VOA慢速英语2017 大批委内瑞拉难民涌入巴西 引恐慌

Migrants from Venezuela May Cause Problem in Brazil

近日，越来越多的委内瑞拉人搬离了这里，以求逃离祖国的经济困难和居高不下的犯罪率。

An increasing number of Venezuelans have moved out of the country recently. They are seeking to escape economic hardship and high crime rates in their homeland.

Many of those Venezuelans are migrating to Brazil. One of them is Victor Rivera, a 36-year-old unemployed¹ bakery worker. In August, Rivera left his home in northern Venezuela. He made the two-day trip across the countryside to Boa Vista², a city in the Brazilian state of Roraima.

许多委内瑞拉人移民到了巴西。维克托 里韦拉(Victor Rivera)就是其中一个，他36岁，是一名失业的面包房工人。今年8月，里韦拉离开他在委内瑞拉北部的故乡。他跋涉了两天两夜，离开了农村，来到了巴西罗赖马州的博阿维斯塔市。

Few jobs can be found in Boa Vista, but Rivera finds his job prospects⁴ there more appealing than in his hometown. He says his six children often go hungry, as food in stores is in increasingly short supply.

博阿维斯塔几乎没什么工作可找，但里韦拉发现这里的工作机会要比故乡更诱人。他表示，自己的六个孩子总是食不果腹，因为商店里的食物越来越供不应求。

“I see no future in Venezuela,” said Rivera.

里韦拉表示，“我在委内瑞拉看不到未来。”

The once-wealthy nation is now struggling with a recession, widespread unemployment, shortages of supplies and high inflation.

委内瑞拉这个曾经富裕的国家现在陷于经济倒退、大范围失业、供应不足、通货高度膨胀之中。

And at least 125 people died this year in clashes among government opponents, supporters and police.

此外，今年有至少125人在政府反对者、支持者以及警方的冲突中死亡。

As conditions there worsen, nearby countries are struggling with one of the biggest migrations⁵ in Latin American history. With limited public services and jobs to offer migrants, Brazilian officials fear a full humanitarian⁶ crisis.

随着那里的情况每况愈下，附近的一些国家开始陷入拉丁美历史上最大规模的一次移民之中。由于移民们只有有限的公共服务和工作，所以巴西的许多官员担心会出现全面的人道主义危机。

George Okoth-Obbo is operations chief for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. He spoke⁷ to the Reuters news agency after a recent visit to Boa Vista. He noted⁸, “Shelters are already crowded to their limit. It is a very tough situation.”

乔治(George Okoth-Obbo)是联合国难民事务署的业务主管。他在最近出访了博阿维斯塔后接受了路透社的采访。他表示，避难所已经拥挤不堪，达到了收容的上限，情况捉襟见肘。

Venezuelan government officials do not know exactly how many of its 30 million people have migrated overseas in recent years. Some experts have estimated the number to be as high as 2 million.

委内瑞拉的政府官员不知道本国3000万人民中有多少人在最近的这些年间移民到了海外。一些专家估计，移民数字可能高达200万。

Brazil “not ready”

Many of the Venezuelans leaving have few skills or financial resources. By migrating, then, they export some of the social problems that Venezuela has struggled to resolve.

许多移民的委内瑞拉人技能和资金都有限。所以，他们移民的同时，也将委内瑞拉难以解决的一些社会问题带到了国外。

Mauricio Santoro is a political scientist at Rio de Janeiro State University. He says, “They’re leaving because of economic, health and public safety problems, but putting a lot of pressure on countries that have their own difficulties.”

毛利西奥(Mauricio Santoro)是里约热内卢州立大学的一名政治学者。他表示，他们离开委内瑞拉是因为经济、健康、公共安全等问题，但这也给一些本国也存在问题的国家带来了很大的压力。

International officials are likening the situation in Venezuela to other mass migrations in Latin America’s past, like that of people who fled Haiti after a 2010 earthquake. Thirty years earlier, about 125,000 Cubans attempted to travel by boat to the United States.

国际上的一些官员把委内瑞拉的局势与拉丁美洲的其他大规模移民有类似之处，比如2010年地震后，很多人离开了海地。30年前，也有大约12.5万古巴人想乘船去美国。

Okoth-Obbo told Reuters that as many as 40,000 Venezuelans have arrived in Brazil. Just over half of them have asked the government for asylum⁹. But that process that can take up to two years.

奥克斯(Okoth-Obbo)在接受路透社采访时表示，有多达4万委内瑞拉人来到了巴西。一半以上的人寻求了政府的庇护，但耗时两年之久。

The request for asylum gives them the right to stay in Brazil while their appeal is considered. It also gives the migrants the right to health care, education and other social services.

庇护请求跟了他们请求审核期间让他们待在巴西的权利，也给了他们获得医疗、教育等社会服务的权利。

Some migrants in Boa Vista are discovering ways to get by. They have found low-cost housing or are staying in the few shelters that officials have provided. Others have no permanent place to stay, and instead live in the streets or turn to crime.

博阿维斯塔的一些移民发现了一些过活的办法。他们要么找到了经济房，要么待在政府官员提供的为数不多的避难所里。还有一些人没有永久的居住地，只能住在街上或者走上犯罪道路。

Teresa Surita, the mayor of Boa Vista, said, “We have a very serious problem that will only get worse.” She added that the city’s once quiet streets are increasingly filled with poor Venezuelans.

特蕾莎(Teresa Surita)是博阿维斯塔市市长，她表示，我们有一个很严重的问题，这个问题只会越来越严重。她补充道，这个城市曾经安静的街道挤着越来越多的委内瑞拉人。

Most migrants to Boa Vista arrive by land. They enter Brazil on foot from the Venezuelan border town of Santa Elena. They then take buses or ask for rides from strangers to travel further south.

大多数来到博阿维斯塔的移民都通过陆路来到这里。他们从委内瑞拉边境的圣塔艾那步行来到巴西。然后，他们要么坐公交，要么搭陌生人的车再往南走。

Brazilian officials say border guards permit as many as 400 migrants to enter Roraima state daily. Roraima has the lowest population and smallest economy of any state in Brazil.

一些巴西官员表示，边防军每天允许最多400名移民进入罗赖马州。罗赖马州是巴西各州中人口最少、经济总量最低的。

Latin America’s biggest country has struggled recently to deal with asylum seekers from countries such as Haiti and Syria. Brazil has approved more than 2,700 asylum requests from Syrian refugees. But the refugees have received little support from the government.

巴西这个拉丁美洲最大的国家最近一直苦于应对来自海地、叙利亚等国的避难者。巴西批准了叙利亚2700多个难民的避难请求。但这些难民却没怎么收到政府的支持。

One top official in Brazil’s foreign ministry¹⁰ said the country will not close its borders. Okoth-Obbo said the UNHCR and Brazil’s government are discussing ways to move refugees to larger cities.

巴西外交部某高官表示，巴西不会关闭国境。奥克斯表示，联合国难民署以及巴西政府正在研讨将难民转向其他更大城市的方案。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in this Story

migrate – v. to move from one country or place to live or work in another

prospect³ – n. an opportunity for something to happen

resources – n. a supply of something such as money that someone has and can use when it is needed

1 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

2 vista   

n.远景，深景，展望，回想

参考例句：

• From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.我从卧室窗口望去，远处尽是连绵的山峦和屋顶。
• These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.发生这些暴动是因为人们被逼上了绝路，未来看不到一点儿希望。

3 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

4 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

5 migrations   

n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It foundered during the turmoils accompanying the Great Migrations. 它在随着民族大迁徙而出现的混乱中崩溃。 来自辞典例句
• Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. 鸟类也有天生的时间感应器指导它们秋春迁移。 来自互联网

6 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。

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 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。

9 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

10 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。