VOA标准英语2010年-Man Camps in Washington Streets to Pro

Jesse Sullivan has been camping out in the cold near a busy intersection¹ in Washington to raise awareness² for people in Haiti

This tent has been home to Jesse Sullivan for nearly a month. He's camping out in the cold near this busy intersection in Washington to raise awareness for people in Haiti who don't even have a tent over their heads.

"If I can give myself for 30 days to camp outside in the cold no matter how bad the conditions get I know they are unimaginably worse down there," he said.

Sullivan came to Washington from Illinois for a job interview for a development position in Afghanistan. But after speaking to a cousin who was doing medical work in Haiti, he discovered a new calling and offered his services to the Haitian Embassy³. The embassy accepted, but he turned down the chance to live and work out of a hotel room.

"I thought about it and I thought how can I be staying in a luxury hotel room when the million people I am trying to help down on the ground [in Haiti] don't have shelter and are living out in the streets," he added.  "I thought maybe I can live out in the streets to be in solidarity⁴ and to also raise some funds to help bring some extra shelter down there."

Sullivan says he's gotten an outpouring of support from people in Washington. Lola Joseph, the wife of Haiti's ambassador⁵ to the United States, says she's thankful for his efforts.

"He might be going a little bit too far to stay in the cold like that, but he is bringing attention to the need for shelter for Haitians," said Joseph.

Sullivan says he hopes to raise money to help pay for some of the 250,000 tents that officials in Haiti say are needed.

"If I can stay out in this tent and be in solidarity and help bring shelter or maybe a tent to one more family down on the ground then it is worth it. I would be out here for a year if I needed to," said Sullivan. 

Sullivan says after he finishes living in his tent for 30 days he plans to travel to Haiti to set up a Webcast on the Internet to link the people in Haiti with their relatives in the United States.
 

1 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 embassy   

n.大使馆，大使及其随员

参考例句：

• Large crowd demonstrated outside the British Embassy.很多群众在英国大使馆外面示威。
• He's a U.S. diplomat assigned to the embassy in London.他是美国驻伦敦大使馆的一名外交官。

4 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

5 ambassador   

n.大使，特使，（派驻国际组织的）代表

参考例句：

• He took up office as an ambassador for ten years continuously.他连任十年大使。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。