美国国家公共电台 NPR--Some 19,000 people in Haiti are facing catastrophic levels of hunger

Some 19,000 people in Haiti are facing catastrophic levels of hunger

Transcript¹

Haiti is now in the sixth week of a fuel blockade by armed gangs in the capital Port-au-Prince. It means that escalating² hunger, along with a cholera³ crisis, is getting more dire⁴ by the day.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Haiti is now in the sixth week of a fuel blockade by armed gangs in the capital of Port-au-Prince. That's making a hunger crisis in the country more dire by the day.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Yeah. The Haitian Health Ministry⁵ says the number of suspected cases of cholera has nearly doubled in the past few days and is now close to 2,000.

FADEL: NPR's Eyder Peralta is in Port-au-Prince, and he joins us now.

Good morning, Eyder.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE⁶: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So I understand you spoke⁷ to officials from the World Food Program there in Haiti. What are they saying?

PERALTA: I spoke to Jean-Martin Bauer, the country director for the WFP, and he paints a dire picture. He says that in some areas that are currently under gang control, some mothers are heating up water with salt for dinner. That's all they have. A study that the WFP did found that 19,000 people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. And that's a technical designation - the worst level of hunger before a famine is declared. And that is the first time it has happened in Haiti or in the Americas.

I pushed Bauer, telling him that if this is such an extraordinary situation, then why have we seen so little presence of the WFP in Port-au-Prince? And he said that they're doing their best. Let's listen.

JEAN-MARTIN BAUER: Yes, we need to do more, but will be very hard for us to do more when armed groups hold the fuel port and the roads of the borders are controlled by armed groups. When my staff can't come to the office because they're being threatened of being attacked or raped⁸ or burned, there's only so much that can be done in this kind of environment. So we're doing our best. And we're hoping that we'll have the opportunity to support the Haitian population in security and dignity.

FADEL: So it's not safe for a lot of people to try to help. I know the U.S. and Canada sent two big planeloads of security equipment to the Haitian police earlier this month. Has that changed anything?

PERALTA: The armored vehicles that were sent haven't made it out to the streets. So not much has changed. When we're in downtown Port-au-Prince, we can hear the gunfire coming from the neighborhoods that are under gang control. The people we've spoken to who live there say they live through daily gun battles, that they have to risk their lives to go to work or to go to the supermarket. And yesterday, the violence hit the journalism⁹ fraternity. One of the most well-known journalists in Haiti, Roberson Alphonse, survived an assassination¹⁰ attempt.

Alphonse is known as a sharp critic of the government because he drew a connection between public officials and criminal gangs. He was driving to his radio show when gunmen opened fire. They fired at least 10 bullets. Alphonse was hit several times. He was helped by people on the streets. He was taken to the hospital. And luckily, friends tell us that he's in stable condition.

FADEL: Wow. And what is the government saying about all this?

PERALTA: Not much - we've been asking for an interview over and over with the acting¹¹ prime minister or anyone at his office, and we have heard nothing. But more importantly, the people of Haiti have heard nothing. We're now going on almost six weeks of this fuel blockade, and the prime minister has not spoken to the nation. So the government at the moment seems almost completely absent. The prime minister, Ariel Henri, did call for an international intervention¹², but that also seems stalled. At this point, it seems unlikely that the UN will even vote on the matter this week.

FADEL: NPR's Eyder Peralta reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Thank you so much, Eyder.

PERALTA: Thank you, Leila.

(SOUNDBITE OF PENSEES' "LUNAMOTH")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

3 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

4 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。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

9 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

10 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。