VOA慢速英语2010年-Development Report - Killing of 10 Aid

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Humanitarian¹ aid groups have promised to continue their work in Afghanistan after militants² murdered ten medical aid workers August fifth.

Officials say the seven men and three women worked for the Christian³ aid group International Assistance Mission. They were returning to Kabul after a trip to Nuristan province to provide medical care and supplies. Those killed were six Americans, one German, one Briton and two Afghans.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. It accused the aid workers of being spies and spreading Christianity.

Violence against aid workers has increased in recent years, even though international laws are supposed to protect them. Seventeen aid workers have been killed in the first half of this year in Afghanistan. Nineteen others have been kidnapped.

In Pakistan, seven aid workers from the Christian group World Vision were killed during an attack on their office in March. Officials believe militants were responsible for the attack.

The Humanitarian Policy Group has been studying violence against aid workers for more than ten years. The group released its latest report on the issue last year.

A man walks out of the office of the International Assistance Mission in Kabul on August 7

Abby Stoddard works with the international research group Humanitarian Outcomes. She helped write the policy group report. The report says that in two thousand eight, two hundred sixty humanitarian aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks.

This was the highest number of incidents since the group began doing the research twelve years ago. Mrs. Stoddard says more than sixty percent of the incidents took place in three countries.

Abby Stoddard: "There has been a rather significant increase in major attacks against aid workers but this has been driven by the extreme violent environments centered in just about three countries, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, particularly the Darfur region of Sudan."

Sri Lanka, Chad, Iraq and Pakistan also had many cases of violence against aid workers. Abby Stoddard says ongoing⁴ conflicts in the countries increase the risk of violence against aid workers.

Mrs. Stoddard called the recent murders in Afghanistan horrific. But she said they are not uncommon⁵. She says incidents involving nationals instead of foreigners do not get the same level of attention.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. You can comment on this report at our website, voaspecialenglish.com. And you can find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 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。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 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。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。