VOA标准英语2009年-US-Funded Emergency Medical Services Launched i

Sri Lanka's war has devastated¹ much of the country's north. As the conflict appears to be winding² down, projects for reconstruction³ and development are gearing up. And that includes services like emergency medical care.

An ambulance service and a 24-hour hot line for life-threatening emergencies were recently launched in Sri Lanka's Jaffna District, seen as the heartland of the country's ethnic⁴ Tamil population.

The first 110 call came within 24 hours of opening the hot line. A teenage student had injured his leg playing cricket and one of his teachers, who happened to be a member of the program's community health training, called the hot line and provided first aid until an ambulance arrived. The ambulance and paramedics was there within three minutes, and they transferred the patient to a nearby hospital for X-rays.

Services like these have been available for years in Sri Lanka's larger cities like Colombo, Kandy and Galle. Why were they so slow in coming to big population centers like Jaffna?

"Jaffna like the rest of northern Sri Lanka - also eastern Sri Lanka - has traditionally lagged behind the rest of the country in terms of economic development. The same is true of its health services," says James Moore, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka. "In addition, in the case of Jaffna, the Jaffna Peninsula has been cut off for several years from the rest of the country as a result of the conflict."
　
Sri Lankan troops move into action at Elephant Pass, the isthmus⁵ that connects the northern Jaffna peninsula to the rest of the country, 24 Jan 2009

The new services are part of a much wider effort by the United States and other countries to help rebuild parts of the country's north crippled by 25 years of conflict between Sri Lankan troops and rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which has been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the north.

Sri Lanka's neighbor, India, also has offered to help rebuild and develop much of the north.

Donnie Woodyard is head of the Medical Teams International, a U.S.-based medical aid group that is helping⁶ spearhead emergency health services in Jaffna.

"The equipment was pretty much lacking," said Woodyard. "So you had ambulances without essential equipment. And you had personnel. And so we took the ambulances and the personnel and we started out by training the people. And with the USAID grant we were able to get - and meet the gap for - equipment: the blood-pressure cuffs⁷, oxygen, bandages and spinal⁸ boards. We were able to get that and equip the ambulances to meet [World Health Organization] standards."

He says at least 33 ambulances are being upgraded with medical supplies. He says more than 100 people are being trained as paramedics, and about 12,500 people in the community are being trained in basic first aid to treat anything from broken bones to snake bites.

Much of the funding for the program comes from the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, the foreign aid arm of the U.S. government, which contributed about $200,000. The rest came from American donors⁹ and the World Health Organization, or WHO, the U.N.'s agency for health.

The U.S. is one of Sri Lanka's biggest donors of humanitarian¹⁰ and developmental aid.

Meanwhile, as reconstruction efforts get under way in Jaffna, fighting continues in the northeast as Tamil Tiger fighters struggle to hold on to an ever-shrinking sliver¹¹ of territory.

The Human Rights Watch released a report Friday saying that about 2,000 civilians¹² have been killed in recent fighting, and another 5,000 injured. The human rights group called on Sri Lanka's government and the LTTE to stop attacking civilians.

As many as 200,000 civilians remain trapped by the fighting, aid groups say, a number the Sri Lankan government says is exaggerated.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

3 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。

4 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。

5 isthmus   

n.地峡

参考例句：

• North America is connected with South America by the Isthmus of Panama.巴拿马海峡把北美同南美连接起来。
• The north and south of the island are linked by a narrow isthmus.岛的北部和南部由一条狭窄的地峡相连。

6 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。

7 cuffs   

n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• a collar and cuffs of white lace 带白色蕾丝花边的衣领和袖口
• The cuffs of his shirt were fraying. 他衬衣的袖口磨破了。

8 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

9 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》

10 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。

11 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。

12 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。