VOA标准英语2010年-US Officials: Medical Assistance and F

Reports of chaotic¹ food handouts², Monday, highlight the difficult conditions survivors³ face as many continue their search for the dead, mourn those they have lost and struggle to meet their basic needs of food and water.

William Ide | Washington 26 January 2010

Haitian children line up to receive food at a food distribution site run by the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division a week after the massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 21 Jan 2010

Two top American officials say that medical assistance and food distribution are the biggest challenges the world faces as it reaches out to help Haiti  recover from its massive earthquake.  Reports of chaotic food handouts, Monday, highlight the difficult conditions survivors face as many continue their search for the dead, mourn those they have lost and struggle to meet their basic needs of food and water.

Outside Haiti's demolished⁴ presidential palace Monday, the situation at a daily aid hand-out site turned chaotic when a small team of United Nations peacekeepers faced off with a crowd of 4,000 desperately⁵ hungry Haitians.

At the sign of trouble, the peacekeepers first fired warning shots into the air, but then later were forced to retreat, as a massive crowd of young men trampled⁶ over people to scoop⁷ up boxes of rice and beans.

The U.S. State Department's coordinator⁸ for relief and reconstruction⁹, Lewis Lucke, says that, although there has been a tremendous influx¹⁰ of food from the outside, the bigger challenge is getting it to those who need it.

"In terms of food, the thing we are worried about is not so much the availability of food right now, it's being able to overcome issues in distribution, that varies from place to place, roads, traffic, availability of trucks and so forth¹¹, all of this seems to get better every day," he said.

The massive destruction of the Haiti's 7.0 magnitude quake has left nearly one million people homeless.  Thousands have fled the ruined city of Port-au-Prince.  Many Haitians continue to live in the streets or in tent cities.

The Haitian government estimates the quake killed as many as 200,000 people.

Kate Conrad, a spokeswoman for the aid organization Save the Children - which has operated in Haiti for 30 years - says food, water and medical care continue to be the most urgent needs.

"Our medical teams are reporting primarily pink eye, skin rashes, things that you would commonly expect. Some cases of diarrhea, which is extremely worrying, because diarrhea kills small children, but no major outbreaks, thankfully," she said.

Lieutenant¹² General Ken¹³ Keen says boosting medical assistance and building up Haiti's medical infrastructure¹⁴ is a major challenge.

"The medical infrastructure that was here - what there was here - was devastated," he said. "There was only one functioning hospital after the earthquake and that was the Argentinean hospital here."

General Keen says that international doctors and non-governmental organizations have been crucial in helping¹⁵ set up makeshift medical centers, throughout the capital, but more work is needed.

"We are working with the U.N. and USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] and we feel that we need to stand up a hospital that has the capacity of 5,000 beds, to give you an idea, in order to treat the number of patients that are going to flow through the hospital ship Comfort and also that are being treated in various hospitals," he said.        

Keen says that since, it arrived last week, the US Comfort, a Navy medical ship, has taken 300 critically wounded survivors on board and performed more than 100 surgeries.

In addition to medical assistance and food, U.S. officials say they are also looking for ways, together with the international community, to create jobs for Haitians.

Lewis Lucke says the U.S. government hopes to create 25,000 jobs by the end of January by hiring people to help with the clean-up, such as the removal of rubble¹⁶ in the streets and buildings that have collapsed¹⁷ in roadways.

Lucke says creating jobs will be an important part of the Haiti's recovery and a critical way of pumping money into the economy.

1 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

2 handouts   

救济品( handout的名词复数 )； 施舍物； 印刷品； 讲义

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后，他仍然很骄傲，不愿接受施舍。

3 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

4 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

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 trampled   

踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• He gripped his brother's arm lest he be trampled by the mob. 他紧抓着他兄弟的胳膊，怕他让暴民踩着。
• People were trampled underfoot in the rush for the exit. 有人在拼命涌向出口时被踩在脚下。

7 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

8 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

9 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。

10 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

13 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

14 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。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

16 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。

17 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。