2006年VOA标准英语-US Military to Boost Nigeria's Emergency Respon

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
31 August 2006

About 250 American military personnel are due in Nigeria this weekend for the start of two-week military medical-training exercise. The project will deal with responding to emergencies and disasters.

The military medical-training exercise, code-named MEDFLAG 2006, aims to enhance Nigeria's capacity and competence¹ to respond to disasters or emergencies.

Analysts² say Nigeria's response to recent disasters, including two plane crashes last year, has been very embarrassing.

Lieutenant³ Colonel of the U.S. Air Force told reporters the training program will cover every aspect of emergency or disaster management.

"What is nice about the kind of training we are doing is that it covers every kind of emergency of disaster that your country can have, and at the same time it helps both the military and the civilians⁵ take away a lot of great lessons learned. What kind of procedure do we have in place in the event of a crisis? How do we get first responders to actually go to car accident or aircraft accident site? Is there appropriate transportation to get transponders to a site? How do we identify the needs if you have a large population in crisis? How do we identify what their needs are? And how do we begin to bring in needed emergency relief to meet their needs?," he said.

The $4 million project includes a medical outreach program under which more than one-thousand civilian⁴ patients will receive free dental and optical treatment, and surgery.

Non-governmental organizations and government agencies involved in disaster management and emergency relief tasks will join Nigerian military personnel during the two-week training.

Colonel Bryant explained that Kaduna in northern Nigeria was chosen to host the program in a deliberate attempt to reach out to Muslims in Nigeria.

"We are very interested and really committed to working Muslim populations. As you know, Kaduna is in the north, it has Muslim population. We are very committed to working with that population to improve access to health care, improve some types of health care especially optometry, which is really difficult to secure in this country. We are also, from a military point of view, putting in a lot of water wells, working to provide access to water for the first time, for many communities up north," he said.

Benin, Ghana and Senegal would also benefit from the project. The overall goal is to provide West Africa military personnel with training and operational experience and build up the medical capability⁶ of the Economic Community of West African States standby military force.

1 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

2 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

6 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。