VOA标准英语2009年-Red Cross Boosting Aid to Somalia

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it is increasing its aid to hundreds of thousands of destitute¹ people in Somalia. It said drought, floods and the effects of 17 years of armed conflict and lawlessness have taken a terrible toll² on the population.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been providing hundreds of thousands of Somalis with food, water and other aid. Last year, it distributed food aid to nearly one-half million people.

ICRC Spokeswoman, Anna Schaaf, told VOA this aid will continue and even increase because of the deteriorating³ humanitarian⁴ situation in the country. She said hundreds of thousands of Somalis are not able to feed themselves without outside support.

She said the agency will provide other emergency assistance such as clean drinking water and shelter.

"And, we do have a lot of medical programs in Somalia. We do, for example, support the two main hospitals in Mogadishu who are receiving lots of the war wounded in the capital. They are Keysaney and Medina Hospitals where there are Somali surgeons working, but the ICRC is regularly supplying medicine and medical material," she said.

Schaaf said people in Somalia have become almost completely dependent on international aid because of the fighting, the drought and flood. In addition, she said the world economic crisis is making it difficult for people to buy food, travel or engage in trade.

The intense fighting that resulted in displacing hundreds of thousands of people in Somalia has subsided⁵. For now, the fighting is sporadic⁶. But, Schaaf said civilian⁷ casualties are an ongoing⁸ concern, particularly in urban areas.
　

A Somali man picks through the remains9 of a destroyed home in the Holwadag neighborhood in Mogadishu, (file photo)

She said in a densely¹⁰ populated area, it is more difficult to ensure the safety of civilians¹¹, who often are caught in the crossfire¹².

"Also, the problem there is that people who are not wounded do not have direct access to medical care. So, sometimes as it is too dangerous to actually bring the wounded people to the hospitals or other medical facilities, they need to wait until the fighting is over and can then actually go to the hospitals. So sometimes, they have gunshot wounds that are two, three, four days old and that are a lot more difficult to treat then if they would be treated immediately," she said.

Schaaf said the ICRC is one of the few organizations that still is working in Somalia. She said it is able to go to conflict-affected communities in remote areas because of its good contacts with the various warring parties.

1 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 subsided   

v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上

参考例句：

• After the heavy rains part of the road subsided. 大雨过后，部分公路塌陷了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• By evening the storm had subsided and all was quiet again. 傍晚， 暴风雨已经过去，四周开始沉寂下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

7 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

11 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

12 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。