英语课程计划-United Nations Day

The 24th of October is United Nations Day. It was on this day in 1945 that the U.N. was created. The day became a holiday in 1971. The U.N. General Assembly decided¹ there needed to be a day to make the work of the U.N. better known around the world. It stated this day "shall be devoted² to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for its work”. Furthermore, the General Assembly suggested that United Nations Day “shall be an international holiday” and recommended that it should become a public holiday in all United Nations member states. The day is now part of United Nations Week, which runs from 20 to 26 October.

The www.un.org website provides a summary of the organization’s history. It is an international organization founded after the Second World War by 51 countries. It was then, and is now, “committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights”. The site says: “The work of the United Nations reaches every corner of the globe.” The U.N. is best known for peacekeeping, conflict prevention and humanitarian³ assistance, but it has many other functions that “affect our lives and make the world a better place”. These include environment protection, clearing landmines⁴, child protection and much, much, much more.

1 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。

2 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

3 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。

4 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。