PBS高端访谈:马修飓风肆虐 海地损失惨重

 　　WILLIAM BRANGHAM, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: The most severe damage from Hurricane Matthew has occurred in the Caribbean, particularly on the island nation of Haiti, which is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Authorities there say they believe the storm caused hundreds of deaths and has displaced thousands more. The United Nations says three quarters of a million Haitians need humanitarian¹ aid immediately.

　　For more on the situation there, I am joined via telephone by journalist Ingrid Arneson. She's in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

　　Ingrid, thank you very, very much for being here.

　　Can you give us a sense of what you've been seeing? How bad is it there right now?

　　INGRID ARNESON, JOURNALIST (via telephone): William, the full impact of Hurricane Matthew is only emerging now. The hardest hit area, in the southern peninsula, was hit catastrophically. In terms of Port-au-Prince, Port-au-Prince is resuming natural actively². There's been two days of sunshine. The waters are receding³.

　　But the worst hit, catastrophically for the country on an economic, ecological⁴, humanitarian scale is the southern region, which comprises parts of Haiti.

　　BRANGHAM: And going forward today, tomorrow, early next week, what are the biggest challenges facing rescuers and aid agencies?

　　ARNESON: The biggest challenges are getting to the area. I spoke⁵ to the World Food Programme yesterday, and they said that as of now, they still don't know how to get supplies to the area, although they did have some prepositioned beforehand. But, of course, not enough for the hundreds of thousands of people that are stranded⁶ that were victims of the hurricane.

　　The people are needing water, are needing food, are needing medical supplies, are needing shelters. From early reports that came in yesterday, the whole area was flattened⁷ completely.

　　BRANGHAM: I understand that tomorrow is going to be the presidential election in Haiti. Obviously, that's not going to happen at this point. But does this power vacuum — I don't know if that's the right term for it — does this have any bearing on how the rescue efforts are going forward?

　　ARNESON: I don't believe so because all the international humanitarian agencies that were here for the earthquake in January 2010 are here and pretty much taking over the humanitarian effort for the southern side of the island. But, however, it's another storm for Haiti, a political storm. The much-awaited elections have been postponed⁹, and this is after two failed attempts to elect a president since former President Michel Martelly left office in April of 2015.

　　You know, institutions cannot function. The ministries¹⁰ will have to be reelected. It's handicapped governance.

　　马修飓风肆虐 海地损失惨重

　　BRANGHAM: I mean, you have been covering Haiti since the mid-1980s, and obviously, the country is still dealing¹¹ with the after-effects of the terrible earthquake in 2010. What is your sense of the long-term ability of Haiti to recover from that blow and now this blow?

　　ARNESON: Well, the 2010 January earthquake left Haiti basically 50 years back economically and in terms of reconstruction¹² since the capital was flattened. Moving forward to today, Hurricane Matthew has carved yet another disastrous¹³ dent⁸ into Haiti's efforts to recover from the earthquake.

　　With the election being postponed, that means that there isn't really a — the solid institutions that are needed to deal with these kinds of disasters are not really formed, and they won't be formed until there's a formal president elected, and that takes office. For now, they've been floating along.

　　However, I just want to add, in terms of Hurricane Matthew's damage, what's emerging is an ecological disaster. The trees were ripped out in this area, which is the agricultural basket of Haiti, all their agricultural exports — mango, rice, corn, papayas, everything else.

　　And as we know already, Haiti suffers from deforestation, 90 percent of the country. This was possibly the only region that was as rich in soil and in vegetation. So, it's a huge, huge, huge impact economically.

　　BRANGHAM: All right. Journalist Ingrid Arneson, thank you very, very much for being here.

　　ARNESON: Thank you. Pleasure.

1 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。

2 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

3 receding   

v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远，他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
• Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句

4 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

7 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

8 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

9 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

10 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 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。

13 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。