VOA标准英语2010年-UN: Gaza in State of Physical, Psychol

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency says Gaza is in a state of physical and psychological collapse¹.

The Israeli blockade of Gaza has been going on for 30 months.  The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which cares for one million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, says the territory is receiving only 20 percent of the goods it got before the blockade was imposed. 

UNRWA says the ongoing² blockade of Gaza's borders has caused the private sector³ to collapse and unemployment and poverty to rise to unprecedented⁴ levels. 

The agency is renewing its appeal for $323 million to assist Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank throughout 2010.  UNRWA Director of Operations in Gaza, John Ging, says $250 million of the appeal will be used to sustain basic subsistence levels in Gaza.

"Access to those billions that have been pledged, $4.5 billion were pledged in Sharm El-Sheik, will replace the need for much of the aid, the humanitarian⁵ assistance we now are appealing for because the recovery and reconstruction⁶ will generate tens of thousands of jobs," said Ging.  "It will put the private sector back to work.  Remember 100,000 have been made unemployed⁷ in this past two and a half years.  And, the money will be, as I say, put to productive use," he said.

A Palestinian boy sits on rubble⁸ in an area destroyed during Israel's January 2009 Gaza offensive, 16 Jan 2010

The United Nations reports the houses of 325,000 people were destroyed or damaged during the war that erupted between Israel and Hamas militants⁹ more than a year ago.  An estimated 20,000 people continue to live in temporary housing.

Ging says Israel refuses to let cement, steel rods and other reconstruction material enter the Gaza Strip because it fears they would be used by Hamas to build bunkers.

He says the United Nations has presented a plan to the Israeli authorities to oversee¹⁰ the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza.  He says U.N. agencies have the technical expertise¹¹ and the capacity to get the work done and to make sure that none of the materials fall into the wrong hands. 

"There is no point in just continuously saying hypothetically this might happen or that might happen or it might fall into the wrong hands or whatever.  The bottom line is we have put forward our plans.  We are ready to go," he declared.  "Let us go on with it and the cement that comes to the United Nations to build a school, there will be a physical school at the end of this process or there will not.  If there is a physical school, then we have done out job properly.  If there is not, then we should be held accountable for that.  That is what we now need to do," he said. 

Ging says attitudes among the Palestinians will continue to harden and become more hostile if reconstruction cannot get underway.  He warns this will be counterproductive to Israel's objective of achieving stability and security. 

He appeals to the Israeli authorities to open the crossing points and allow essential supplies of food, water and medicines as well as shelter materials to flow freely into Gaza.  He says this will greatly improve conditions for the Palestinians and ease tensions between them and the Israelis.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 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。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 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。

6 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

7 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

8 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。

9 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

10 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

11 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。