伊拉克贫困依旧

Quality of Life in Iraq Still Poor

伊拉克贫困依旧

 

Virginia-based Dr. Ali Al-Attar left his native Iraq at the onset¹ of Iran-Iraq war. At that time, he says, most Iraqis lived a middle-class life and enjoyed better education, health and employment than most other Arabs.

 

In the past 25 years during his regular visits to Iraq, Dr. Al-Attar says he has witnessed a steady decline of the quality of life. Towards the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule, some civil servants were paid as low as two dollars a month. Unemployment forced many scientists, educators, lawyers, engineers and other professionals to work as plumbers³, taxi drivers, carpenters and other low-skilled labor⁴.

 

Dr. Al-Attar: And that also contributed to the deterioration⁵ of the Iraqi society and deterioration in their morals and their hopes. And that affected⁶ the structure of the families and the ethics⁷ of the family.

 

Dr. Al-Attar says in their struggle to survive, many Iraqis, once socially conscious and caring, became self-centered and corrupt⁸. The effects on the society as whole were disastrous⁹. For example, Dr. Al-Attar notes, the corruption¹⁰ in Iraq’s health ministry¹¹ resulted in poor health and higher mortality rates, especially in children.

 

So, Dr. Al-Attar says when he visited Iraq last year, he was heartened to see some improvements for the first time in 25 years. 

 

Dr. Al-Attar: People were free to express themselves. There was freedom of trade. It was an open market and the salaries increased and people were having a lot of purchase power and this has made a boom in the economical cycle.

 

Dr. Al-Attar notes that the educational system is also improving, with a new curriculum, rehabilitated¹² buildings and better wages for teachers. But, he says, a lack of security, poor electric power supplies, and ruined infrastructure¹³ have slowed down the overall progress. 

 

Iraqi journalist Alaa Al Baldawy wrote in an e-mail to V-O-A that people are in constant fear for their lives.

 

Alaa Al Baldawy: If you want to pick up some bread for your family, you’ve got to say farewell to them before you leave because you never know whether you will come back or not.

 

Last year’s comprehensive survey of 22-thousand Iraqi households found that even though most Iraqis are now connected to water, electricity and sewage networks, supplies remain unstable¹⁴ and unreliable. Mehdi Al Alalak, the head of Iraq’s Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology, who helped co-ordinate the survey, says problems persist in both rural and urban areas.

 

Mehdi Al Alalak: Most of the infrastructure has been destroyed or affected by the war. So we found that the percent of the people having access to drinking water is less than seventy percent. As for the electricity power, even the households where the electricity is provided, only ten percent of the people were saying that the electricity (supply) is stable.

 

Mr. Alalak says health care, which declined especially in the 1990s when Saddam Hussein’s regime came under international sanctions, remains¹⁵ precarious¹⁶. The survey found that almost a quarter of children between ages of six months and five years suffer from malnutrition¹⁷. But the infant mortality rate has declined somewhat, notes Mr. Alalak.

 

Mehdi Al Alalak: I think the most sensitive issue now, in addition to the security situation, which should take the first priority, the second issue is the electricity supply stabilizing¹⁸.

 

Some observers find the shortage of water in Iraq as deadly as the terrorist attacks.  Dr. Al-Attar says health care needs urgent attention.

 

Dr. Al-Attar: Health is a disaster. There are places that don’t have any basic health or any preventive health care in Iraq. Baghdad, which is the capital, is not an example at all. People are miserable¹⁹. They don’t have much except a few outlets²⁰ or medical facilities, providing medical health services.

 

Ali Al-Attar says the international community should make more of an effort to help Iraq secure and provide what its citizens need to survive. It would be a disaster, he adds, if Iraqis concluded that life was safer under Saddam.

 

For Focus, I am Zlatica Hoke.

 

注释：

onset [5Cnset] n. 开始

professional [prE5feFEnl] n. 专业人员

plumber² [5plQmbE] n. 水管工人

carpenter [5kB:pintE] n. 木匠

deterioration [di7tiEriE5reiFEn] n. 退化，堕落

disastrous [di5zB:strEs] adj. 损失惨重的

mortality [mC:5tAliti] n. 死亡率

hearten [5hB:tn] vt. 鼓励

curriculum [kE5rikjulEm] n. 课程

rehabilitated [7ri:hE5biliteitid] adj. 复员的

infrastructure [5infrE5strQktFE] n. 基础设施，基本结构

sewage [5sju(:)idV] n. 下水道，污水

regime [rei5Vi:m] n. 政权

precarious [pri5kZEriEs] adj. 不稳定的

preventive [pri5ventiv] adj. 预防性的

1 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。

2 plumber   

n.(装修水管的)管子工

参考例句：

• Have you asked the plumber to come and look at the leaking pipe?你叫管道工来检查漏水的管子了吗？
• The plumber screwed up the tap by means of a spanner.管子工用板手把龙头旋紧。

3 plumbers   

n.管子工，水暖工( plumber的名词复数 )；[美][口]（防止泄密的）堵漏人员

参考例句：

• Plumbers charge by the hour for their work. 水管工人的工作是以小时收费的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Plumbers, carpenters, and other workmen finished the new house quickly. 管道工、木工及其他工匠很快完成了这幢新房子。 来自辞典例句

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

8 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

9 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

10 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 rehabilitated   

改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复

参考例句：

• He has been rehabilitated in public esteem. 公众已恢复对他的敬重。
• Young persons need to be, wherever possible, rehabilitated rather than punished. 未成年人需要受到尽可能的矫正而不是惩罚。

13 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

14 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

16 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

17 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

18 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

19 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

20 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》