PBS高端访谈:联合国已经获悉了关于全世界难民危机的警报
时间:2019-01-27 作者:英语课 分类:PBS访谈社会系列
英语课
JUDY WOODRUFF: We take a closer look now at the world's surging refugee problem, which the United Nations point person on the issue calls a mega-crisis.
He spoke 1 to chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner earlier today.
MARGARET WARNER: For nearly a decade, Antonio Guterres has overseen 2 the U.N. High Commission for Refugees' far-flung operations around the world. Recently, his agency issued a staggering new report. There are now more than 51 million people worldwide who are refugees or displaced in their own lands, more than any time since World War II.
The conflict in Syria, and now in Iraq, makes up more a quarter of that toll 4, as millions seek refuge in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Northern Iraq. Guterres is in Washington this week to spread the alarm.
I spoke with him today at the UNHCR's Washington office.
High Commissioner 5 Guterres, thank you for having us.
You have been at this job for nine years. Is this worst you have ever seen in terms of displacement 6?
ANTONIO GUTERRES, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Undoubtedly 7. And I think things will get worse, before eventually they will start to get better.
We are seeing a multiplication 8 of new crises, a mega-crisis in Syria, old crises that go on and on and on, and all this reflects the lack of capacity of the international community to prevent conflicts and to timely solve them.
MARGARET WARNER: Now, many respected research institutions and even President Obama said recently, if you look back over the decades, there are actually fewer armed conflicts in the world than there used to be and fewer people killed in armed conflicts. If that's the case, why are we seeing more displaced people?
ANTONIO GUTERRES: We are witnessing different forms of fighting.
In the past, we had wars between two states or between a state and a rebel group. Now we have conflicts with a multiplicity of actors, national forces, international forces, ethnic 9 militias 11, religious militias, rebel groups, bandits. Banditism has been benefiting from this chaos 12.
Sometimes, is a bandit in the morning and member of a militia 10 in the afternoon, which means that the impact on civilian 13 populations is much larger than the impact of classical conflicts of the past.
MARGARET WARNER: And they're also less controllable by political leaders then.
ANTONIO GUTERRES: Well, I think political leaders have this impression that they can trigger a conflict, because, as the international community today, we live in a world without a global governance system. But we also live in a world where power relations became unclear.
So political leaders feel that there is an environment of impunity 14. And there is also an environment of unpredictability. And they think that they can trigger a war and go on with that war. Let's see what's happening in South Sudan. And then the humanitarians 16 will come and clean the mess.
The truth is that we no longer have the capacity to clean up the mess.
MARGARET WARNER: Now, when you say the humanitarian 15 structure can't deal with it, are you talking about both your own agency and NGO's and all these neighboring countries that all are involved in this?
ANTONIO GUTERRES: Look at Lebanon. One-third of the Lebanese population now is foreigner, Syrian refugees, Palestinian refugees. Can you imagine the impact on the economy, on the society, schools, hospitals, infrastructure 17, water, electricity?
Lebanese poor people competing for jobs with Syrians, and they're ready to work for whatever price. So salaries are going down, prices and rents going up, a huge impact. The same in Jordan, the same in the northern part of Iraq. There is no way the international community is supporting these countries as they need.
MARGARET WARNER: Let's talk about Syria and Iraq. Winter is approaching — in fact, winter is here in some parts in — in the higher elevations 18. Your agency has said you're $58 million shortfall I think just to get through this — the end of this year.
What are you going to do? I mean, how are you going to choose who to help? You can't help everyone.
ANTONIO GUTERRES: Well, we are moving money as much as we can from all kinds of savings 19 everywhere to be able to increase our capacity locally.
We are asking other partners to enhance their efforts. But, indeed, it's an enormously challenging situation. People think that, in the Middle East, it's warm, but it's not. In winter, some of these areas are very cold. They have negative temperatures, snow, floods. And people can suffer tremendously, because many of them have very precarious 20 shelter.
MARGARET WARNER: But will you have to essentially 21 ration 3 care?
ANTONIO GUTERRES: We are trying to avoid it at all costs.
Last year, it was possible outside Syria, for the refugees outside Syria to avoid any casualty due to cold temperatures or bad weather. Inside Syria, unfortunately, the capacity to deliver is much more limited, even for security reasons.
I hope we will be able to do the same this year, but now we have an additional problem in Iraq. And, as you know, most of the refugees are in Kurdistan. And in Kurdistan, you have also very, very low temperatures and a very harsh winter.
MARGARET WARNER: Now, what is the impact of all of this, both on the refugees themselves and the wider world, if these funding needs aren't addressed, for starters?
ANTONIO GUTERRES: Well, first of all, that means an enormous amount of suffering for the people.
But there is another dimension. I believe what we do is important for humanitarian reasons, but we are dealing 22 with a world in which these crises are not only humanitarian crises. They are also threats to regional peace and stability. You have fighters from all over the world in the region. One day, they will go back. And we can imagine the risks that correspond to that.
So, to support these populations and to support the local communities to avoid that people feel abandoned, frustrated 23, angry is absolutely essential also to help stabilize 24 the area and to help avoid what could be the creation of an environment that would facilitate the life of those radical 25 groups. And so that is why it's so important to bring development factors and to think out of the box on how to fund humanitarian emergencies in the world.
MARGARET WARNER: And so if the answer is to think outside of the box, you have been traveling around to all these Western capitals, trying to raise this alarm, what more can the West do, other than write bigger checks?
You say that nub of this is, you have got these conflicts that start. And once they start, they just rage on and on and on. Is there a role for the international community in resolving some of these?
ANTONIO GUTERRES: Yes. But, unfortunately, you see the Security Council paralyzed. And as the power relations are not clear, people feel sentiments of impunity and they go on doing what they are doing.
We need an international community able to come together to forget about the differences, contradictions, the different perspectives, and to understand that in the wars of today, nobody is winning, everybody's losing.
And I hope that the divisions that we are witnessing, sometimes the memory of the Cold War divisions, the Sunni-Shia divides, I think these are much less important than the threats that today are there and that are serious threats for everybody everywhere.
MARGARET WARNER: High Commissioner Antonio Guterres, thank you so much.
ANTONIO GUTERRES: Thank you very much.
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
- They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
- The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
v.监督,监视( oversee的过去分词 )
- He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
- It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网
n.定量(pl.)给养,口粮;vt.定量供应
- The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
- We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。
n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟)
- The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
- The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。
n.(政府厅、局、处等部门)专员,长官,委员
- The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
- He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。
n.移置,取代,位移,排水量
- 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。
adv.确实地,无疑地
- It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
- He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。
n.增加,增多,倍增;增殖,繁殖;乘法
- Our teacher used to drum our multiplication tables into us.我们老师过去老是让我们反覆背诵乘法表。
- The multiplication of numbers has made our club building too small.会员的增加使得我们的俱乐部拥挤不堪。
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的
- This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
- The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
n.民兵,民兵组织
- First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面,其次是民兵。
- There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。
n.民兵组织,民兵( militia的名词复数 )
- The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
- The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网
n.混乱,无秩序
- After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
- The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的
- There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
- He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。
n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除
- You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
- The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。
n.人道主义者,博爱者,基督凡人论者
- 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。
n.慈善家( humanitarian的名词复数 )
- 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
n.下部构造,下部组织,基础结构,基础设施
- We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
- We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设,发展各类群众文化。
(水平或数量)提高( elevation的名词复数 ); 高地; 海拔; 提升
- Weight of the crust changes as elevations are eroded and materials are deposited elsewhere. 当高地受到侵蚀,物质沉积到别的地方时,地壳的重量就改变。
- All deck elevations are on the top of structural beams. 所有甲板标高线均指结构梁顶线。
n.存款,储蓄
- I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
- By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的
- Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
- He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家,他过得是朝不保夕的生活。
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
- Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
- She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
n.经商方法,待人态度
- This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
- His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
- It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
- The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
vt.(使)稳定,使稳固,使稳定平衡;vi.稳定
- They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
- His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。