VOA标准英语2008年-UN Meetings Highlight African Needs

This week, the U.N. General Assembly holds its annual debate. On the sidelines, world leaders will discuss some of the planet's most pressing problems - among them, poverty and development in Africa. From United Nation's headquarters in New York, VOA's Margaret Besheer reports African issues will be highlighted during two important meetings.

Africa has vast potential, but a report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the continent's development needs and challenges warns its human and natural resources are not being fully¹ utilized².

Africa remains³ one of the poorest regions in the world, with about two-fifths of its population living on less than one dollar a day. The continent is home to 75 percent of the people infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide and 90 percent of the annual deaths caused by malaria⁴.

The global food and fuel crises, the effects of climate change, and persistent⁵ extreme poverty continue to pose serious challenges to Africa.

On Monday, Secretary-General Ban hosts a high-level meeting aimed at addressing Africa's development needs. More than 100 delegations⁶ will participate, including nearly 50 heads of state and government.

Cheick Sidi Diarra is a top U.N. official for Africa. He says all commitments made by Africa and its development partners will be discussed and reviewed at the summit, which will also provide African leaders a forum⁷ for voicing their concerns about the future of their region and strategies on how to move forward.

"This will likely lead to an upgrade of priorities and to streamlining of actions. The ultimate objective is to set the right priorities towards the attainment⁸ of Millennium⁹ Development Goals," Diarra said.

U.N. member states and international organizations adopted the eight Millennium Development Goals in 2000 to provide a framework for reducing extreme poverty, hunger, disease and child mortality. The goals, which include improving education, maternal¹⁰ health and promoting gender¹¹ equality, are supposed to be reached by the year 2015.

The U.N. has voiced concern that progress on achieving these goals is off-track on the continent. The secretary-general and the president of the General Assembly will convene¹² a second meeting next Thursday to address these gaps.

"Most African and international commitments remain only partially¹³ realized," Diarra said. "At this juncture¹⁴, meeting Africa's development needs and challenges will require resolution and leadership to turn existing African and international commitments into results, and vision into action."

Following Thursday's high-level meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, the secretary-general will also host a dinner to discuss the global food crisis, which has also severely¹⁵ impacted the African continent.

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 utilized   

v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In the19th century waterpower was widely utilized to generate electricity. 在19世纪人们大规模使用水力来发电。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The empty building can be utilized for city storage. 可以利用那栋空建筑物作城市的仓库。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 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。

5 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

6 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

8 attainment   

n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣

参考例句：

• We congratulated her upon her attainment to so great an age.我们祝贺她高寿。
• The attainment of the success is not easy.成功的取得并不容易。

9 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

10 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

11 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

12 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

13 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

14 juncture   

n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头

参考例句：

• The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
• It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。

15 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。