voa标准英语2008-Zimbabwe Relief Agencies Ramp Up Efforts to Comb

Relief agencies in Zimbabwe say they are ramping¹ up emergency programs to combat a cholera² epidemic³ that has infected more than 11,000 people and killed nearly 500. The emergency comes as soldiers rampaged in the capital, Harare, over declining living conditions. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from our Southern Africa Bureau in Johannesburg.
　 COLLAPSE⁴: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="15%" align="left" border="0">

A child walks barefoot past rain water and sewage near Harare, 25 Nov 2008

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, says it is launching a four-month emergency response in Zimbabwe because of what it calls the "closure" of many hospitals, failing social services and the collapse of the country's education system.

Spokesperson Shantha Bloemen says years of decline in water, sanitation⁵ and health services have caused a cholera epidemic that has spread to nine of Zimbabwe's 10 provinces and into neighboring countries.

"The immediate⁶ concern is making sure that we provide life- saving responses which continue to be providing emergency safe water, doing health education for communities and keeping the cholera treatment centers going," said Bloemen.

UNICEF has been trucking clean water to high-density residential⁷ areas, distributing water purification tablets and drilling wells in neighborhoods to prevent the spread of disease.

Humanitarian⁸ groups say the epidemic is the result of deteriorating⁹ public services due to years of economic decline and hyper-inflation.

Soldier rampage adds to citizen stress
　

A member of the Zimbabwe National Army walks past a looted shop in Harare, 01 Dec 2008

Some 100 soldiers Monday clashed with police in Harare after taking money from foreign currency dealers¹⁰ and looting some shops. Media reports say the soldiers rampaged because they could not collect salaries from cash-strapped banks.

The Zimbabwean government Tuesday blamed the clashes on undisciplined troops and said military police were patrolling to prevent further incidents.

Frustration¹¹ is rising in Zimbabwe over a power sharing dispute between the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change party of Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai.

Women, children most affected¹² by crisis

Bloemen of UNICEF says the crisis is affecting women and children of Zimbabwe the most.

"For your average Zimbabwean family now, life has become incredibly tough and this is reaching the breaking point. And I think we have to remember we have a responsibility to respond and that people can't be held hostage to politics so we need to make sure we continue to provide the humanitarian relief that is needed," noted¹³ Bloemen.

But donor¹⁴ agencies say they are running short of funds partly because of the global economic downturn.

The World Food Program says that next month it will run out of funds needed to feed five million people, one-half of the Zimbabwean population, needing food aid. UNICEF has appealed for $9 million to fund its latest effort.

1 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？

2 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 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。

6 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。

7 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

8 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。

9 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

10 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

11 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

12 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。

13 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。

14 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。