VOA常速英语2017--美国支持约旦河西岸的排雷工作（在线收听）

The West Bank is littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance, due to decades of conflict beginning as far back as 1948. A survey conducted in 2012 identified 90 minefields. Of these, 13 were laid by the Jordanian military between 1948 and 1967. The remaining 77 minefields were laid by the Israeli military following the 1967 war.

约旦河西岸到处都是地雷和未燃爆的军火，这是自1948年以来数十年冲突留下的。2012年进行的一项调查发现有90个布雷区。这90个布雷区中，有13处是1948-1967年期间约旦军方埋下的。而剩下的77处是1967年战后以色列军方埋下的。

And landmines are not the only problem. Over half a century of armed conflict has left swaths of land contaminated with unexploded ordnance. After so many years, much of this war materiel lies buried beneath the soil, deep enough that it cannot be found with metal detectors. It is nonetheless highly dangerous to anyone digging in the soil, be it a farmer plowing a field or digging a new well, or children at play. Indeed, children are the most frequent victims of landmines and unexploded ordnance. Too often, they do not recognize the danger of these objects, and may pick up or even play with explosives.

而且地雷并不是唯一的问题，半个多世纪的武装冲突还留下了大片埋有未燃爆军火的土地。即便过了这么多年，很多未燃爆军火还是深埋在土壤下面，用金属探测器也找不到。虽然如此，人工挖掘是高度危险的，无论是耕地亦或挖新井的农民还是玩耍的孩子。事实上，孩子是地雷和未燃爆军火最频繁的受害者。他们通常无法认出这些危险物，可能还会拿起来把玩。

Clearing these hazards has been a difficult task, and not just due to the nature of such indiscriminate killers. Some of the contaminated areas are under Palestinian control, others are under Israeli control, while a number of zones are under Palestinian Authority civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian Authority security control. Getting permission to demine was a long and arduous process. Following years of negotiations, the first humanitarian mine action program in the West Bank finally began in April 2014.

清理这些危险物是很难的一项工作，这不仅是因为这种杀手难以分辨的特点，还因为一些埋有危险物的区域要么是在巴勒斯坦和以色列的控制之下，要么是在巴勒斯坦民族权力机构和巴以联合机构安全部队的控制之下。获准排雷是一个长期而又周折的过程。经过多年的谈判，约旦河西岸的第一个人道主义排雷行动项目终于在2014年4月开启。

The only mine clearance operator in the West Bank is the HALO Trust, a non-political, non-religious British charity as well as a U.S. non-profit organization that specializes in the removal of explosive remnants of war. The group has already disposed of thousands of landmines and unexploded ordnance in the West Bank, and hopes to clear by 2018 at least 9 minefields that lie dangerously close to Palestinian communities.

约旦河西岸的唯一一个排雷运营方是光环信托组织，该组织是一个非政府、非宗教的英国慈善机构，同时也是一家美国的非盈利组织，专门移除战后余留的爆炸物。该组织已经处理了约旦河西岸的上万枚地雷和未燃爆军火，并有希望在2018年之前清除至少9个位于巴勒斯坦社群附近的危险布雷区。

Over the past five years, the United States has provided over $4.1 million for humanitarian mine action activities in the West Bank. Led by the U.S. Department of State and in partnership with the governments of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the United States is proud to support the Halo Trust's humanitarian mine action program in the West Bank.

过去5年间，美国已经为约旦河西岸的人道主义排雷行动提供了410多万美元。在美国国务院的领导以及荷兰和英国政府的合作下，美国骄傲地为光环信托组织在约旦河西岸的人道主义排雷行动项目提供着支持。