VOA常速英语2007年-UN Asks for Nearly $4 Billion to Aid Disaster V

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
10 December 2007

The United Nations is launching a $3.8 billion appeal to provide urgent support to 25 million people in humanitarian¹ emergencies in 24 countries. Nine of the 10 countries in the 2008 Humanitarian appeal are in Africa. The tenth is the occupied Palestinian Territory. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva where the appeal was launched.

The United Nations calls 2007 a wretched year for millions of disaster victims. It notes conflict has continued in Somalia, the occupied Palestinian territory, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo among others. Floods, hurricanes and other climate-related disasters have killed many people and destroyed the livelihoods² of millions of others.

Nevertheless, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator³, John Holmes says, timely well-coordinated aid can make a huge difference in individual lives. For example, in 2007, he says aid went to provide safe water and sanitation⁴ to 455,000 displaced people in Somalia.

"To care for 240,000 Sudanese refugees in the harsh and difficult environment of eastern Chad, to provide emergency job creation and cash assistance to 130,000 families rendered more or less destitute⁵ by conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory, and, last but not least, the delivery of food, urgently needed food aid to 2.2 million Zimbabweans," said Holmes.

"In 1993, a brutal⁶ ethnic⁷ conflict broke out in Burundi that would last for 12 years. A tentative ceasefire in 2005 allows the people to begin the process of rebuilding their country and their shattered lives. But, they cannot do it alone," he added.

The narrator of this film says the people of Burundi got the help they needed from the United Nations. As a consequence, he says the consolidated⁸ appeal for Burundi in 2007, was its last. He says the country has moved from emergency aid toward sustainable recovery and development.

Liberian refugee, Akoi Bazzie, describes how international aid saved his life and gave him a future. He says he was 14 years old when civil war broke out in his country. His father was killed and he was separated from his relatives.

"I had nowhere to live for two years and was on the run seeking safety in the jungle, said Bazzie. "On one early morning in 1991 after I had walked along desolate⁹ jungle roads for hours, days, weeks, months, I finally entered the neighboring country of Gunea. I was only 16, and was alone."

Bazzie says he received food, shelter, health care and free education from U.N. and private aid agencies during the eight years he spent in a refugee camp in Guinea. Eventually, he says he received asylum¹⁰ in Britain and now works full time for the British Refugee Council helping¹¹ other refugees rebuild their lives.

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 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

3 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

4 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

5 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

6 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

8 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。

9 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

10 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。