VOA标准英语2013--Philippine-Americans Help Typhoon Victims

 

Philippine-Americans Help Typhoon Victims 

LOS ANGELES — 

Philippine-Americans around the United States are collecting disaster relief for victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which has displaced more than 650,000 people in the Philippines.  In Southern California, home to the largest Philippine-American community, the response has been particularly strong.

Typhoon Haiyan devastated¹ the Philippines' coastal² city of Tacloban on Friday. As the U.S. military and international aid groups struggle to move supplies, Methodist Pastor³ Nestor Gerente of Grace United Methodist Church in Long Beach, California, collects online donations from Philippine-Americans. 

He has relatives in hard-hit Samar province.

“I don't really get any information. That's why it's so frustrating⁴, and it's a little bit torturing for me because not knowing is worse than knowing," said Gerente.

Gerente's church houses the Filipino Migrant Center, an immigrant advocacy group. It has now turned its efforts to disaster relief.

At the Filipino Christian⁵ Church in Los Angeles, Pastor Einstein Cabalteja is collecting household goods that will be sold to raise money for victims. He says some have lost everything.

“What they really need is very basic needs - water, food and shelter,” said Cabalteja.

As relief workers try to assess the extent of the destruction, Philippine-Americans worry about the future.

“I am more concerned about rebuilding, the rebuilding efforts, because it's going to take years for these communities to rise again from the rubblem” said Cabalteja.

Food, medicine donations

Efforts among Filipino-Americans to assist with typhoon relief extended across the country.

In San Francisco, the West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, a nonprofit that serves underprivileged Filipino youth, stayed open overnight on Sunday to accept donations of food and medicine for victims of the typhoon.

The center collected about 700 pounds of canned foods and medical supplies, said executive director Rudy Asercion, a third generation Filipino-American.

Asercion said the supplies would be shipped this week to Cebu, where Catholic church-affiliated volunteers would distribute them to typhoon victims in hard-hit places like the city of Tacloban.

Maria Hellen Barber De La Vega, consul⁶ general for the Philippines in Los Angeles, said that church and volunteer-based relief efforts in southern California were well under way, including $10,000 raised over the weekend in part by a 5 kilometer fundraising walk on Sunday.

But she said the needs in the affected⁷ areas of central Philippines were nearly overwhelming.

“Right now we need medicines for cold and fever, food and water, but we really need treatment for bones. Many were caught in trees and hurt by flying debris,” she said. “The problem is access.”

Efforts to help extended beyond the Filipino expatriate community.

At the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops⁹ assembly in Baltimore on Monday, Bishop⁸ Gerald Kicanas, chairman of the board of directors of U.S-based Catholic Relief Services, urged his colleagues to take up a “second collection” from churches for relief efforts in the Philippines and Vietnam.

“We hope you can send those collections as soon as possible because the crisis is so imminent¹⁰.”

Also speaking at the assembly, CRS President Carolyn Woo said her group had pledged $20 million in typhoon aid that it has not yet raised.

“It's important for people to be buying supplies,” she said, adding that her group hoped to help 100,000 affected families.

Philippines Airlines (PAL) also lent a hand, saying in a statement that it was offering space on its planes to ship certain aid supplies to the country free of charge.

Some information in this report was contributed by Reuters.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

3 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

4 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 consul   

n.领事；执政官

参考例句：

• A consul's duty is to help his own nationals.领事的职责是帮助自己的同胞。
• He'll hold the post of consul general for the United States at Shanghai.他将就任美国驻上海总领事(的职务)。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

9 bishops   

（基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象

参考例句：

• Each player has two bishops at the start of the game. 棋赛开始时，每名棋手有两只象。
• "Only sheriffs and bishops and rich people and kings, and such like. “他劫富济贫，抢的都是郡长、主教、国王之类的富人。

10 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。