VOA标准英语2008年-Humanitarian Crisis Worsening in Horn of Africa

The top U.N. humanitarian¹ official says that conflict, drought, and the global food crisis are worsening the already dire² situation in the Horn of Africa. This has left millions of people needing emergency food assistance to combat severe food shortages. From U.N. headquarters, intern³ Maha Saad has the story.
　
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes, 10 Jul 2008

U.N. Humanitarian Chief John Holmes says that the long-standing crisis in the Horn of Africa has been made worse by the global food crisis.

"The point is that large areas of the Horn of Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Uganda, and Kenya, are now in or sliding towards a humanitarian emergency," said John Holmes. "And we believe there are something like 14 million people now in urgent need of food aid and other humanitarian assistance in the coming months."

Holmes says drought and rising food and fuel prices have heightened the crisis along with on-going conflicts in many nations, particularly in Somalia.

"There is an intense conflict going on in parts of Somalia," he said. "We calculated something like 850,000 people have been forced to leave Mogadishu over the last year because of the fighting there. So, you have a compounded problem of the ordinary population with an additional population of newly displaced people facing these severe food shortages."

In Ethiopia, Holmes says a severe drought and diseases such as diarrhea, measles⁴, and meningitis, have compounded the humanitarian crisis.

"In Southern Ethiopia, where there is a severe drought, a joint⁵ assessment⁶ by the government and international humanitarian partners reveals that 4.6 million people were now in need of food emergency support," said Holmes. "And as part of those 4.7 million, we believe there is something like 75,000 children severely⁷ malnourished."

Holmes is urging the international community, as well as national governments, to ensure that the necessary resources are available to deal with this crisis and to curb⁸ the effects of malnutrition⁹, including stunted¹⁰ growth and susceptibility to diseases.

　

 

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 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。

3 intern   

v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生

参考例句：

• I worked as an intern in that firm last summer.去年夏天我在那家商行实习。
• The intern bandaged the cut as the nurse looked on.这位实习生在护士的照看下给病人包扎伤口。

4 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

9 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

10 stunted   

adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• the stunted lives of children deprived of education 未受教育的孩子所过的局限生活
• But the landed oligarchy had stunted the country's democratic development for generations. 但是好几代以来土地寡头的统治阻碍了这个国家民主的发展。