VOA标准英语2012--Activists Honored by Refugee Advocacy Group

 

Activists² Honored by Refugee Advocacy Group

There are about 44 million refugees and internally-displaced people around the world and 12 million stateless individuals living in limbo³ without citizenship⁴ rights.

This according to Refugees International, which, for more than 30 years, has advocated for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promoted solutions to displacement⁵ crises. It has helped people from Colombia and Kosovo, South Sudan and Libya, and Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Andrea Lari, the organization's director of programs, says people today need to view refugees from a different perspective.

" ...by looking at refugees as a resource, and not a burden, and therefore develop plans, projects and assistance that include them since the beginning. So, people will not feel discriminated⁶ against and will contribute to the community that is hosting them," said Lari.

This year, the group awarded its highest honor, the McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian⁷ Award, to model, fashion designer and activist¹ Lauren Bush Lauren. Bush Lauren is the niece of former US president George W. Bush and the daughter-in-law of fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Five years ago, she started the FEED project, whose mission is to create products to feed the world.

"As a result, we have been able to give nearly 60 million school meals to kids around the world, along with vitamin A and micronutrient powder," said Bush Lauren. "For example, I have my FEED 1000 clutch here and for each one sold we will be able to give 1,000 school meals for kids around the world."

Congressman⁸ Chris Smith and the late Congressman Donald Payne received the group's Congressional Leadership Award for their work on human rights. Congressmen Smith said the world must do more to help refugees.

"We need to very robustly⁹ fund efforts and refugee camps, making sure that the food, cooking oil and other necessities are there. We need to be working with governments that are perpetrators of crimes to hold them to account, to mitigate¹⁰ the numbers of refugees," said Smith. "Countries like the United Stated need to do their fair share, which I think we do, but there is always room for improvement."

Some of Refugees International's board members are also well-known activists, like Queen Noor of Jordan and the event's master of ceremonies, actor Matt Dillon. 

Dillon has produced a documentary called "Enduring Struggle" to shed light on the struggles of people in South Sudan. He has also been involved in helping¹¹ refugees from Iraq and eastern Congo.

"What I find most moving is that the people who have the least are the most generous. And that always touches me," said Dillon.

Refugees International says the biggest refugees crisis areas in the world today, are Somalia - which impacts Kenya - Colombia - where one out of 10 Colombians is internally displaced - followed by Congo, Syria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. 

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

4 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

5 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

6 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

7 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。

8 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

9 robustly   

adv.要用体力地，粗鲁地

参考例句：

• These three hormones also robustly stimulated thymidine incorporation and inhibited drug-induced apoptosis. 并且这三种激素有利于胸（腺嘧啶脱氧核）苷掺入和抑制药物诱导的细胞凋亡。 来自互联网
• The economy is still growing robustly, but inflation, It'seems, is back. 经济依然强劲增长，但是通胀似乎有所抬头。 来自互联网

10 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。