VOA标准英语2009年-UN: Drought Forcing New Cycle of Human Suf

By Alisha Ryu
Near Galkayo, Somalia
06 October 2009

The United Nations is warning that years of drought and conflict are pushing many regions of Somalia toward a new cycle of hunger, devastation¹, and human suffering.

Worse than ever

 
Rotting carcass of camel that recently died because of
Somalia's relentless² drought
The vast reddish desert that covers much of Somalia's central Mudug region has always been a source of wealth, as well as calamity³, for thousands of pastoral families.

In good times, the desert provides abundant food for goats and camels, which in turn provide the families with surplus milk and meat to sell in local markets.  In bad times, the desert turns into a barren wasteland, challenging the survival skills of even the hardiest⁴ of people and their animals.

Abshir Ahmed, 52, has lived all his life along a stretch of the desert near the town of Docol, 38 kilometers south of Galkayo. Scratching the bone-dry earth with his bare, calloused⁵ feet, Ahmed says the devastation that he and others are experiencing now is worse than anything they have ever been through before.

He says before the rains failed more than two years ago, he had 400 goats and 20 camels. They were enough to feed himself, his wife, and 13 children. But all that is left of his livestock⁶ now are 25 goats and when they are gone, Ahmed says he does not know what he will do.

The drought, and nearly two decades of political unrest and economic neglect have left the Mudug region one of the poorest and least developed in Somalia.  
Pirates establish bases

In recent years, Somali pirates have established bases in Mudug's coastal⁷ towns of Haradhere and Hobyo. But the millions of dollars they demand in ransom⁸ payments are not used to help pastoral communities and in-land towns.

 
Bulo Bacley's long-term residents are being squeezed for space by the daily arrival of new IDPs
The United Nations estimates that nearly 200,000 people, half of the region's population, are in urgent need of humanitarian⁹ assistance and they may all soon be on the move in search of towns with food and water.

Docol town elder Sheik Ali Gab¹⁰ says desperate families are already pouring into his community. He estimates 80 percent of the nomadic¹¹ people in the surrounding area have lost all of their livestock and they have nowhere else to go.

Fear of water shortage

Gab says the town's population is growing every day and he fears Docol could begin experiencing a severe water shortage.  He says there are shallow wells in remote areas outside of Docol, but most of the wells are now dry.

 
There is no clean drinking water available for IDPs at Bulo
Bacley, raising possibility of an outbreak of waterborne diseases
Several-dozen kilometers north of Docol, Malioun Osman, 40, says she, too, is also alarmed about the large influx¹² of people coming into Bulo Bacley, a camp that for nearly 20 years has housed people fleeing the civil war raging in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Osman says long-term residents like her were already struggling to find enough food and water for thousands of recent arrivals from Mogadishu. She says the camp is now bursting with people from drought-affected regions as well.

For the thousands who live in Bulo Bacley, the nearest water well is three kilometers away. Cradling a dirt-covered jerry can under her arm, a heavily pregnant woman named Aisha sets off on foot from the camp to fetch her daily ration¹³.

She says she fears the water is not fit for drinking, but there is nothing else to drink. 

Underground water source

 
Pregnant woman at Bulo Bacley IDP camp worries about future
of her growing family as ongoing¹⁴ conflicts, climate change
threaten to keep millions mired¹⁵ in misery¹⁶ and poverty
U.N. children's agency in Somalia Deputy Representative Hannan Suleiman tells VOA that unlike countries like Yemen that may run out of water entirely¹⁷ in the next two decades, Somalia is thought to have plenty of water underground to sustain people for many generations.

Suleiman says what Somalia needs urgently is a comprehensive water management system.

"All we have been able to do in this area is to rehabilitate¹⁸ shallow wells because of access limitation and lack of funding," Suleiman said. "It is very expensive to drill bore holes in Somalia. It is a very lengthy¹⁹, cumbersome²⁰ process, although that is ideally the way to go. The issue is also climate change here. So, we need to do some research on the impact of climate change and how we can adapt to that. And to do that, we need a lot of geological surveys and surveys on water preservation²¹ systems. And that has not been done yet."

But Suleiman says funding shortfalls and concerns over security and violence in Somalia make it unlikely such surveys will be carried out any time soon.

Long-term solution needed

 
A Somali mother and her children at Bulo Bacley, a long-established camp for people fleeing violence in Mogadishu
Galmudug regional government Minister of Planning Omar Mohamud warns that not implementing²² a long-term solution to the water problem will fuel the vicious cycle of droughts, hunger, and violence and keep the Somali people in the iron grip of poverty.

"If they lose their livestock, they move to villages," he explained. "These small towns like Docal do not have the capacity to keep so many IDPs [internally displaced people]. So, now, young people are moving to Galkayo and they join the militias²³. They loot. They put up checkpoints on the road and they are part of the insecurity."

Somalia could get some relief from the drought in the coming weeks, if El Nino storms move through East Africa as expected. But heavy rainfall could also trigger massive flooding, lost livestock, and displacement²⁴, bringing more misery to millions.

1 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

3 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。

4 hardiest   

能吃苦耐劳的，坚强的( hardy的最高级 )； （植物等）耐寒的

参考例句：

• This trip will season even the hardiest traveller. 这个旅行会让最坚硬的旅行者适应。

5 calloused   

adj.粗糙的，粗硬的，起老茧的v.（使）硬结，（使）起茧( callous的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）冷酷无情

参考例句：

• A most practical and emotionally calloused Youth interrupted. 一个非常讲究实际而心肠很硬的年轻人插了一嘴。 来自辞典例句
• McTeague exhibited his hard, calloused palms. 麦克梯格摊开那双生满老茧坚硬的手掌。 来自辞典例句

6 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

7 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

8 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

9 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。

10 gab   

v.空谈，唠叨，瞎扯；n.饶舌，多嘴，爱说话

参考例句：

• The young man had got the gift of gab.那个年轻小贩能说会道。
• She has the gift of the gab.她口才很好。

11 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

12 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

13 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

14 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。

15 mired   

abbr.microreciprocal degree 迈尔德（色温单位）v.深陷( mire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The country was mired in recession. 这个国家陷入了经济衰退的困境。
• The most brilliant leadership can be mired in detail. 最有才干的领导也会陷于拘泥琐事的困境中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

17 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。

18 rehabilitate   

vt.改造(罪犯)，修复；vi.复兴，(罪犯)经受改造

参考例句：

• There was no money to rehabilitate the tower.没有资金修复那座塔。
• He used exercise programmes to rehabilitate the patients.他采用体育锻炼疗法使患者恢复健康。

19 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

20 cumbersome   

adj.笨重的，不便携带的

参考例句：

• Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重，操作起来却很容易。
• The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨，搬起来很不方便。

21 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

22 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

23 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

24 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。