英语听力文摘 English Digest 22、亚太地区儿童生存,卫生情况糟糕

　　The Asian Development Bank says Asia and the Pacific are behind in meeting certain parts the United Nation's Millennium¹ Development Goals. A new report by the ADB and the U.N. Development Program says progress is slow in reducing child mortality, providing safe drinking water and improving sanitation² facilities. Douglas Bakshian reports from Manila.

　　The newly released report by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank and the United Nations marks the halfway³ point of the U.N.'s 15-year campaign to reduce extreme poverty and improve the quality of life worldwide by 2015.
The report says the Asia Pacific region accounts for about 65 percent of the world's underweight children. It also says the region has 60 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births - almost double that of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Within the region, South Asia has significant problems with child mortality. India has a rate of 74 deaths per 1,000 live births, while in Pakistan, it is 99 deaths per 1,000.
The joint⁴ report says another key area in which the Asia-Pacific region is lagging behind is in basic sanitation facilities, ranging from household toilets to community latrines.
"In rural areas, only 30 percent of the population has access to basic sanitation facilities," said Haishan Fu of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission. "This is an improvement from 15 percent since 1990. Altogether, we have 1.5 billion people, which is 75 percent of the world's rural population without access."

　　ADB researchers found that access to clean water in rural area is increasing, but availability of clean drinking water is worsening in cities as growing urban populations are straining water systems.
Despite the shortcomings, the report says the Asia Pacific region remains⁵ dynamic and is forging ahead in many other areas of development. Access to primary education is increasing and the prevalence of tuberculosis⁶ is falling. The report say the region is on track to achieve the 2015 target of cutting extreme poverty in half, establish universal education and achieve gender⁷ parity⁸.
However, several nations continue to show high poverty rates, including Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh and India. The region still has 641 million people living on less than $1 a day.
The Millennium Development Goals were set by the United Nations in the year 2000, with the intention of reducing extreme poverty and making improvements in education, gender quality, fighting HIV/AIDS, child mortality and other areas.

1 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

2 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

3 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

7 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

8 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。