VOA标准英语2010年-Devastation Hampers Earthquake Relief

The United Nations and international aid agencies are ramping¹ up their assistance to earthquake victims in Haiti.  But, they report the extent of devastation² caused by the powerful quake is hampering³ their relief efforts. 

Haiti is prone⁴ to disasters, but this huge quake is the worst to hit the Caribbean island state in two centuries.  The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday destroyed much of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince.

The International Red Cross fears up to three million people may have been affected⁵ by the earthquake, which not only devastated⁶ the capital city, but many smaller nearby communities. 

The United Nations reports electricity has been cut off and communications are difficult.  It says bridges have been knocked out, hospitals and care facilities have been damaged or destroyed.  Haiti's envoy⁷ to the United States estimates losses could run into the billions.

The World Food Program is leading the United Nations emergency operation in Haiti.  The director of the WF office in Geneva, Charles Vincent, says the airport in Port-au-Prince is open.  But, he says access to the town from the airport is limited because of debris⁸ and other obstacles on the roads.

"The Dominican Republic, which … could be an important hub for us to bring relief material on behalf of the humanitarian⁹ community has not been damaged, so we can use the Dominican Republic assets.  And, we are beefing up our teams on the other side of the border," he said. 

Vincent says there are about four million people concentrated in and around Port-au-Prince.  So, it is extremely critical to get essential aid and relief supplies to the survivors¹⁰. 

He says WF has thousands of tons of food stocks in Haiti.  So, he says WF can respond very quickly to food needs. 

"We are also airlifting about 90 tons of food, of high energy biscuits from Panama to provide people that basically have no cooking material anymore.  They are outside.  They do not want to go back in, they can't go back in.  So, the use of biscuits as a temporary measure is probably the best - it is the best way to respond to the food shortage, at least in the coming days and possibly weeks," he said.

The World Health Organization says it is deploying¹¹ a 12-member team of health and logistics experts to Haiti.  WHO says the control of communicable diseases, such as diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections, will be a major concern in coming days.

1 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？

2 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》

3 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

4 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

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。

7 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。

8 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

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 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

11 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。