2007年VOA标准英语-ICRC Steps Up Aid To Displaced Poor In Central

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
24 July 2007

The International Committee of the Red Cross is stepping up humanitarian¹ operations for 100,000 displaced people in the Central African Republic. A Red Cross Official just back from the CAR tells VOA these people are barely surviving in their homes in the bush. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.

Displaced people gather for medical treatment at a MSF Holland field clinic in the village of Sido, Central African Republic, Feb 2007

Decades of turmoil² in the Central African Republic have taken a tremendous toll³ on the population. The last year has seen intensified⁴ fighting between government and rebel forces in the northern and central parts of the country.

Communications officer for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jessica Barry, has just returned from a three-week mission to the CAR. She tells VOA all semblance⁵ of normal life in the northern and central parts of the country is gone.

"Whole villages are abandoned," said Barry. "You see burned down houses in the villages although maybe not whole villages burnt, but, completely empty. No animals running around and people have taken to the bush. There has been fighting going on. There has been general unrest. People are not able to do their normal lives. Schools are closed."

The fighting has displaced more than 200,000 people. Barry says they are living in utter poverty and misery⁶.

She notes life for them was not easy when they were living in their villages. But, at least they had mud brick huts with thatched roofs that kept the rain out.

In the bush, she says, the people live in straw huts with grass roofs.

"They leak. When I was there, there were thunder storms and you sit inside one of these things and you get wet immediately," said Barry. "They cook on open fires like they do in the villages. But, they have rudimentary cooking utensils⁷. So, they are living really, really on the margins⁸ of survival."

Barry says the Red Cross is increasing its operations to provide assistance to 100,000 beneficiaries. She says the aid is focused on items people need to survive in the bush. They include tarpaulins⁹, blankets, sleeping mats and big aluminum¹⁰ basins used for cooking, for food or for fetching water.

She says the displaced people live close to their fields and need agricultural tools, such as hoes for weeding.

"Maybe when they fled, they were not able to take anything with them at all," said Barry. "So, unless they can have these tools to make sure that their crops are weeded and that they can get a harvest later this year, this is so that at least the basic necessities of living can be covered."

The Central African Republic is located in a difficult region. This huge country with a population of four million borders Chad, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. Most of these countries have running conflicts.

Despite its ongoing¹¹ rebellion, the CAR is now hosting thousands of refugees that have fled neighboring countries.

Barry notes the CAR has been largely forgotten by the international community. But, in an ironic¹² twist, she says more attention now is being paid to the country because of the growing numbers of people from Darfur and Chad seeking refuge there.

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 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 semblance   

n.外貌，外表

参考例句：

• Her semblance of anger frightened the children.她生气的样子使孩子们感到害怕。
• Those clouds have the semblance of a large head.那些云的形状像一个巨大的人头。

6 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

7 utensils   

器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物

参考例句：

• Formerly most of our household utensils were made of brass. 以前我们家庭用的器皿多数是用黄铜做的。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

8 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

9 tarpaulins   

n.防水帆布，防水帆布罩( tarpaulin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Main wood to aluminum and plexiglass, PC, tarpaulins, toughened glass. 主材以铝型材与进口有机玻璃、PC、防水布、钢化玻璃。 来自互联网
• That means providing tents or other materials, including plastic sheeting, tarpaulins and wood. 这意味着需要帐篷和其他物资，包括塑料布、放水油布和木材。 来自互联网

10 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

11 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。

12 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。