VOA常速英语2020--处理新冠肺炎对非洲造成的影响

Next, an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.In early June, the U.S. Agency for International Development committed more than $350 million to help countries across sub-Saharan Africa respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will ensure that we continue our lifesaving mission and work, as well as support our partner countries in their own COVID-19 response, said Acting¹ Assistant Administrator² for Africa Chris Maloney. But there is more at stake here. “What's keeping me up at night more than anything else are the second and third order effects of what COVID is doing,” said Assistant Administrator Maloney:“And what I mean by that are the economic issues. Right. So we're spending a lot of time right now thinking about things like food security and for USAID, it's… you know, traditionally we work on the rural sector³, but increasingly this is an urban issue. So when you have a lot of people under lockdown, how do we think through things like cash transfers, ensuring that supply chains from rural markets get to urban markets?This has been a very key issue for us.”

接下来是一篇反映美国政府观点的社论。6月初，美国国际开发署承诺投入超过3.5亿美元，以帮助撒哈拉以南非洲各国应对新冠肺炎疫情。这笔资金将确保我们继续执行我们的救生任务与工作，并支持我们的伙伴国家应对新冠肺炎疫情，非洲事务代理署长克里斯·马洛尼表示。但这里还是危机四伏。“新冠肺炎引发的第二波及第三波影响让我夜不能寐，”代理署长马洛尼表示：“我指的是经济问题。是的。我们现在花了大量的时间来考虑食品安全等问题，对于美国国际开发署而言，传统上我们一直致力于解决农村的经济问题，但经济问题越来越成为城市问题。所以现在有很多人被封锁，我们应该考虑如何通过现金转移这样的方案，确保农村市场的供应链进入城市市场，这对我们来说是一个非常关键的问题。”

“One of the problems we’re actually seeing right now across Africa is dealing⁴ with the effects of countries that have low commitments (things that help or hinder a country) and using COVID as a way to increase their authoritarianism⁵ around the continent,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Maloney:“So, for example, there's been over 20 thousand Zimbabweans who have been locked up for violating the lockdown rules there. And there's been a lot of allegations of human rights concerns. So we want to make sure that we're thinking about how can we play a part in working with civil society to advocate when there are challenges like this.”At the same time, said Acting Assistant Administrator Maloney, “There's just a lot of misinformation that's being proffered⁶ around”:And so we actually just spent a grant in several countries in the Sahel and other parts of West Africa to work with radio stations and civil society groups to counter disinformation, ensure that the right messaging is getting out on how to deal with the crisis.” “I'm confident,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Maloney, “that our relationships and the shared experiences that we've had with our African country partners over the past decades will continue to help us meet both today's COVID-19 crisis and the broader development issues at hand, head-on.”That was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.

“我们现在在非洲各国看到了其中一个问题，即如何处理那些奉献较低的国家（帮助或阻碍一个国家的作为）的影响，以及如何利用新冠肺炎增强其在非洲大陆的威权，”代理署长马洛尼表示：“比如说，有超过2万名津巴布韦人因违反当地的封锁规定而被关起来。那里还存在大量的关于人权问题的指控。所以我们要确保我们考虑好，在面临这样的挑战时，我们该如何在与民间社会的合作倡导的过程中发挥作用。”同时，代理署长马洛尼表示：“有大量的不实消息在各地流传”：“我们实际只在萨赫勒的几个国家以及西非其他地区投入了一笔资金，与广播电台和民间社会团体合作，共同打击造谣，确保发布关于如何应对危机的正确信息。”“我有信心，”代理署长马洛尼表示，“在过去几十年来，我们与非洲国家伙伴的关系和共同经验将继续帮助我们直面今天的新冠肺炎危机以及当前更广泛的发展问题。这是一篇反映美国政府观点的社论。

1 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。

2 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 authoritarianism   

权力主义，独裁主义

参考例句：

• Modern authoritarianism is a vestige of traditional personal rule. 现代独裁主义则是传统的个人统治的残余。
• In its latter days it was a byword for authoritarianism, incompetence, and corruption. 在后期，它是独裁、无能和腐化的代号。

6 proffered   

v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She proffered her cheek to kiss. 她伸过自己的面颊让人亲吻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He rose and proffered a silver box full of cigarettes. 他站起身，伸手递过一个装满香烟的银盒子。 来自辞典例句