VOA标准英语2015--受移民事件影响意大利考虑采取措施稳定叙利亚

Overwhelmed by Migrants, Italy Mulls Action to Stabilize¹ Libya 受移民事件影响意大利考虑采取措施稳定叙利亚

LONDON—

Thousands more migrants have arrived on the southern shores of Italy from North Africa in the past two days. Authorities say they expect the total number of arrivals this year to far exceed previous levels; and Italy has said military action in Libya might be necessary to stem the flow. Hundreds of asylum² seekers have died making the crossing this week alone.

On the shores of southern Italy, each day brings a new wave of migrants and more harrowing tales of extreme suffering.

The coast guard rescued 70 people from a rubber dinghy off the island of Lampedusa in the early hours of Friday. Many were suffering from severe burns, including young children, and had to be stretchered off onto the dockside. Barbara Moinario of the United Nations High Commission For Refugees explained.

"They told us that they were in one of the places where traffickers hold migrants and refugees before placing them on boats, and a gas cylinder³ exploded and killed several people and injured many others," said Moinario. "The traffickers would not allow them to leave and reach the hospital so they didn't get treatment for a few days, and then they were put on a boat, in fact a rubber dinghy."

In Palermo, police arrested 15 migrants after reports that several Christian⁴ asylum seekers had been thrown overboard, by a group of Muslim men. This week alone an estimated 13,000 migrants have been plucked from boats in the Mediterranean⁵ and brought ashore⁶. Giovanni Muraca, a local councilor in the port of Reggion Calabria, said authorities are overwhelmed.

He said they have already provided hospitality to lots of migrants but never this many with such a high percentage of infectious diseases. So, he said, they've had to keep people in reception centers to treat them before they can send them on.

Over 450 migrants are thought to have drowned in the past week. Migrant support groups say the risk of dying has risen fifty-fold compared to last year. Italy has demanded help from the European Union.

Rome's Foreign Minister Gentiloni blamed the exodus⁷ of refugees on the chaos⁸ in Libya, and said drastic action may be required - including airstrikes against terror groups in Libya. "We need to take care of this emergency not as a single country, but as a union," he said.

The European Union's Commissioner⁹ for Migration¹⁰ Dmitirs Avramopoulos said Friday progress was being made. "By the end of May, Europe for the first time will have a comprehensive holistic¹¹ policy on migration," he stated.

That's not enough, said Amnesty International's Gauri Van Gulik.

"What we need," he added, "is a multinational¹², concerted, humanitarian¹³ effort that actually patrols the seas in the areas where people are drowning, which is not happening right now. And to focus on search and rescue with trained people, with boats that are equipped to handle this."

Those who do survive often find their dreams of a new life shattered. In Greece,  the first country of arrival for migrants coming from Turkey, conditions in detention¹⁴ centers are notoriously dire¹⁵. Athens said it has simply run out of money, so it's letting the migrants go free.

Tasia Christodoulopoulou is the Greek Immigration Minister. She said that the people were living in indescribable barbarity, because the centers did not have basic needs. And most of them were being held illegally.

Campaign groups warn the overwhelming numbers in Greece and Italy are stoking nationalist, anti-immigrant tensions. But out at sea, the decrepit¹⁶ boats continue to bring thousands of new arrivals every day.

1 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

2 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。

3 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

6 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

7 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

8 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

9 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

10 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

11 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

12 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

13 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。

14 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

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 decrepit   

adj.衰老的，破旧的

参考例句：

• The film had been shot in a decrepit old police station.该影片是在一所破旧不堪的警察局里拍摄的。
• A decrepit old man sat on a park bench.一个衰弱的老人坐在公园的长凳上。