VOA标准英语2014--IRC: Be Generous to South Sudan

 

IRC: Be Generous to South Sudan

In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, a displaced South Sudanese woman carries a plastic jerry can with water in the United Nations camp that has become home to thousands of displaced people in Malakal, South Sudan. (AP Photo/Ilya Gridneff)

In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, a displaced South Sudanese woman carries a plastic jerry can with water in the United Nations camp that has become home to thousands of displaced people in Malakal, South Sudan. (AP Photo/Ilya Gridneff)

Representatives from donor¹ countries begin meeting in Oslo Tuesday to decide how much aid to give to South Sudan. The meeting follows more than five months of conflict in the country. The International Rescue is calling on donors² to be generous to help relieve rising malnutrition³, especially among children.

IRC’s Ciaran Donnelly said a lot of money is needed for South Sudan, and it’s needed now.

“The United Nations [is] calling for $1.8 billion of funding to be allocated⁴ to this crisis. That’s $1.26 billion on top of $500 million plus that’s already been allocated. That seems like a lot of money. But in terms of the needs that we’re facing in South Sudan -- both the urgent humanitarian⁵ needs right now, as well as the investments needed to prevent a famine over the coming nine months or so -- that really is bare bones, nuts and bolts programming.”

Donnelly -- the NGO’s vice-president for program quality -- said humanitarian conditions in South Sudan have grown worse.

“We’re seeing a situation that has continued to deteriorate⁶ since the outbreak of fighting last December. We’re at a situation right now where we have 1.3 million displaced – 300,000 plus of those people are outside the country. And we have up to a million people displaced within the country living in really appalling⁷ conditions – some of them concentrated on U.N. bases. Many of them have fled to neighboring counties,” he said.

It’s only going to get more difficult to deliver aid.

Donnelley said, “We’re entering the rainy season and seeing a really worrying, concerning situation as far as food security goes, where we’re seeing acute malnutrition rates spiking⁸ in hard to reach areas. We’re struggling to get food and supplies into many of those areas – not just the IRC, but the humanitarian community as a whole. And we’re really very concerned about what the next several months hold.”

The IRC conducted surveys last month in Aweil South and Panyijiar counties and found malnutrition rates among young children of around 30 percent. It said those levels are double what the World Health Organization considers critical.

Donnelley added that children are being recruited as soldiers and women and girls are being sexually assaulted by both sides.

“One of the key messages for the donor conference here in Oslo over the next couple of days is that urgent action is needed to avert⁹ the loss of another generation of South Sudanese children,” he said.

The International Rescue Committee has worked in South Sudan for several decades. Among other things, it provides emergency health services, counsels survivors¹⁰ of sexual violence, supports programs for children and provides assistance to refugees and the internally displaced.

The IRC is encouraged by the recent agreement establishing a month of tranquility in the country. But said success in providing assistance depends on gaining access to all parts of South Sudan.

1 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

2 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》

3 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

4 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

5 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。

6 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

7 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

8 spiking   

n.尖峰形成v.加烈酒于( spike的现在分词 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。 来自辞典例句
• We could be spiking our own guns. 我们可能要遭到失败。 来自辞典例句

9 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

10 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者