VOA标准英语2010年-At Least 36 UN Personnel Confirmed Dea

The U.N. Secretary General says the facts are "grim" in Haiti, after a 7.0 earthquake rocked the Caribbean nation Tuesday.  Ban Ki-moon warned that the overall death toll¹ could be very high. Among the scores of dead, at least 36 U.N. military and civilian² staff. But that figure could rise dramatically, as some 150 personnel are still unaccounted for nearly 48 hours after the quake.

Mr. Ban told reporters that the overall picture on the ground in Haiti still remains³ "sketchy⁴".

He said the first 72 hours are critical in saving survivors⁵, and he is still holding out hope for both Haitians and U.N. personnel trapped beneath the rubble⁶.

United Nations Stabilization⁷ Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) peacekeepers load an injured employee of Port-au-Prince's now-collapsed Hotel Montana onto a helicopter after a potent⁸ earthquake rocked the Haitian capital, 13 Jan 2010

Some 150 U.N. personnel with the U.N. Stabilization Mission, known as MINUSTAH, are still missing. But all hope is not gone. Overnight, Tarmo Joveer, an Estonian bodyguard,  was pulled alive from the wreckage⁹ of the mission's 5-story concrete headquarters.

"He was extracted from approximately four meters down the rubble," said the U.N. chief. "It was a small, small miracle during the night which brought few other miracles. We will continue to work, to search and rescue as quickly as possible."

Mr. Ban said the needs in Haiti are huge and immediate¹⁰ - above all medical supplies, food, water, tents, shovels¹¹ and heavy equipment.

That appeal was echoed during a video conference with the U.N. mission in Haiti. Officials Kim Bolduc and David Wimhurst described the scene in Port-au-Prince immediately after the quake and now.

"Many bodies along the streets, a lot of injured people, just lying around, houses are destroyed and very new and large buildings totally collapsed," said Bolduc. "Now at night, Port-au-Prince doesn't have electricity - it looks like a ghost town. The situation is very dire¹², because all the survivors are sleeping out in the streets."

She said people are in a state of shock, waiting for something to happen and still fearing aftershocks.

David Wimhurst said tensions are rising among the population.

"The people have lost everything, it's hopeless. It's a hopeless situation for them," he said. "They expect us to provide them with help, which is of course, what we want to do. But we are not in a situation yet where we can do that on a massive scale and unfortunately, they are slowly getting more angry I think and impatient."

The U.N. is helping¹³ to coordinate¹⁴ what is becoming a massive international relief effort. Search and rescue teams have arrived from several countries and more are on the way, and the United States has embarked¹⁵ on a massive relief operation.  Donors¹⁶ are also making financial and aid contributions to the humanitarian¹⁷ effort.  The U.N. is expected to launch a formal appeal Friday to fund those emergency needs.

 

1 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。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 sketchy   

adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的

参考例句：

• The material he supplied is too sketchy.他提供的材料过于简略。
• Details of what actually happened are still sketchy.对于已发生事实的详细情况知道的仍然有限。

5 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

6 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。

7 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

8 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

9 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

10 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。

11 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

12 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。

13 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。

14 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

15 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

16 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》

17 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。