VOA慢速英语-IN THE NEWS - New Estimate Triples Number of War Dea

A study of 13 countries found that more than 5 million people were killed, most of them in Vietnam. Also, the latest estimates of the world's refugees. Transcript¹ of radio broadcast:
20 June 2008

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

A new study finds that wars killed three times more people in the past fifty years than other reports have estimated.
　

A napalm strike produces a fireball as U.S. troops patrol in South Vietnam in 1966 during the Vietnam War

Researchers studied wars in thirteen countries between nineteen fifty-five and two thousand two. They estimate that almost five and a half million people were killed, including almost four million in Vietnam.

Ziad Obermeyer is a doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He and other researchers designed a new way to estimate deaths from wartime violence. Current methods used during conflicts have been criticized for a risk of underreporting or overreporting deaths.

The new method compares eyewitness² and media reports to information gathered from families later, during peacetime. That information comes from United Nations World Health Surveys.

The study in the British Medical Journal does not support a common belief that war deaths are decreasing. Also, it deals only with deaths from violence. Disease can claim more lives during a conflict.

Wars also produce refugees. Friday was World Refugee Day. The United Nations says the number of people fleeing violence and repression³ has risen to almost eleven and a half million. Half are from Iraq and Afghanistan. The total does not include Palestinian refugees.

Also, U.N. High Commissioner⁴ for Refugees Antonio Guterres says twenty-six million people are displaced within their own countries.

The conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Darfur area of Sudan get a lot of attention. But the high commissioner says other conflicts in Africa have created thousands of new refugees this year.

The U.N. refugee agency says refugee numbers worldwide fell for five years before rising again in the last two years. It says conflicts are largely to blame, but also climate change and poverty tied to rising energy and food prices.

The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants says refugees face mistreatment and a lack of assistance in many countries. This group estimates there were more than fourteen million refugees worldwide last year.

More than two million Iraqis have become internally displaced since the Iraq war started in two thousand three. Another two million have fled to Jordan and Syria, including many professionals. Committee President Lavinia Limon says these doctors, lawyers and others cannot work legally in Jordan, Syria or the surrounding countries.

She spoke⁵ this week in Washington, joined by several lawmakers. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland said the United States has relocated only around five thousand Iraqis since the war began. The State Department says it aims to relocate twelve thousand this year and is working as quickly as possible.

The report also criticizes much of Europe for making it difficult for refugees to gain entry. And it criticizes Kenya and other countries that keep large numbers of refugees in camps.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

3 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

4 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。