VOA常速英语2018--联合国试图调停也门战乱

Nearly four years into the Yemen conflict, an attempt at brokering¹ peace with the parties meeting in a castle outside the Swedish capital Stockholm since December 6th. Expectations have been modest for this first round of talks between Yemen’s government and the Houthi rebels, but there has been some progress. The parties are reportedly close to agreement on several issues, including the reopening of Sanna Airport, easing fighting and the heavily populated cities of Thais and Hodeida as well as a package of economic measures.

也门战争打了近4年，这时候，各方尝试达成和平协议，并在瑞典首都斯德哥尔摩外的一座城堡里会晤，时间是12月6日。各方对也门政府与胡塞叛军的第一轮会谈没报太大希望，但还是颇有些进展的。据报道，双方本来在多个议题上就要达成协议了，比如重开Sanna机场、减少人口密集城市的冲突（如Thais和Hodeida）以及一系列经济举措。

On Tuesday, an agreement was reached to exchange 15,000 prisoners from both sides by January 20th. Assistant UN secretary-general for Human Rights Andrew Gilmore who recently traveled to Yemen says detention² conditions there are unspeakable. He welcomed news of the prisoner exchange. But not just in terms of the mitigating³ the suffering of those people held in terrible conditions of detention, but also as a confidence-building measure that could have a political knock-on effect. Gilmour met mothers who showed him photos of their boys tortured bodies. From what we know of their many reports, we’ve heard there is no party that holds people in captivity⁴ that isn’t guilty of some forms of torture. The fighting between the Saudi-backed government of exiled President Abdul Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Iranians supported Houthi rebels has devastated⁵ Yemen’s economy, and left more than 12 million people on the brink⁶ of famine. The UN has asked donors⁷ for four billion dollars next year to help alleviate⁸ the suffering.

周二达成了一项协议，旨在交换1.5万名双方俘虏，时限要求是在1月20日之前。联合国秘书长负责人权的助理安德鲁·吉尔摩最近来到了也门。他表示也门的拘禁条件苦不堪言。他对战俘交换的事情大为赞赏。但不只可以缓解被拘禁人的悲惨境况，此举也可以构建信心，会产生政治上的连锁反应。吉尔摩见到了一些母亲，这些母亲给他看了自己儿子因受折磨而遍体鳞伤的照片。根据我们对许多报道的了解，双方都拘禁了犯人，而且都对犯人有过类似的虐待。冲突发生在由沙特支持的也门政府（其总统阿卜杜勒·拉布·曼苏尔·哈迪已被流放）与伊朗支持的胡塞叛军之间。他们的冲突让也门经济遭遇重创，也让1200多万人将要面临饥荒。联合国请捐献国明年捐助40亿美元，以助力减轻人民的苦难。

Humanitarians⁹ classify levels of food, insecurity, and the bulk of the country is considered an emergency phase for crisis. But UN humanitarian¹⁰ chief Mark Lacock says there are now 250,000 people at the worst level, phase five. We have never before documented people in phase five in the food crisis in Yemen, and those people are concentrated overwhelmingly in four districts, Ties, Sadder, Hajja and Whodata which are all districts where the conflict is raging quite intensely.

人道主义者将缺粮程度和安全等级进行了划分后认为，也门的大部分地区都处于危机的紧急阶段。但联合国人道救援事务负责人马克·拉科克表示，目前有25万人处于最糟糕的第五阶段。以前，也门就算发生粮食危机，也从未有第五阶段的情况记录在案。而处于第五阶段的人们主要分布在4个地区，即Ties、Sadder、Hajja 和Hodeida。这些地方的冲突都十分激烈。

Only in South Sudan as anyone in Phase Five, said Lacock, twenty-five thousand people there fall into this dire¹¹ category. So there are ten times as many people now in Yemen in phase five as in any other place in the world, and we’ve never had a phase five problem in Yemen before. The United Nations hopes to end the suffering with a permanent ceasefire. The special envoy¹² plans to convene¹³ a second round of intra Yemeni talks early next year in an effort to keep the momentum¹⁴ for peace and alive.

拉科克表示，只有在南苏丹的人处于第五阶段，那里有2.5万人处于悲惨的第五阶段。所以，也门现在处于第五阶段的人数是其他地方的10倍，而也门以前从未有处于第五阶段的人。联合国希望通过永久停火的方式来结束人们的痛苦。特使计划明年年初再举行第二轮也门内部会谈，旨在保持和谈不熄火。

1 brokering   

v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的现在分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• Intertwined with these were rivalry, power brokering, and patronage. 然而也不乏有抗争、强权操纵与任命特权交织其中。 来自互联网
• Kingston Quest Can Assist Your Company In Negotiations, Brokering, Agency Services, Sourcing Factories Or Property. 金士顿追求，可帮助您的公司在谈判中，经纪，代理服务，货源工厂或财产。 来自互联网

2 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

3 mitigating   

v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Are there any mitigating circumstances in this case ? 本案中是否有任何情况可以减轻被告的罪行？ 来自辞典例句
• A sentencing judge is required to consider any mitigating circumstances befor imposing the death penalty. 在处死刑之前，要求量刑法官必须考虑是否有任何减轻罪行之情节。 来自口语例句

4 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

5 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

6 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

7 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》

8 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

9 humanitarians   

n.慈善家( humanitarian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finally, humanitarians saw it as a means of helping to feed the hungry of the world. 人道主义者把这一计划看成是为世界上那些忍饥挨饿的人提供粮食的一项措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• All humanitarians fought against slavery. 所有人道主义者都为反对奴隶制而斗争过。 来自互联网

10 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。

11 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

12 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

13 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

14 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。