VOA标准英语2015--Migrants' Freezing Deaths Pressure EU Mediterranean Patrols

Migrants' Freezing Deaths Pressure EU Mediterranean¹ Patrols

POZZALO, SICILY—

In temperatures close to freezing and waves eight meters high, the Italian coast guard vessels³ took the migrants on board.

Several had already died from exposure to ocean waters, but many more succumbed⁴ to early-stage effects of hypothermia after 18 hours on the open-deck rescue boats.

As the coast guard vessels returned to the Italian island of Lampedusa early on Monday, body bags were loaded onto the dock in a grimly familiar sequence of events. At least 29 people had frozen to death trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya in preceding days, just handful of the more than 100 migrants plucked from an inflatable life raft off the Libyan coast Sunday in the midst of extreme weather conditions.

While the latest deaths have prompted renewed calls for humanitarian⁵ patrols across the Mediterranean, the European Union is divided over whether such large-scale search-and-rescue patrols encourage more migrants to risk their lives at sea.

Last year’s controversial closure of Mare⁶ Nostrum⁷, an Italian naval⁸ search-and-rescue mission, prompted some human rights groups to object, saying that shuttering the program in favor of smaller-scale, EU-run Operation Triton, would endanger lives.

"Mare Nostrum was an emergency solution to a humanitarian crisis, so closing it was a huge and intolerable step backward," Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini recently told Reuters.

"The small patrol boats were completely swallowed by the waves during the trip back," he said of this week's tragedy, which saw an unusually large number of fatalities⁹ occur after the initial rescue. "If Mare Nostrum were still going, the migrants would have been given shelter inside a large ship within an hour." 

While the EU's Operation Triton has fewer vessels and keeps patrols close to the European shoreline, Izabella Cooper of the EU's Frontex border agency said imperiled migrants could still be rescued beyond EU maritime¹⁰ boundaries.

“Most of the situations that we have been seeing here require immediate¹¹ provision of search and rescue. And of course if such a situation emerges, we will go even beyond our operational area to save human lives,” she said.

But with fewer resources at its disposal, Cooper added, it is impossible for Operation Triton to patrol the entire Mediterranean Sea.

“It is over two-and-a-half million square kilometers large, so it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to have a full overview¹² of what is happening there," she said. "The more migrants come, the more difficult it will be to detect smaller boats and rescue them. So it is a very concerning situation indeed.”

A record 170,000 irregular migrants crossed the Mediterranean into Europe in 2014, one quarter of them were Syrian. More than 3,000 died on the journey.

In recent months smugglers have employed a new tactic¹³, packing aging cargo¹⁴ vessels full of hundreds of migrants. Last month the ship "Ezadeen" was detected drifting off the coast of Italy. On board were 450 Syrian refugees who had paid up to $6,000 each for the journey.

Captain Einar Valsson was commander of the Icelandic vessel² sent to rescue the ship.

“When you are in reality and see it, it was an amazing sight, and the first thought when we saw it [was], ‘How are we going to make this operation work?’”

Members of the Icelandic crew, aided by the Italian coast guard, were winched aboard the Ezadeen before it was towed to Italy.

The rate of migrant arrivals this year is outpacing 2014, and EU officials says the unrest in Libya means migrants are no longer able to use the country as a layover before leaving for Europe.

“Only an integrated approach could address this problem," said Cooper of Frontex. "You have to stabilize¹⁵ the countries from which the migrants are fleeing, but you also need to adopt a common European approach, a common European policy on immigration and asylum¹⁶.”

The United Nations refugee agency says 160,000 people made the sea crossing to Italy between January and November 2014 and a further 40,000 landed in Greece. Thousands have died attempting the journey.

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

3 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 succumbed   

不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死

参考例句：

• The town succumbed after a short siege. 该城被围困不久即告失守。
• After an artillery bombardment lasting several days the town finally succumbed. 在持续炮轰数日后，该城终于屈服了。

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 mare   

n.母马，母驴

参考例句：

• The mare has just thrown a foal in the stable.那匹母马刚刚在马厩里产下了一只小马驹。
• The mare foundered under the heavy load and collapsed in the road.那母马因负载过重而倒在路上。

7 nostrum   

n.秘方；妙策

参考例句：

• He told the patient that he had a nostrum.他告诉病人他有秘方。
• Photography studio provide you with a few small nostrum you must use.为您提供一些小妙策你一定用的着。

8 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

9 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 overview   

n.概观，概述

参考例句：

• The opening chapter gives a brief historical overview of transport.第一章是运输史的简要回顾。
• The seminar aims to provide an overview on new media publishing.研讨会旨在综览新兴的媒体出版。

13 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

14 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

15 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

16 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。