VOA标准英语10月-UN Appeals to Taliban to Allow Afghan Food Aid

The United Nations chief in Afghanistan is making an appeal to the Taliban not to disrupt food aid heading to hungry Afghans. The representative of the world body on Monday also lashed¹ out at the increasing number of pessimistic voices predicting that the seven-year-old international military and humanitarian² campaign in the country is doomed⁴ to failure. VOA Correspondent Steve Herman in Kabul has details.

With millions of Afghans expected to confront hunger this coming winter, the United Nations' top representative in Kabul is calling for food aid from the international community not to be impeded⁵ by the Taliban.
　 COLLAPSE¹²: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="15%" align="left" border="0">

Kai Eide, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General to Afghanistan

Kai Eide, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General to Afghanistan, says insurgents⁶ in the country should understand the food shipments are purely⁷ humanitarian, not a political effort "to win hearts and minds."

"I will take this opportunity to appeal to the Taliban and to the appeal to its leaders to ensure access for food distribution," he said. "There are disagreements on so many things but let us demonstrate that we can share this humanitarian agenda."

Drought and a poor harvest have led some international experts to warn of a possible humanitarian disaster. Estimates of the number of Afghans facing an acute shortage of food in the months ahead go as high as nine million - one-quarter of the population.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday issued a warning that 200,000 people in northern Afghanistan this winter could be forced to leave their homes in the face of drought, insecurity and rising food prices.

Afghans already confront a worsening security situation, partly due to a resurgent Taliban. And there are complaints that corruption⁸ within the government is seriously impeding⁹ reconstruction¹⁰ of the war-torn country. All this despite a seven-year-old military and humanitarian effort, with tens of billions of dollars pledged to rebuild Afghanistan.

In recent weeks, diplomats¹¹, generals and other prominent voices in the international community have issued increasingly pessimistic statements about the country's fate. Some predict failure to defeat the Taliban militarily and worry openly about the collapse of democracy.

The U.N. chief representative here, clearly exasperated¹³, told reporters in the capital he is "sick and tired" of hearing such negative comments.

"I address those particularly in the international community who've almost made it a hobby to be pessimistic and to talk in terms of gloom and doom³. I think that is incorrect and is dangerous with regard to our ability to move forward." he added.

But Eide agreed with those contending that the insurgents cannot be defeated solely¹⁴ by force. Asked to comment on President Hamid Karzai's hopes for a Saudi-brokered attempt to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, the U.N. official said there must be political engagement with relevant parties - a clear reference to the resurgent Taliban.

1 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

4 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

5 impeded   

阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Work on the building was impeded by severe weather. 楼房的施工因天气恶劣而停了下来。
• He was impeded in his work. 他的工作受阻。

6 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

9 impeding   

a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的

参考例句：

• Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers. 坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
• Is there sufficient room for the kiosk and kiosk traffic without impeding other user traffic? 该环境下是否有足够的空间来摆放信息亭？信息亭是否会妨碍交通或者行走？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

11 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 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。

13 exasperated   

adj.恼怒的

参考例句：

• We were exasperated at his ill behaviour. 我们对他的恶劣行为感到非常恼怒。
• Constant interruption of his work exasperated him. 对他工作不断的干扰使他恼怒。

14 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。