2006年VOA标准英语-UN Official Warns Relief Efforts Could Col

By Purnell Murdock
Washington
21 April 2006

The top U.N. humanitarian¹ official says the relief effort in Sudan's Darfur region is on the verge² of collapse³ because of a lack of funds and government restrictions⁴ on aid workers.

-------------------------------------------------

Women at Abu Shook camp in Darfur, pray to Allah  
  

In a dire⁵ message to the U.N. Security Council Thursday, Jan Egeland, the United Nations Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs, said more than 200,000 people who need food to survive are not getting it, and some 650,000 people are beyond the reach of aid workers.

Egeland said relief efforts in many areas of Sudan will collapse within a matter of weeks because of violence, intimidation⁶ and a lack of money.

"The way it is now it can not continue," he said. "We need security, which we do not have. We need a government that enables us to work and does not create obstacles to our work. We need a guerrilla (force) that does not specialize in hijacking⁷ relief trucks and fighting each other and displacing new people, which has happened in the past few weeks. And we need funding."
 

Jan Egeland  (file photo)   
  
Egeland said that just 20 percent of relief work in Darfur has been funded this year. He said Britain is the only nation that has increased its share of funding over last year. When asked why international support had fallen, the U.N. humanitarian chief said some donors⁸ may lack the willingness to sustain long-term commitment to such efforts.

"Maybe this world in 2006 is only able to run sprints⁹ and no marathon. Because this is a marathon," he stressed. " In 2005 we had more diplomatic support than we've had so far in 2006, and more funding. We've had more pressure on the parties than we've had this year."

Earlier this month, Sudan's government refused to let Egeland visit Darfur. Egeland said at the time he suspected the government did not want him to see what was happening there.

Three years of fighting in Darfur between rebels, government forces and Khartoum-backed Janjaweed militias¹⁰ has claimed an estimated 180,000 lives and left another two million homeless.

1 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。

2 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

6 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

7 hijacking   

n. 劫持, 抢劫 动词hijack的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• I have been told about the hijacking . 我已听说了那次劫机事件。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• They are taking measures to guarantee against the occurrence of hijacking. 他们正采取措施防止劫机事件的发生。

8 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》

9 sprints   

n.短距离的全速奔跑( sprint的名词复数 )v.短距离疾跑( sprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• You can run sprints only so long before you're out of breath. 你死命地跑，只能跑那么一段时间，到了喘不上气的时候，只好停下来。 来自辞典例句
• The cheetah finds the open grasslands ideal footing for its lightning-quick sprints. 非洲猎豹把开阔的草原作为它们闪电猎食的理想处所。 来自互联网

10 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网