2006年VOA标准英语-Relief Agencies Struggle with Aid Distribution

By Challiss McDonough
Tyre, Lebanon
02 August 2006

Shipments of humanitarian¹ aid are reaching the south Lebanese port city of Tyre, but aid agencies say they are still having trouble getting the relief supplies to areas where they are most needed. 

----------

Lebanese port workers unload humanitarian aid from Red Cross, from a ship in southern port city of Tyre, August 2, 2006   
  
A large Red Cross ship is unloading pallets of relief supplies at the port in Tyre. The group hopes it will help alleviate² a growing humanitarian crisis in the south.

For the first two weeks of the Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah militants³, aid shipments like this one could not get to Tyre. Now, the Red Cross and the United Nations are able to get supplies here by ship and by road, but aid agencies are still having trouble moving the aid to the surrounding villages, to the people who need it most urgently.

Even when the airstrikes were stopped for two days, each road convoy⁴ needed Israeli military permission to move or it risked becoming a target. Now, with the aerial bombardment started up again and the ground campaign intensifying⁵, getting help to people is likely to become even more difficult.

  
Turkish navy sailors unload medical supplies from Turkish TCG Bafra navy vessel⁶, that docked at the seaport⁷ in Beirut, July 29, 2006 
  
The World Food Program says it now has permission to send two tanker⁸ ships full of badly needed fuel to Beirut and the northern port at Tripoli. 

Some Lebanese people say despite the good intentions of the international community, humanitarian aid is not what the country needs most. Tyre resident Jamal Halaby shook his head as he watched the shipment unloaded at the port.

"He is telling us that 'All this relief, all this food aid and blankets - it's summertime! We do not need blankets! We do not need their food," he said. "They can take all this back. What we want is an immediate⁹ cease-fire. This is what will help. This [the aid] does not help.'"

Lebanese soldier hammers a nail into coffin¹⁰ of a person killed in Israeli forces' bombardment in Tyre, August 2, 2006  
  
The reason for his cynicism is on display across town, where civil defense¹¹ officers and the Lebanese army are placing still more bodies in rough-hewn wooden coffins¹² for temporary burial in the city's third mass grave.

Wearing latex gloves and surgical¹³ masks to ward¹⁴ off the stench of rotting flesh, the men lift the corpses¹⁶ by the plastic sheets they are wrapped in, and heave them into the long wooden boxes before nailing the lids in place.

But the last corpse¹⁵ proves to be a problem. The body has been sitting in the heat for so long that it has swollen¹⁷ up too big to fit into any of the hurriedly-made coffins. A bloody¹⁸ piece of white cloth covers the dead man's face as the soldiers debate what to do about it.

Three weeks after the conflict erupted, the death toll¹⁹ in Lebanon is known to be at least 540. The real casualty figure is thought to be much higher, since many bodies are believed to be trapped underneath²⁰ the rubble²¹ of ruined buildings. It will take bulldozers or other heavy machinery²² to dig them out.  

  
Israeli soldiers stand next to land mines as they prepare to cross the border into Lebanon in northern Israel, Wednesday August 2, 2006 
  
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the military offensive will continue until  Hezbollah's infrastructure²³ has been "wiped out."

With Israel widening its ground offensive, and with aerial bombardment resumed, Hezbollah vows²⁴ to keep fighting. It has continued to launch rockets into northern Israel, including what the group claims is a new type of rocket with a range of up to 70 kilometers.

The public relations chief for the State Department-designated terrorist organization, Sheik Ahmed Mourad, evaded²⁵ reporters' questions about how many Hezbollah fighters there are in the south fighting the Israeli invasion.

"This issue only the leaders of the resistance know," said Mourad.

The group is extremely sensitive about discussing its own casualty figures or arsenal²⁶. Sheik Mourad would say only that everywhere Israeli troops have crossed the border, they have met with resistance from Hezbollah.

"Even the Israelis say, 'We are fighting ghosts,'" he said.

Hopes for an internationally-mediated ceasefire are fading here, at least in the short term.

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 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

3 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

4 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

5 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

6 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

7 seaport   

n.海港，港口，港市

参考例句：

• Ostend is the most important seaport in Belgium.奥斯坦德是比利时最重要的海港。
• A seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal.轮船能够补充煤炭的海港。

8 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

9 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

10 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

11 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

12 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

13 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

14 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

15 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

16 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

17 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

18 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

19 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

20 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

21 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

22 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

23 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

24 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

25 evaded   

逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出

参考例句：

• For two weeks they evaded the press. 他们有两周一直避而不见记者。
• The lion evaded the hunter. 那狮子躲开了猎人。

26 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。