VOA标准英语2011--Landmine Report: Record Clearance and Funding

Landmine¹ Report: Record Clearance² and Funding

 

The latest report on landmines³ has both good and bad news. It says governments have provided a record level of funding to remove the weapons. But at the same time the use of antipersonnel mines has increased.

Landmine Monitor 2011 shows funding for mine clearance reached an all-time high last year.

“It’s very good news, particularly with the state of the global economy. We were quite surprised and pleased to record in 2010 the highest level of funding for mine action. And that total is $637 million. So it’s a slight increase from last year, but given the state of the economy it feels just amazing and really shows governments’ commitment to this issue,” said Jacqueline Hansen, the Monitor’s program manager.

More than 30 donors⁴ supported landmine clearing operations.

“The top five donors are the United States, the European Commission, Japan, Norway and Canada. And they collectively provide over half of all funding,” she said.

Centimeter by centimeter

Woman enters forest area in Orientale Province in the DRC. The path has been cleared of landmines.

About 200 square kilometers of land were cleared of landmines in 2010. That’s the most ever for a single year.

Hansen said, “Two hundred square kilometers, it’s about five times the size of Paris. It may not sound like a lot for a global total, but when you’re imagining people lying on their bellies⁵ on the ground prodding⁶ every centimeter looking for mines, suddenly 200 square kilometers sounds awfully⁷ big.”

Nearly 390,000 antipersonnel mines and 27,000 anti-vehicle mines were destroyed in 2010.

Mine clearance is taking place in about 45 countries. The biggest operations are in Afghanistan and Cambodia. But while landmines are being removed, Hansen said more are being buried.

“This year we’ve seen an increase in government use of antipersonnel mines. We’ve seen new use in Libya. New use in the past couple months in Israel. Ongoing⁸ use in Myanmar. And we have very serious allegations since our report went to print of use in Syria,” she said.

Losing legs, arms, lives

The landmine report, released in Bangkok, Thailand, said thousands were killed or injured in 2010.

“We’ve recorded 4,191new casualties in 2010. But we know that number’s not correct because there’s underreporting in a lot of different countries. Especially in the middle of conflict zones, it’s just difficult to get accurate data. So probably the real number is probably upwards⁹ of 6,000. But when we look at what that means in the big picture, it means we have hundreds of thousands of survivors¹⁰. And that total keeps growing year after year and these people need assistance for the rest of their lives,” Hansen said.

The Landmine Monitor keeps track of who’s producing the weapons.

“There are 12 countries that we list as producers of antipersonnel mines, largely because they reserve the right to produce mines. But in terms of mines actually coming off the production lines right now, we believe that there [are] only three countries actively¹¹ producing – Myanmar/Burma, India and Pakistan,” she said.

Since the international landmine treaty was signed in 1997, 158 countries have become parties to it. The Obama administration, like previous U.S. administrations, has not signed. Despite that, the U.S. does comply with many of its provisions. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines says the United States has not used antipersonnel mines since 1991 and has not exported them since 1992.

1 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

2 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

3 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

4 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》

5 bellies   

n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童

6 prodding   

v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
• The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

10 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

11 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。