VOA常速英语2015--意大利和希腊面临移民压力

意大利和希腊面临移民压力

WASHINGTON— Conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East and other parts of the world are creating waves of refuges, ready to risk their lives to escape misery¹. Europe has been flooded with migrants and this year the number is expected to top last year's 170,000. More than 10,000 people arrived on European shores in the past week. Italy and Greece are primary destinations for migrants who hope to move on from there. Those who survive the arduous² trek³ to Europe have some horror stories to tell.

Civil war in Syria has killed more than 200,000 people in the past four years, about half of them civilians⁴.

过去四年间叙利亚内战导致20多万人丧生，约有一半是平民。

"If we had stayed in the Middle East we would have died. You only die once in your life, we decided⁵ to risk dying trying to reach here," Mohammed, one of two 25-year-old twin brothers fleeing their native Aleppo, in northern Syria.

25岁的穆罕默德和双胞胎兄弟一起从叙利亚北部的家乡阿勒颇逃出，“如果我们还留在中东，我们会死掉的。人的一生只能死一次，我们决心冒生命危险来这里。”

The brothers arrived on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa earlier this week, exhausted⁶ but alive. In the past week, 400 died during the voyage from hunger, thirst and exposure in overcrowded and poorly equipped vessels⁷.

这对兄弟本周早些时候抵达意大利小岛蓝佩杜萨岛，他们精疲力竭，但还活着。在过去一周，有400人在过于拥挤和设施简陋的船上死于饥饿、口渴。

But the price of the dangerous passage is not cheap. The Syrian brothers say they paid $3,000 to the smugglers.

但这个危险的旅程代价不菲，这对叙利亚兄弟说他们支付给人贩子3000美元。

"They took so much money from us and they locked us in a room for a long time, feeding us a bit of cheese and bread once a day. It was torture. We were verbally abused and insulted. Every day a different person would come in. We couldn't keep track. New people came in with their weapons all the time," said Ilya, the second brother.

“他们从我们身上得到这么多钱，然后把我们锁在房间里很长时间，每天只给我们一点奶酪和面包吃，这是虐待。我们还要被辱骂和羞辱，每天都有不同的人来。我们不了解情况，总是有不同的人带着武器进来。”

Italian police this week arrested two Gambian smugglers spotted⁸ in the sea, ferrying passengers from Libya for an alleged⁹ price of $600 per person.

意大利警方本周在海上逮捕了两名冈比亚人贩子，他们将乘客从利比亚带走，据悉每人要价600美元。

At least 12 Muslim migrants were arrested on arrival in Sicily after passengers accused them of throwing into the sea Christian¹⁰ migrants.

至少12名穆斯林移民刚抵达西西里岛就被捕了，因为乘客们指控他们将基督徒移民扔入大海。

Despite the price and the danger, the number of migrants is growing yearly. Thousands that have arrived in Italy since last Friday have brought the Italian immigration system to collapse¹¹.

尽管价格不菲且危险，移民的数量每年都在上升。上周五以来已有数千人抵达意大利，使得意大利移民系统崩溃。

"Between the 10,000 people who came in Italy in the last weekend, there is about 319 single underages (migrants) who arrived in Italy here. There is not enough structure to give them assistance and they (the authorities) are looking to improve the conditions in Italy to give them enough assistance to make their permanence in Italy enough good for the moment," said Ahmed Echi, a volunteer at the Papa Francesco Migrants Center.

“上周末有一万人抵达意大利，其中有大约319个单身未成年人。没有办法给他们提供帮助，当局在想办法改善意大利的条件，从而更好地帮助他们，让他们在意大利能得到安稳。”

Greece is also the target of migrants from the Middle East and Africa. The country's new left-wing government is releasing migrants from the crude detention¹² centers and allowing them to move freely around the country. The move is raising concern among many Greeks.

希腊也是中东和非洲移民的目的地，该国的左翼政府将移民从简陋的拘留中心释放出来，允许其在国内自由活动。此举引发很多希腊人的担忧。

"Where are all these people going to stay? Where will all these people go? Where will they find a place to rest? Where will they find a job? With all the internal problems that we have, we can't solve our own problems,” said Babis Karagianidis, an Athens resident.

“所有这些人要住哪儿？他们准备去哪里？他们能在哪儿找到休息的地方和工作？我们国内已经有了这么多问题了，我们连自己的问题都解决不了。”

 

European Union officials say the numbers will likely grow during the coming months when the weather gets warmer.

欧盟官员称随着天气变暖，未来几个月移民数量还可能继续上升。

1 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

2 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

3 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

7 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》

8 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

9 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

10 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

11 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。

12 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。