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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Bangkok
08 May 2008
As hundreds of thousands of cyclone1 victims go without food, water and medicine, Burma's military leaders are refusing to grant access to international disaster teams who want to help them. The official death toll2 is more than 22,000 people. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports from our Southeast Asia Bureau in Bangkok.
Several countries and the United Nations said they have aircraft ready to deliver much-needed food, water, medicines and other relief supplies to those who are stranded3 in the flooded areas of Burma's Irawaddy Delta4 - the rice-growing region that was the scene of the worst devastation5.
Diplomats7 in Burma say the death toll may reach 100,000 people, with as many as a million others left homeless.
Most victims have yet to receive any aid and officials say the full scope of the disaster will not be truly known until disaster teams go in to assess the damage. For now, relief supplies are sitting on airplanes and store houses outside Burma.
A sign of hope emerged earlier Thursday, when it was widely reported Thai officials said Burma agreed to allow a U.S. military C-130 cargo8 airplane to deliver humanitarian9 supplies.
But later in the day, U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Eric John said no such airlift was happening. He said there had been a miscommunication.
"This morning (Thursday) what they had from the Burmese government was permission for us to use the C-130," Ambassador John said. "Since then that decision, I think, has been taken back by the Burmese and they are still - I think I would characterize it as it is still - under study by the Burmese authority. So we do not have permission yet for the C-130 to go in."
Burma's military, which has controlled the country since 1962, has been reluctant to accept assistance for disasters because of suspicions that a foreign presence might be subversive10.
In his remarks to reporters, the U.S. diplomat6 presented members of an American disaster assistance response team, waiting in Bangkok for visas to go into Burma to start helping11 people. The envoy12 says the Burmese generals have nothing to fear.
"I just want to kind of demystify this, maybe not for you all, but at least if the Burmese leadership can see," Ambassador John said. "These are the people (who) we want to send in. These are humanitarian workers. They are ready to go in to help. They are not going in to overthrow13 the government. They are not going in to spy. They have specific skills for immediately responding to disasters."
Humanitarian workers from several countries lined up at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok to present applications for visas. The majority of them were turned away.
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1
cyclone
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n.旋风,龙卷风 | |
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2
toll
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n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟) | |
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3
stranded
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a.搁浅的,进退两难的 | |
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4
delta
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n.(流的)角洲 | |
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5
devastation
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n.毁坏;荒废;极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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6
diplomat
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n.外交官,外交家;能交际的人,圆滑的人 | |
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7
diplomats
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n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 );有手腕的人,善于交际的人 | |
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8
cargo
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n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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9
humanitarian
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n.人道主义者,博爱者,基督凡人论者 | |
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10
subversive
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adj.颠覆性的,破坏性的;n.破坏份子,危险份子 | |
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11
helping
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n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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12
envoy
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n.使节,使者,代表,公使 | |
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13
overthrow
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v.推翻,打倒,颠覆;n.推翻,瓦解,颠覆 | |
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