49 首届世界难民日

First World Refugee Day

Lisa Schlein

Geneva

20 Jun 2001 17:10 UTC

The U.N. Refugee Agency is urging countries around the world to keep their borders open to 1)asylum 1 seekers. In marking the first World 2)Refugee Day, the UNHCR says it hopes governments will do more to assist people forced from their homes.

The U.N. refugee agency says more than 21 million people have fled their homes. But, while refugee numbers are increasing, the agency says support for these people is under 3)unprecedented 4)strain.

U.N. High Commissioner 2 for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers says countries are increasingly 5)reluctant to give asylum to refugees. He says there is a tendency in rich and poor countries alike to close their borders to people fleeing for their lives. "This tendency of closing, 6)excluding people in a way, is globalizing today," Mr. Ludders said. "So, this worries me a lot. We see this in Africa, too. Although there is still a fantastic 7)generosity 3 and 8)hospitality for big numbers of refugees, it is also true that you see more and more 9)tendencies of countries that say enough is enough and now we close [the borders]."

Mr. Lubbers says shutting the door to genuine refugees is against international refugee law. The U.N. refugee agency reports the worst single refugee problem is in Afghanistan. Most of the more than 3.5 million Afghan refugees are living in neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

Other countries with serious problems are in Angola, Congo, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.

Asia as a whole has the greatest number of refugees and internally displaced people, followed by Europe and Africa.

Mr. Lubbers says the biggest refugee burden falls on poor countries. Yet, he says, it is the rich countries that complain the most. "One should not complain in the rich countries about all those refugees," he says, "if one has not the generosity to fund projects, to find 10)solutions there. So there is a connection for me between the lack of generosity to go for the solutions and the problem of some countries closing their borders, which is of course not acceptable."

Mr. Lubbers says the UNHCR cannot properly protect and 11)assist the millions of refugees under its care without more political and financial support. The agency, which says it is 12)plagued by funding shortages, has been forced to reduce staff and cut operations in Africa, Central Asia and Latin America.

(1) asylum[E5saIlEm]n.庇护, 收容所, 救济院, 精神病院

(2) refugee[refjJ:5dVi:; (?@) 5refjJdVi:]n.难民, 流亡者

(3) unprecedented[Qn5presIdentId]adj.空前的

(4) strain[streIn]n.过度的疲劳, 紧张vt.扭伤, 损伤v.拉紧, 扯紧

(5) reluctant[rI5lQktEnt]adj.不顾的, 勉强的

(6) exclude[Ik5sklu:d]vt.拒绝接纳, 把...排除在外, 排斥

(7) generosity[dVenE5rRsItI]n.慷慨, 宽大

(8) hospitality[9hCspI`tAlEtI]n.好客, 宜人, 盛情

(9) tendency[5tendEnsI]n.趋向, 倾向

(10) solution[sE5lu:F(E)n]n.解答, 解决办法

(11) assist[E5sIst]v.援助, 帮助

(12) plague[pleI^]n.瘟疫, 麻烦, 苦恼vt.折磨, 使苦恼