VOA慢速英语2015 UN: Big Increase in People Fleeing Conflict

 

UN: Big Increase in People Fleeing Conflict

The United Nations says conflicts forced many people from their homes during the first half of 2014. The U.N. refugee agency reported this week that 5.5 million people were forcibly displaced during that six-month period. The agency says these men, women and children added to the record 51.2 million people who were displaced worldwide by the end of 2013. At this rate, U.N. officials fear the number of people forcibly displaced might set another record.

Between January and June of 2014, 1.4 million people fled across international borders, becoming refugees. The rest -- more than 4 million people -- became displaced within their own countries.

Adrian Edwards is a spokesman for UNHCR --- the U.N. refugee agency. He says that, for the first time, Syrians have become the largest refugee population. Until now, Afghans were the single largest population. Afghans were the biggest group overseen¹ by UNHCR for more than 30 years.

“Syria has really been the war that’s changed everything -- almost 10 million refugees and internally-displaced people as of mid-2014. Those numbers are still rising. One in every four refugees that UNHCR is today dealing² with is a Syrian. Syria is what happens when a war won’t be stopped and in that region around Syria, where so many refugees are, we're meanwhile seeing that asylum³ is becoming massively stretched.” 

The new U.N. report says the world is facing a deadly mix of both new and old conflicts. The report notes relatively⁴ new conflicts in places such as Syria, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. It says this unrest is taking place at the same time that old conflicts continue to displace individuals and families.

The UNHCR says there are 2.7 million Afghan refugees worldwide. They represent the largest protracted⁵ refugee population under the U.N. agency’s care. The report lists the home countries of other big refugee populations. After Syria and Afghanistan, the largest numbers of refugees under the agency’s care come from Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar -- also known as Burma -- and Iraq.

The UNHCR’s Adrian Edwards says poor countries and those close to areas of conflict have the hardest time dealing with refugees.

“Relative to their population sizes, Jordan and Lebanon are hosting most refugees -- almost 1.8 million combined. The biggest economic burden though is being felt by other countries -- that’s Ethiopia and Pakistan, in particular, which relative to the size of their economies that have more refugees than any other country. Major conflicts and displacement⁶ in places such as Central African Republic, South Sudan is also happening. That's in danger of being forgotten by publics and by donors⁸.” 

Adrian Edwards notes that African conflicts are not limited to African nations alone. He says the humanitarian⁹ and economic effects for poor, neighboring countries are huge.

He says some countries are sheltering hundreds of thousands of refugees, yet lack the money and supplies to care for them. He says they often fail to receive the financial support they need from wealthy donor⁷ governments.

Words in This Story

refugee - n. a person who has been forced to flee because of unjust treatment, danger or war

population – n. all the people in a place, city or country

individuals - n. single people; single members of a larger group

sheltering - v. protecting or giving protection to

1 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

7 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。