VOA标准英语 Clinton Urges More International Aid for Haiti

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged more international assistance for Haiti, saying the impoverished¹ Caribbean state is in jeopardy² because of the global recession and hurricane damage. Clinton is scheduled to visit Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic later this week before joining President Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
　
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urges donors⁴ to provide desperately⁵ needed money to Haiti at an Inter-American Development Bank conference in Washington, 14 April 2009

Clinton said Haiti leads the Western Hemisphere in unemployment and infant mortality, yet the Caribbean state's future is by no means hopeless if it receives properly-targeted international support.

Already the region's poorest country, Haiti was battered⁶ by four successive hurricanes last year that wiped out about 15 percent of the country's economic output and further damaged roads and other elements of an already weak infrastructure⁷.

Addressing a conference of prospective⁸ donor³ countries organized by the Haitian government and the Inter-American Development Bank, the secretary said Haiti may be at a historic turning point and that countries around the world have a stake in whether the government of President Rene Preval succeeds.

"What happens in Haiti affects far beyond the Caribbean and even the region," she said. "This small nation of nine million people is on a brink⁹. It is on a brink of either moving forward with the help of the collective community or falling further back. And it, as well as this region, will be shaped to a large extent by the decisions that we make."

Clinton, who is set to visit Haiti on Thursday, said that despite its status as the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, it has made progress in democratic governance since elections in 2006 and stands to take another step forward with elections for a new senate on Sunday.

She said with help from the Brazilian-led U.N. stabilization¹⁰ force, Haiti is also making strides on domestic security, and tackling corruption¹¹ and the drug trade. But Clinton said the trajectory¹² for progress has been undermined by what she termed "the combined winds of hurricanes and the global economic recession."

"So Haiti is in danger of stalling," she said. "This conference gives us all an opportunity to reignite its path to progress by working as a team with Haiti at the helm to advance a comprehensive, long-term strategy for Haiti's growth, by coordinating¹³ hemispheric and international efforts, by targeting clear goals, by setting benchmarks to gauge¹⁴ our progress, and deploying¹⁵ our diverse skills and resources efficiently¹⁶ and effectively."

Clinton pledged more than $50 million in U.S. aid on top of an annual program exceeding $200 million for debt relief, food aid, counter-narcotics programs and job-creating road projects.

Clinton praised hurricane aid to Haiti from countries like Canada, Spain and Japan. But she said it is time to go beyond disaster relief to long-term development to counter a so-called "youth tsunami¹⁷" of an estimated one million Haitian young people who will enter the job market during the next five years.

The secretary's remarks were echoed by Haitian Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis, who said Haiti is treading on fragile ground and that without help for economic growth, the consequences will be catastrophic.

There were no immediate¹⁸ pledge totals from the Washington meeting. But its stated goal was $125 million in new aid during the next two years.

1 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

3 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。

4 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

6 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

8 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

9 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

10 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

11 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

12 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

13 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

14 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

15 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

16 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

17 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。

18 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。