2006年VOA标准英语-Evacuation Not Option For Many Foreign National

By Challiss McDonough
Beirut
18 July 2006

Western nations are moving to evacuate¹ thousands of their citizens from Lebanon as Israel's air strikes there intensify².  The airport and seaports³ have been closed after being repeatedly bombed, and most of the main roads out of the country have also been shelled.  France and Italy have taken more than 1,600 Europeans out to Cyprus by boat, and Britain is planning to use two warships⁴ for its evacuation.  But stranded⁵ citizens of some countries cannot turn to their governments for help.

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British nationals board the British destroyer HMS Gloucester as they are being evacuated⁶ to Cyprus   
  
An agitated⁷ crowd gathered Tuesday afternoon outside the Beirut office of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), Western governments have been evacuating⁸ their citizens on ships, helicopters, planes and buses.  But these refugees and migrants, mostly from Iraq and sub-Saharan Africa, have no homes to escape to.

Peter Tek came to Lebanon nine years ago from southern Sudan.

"As you know the situation is really very difficult, we left Sudan because there's a war," said Mr. Tek.  "We are here, and we are facing the same fate."

Unlike the tourists from Western countries who are leaving Lebanon in droves, Somali refugee Hassan Adahu does not have a government he can turn to for help.

"I'm from Somalia.  I don't have money, I don't have food, I don't have anything," he said.  "What I can do?  Somalia, it doesn't have an embassy here."

The U.N. High Commissioner⁹ for Refugees says there are about 20,000 Iraqi refugees living in Lebanon, most of them in the Shi'ite areas of the south that have come under the heaviest bombardment.  The agency fears some of them are still trapped, along with an unknown number of Lebanese citizens who have not been able to get out of the south yet.

 
A Lebanese man, carrying watermelons that he picked up from a deserted¹⁰ stall, walks down a street amongst the rubble¹¹ of destroyed buildings after Israeli airstsrikes targeted the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon
  
The UNHCR is trying to help move everyone who needs help, both Lebanese and foreigners, to safer locations.  Arafat Jamal, the acting¹² officer in charge at the UNHCR in Beirut, says the agency's own workers have also been affected¹³ by the violence.

"Because of the emergency, many of our national staff, who form the backbone¹⁴ of this office, have fled to the mountains," he said.

Jamal says the agency is managing a massive crisis with only a fraction of its usual staff.  Not only does it have to work with the refugees it normally deals with, but the U.N. refugee agency is also helping¹⁵ find shelter for hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese.

Jamal says it is still not clear exactly how many people have fled their homes.

"To be honest, a few days ago the figure was 22,000.  And by yesterday, I heard that the government was saying was 400,000.  I'm inclined to believe the bigger figure. It seems that it is a massive displacement¹⁶ problem," he added.

Jamal says Lebanese citizens and foreigners, such as the refugees outside his office, are all being offered the same options and the same support.  And rather than see his staff shortage as a problem, Jamal says the U.N. refugee agency is using its own displaced workers to scout¹⁷ out new shelters in the mountains than can host more people, and to assess the needs of the ones already there.

But although finding shelter for displaced people is a priority, Jamal says the most urgent thing right now is getting what he calls the "besieged¹⁸ population" out of the heavily bombarded south.

"I would say that probably the more critical area is evacuation from areas of danger," he explained.  "That's obviously a lot harder to do.  We're trying to negotiate humanitarian¹⁹ corridors, both to get people out and in, but this is a much more complex issue."

Aid workers and the Lebanese government have been turning schools around the country into temporary shelters for people who have been forced to abandon their homes.  Although that is working well so far, Jamal, head of the UNHCR office in Beirut, says it is only a temporary solution.

"I think the worry is that two weeks from now, if the blockade continues, these places are going to be a disaster, particularly in terms of sanitation²⁰, n terms of once the water closes up, once the toilets clog²¹ up, children, diseases, et cetera.  Then it's going to be a big problem, and then the U.N. will be needed in terms of supplies."

It is not clear how much longer the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon will last.  A top Israeli general told Israel Radio on Tuesday that it could last "a few weeks."

1 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

2 intensify   

vt.加强；变强；加剧

参考例句：

• We must intensify our educational work among our own troops.我们必须加强自己部队的教育工作。
• They were ordered to intensify their patrols to protect our air space.他们奉命加强巡逻，保卫我国的领空。

3 seaports   

n.海港( seaport的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Airports have joined seaports as ports of entry for the visiting foreigner. 机场和海港一样成为来访的外国人的入境关口。 来自互联网
• Sanya has 16 seaports, 10 islands and 180km of coastline. 三亚有16个港口、10个海岛和180公里的海岸线。 来自互联网

4 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

5 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

6 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

7 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

8 evacuating   

撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空

参考例句：

• The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
• Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗？

9 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。

10 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

11 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

12 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

13 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。

14 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

16 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。

17 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

18 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

19 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。

20 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

21 clog   

vt.塞满，阻塞；n.[常pl.]木屐

参考例句：

• In cotton and wool processing,short length fibers may clog sewers.在棉毛生产中，短纤维可能堵塞下水管道。
• These streets often clog during the rush hour.这几条大街在交通高峰时间常常发生交通堵塞。