VOA常速英语2015--汇款业务中断导致索马里移民担心老家亲人

Disruption in Sending Cash Home Distresses¹ Somali Immigrants 汇款业务中断导致索马里移民担心老家亲人

Once a month for years, Ahmed Ahmed has been going to Dahabshil, a money service agency catering² to the Somali community outside Washington.  The taxi driver has sent $200 every month to his family of eight left behind at home — until recently.

艾哈迈德·阿赫迈德多年来每个月都会前往达哈比什尔，这家金融服务机构专门面向华盛顿外的索马里社区。出租车司机的阿赫迈德每个月要向老家的8名亲属汇去200美元。可这一次他无法达成所愿。

The service has been stopped, leaving Ahmed very worried.

“Forget the medicine or anything else," he said. "The priority is food.  If they don’t get the money, they don’t have food.  They don’t have any jobs.”

“忘了药品和其他的，当务之急是食品问题。如果他们拿不到钱，就没的吃。他们没有任何工作。”

After years of civil war and anarchy³, there is no formal banking⁴ system in Somalia, so families overseas rely on informal money transfer networks known as hawalas to deliver cash to their needy⁵ relatives.

多年的内战和无政府状态后，索马里并没有正规的银行系统，因此身在海外的家庭依靠名为“哈瓦拉斯”的非正式货币转移系统为急需的亲属汇款。

Merchants Bank of California was the last U.S. bank to handle wire transfers to Somalia. In early February, the bank announced that it would shut the service down. The reason most likely pertains⁶ to the U.S. fight to stop the flow of money that helps fund extremist groups in the region, such as al-Shabab.

加利福尼亚招商银行曾是最后一家处理索马里电汇业务的美国银行。2月初他们宣布这项业务停止营业。原因可能与美国政府努力遏制资金流向当地青年党等极端组织的举措有关。

Census⁷ data show that 80,000 Somali immigrants live in the U.S.  A majority of them send money to their families in their impoverished⁸ homeland.

人口普查数据显示有80，000名索马里移民生活在美国。而且绝大多数人都向贫困老家的亲戚们汇款。

Osman Yusuf, manager of the Dahabshil money transfer agency, said the customers send about $200 to $300 on average. "We also have a lot of people who send $20, $30, $50," he said.

达哈比什尔金融服务机构经理奥萨曼·尤瑟夫称大约平均是200至300美元。还有很多人汇20、30和50美元。”

In all, more than $215 million in U.S. remittances¹⁰ went to Somalia last year. Now, without cash transfers, Somali community leaders worry about the future for Somalia's chlidren.

去年从美国汇往索马里的款项总共达215,000,000美元。而现今随着无法汇款，索马里社区领袖对自己国家孩子们的未来感到忧心忡忡。

Farah Mohamed, a Somali community leader, and his group have been building a school with donations from Somali immigrants. "The school will definitely stop," he said. "There is no way we can build a school or we can do anything.  There are a huge number of Somali kids that are just growing up.  Unless they get the right education, right assistance, we don't know what their life will be."

法拉·穆罕默德和他的组织一直凭借索马里移民的捐款修建一所学校。“学校进程肯定会搁置。我们没有别的方法建校而且无能为力。索马里有很多孩子正在成长，如果没有适当的教育和帮助，我们不知道他们长大以后会如何。”

Some lawmakers and aid groups have raised concerns about the humanitarian¹¹ consequences and have called for an emergency plan.

一些议员和救援组织已经提出人道后果问题并呼吁制定紧急方案。

Scott Paul, a senior adviser¹² at international aid group Oxfam America, noted¹³ that "there are communities of Somali refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya that have no other way of supporting themselves.  If these companies [money transfer agencies] close down, those refugee camps and refugee communities are going to be in severely¹⁴ dire¹⁵ straits, maybe even worse off than people in Somalia.”

国际救援组织乐施会美国分会高级顾问斯科特·保罗说道:“也许最为重要的是在埃塞俄比亚和肯尼亚的索马里难民社区无法帮助到这些人。如果这些汇款公司中断汇款，这些难民营和难民社区的境况就会更为严峻，也许比索马里境内的那些人还要糟糕。”

Congressman¹⁶ Keith Ellison, a Democrat¹⁷ from Minnesota, also said a disruption in remittances would cause greater security risks.

代表明尼苏达州的国会议员基斯·艾利森也表示中断汇款可能反而带来更大的安全风险。

“When you know that al-Shabab and other recruiters will offer a young man a gun, a wife and a few bucks¹⁸, it becomes clear how critical it is," he said. "We must fix this remittance⁹ problem.”

“如果你明白青年党和其他组织会为一个年轻人提供枪支，妻子，还有点钱。显然问题就会更严重。我们必须解决汇款问题。”

The U.S. Treasury¹⁹ Department says officials recognize the importance that remittances play in Somalia and are working across the government to consider different options to address the issue.

美国财政部表示官员们已经认识到汇款对索马里的重要性，因此政府各部门正在通力合作考虑以不同的方案来解决这个难题。

But no solution has yet emerged. Somali immigrants are in fear for their loved ones.

不过解决方案仍未出台。索马里移民们仍旧担心自己的亲人。

“Really, really, I am worried about I cannot send money back home," Ahmed said. "I don’t know what do.”

“真的、真的，我担心不能把钱寄回老家。我不知道该怎么办。”

1 distresses   

n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险

参考例句：

• It was from these distresses that the peasant wars of the fourteenth century sprang. 正是由于这些灾难才爆发了十四世纪的农民战争。 来自辞典例句
• In all dangers and distresses, I will remember that. 在一切危险和苦难中，我要记住这一件事。 来自互联网

2 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

3 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

4 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

5 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

6 pertains   

关于( pertain的第三人称单数 )； 有关； 存在； 适用

参考例句：

• When one manages upward, none of these clear and unambiguous symbols pertains. 当一个人由下而上地管理时，这些明确无误的信号就全都不复存在了。
• Her conduct hardly pertains to a lady. 她的行为与女士身份不太相符。

7 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

8 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 remittance   

n.汇款，寄款，汇兑

参考例句：

• Your last month's salary will be paid by remittance.最后一个月的薪水将通过汇寄的方式付给你。
• A prompt remittance would be appreciated.速寄汇款不胜感激。

10 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网

11 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。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

14 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。

15 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。

16 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

17 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

18 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。