2006年VOA标准英语-Reports: Drought-Stricken Somalis Dying Fr

By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
22 March 2006

A group monitoring the food situation in Somalia says reports have been filtering in that people in the drought-stricken south are dying from contaminated water.

According to unconfirmed reports, at least 11 people from three districts, including five children, died recently after drinking water that had been exposed to animal feces.

The chief technical advisor¹ for the Food Security Analysis Unit, Nicholas Haan, tells VOA his office has not verified the reports of those deaths.

"Now what we do know is that water supplies, as they go down and they mix with livestock² and people and what-not, that they are severely³ contaminated and that in many cases [are] unfit for human consumption," he said.

Haan explains that the contaminated water comes from catchment areas such as small dams, streams, or depressions in the ground where water gathers.

He says that in normal times, there is enough surface water so that people can drink and use the water separate from their animals.  But under drought conditions, people and animals tend to share the same water source, and there is less water, so contamination is more concentrated.

Boiling the water before drinking it might make a difference.  Haan says he is not sure whether or not this particular contamination might be destroyed by boiling water, but that people are reluctant to do so.

"Water is so scarce that some people prefer not to boil the water, because when you boil water, you lose a certain percentage of the water," he explained.  "Water is truly scarce right now.  People are living on just a few liters of water a day."

Southern Somalia is in the midst of the widespread drought gripping parts of east Africa.

Aid groups have been reporting rising malnutrition⁴ rates and increases of clashes between rival clans⁵ and sub-clans over access to water and pasture to graze their animals.

Last month, the aid group Oxfam said that Somalis were living on three glasses of water each day and had to travel up to 70 kilometers to find water.

Haan says one option is to dig new boreholes or rehabilitate⁶ existing ones.  He says rains in the upcoming mid-April to mid-June rainy season are forecast to be lower than normal.

1 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

2 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

5 clans   

宗族( clan的名词复数 )； 氏族； 庞大的家族； 宗派

参考例句：

• There are many clans in European countries. 欧洲国家有很多党派。
• The women were the great power among the clans [gentes], as everywhere else. 妇女在克兰〈氏族〉里，乃至一般在任何地方，都有很大的势力。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源

6 rehabilitate   

vt.改造(罪犯)，修复；vi.复兴，(罪犯)经受改造

参考例句：

• There was no money to rehabilitate the tower.没有资金修复那座塔。
• He used exercise programmes to rehabilitate the patients.他采用体育锻炼疗法使患者恢复健康。