VOA标准英语2010年-Yemeni Humanitarian Crisis Deepens

During a visit to an isolated¹ desert settlement outside Yemen's capital Sanaa, VOA's Heather Murdock reports on the despair of some of the thousands of people who have fled their homes since the war in northern Yemen began in 2004

Heather Murdock | Sanaa, Yemen 08 February 2010

Refugee tends her sheep outside her tent at Mazraq Refugee Camp in northern Yemen (file photo)

For families fleeing the war in northern Yemen, options are shrinking.  The capital Sanaa hosts more than 10,000 displaced people, and most live packed into dirty stone rooms without enough food, water or medical care. 

In Guder, on the outskirts² of Yemen's capital, Sanaa, nobody seems to care who wins the war.

Yahya Hassen al-Aisery says his home in the Old City of Sa'ada, in Northern Yemen, is now occupied by the Houthis, a rebel army that has been battling the government here for six years.  Al-Aisery says his house is under attack by the Yemeni army. 

His family of 28 now stays in an isolated desert settlement, in the Guder area.  They share two small rooms, and none of the children go to school.

More than 200,000 people have fled their homes since the war began in 2004.  Many, like al-Aisery, have been displaced several times.  Aid workers and journalists have been banned from most of the war torn area, so no one really knows how many people are trapped.

Faisel al-Hussaini alsoo fled his home when renewed fighting broke out last summer.   He says in the war's epicenter, Sa'ada city, droves of people sleep on the streets, under tarps, and in abandoned cars.

The city is under siege, al-Hussaini says, and the little food available is ridiculously expensive for a population that appears to be mostly homeless.

Most of the people that have escaped the region are in refugee camps that opened last fall.  The population of the Mazrak camp, an isolated sea of dusty tents just outside the battlezone, has swelled³ to over 20,000 people in recent months, double the camp's capacity.  Al-Hussaini says camps provide tents, food, and water, but little dignity.  Many people prefer to try their luck elsewhere.

In Sana'a, he says, families often cannot rent apartments.  Landlords are afraid that northerners might be sympathetic to the rebel cause.  And in a city surrounded by mountains topped with government military bases, no one wants to be known as a Houthi.

But in Yemen, extreme poverty colors almost every aspect of life, and displaced families say lack of food, medicine and clean water are more troubling than discrimination.  Most displaced adults cannot find new jobs, and Sana'a schools often refuse to take displaced children because they do not have transcripts⁴.  But in Guder, families say they are more concerned with surviving the war, and getting home.

For these families it could be a while.  Despite recent peace efforts, both sides report casualties almost daily.  The U.N. refugee agency representative in Yemen, Claire Bourgeois⁵, says the humanitarian⁶ crisis is only getting worse. "It is difficult to say because we see we are not in the area of the conflict.  What I can say is a lot of people are coming, and we have not seen anyone returning," she said.

Bourgeois says the conflict has escalated⁷ during the past six years and there is no way of knowing when it will end.  And since adults cannot find work, and children cannot go to school, for many displaced families, the only thing they can do, is wait.
 

1 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

2 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

3 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

4 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

5 bourgeois   

adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子

参考例句：

• He's accusing them of having a bourgeois and limited vision.他指责他们像中产阶级一样目光狭隘。
• The French Revolution was inspired by the bourgeois.法国革命受到中产阶级的鼓励。

6 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。

7 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。