VOA慢速英语 2007 0903a

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

We talked last week about Mercy Corps¹, a nonprofit group that provides emergency services after disasters. Another organization involved in this kind of work is Catholic Relief Services, based in Baltimore, Maryland.

This is the official international relief and development agency of the United States Catholic community. It was started in nineteen forty-three. Today it operates in ninety-eight countries.

Catholic Relief Services has a budget for this year of around six hundred million dollars. CRS gets a lot of its money from the United States government but also from individuals and other donors³. 

The American Institute of Philanthropy rates it among the top American groups for international relief and development work. CRS gets a rating of A-plus. (Mercy Corps gets an A, also a top rating.)

Catholic Relief Services is a faith-based organization but says it employs and helps people of all religions. 

In addition to providing aid after disasters, CRS is training people to prepare before a disaster strikes. It provides emergency preparedness training around the world. Cassie Dummett is the technical adviser⁴ for South Asia.

She tells us from New Delhi that some of the most successful programs are in parts of central and eastern India. She says the first step is to help communities think about an emergency and identify how best to prepare. These include natural disasters that happen year after year, like seasonal⁵ floods, ocean storms, drought or landslides⁶.

Committees are formed. An early warning committee, for example, would listen to weather reports or watch river levels. This committee would decide when people should move to safer ground.

Another committee might be responsible for rescue efforts and medical assistance. A third committee might supervise food and water supplies, or the movement of farm animals to safety.

Other groups such as Oxfam and CARE also do emergency preparedness training. Cassie Dummett says interest in this kind of humanitarian⁷ work has grown in the last several years. She says donor² organizations are starting to recognize the value of training people to be prepared.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss⁸. You can learn more about the work of international development groups by going to voaspecialenglish.com. Click on the program link for our reports. I’m Steve Ember.

1 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

3 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

6 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

7 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。

8 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。