VOA标准英语2008年-Congolese Strife Continues to Kill Thousands

By Tendai Maphosa
London
23 January 2008

A new survey reports that an estimated 5.4 million people have died in the ongoing¹ conflict and humanitarian² crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998. Another 45,000 are dying every month. From London, Tendai Maphosa has more in this report for VOA.

A study led by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a humanitarian organization found five years after the catastrophic war in Congo officially ended, the rate at which people are dying in the country remains³ virtually unchanged.

This is despite efforts of the world's largest peacekeeping force, billions of dollars in international aid and a historic election that revived democracy after decades of violence and despotism.

IRC president George Rupp says the conflict and its aftermath, in terms of fatalities⁴, are the worst since World War II.   According to Rupp, Congo's loss is equivalent to the entire population of Denmark or the U.S. state of Colorado perishing within a decade.

IRC UK director Sarah Hughes tells VOA that a tiny percentage of the deaths were caused by violence, illustrating⁵ how the aftermath of war can be more deadly than combat itself.

"By far the overwhelming proportion of people dying is through preventable disease such as malaria⁶ or pneumonia," she said.  "Disease which can be prevented when there is security, when the population has access to health services, in other words they can reach a clinic, the clinic does have the drugs they need, they can give birth in safe surroundings etc."

Young children, who are especially susceptible⁷ to diseases like malaria, measles⁸, dysentery and typhoid, have been particularly hard hit because medicines have not been available.

Hughes says although children are only 19 percent of the DRC's population, they make up half of the non-combat related deaths. According to the United Nations children's fund, UNICEF, the DRC is one of 11 countries where 20 percent of children die before the age of five.

Hughes says the purpose of the survey is to bring attention to Congo's crisis.

"The thing about the crisis in the Congo is that its very long drawn⁹ out, and that's why we want to bring the world's attention more to the plight¹⁰ of the Congolese and the need for very sustained international efforts in terms of resources and other forms of assistance to really help the government of the Congo and the people of the Congo to pull them out of the aftermath of conflict," she added.
 
The IRC expressed hope that reconciliation¹¹ and recovery efforts will follow this week's peace agreement between militia¹² leaders and Congo's government. 

The survey was based on a sample of 14,000 households surveyed in 700 villages and towns across Congo from January 2006 to April 2007.

The DRC has experienced two foreign invasions that involved neighboring countries since 1994. Even after the departure of foreign forces, violence has erupted in such regions of the country as North Kivu.

1 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。

2 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。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 illustrating   

给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• He upstaged the other speakers by illustrating his talk with slides. 他演讲中配上幻灯片，比其他演讲人更吸引听众。
• Material illustrating detailed structure of graptolites has been etched from limestone by means of hydrofluoric acid. 表明笔石详细构造的物质是利用氢氟酸从石灰岩中侵蚀出来。

6 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

7 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

8 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

11 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

12 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。