VOA标准英语2008年-US Military Prepares for Burma Relief Mission,

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
07 May 2008

The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific says he has sent aircraft and some troops to Thailand to prepare to provide cyclone¹ relief to Burma, if its government decides to allow such an operation.  VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

In a VOA interview from New York, Admiral Timothy Keating said he has two senior officers and half a dozen transport planes in Thailand, and several ships in or on the way to the region, along with some Special Operations forces and relief supplies.  The people and equipment were preparing to participate in an annual exercise with four Asian nations, but the admiral says they could be re-directed to a Burma relief mission.

"We have a fairly high range of capability² that we could provide," he said.  "And we can scale it depending on the degree of assistance requested by Burma."

But Admiral Keating says no such request has been received.

"We've been in near constant contact with the Pentagon and our headquarters in Hawaii and we have no indication that Burma will accept U.S. military relief," he added.  "We're hopeful, but I don't have any indication."

Admiral Keating says humanitarian³ assistance is not the main mission of Pacific Command, but it is something his troops have a lot of experience with.  The U.S. military has been involved in relief efforts after several natural disasters in Asia in recent years, including the tsunami⁴ in 2004, the Pakistan earthquake in 2005, last year's Bangladesh cyclone, and China's cold weather crisis just a few months ago.

But Burma is one of the world's most closed societies.  The senior U.S. diplomat⁵ in the country Wednesday called the country's military rulers "a very paranoid regime."  Admiral Keating says the potential for this week's storm to lead to instability in Burma is a factor in the effort to deal with the crisis.

"It's a clear factor, but it's not a determining factor in our offer of response," he noted⁶.  "It's nothing in which we would engage at Pacific Command to lead to any consideration of regime overthrow⁷.  It's much, much more, it's entirely⁸, an interest in providing relief to the citizens of Burma."

The U.S. military assets in the area include helicopters and landing craft that could deliver relief supplies, and one large ship that has a 600-bed hospital.  Officials say other ships also have medical facilities and supplies, and such things as clean water, electrical generators⁹ and water purification equipment that would be very useful in Burma's devastated¹⁰ areas.

1 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

2 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

3 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。

4 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。

5 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

6 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。

7 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

9 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。