VOA标准英语2011--Ethiopian Migrants Stranded in Yemen

Ethiopian Migrants Stranded¹ in Yemen

More than three thousand Ethiopian migrants – who risked their lives leaving the Horn of Africa – find themselves stranded in Yemen, near the Saudi Arabian border. The migrants want to return home, but the International Organization for Migration² said it has no money to evacuate³ them.
Lives at risk
The trip to Yemen is perilous⁴. Migrants often hire smugglers to take them across the Gulf⁵ of Aden or Red Sea. Every year, many die at the hands of the smugglers or are robbed and left with nothing. Those who survive the traffickers or make the long journey to northern Yemen are usually hungry, exhausted⁶ or sick.
Nevertheless, many have managed to reach Yemen. The IOM says there are about 70,000 Ethiopian migrants who live in Yemen doing domestic work or employed on Khat plantations⁷.
But while many decide to remain in Yemen, large numbers want to go to Saudi Arabia. Among them are the 3,000 migrants now stranded at the Saudi border.
“The ultimate goal of most of them is to actually go through and earn themselves a job in Saudi. Unfortunately, visas to Saudi are very restrictive and so most of them try getting across by irregular means and through traffickers,” Nicoletta Giordano is the IOM Chief of Mission in Yemen.
The traffickers often abuse the migrants in the same way smugglers did in crossing the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.
“The Saudi border has been perhaps more porous⁸ in the past, but with the current instability in Yemen the Saudis have certainly tightened⁹ up their controls. And so that’s why there’s a huge surge at the border and at this border town Haradh, which is smack¹⁰ in the middle of the desert with quite extreme weather conditions. And the migrants are among a number of vulnerable groups already hosted in Haradh and the surrounding area,” she said.
No visa, no entry
Most of those who do make it across the Saudi Arabian border are forced to return to Yemen.
“We come across desperate cases of people who’ve been returned to Yemen under duress¹¹. And who have most probably undergone quite strenuous¹² circumstances in order to get across to Saudi,” she said.
The Ethiopian government is doing what it can to assist the migrants and has asked the international Organization for migration for help. Since last year, IOM has evacuated¹³ about 5,000 so-called irregular Ethiopian migrants. But now, it’s out of money. It’s asking donors¹⁴ for $2.5 million so it can resume the evacuations of the Ethiopian migrants.

1 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

2 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

3 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

4 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

7 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

8 porous   

adj.可渗透的，多孔的

参考例句：

• He added sand to the soil to make it more porous.他往土里掺沙子以提高渗水性能。
• The shell has to be slightly porous to enable oxygen to pass in.外壳不得不有些细小的孔以便能使氧气通过。

9 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

10 smack   

vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍

参考例句：

• She gave him a smack on the face.她打了他一个嘴巴。
• I gave the fly a smack with the magazine.我用杂志拍了一下苍蝇。

11 duress   

n.胁迫

参考例句：

• He claimed that he signed the confession under duress.他说他是被迫在认罪书上签字的。
• These unequal treaties were made under duress.这些不平等条约是在强迫下签订的。

12 strenuous   

adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的

参考例句：

• He made strenuous efforts to improve his reading. 他奋发努力提高阅读能力。
• You may run yourself down in this strenuous week.你可能会在这紧张的一周透支掉自己。

13 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

14 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》