VOA标准英语2011--Health Crisis Grips Tripoli as Fighting

Health Crisis Grips Tripoli as Fighting Drags On

Gun battles are only part of the health crisis emerging in Libya’s capital, a city of one-and-a-half million people without running water.
Central Tripoli’s Zawiya Hospital has modern equipment. It lacks basics, though, such as running water and doctors.
Dressed in a blue smock, Mohammed El Busef stops on a busy corridor to say, “We need water. There is no water here in the hospital.’’
Busef is a fifth-year medical student. But when VOA visited, he was in charge.
“Most of the doctors are working 30-40 hours [at a time]. So they are sleeping right now,” he said.
A wounded man moves along the corridor, the latest in a steady flow of victims of the fighting.
“Most of the patients are here because they are wounded by snipers. Some by explosions,” said Busef.
On one bed a rebel fighter has bandaged shrapnel wounds in his right legs. His face has taken on a yellow color, but he is expected to survive.
Two rooms away is the unrefrigerated morgue, holding five bodies.
Across the city, hundreds of bodies still lie unburied in 30-degree temperatures [celsius].
In this modern city on the Mediterranean¹, services like water, electricity, Internet, telephone and garbage collection are erratic² or non-existent.
Mahmoud Shammam, the information minister for Libya’s Transitional National Council, responded to complaints by warning residents “not to expect miracles.”
“About the bodies of some killed people, in some areas, the health authorities are taking care of that and we hope in a few hours, with the help of lot of councils, to solve that problem,” said Shammam.
From New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is launching a worldwide appeal for aid to Libya.
"Most immediately, we have asked for urgent humanitarian³ assistance, particularly as it relates to medical aid and basic public services, including water and sanitation⁴ and education,” said Ban.
Meanwhile, back in this sweltering hospital in downtown Tripoli, there is no water to spare to mop blood off the floors.
Busef, the medical student, said, “We gained our freedom by our blood.”
Judging by ongoing⁵ gun battles, hospitals in Tripoli may struggle with additional waves of wounded fighters in coming days.

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

3 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。

4 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

5 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。