VOA标准英语2010年-Humanitarian Fears Rise as Rains are P

The Britain-based charity ActionAid says heavy rains are hampering¹ operations to evacuate² people in Pakistan caught in the worst floods in 80 years. The death toll³ has reached 1,500 and an estimated three-million people have been affected⁴.

Airlie Taylor from Britain-based ActionAid says a break in the rains in Pakistan during the past few days had given rescue teams better access to flooded northern provinces.

"They did die down, which enabled the international community to pick up the relief effort somewhat," Taylor said. "However, more rains are forecasted in the next few days and it is anticipated that the flooding will head south into the Sindh Province in the south of the country. So it looks like the situation may well get worse before it gets better."

Much of the relief effort so far has been aimed at the northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which has been swamped by the worst monsoon⁵ rain the country has seen in almost a century.

Floodwaters are pouring south into Punjab province, destroying crops and threatening more lives. Aid workers say they fear bloated rivers may overflow⁶ into southern Pakistan.

Taylor says some aid groups are present in Sindh Province, home of the country's commercial center, Karachi. 

"We would look into responding there if that situation worsens," Taylor added. "But obviously the capacity of the government, as I say, and aid agencies, is already strained so that is not something that we would want to happen obviously."

In Islamabad, Oxfam aid worker Nisar Shah says many roads and bridges have been destroyed.

"The biggest challenge which we are facing at the moment is to reach to those areas which are in the interior, I mean not on the main roadside," said Shah. "There is a huge population inside those areas."

Crops have been destroyed across northwest Pakistan. Relief workers fear the effects on the next harvest and the United Nations has warned of serious food shortages. The World Food Program estimates 1.8 million people will need to be fed in the next month.

Monsoon season in Pakistan normally lasts until mid-September.
 

1 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。

2 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 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。

5 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。

6 overflow   

v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出

参考例句：

• The overflow from the bath ran on to the floor.浴缸里的水溢到了地板上。
• After a long period of rain,the river may overflow its banks.长时间的下雨天后，河水可能溢出岸来。