众多海啸灾区等待提供救济

 

Many Tsunami¹ Disaster Zones Wait for Relief Supplies

众多海啸灾区等待提供救济

Six days after the catastrophic Tsunami struck countries in the Indian Ocean basin, relief agencies are struggling to deliver food, water and medicine.

Ships and planes are converging² on the stricken coasts of south Asia. Five million people are said to be homeless in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. An aid coordinator³ in Jakarta says distribution continues to be a problem as tons of food and other supplies pile up at airports awaiting distribution. There aren't enough workers or vehicles to get to the stricken areas.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the crisis in New York with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan.

Colin Powell: This is the sixth day of this crisis and a lot has happened over these six days. We have dispatched assessment⁴ teams. Humanitarian⁵ supplies are on the way. Military forces are on the way-a particularly large contingent⁶ from the United States armed forces, and fund raising has started and significant funds are being allocated⁸ to this effort.

The United States says it is prepared to increase its assistance ten fold to $350 million.  Mr. Powell appealed to people around the world to reach deep into their pockets to provide help for this unprecedented⁹ disaster.

Colin Powell: The need is great and not just for immediate¹⁰ relief but for long-term reconstruction¹¹, rehabilitation¹², family support, economic support that is going to be needed for these countries to get back up on their feet.

The United Nations has the lead role in directing the aid effort. The World Bank, which usually lends money for economic development, plans to allocate⁷ $250 million for aid and reconstruction. Damien Milverton says most of that money will arrive later when governments are able to identify their longer return needs. For now, says Mr. Milverton, the priority is to get immediate relief to those in need.

Damien Milverton: We want to make sure it is a coordinated¹³ approach so it eases the burden on the governments. So we will get together with the Asian Development Bank and also the Japanese Ban, also the Japanese bilateral¹⁴ agency. And we will head in there as a group rather than uncoordinated teams that often confuses and overwhelms the situation.

Indonesia's Aceh province is the single worst hit area, with more than 80,000 casualties. U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland says the death toll¹⁵ is approaching 150,000.  But he stressed the world may never know how many people were actually killed.

Barry Wood, VOA news, Washington.

 

注释：

catastrophic [9kAtE5strCfik] adj. 灾难的

dispatch [dis5pAtF] vt. 派遣

contingent [kEn5tindVEnt] n. 分遣队

allocate [5AlEkeit] vt. 分派

appeal [E5pi:l] vi. 呼吁

coordinated [kEu5C:dineitid] adj. 不协调的

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 converging   

adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Plants had gradually evolved along diverging and converging pathways. 植物是沿着趋异和趋同两种途径逐渐演化的。 来自辞典例句
• This very slowly converging series was known to Leibniz in 1674. 这个收敛很慢的级数是莱布尼茨在1674年得到的。 来自辞典例句

3 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

4 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

5 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。

6 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

7 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

8 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

9 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

10 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

11 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

12 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

13 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

14 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

15 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。