VOA慢速英语2014 伊拉克、叙利亚面临援助不足

 

Iraq, Syria Face Aid Shortages 伊拉克、叙利亚面临援助不足

The United Nations says Iraq and Syria need more aid to deal with the huge humanitarian¹ crisis in the area.

Millions of people in Syria and Iraq need humanitarian aid. Many of these men, women and children fled violence with only the clothes they were wearing.

The United Nations is calling the situation in Syria and Iraq the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today. Baroness² Emma Nicholson is with the AMAR International Charitable Foundation. She says donors³ are not reacting to appeals for more donations.

“For a reason I cannot understand, I cannot explain, the world has barely shifted in its response. The big funders haven’t come across, yet there are 1.4 million new refugees, IDPs (internally displaced persons) inside Iraq alone. And you know what’s going on in Syria. And this is spreading.

Joel Charny is with InterAction, an alliance of more than 180 non-governmental organizations.

“I think part of it is that there are so many emergencies right now.”

He adds that donors may be facing difficult decisions about where to send their money.

“So some of it is competition or sort of donors trying to figure out, do we respond in Syria and Iraq? Do we respond in South Sudan? Do we respond in the Central African Republic? We now have the Ebola crisis.”

Some countries have donated large amounts. Since 2012, the United States has provided more than $1.5 billion to help Iraqis and Syrians. Saudi Arabia recently gave the United Nations $500 million. But Joel Charny says more than just money is needed to ease the crisis.

“Yes, if we had more aid, we could provide more services. But let’s face it. Fundamentally, this is a crisis that can only be solved diplomatically, and the whole diplomatic process has ground to a halt.”

As winter starts to arrive, humanitarian groups are exploring ways to raise interest in the general public so people will donate more. But the groups say they have not yet succeeded. 

Words in this Story

aid - n. help, assistance

crisis - n. an extremely important time when something may become much worse or better; a dangerous situation

winter - n. the coldest time of year, between autumn and spring

violence - n. the use of force to cause injury, death or damage

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 baroness   

n.男爵夫人，女男爵

参考例句：

• I'm sure the Baroness will be able to make things fine for you.我相信男爵夫人能够把家里的事替你安排妥当的。
• The baroness,who had signed,returned the pen to the notary.男爵夫人这时已签过字，把笔交回给律师。

3 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》