VOA标准英语2010年-US Reaches out to Quake-Hit Haiti

The U.S. government as well as American officials and aid workers are trying to help Haiti following the devastating¹ earthquake that hit near the capital Port-au-Prince late Tuesday. 

 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlined U.S. help to Haiti from Hawaii where she is attending an Asia-Pacific conference.

"The United States is offering our full assistance to Haiti and to others in the region," said Hillary Clinton. "We will be providing both civilian² and military disaster relief and humanitarian³ assistance. Our prayers are with the people who have suffered, their families and their loved ones."

The United Nations Special Envoy⁴ to Haiti is her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. His office released a statement saying they are committed to do whatever they can to assist in relief, recovery and rebuilding.

Location of Haiti earthquake, 12 Jan 2010

A member of the U.S. group Partners for Haiti, which does religious aid work, Kyn Tolson, says she has been scrambling⁵ to get in contact with people inside Haiti.

"Our organization is trying to reach our mission house which is in Port-au-Prince," said Kyn Tolson. "It appears that cell contact and landline contact is either down or so busy that we definitely cannot get through. We are emailing all sorts of people too.  We want to see if there are any problems first of all with our people in our mission house."

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has been devastated⁶ in recent years by destructive and deadly hurricanes.  Scientists say an earthquake of this magnitude has not hit the Caribbean region in more than 200 years. 

1 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

2 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。

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 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

5 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。