全球新冠肺炎应对，并决心继续领导全球努力抗击新冠肺炎。助理署长哈维说：“美国总是在人们陷入困境时提供帮助。”这是一篇反映美国政府观点的社论。