2006年VOA标准英语-More Foreigners Leave Lebanon

By Challiss McDonough
Beirut
19 July 2006

watch Leaving Lebanon report

American citizens wearing protective head gear wait to board a US Marines helicopter on the grounds of the US Embassy at the northern edge of the capital Beirut in Lebanon  
  
Israel launched fewer air strikes on Beirut Tuesday as foreign countries ferried their citizens out of Lebanon. But aid agencies and the Lebanese government are warning of a dire¹ humanitarian² crisis if the Israeli blockade of Lebanon continues.

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There were far fewer air strikes around Beirut on Tuesday than on any day since the Israeli offensive in Lebanon began last week. The United States and several European nations have negotiated safe passage with the Israeli military to relay thousands of their citizens to safety.

The British destroyer HMS Gloucester docked in Beirut and took 180 people on board. The ship's commander said it would travel overnight to Cyprus and offload the passengers there before turning around and heading back to Beirut to pick up more. A second British destroyer will also join the evacuation effort.

In remarks broadcast on British television from the dockside, British Ambassador James Watt³ rejected criticism that the British response was too slow. "Well firstly, there was question of taking the entire British community on one destroyer. We were always going to do it in batches⁴. We've made that clear in our public messages for days. We will be moving much bigger numbers tomorrow and even bigger numbers the day after that," he said.

The U.S. evacuation plan has come in for even more criticism over its slow pace. The Americans have evacuated⁵ a few hundred by helicopters, but mass rescues of the thousands of American citizens in Lebanon have not yet started. U.S. Embassy staff and the State Department in Washington said they will be ramping⁶ up the rescue efforts over the coming days, using military and commercial ships.

An unknown number of people, including both foreigners and Lebanese citizens, are still stranded⁷ in southern Lebanon, which has come under the most severe attack since the Israeli offensive began. Eight members of a Canadian-Lebanese family were killed in an air strike in the south on Sunday.

The roads leading out of the region have been destroyed, and continued air raids are making it nigh impossible for the United Nations or individual countries to get people out of that region. Ambassador Watt said they are his top priority. "There are others, and those are the ones who are really on my mind, who are stuck in the south of the country, who can't move up to Beirut and we can't go down there easily because of the difficult military situation. We are working on solutions for that. They're the ones we're really concerned for," he said.

In the meantime, the United Nations is bracing⁸ for a major humanitarian catastrophe⁹ if the Israeli blockade of Lebanon continues much longer. There are already some signs that people are hoarding¹⁰ essential supplies, like drinking water, in expectation of shortages over the coming weeks.

The acting¹¹ head of the UN refugee agency's Beirut office, Arafat Jamal, said the agency is already planning to confront that situation if it arises. "For us, speaking for my agency, we have a lot of stockpiles for example in Jordan, and a few in Syria, that we are very much thinking of bringing over. These are basically contingency¹² stocks mainly intended for Iraq, we thought there might be an emergency over there, but we will divert them to Lebanon now," he said.

UNHCR is sending an emergency response team to Lebanon to help with the crisis. The U.N. estimates that up to half a million people have been forced from their homes by the air strikes.

1 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

2 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。

3 watt   

n.瓦，瓦特

参考例句：

• The invention of the engine is creditable to Watt.发动机的发明归功于瓦特。
• The unit of power is watt.功率的单位是瓦特。

4 batches   

一批( batch的名词复数 )； 一炉； （食物、药物等的）一批生产的量； 成批作业

参考例句：

• The prisoners were led out in batches and shot. 这些囚犯被分批带出去枪毙了。
• The stainless drum may be used to make larger batches. 不锈钢转数设备可用来加工批量大的料。

5 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。

6 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？

7 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。

8 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

9 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

10 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

11 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。

12 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。