VOA标准英语2010年-Looting Continues in Haiti as Resident

U.S. troops patrolled the streets of Port-au-Prince on Monday in an attempt to drive away looters who were breaking into shops and buildings to grab whatever they could find. Some people have begun fleeing the capital for the countryside in search of food and better shelter.

At times on Monday, Haitian police fired shots into the air to disperse¹ large roving bands of scavenging looters as they swarmed² across the capital.

Nearly a week has passed since Haiti was rocked by last Tuesday's massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake, in which 200,000 people are believed to have been killed.  Delays in the delivery of supplies to hundreds of thousands desperate for aid is stoking unrest.

Transportation bottlenecks³, bureaucratic⁴ confusion, fear of attacks on aid convoys⁵ and the collapse⁶ of local authority is also making it difficult for help to reach quake victims.

On Monday, hundreds of people lined up outside the American and Canadian embassies in hopes of getting a visa to leave the country.

Others struggled to board buses and leave the capital.

Livena Livel, a 22-year-old mother was heading out of town to her father's home - a four-hour drive from Port-au-Prince.

Livel says that she and her one-year-old daughter, along with six other relatives, have scraped together their last money to pay for the trip.

The $8 one-way ticket, amounts to about three days income for most Haitians.

The U.S. military sent more troops to Haiti on Monday to help with security and the distribution of food and water.

General Ken⁷ Keen, who is commanding U.S. military relief operations in Haiti, says logistical obstacles to aid delivery are being overcome.

"Every day, we increase our capabilities⁸ to reach out [to Haitians in need]," he said.

U.S. helicopters are at work in Haiti, ferrying food and water to distribution points in and around the devastated⁹ capital, where three-million people struggle to survive.

General Keen says U.S. troops are working to assume more responsibility for aid distribution, which will allow U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti to focus on security concerns.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the Security Council to boost the U.N. stabilization¹⁰ mission in Haiti by 3,500 troops and police officers, who would join 9,000 security personnel already there.

Alain Le Roy, the U.N.'s peacekeeping chief - Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations - says that it is important that aid convoys reach those in need quickly.

"Of course there are incidents here and there, sporadic¹¹ incidents here and there, mostly due to frustration¹² for not getting food and water quickly enough," he said.  "And, it's very important that the humanitarian¹³ convoys can reach very rapidly the people otherwise we will have security problems."

World leaders have promised massive amounts of assistance to rebuild the capital and international aid pledges for Haiti continue to grow.

The European Union offered more than $500 million in assistance and hundreds of millions more have been pledged by the United States and other nations.

Last week's earthquake damaged Port-au-Prince's airport and seaport¹⁴.  U.S. military officials say a rescue and salvage¹⁵ vessel¹⁶ arrived Monday that will be used to send down divers¹⁷ to assess what may be blocking channels in the port as well as possible places to unload cargo¹⁸.

1 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

2 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

3 bottlenecks   

n.瓶颈( bottleneck的名词复数 )；瓶颈路段（常引起交通堵塞）；（尤指工商业发展的）瓶颈；阻碍

参考例句：

• Roadworks are causing bottlenecks in the city centre. 道路施工导致市中心交通阻塞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At five o'clock in the afternoon the city streets are a series of bottlenecks. 下午五点市中心的街道就成了拥挤不堪的窄路。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

5 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

6 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。

7 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

8 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 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。

10 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。

11 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

12 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

13 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。

14 seaport   

n.海港，港口，港市

参考例句：

• Ostend is the most important seaport in Belgium.奥斯坦德是比利时最重要的海港。
• A seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal.轮船能够补充煤炭的海港。

15 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

16 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

17 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

18 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。