VOA标准英语2010年-Relief Efforts in Haiti Slowly Take Ho

Aid workers in Haiti say earthquake relief efforts are starting to make an impact in Port-au-Prince.  But frustration¹ is mounting among Haitians who say they still have no access to food, water and medical treatment. 

Fresh water is being delivered to the weary in downtown Port-au-Prince.

But as former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the quake-ravaged capital promising² to step up the delivery of aid, the people in the city say they are still going without.

Inoge Laviette is with the international aid organization Action Against Hunger.  This is the first time he has delivered water to the people who camped across from the presidential palace.

"The people have to walk around and go blocks away to find what water they can.  Sometimes when they are desperate; they will drink any water - even dirty water with bacteria - to survive," Laviette said.

Mirland Xavier's house was destroyed in the  quake.  She and her family have been sleeping under a tree for almost a week. They are quickly running out of food and money.

When we asked her what she planned to do, she said, "I don't know," "No one has distributed anything to us," she said. "Whatever we have, we manage to share.  So far, we have managed to feed just ourselves, with no help from any government, politicians or international organizations."

The European Union has offered Haiti more than $575 million to help in the recovery effort.

Pledges from Europe and other nations are making Haiti's recovery the biggest global relief effort since the 2004 Asian tsunami³. Canada says it will host a meeting next week to coordinate⁴ the efforts of Western donors⁵ and the United Nations.

But future pledges are of little interest to the people of this devastated⁶ city.  Their concern is the present.

We stopped at a Chinese medical aid tent were a baby was having her wounds treated.  Philipe, with the Chinese International Search and Rescue Team, told us they are doing all they can.  But he acknowledged it is not enough.

"I have never seen anything like this in my life.  I am here with a Haitian colleague and I am very sad to see the Haitian people experience a terrible moment like this," he said.

For now, people here are doing what they can.  Up and over a pile of rubble⁷, past a corpse⁸ rotting in the hot sun, some men found cases of drinking water in what was once a convenience store.  They asked us not to photograph their faces.  They were not looting they told us. "This is survival."

1 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

2 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

3 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。

4 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

5 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》

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 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

8 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。