英闻天下——408 UN: Disaster Losses Hit $138 Billion in 2012

 　　The United Nations say global losses from natural disasters in the past year hit 138-billion US dollars.

 

　　It is reported one hundred million people were affected¹ in over three hundred natural disasters in 2012.

 

　　Hurricane Sandy, cold snaps in Europe, and the drought plaguing North America and Africa were the main disasters of the year.

 

　　However, this wasn't the worst compared to recent years.

 

　　"Last year was not, fortuitously, was not a major year for disasters. And that's why you saw a little bit downward trend in some of those statistics, If you look at the ten year average, then the number of death 9330 last year, was lessen² 10 percent the ten year average, but it is still a extremely big figure, to have over 100 million people impacted."

 

　　That was Elizabeth Longworth, the Director of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

 

　　The UN are also saying many developing countries are still short of disaster response measures, and they're suggesting setting up an international network to help reduce losses from natural disasters.

1 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。

2 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。