VOA慢速英语2015 联合国表示在打击亚洲毒品交易方面进展不大

AS IT IS 2015-04-30 UN: Little Progress in Fighting Asian Drug Trade 联合国表示在打击亚洲毒品交易方面进展不大

Trafficking of synthetic¹, or man-made, drugs is growing across much of Southeast Asia. United Nations officials say the growth is being helped, in part, by rising demand and by use of the Internet. They want stronger controls on what they call precursor² chemicals -- those used to make synthetic drugs.

The UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime says drug production and trafficking is expanding in both East Asia and Southeast Asia. It also says the drug trade is diversifying⁴ -- moving into new products outside international control.

The agency says legal chemicals are being used in drug production. It says there is a growing need to stop that from happening.

More than 200 government officials from 39 countries traveled to Bangkok for the conference, which was held this month. Jeremy Douglas is the agency’s representative in Asia. He told the delegates the drug problem has worsened.

“It is important that this conference is here in Asia, where most of the precursor chemicals are produced and where, as it was pointed⁵ out, significant drug production is taking place. If we are to make headway on the drug production situation here and in other regions, we need to have effective international control.”

Officials say Myanmar is the place where criminals produce the largest amount of synthetic drugs. The country is also known as Burma. The officials say traffickers bring precursor chemicals into Myanmar, then transport the drugs back across its mostly unguarded borders to markets in China, Thailand and other countries.

Thailand’s Justice Minister spoke⁶ at the conference. Paiboon Koomchaya said there appears to have been little progress in recent months to control precursor chemicals in Asia.

“In the year 2013, we raised awareness⁷ of all the countries, but we have not come up with a clear measure yet of how the manufacturing countries, importing countries and all the relevant parties -- how are we going to control precursor chemicals effectively in our region?”

UN law enforcement officials say there are hundreds of synthetic drugs known as new psychoactive substances. They noted⁸ that just 10 of these have been listed as controlled substances, meaning sales are restricted. And they say many criminal organizations sell drugs on the Internet. This creates a problem for law enforcement.

Jeremy Douglas told VOA more Asian countries need to establish rules to control trafficking of precursor chemicals.

“This is the heartland or the center point production. Asia is where the precursors⁹ are largely coming from.”

Officials at the Bangkok meeting talked about developing an Asian policy for dealing¹⁰ with the problem. They also spoke about strengthening border security. The policy plans are being prepared for a UN General Assembly Special Session on the worldwide drug trafficking problem, to be held next year.

Words in This Story

synthetic – adj. man-made or unnatural¹¹

precursor – adj. something that comes before something else

diversify³ – v. to change something so that it has additional things (or kinds of people)

session – n. a meeting or series of meetings

1 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

2 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

3 diversify   

v.（使）不同，（使）变得多样化

参考例句：

• Our company is trying to diversify.我们公司正力图往多样化方面发展。
• Hills and woods diversify the landscape.山陵和树木点缀景色。

4 diversifying   

v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的现在分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• Some publishers are now diversifying into software. 有些出版社目前正兼营软件。 来自辞典例句
• Silverlit is diversifying into new markets, such as Russia and Eastern Europe. Silverlit正在使他们的市场变得多样化，开发新的市场如俄罗斯和东欧国家。 来自互联网

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 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。

7 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 precursors   

n.先驱( precursor的名词复数 )；先行者；先兆；初期形式

参考例句：

• Phenyl (or polyphenyl) substituted epoxides serve as excellent precursors to phenyl (or diphenyl) carbenes. 某些苯代（或多苯）环氧乙烷是制取带苯环（或二苯）碳烯的极好原料。 来自辞典例句
• Note the presence of megakaryocytes, erythroid islands, and granulocytic precursors. 可见巨核细胞，红细胞岛和粒细胞前体细胞。 来自互联网

10 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。

11 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。