[ti:A Race Against Time to Get Help to Haitians]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:05.36]in VOA Special English.
[00:08.62]Food. Water. Medicine. Hope.
[00:12.77]All that and more
[00:14.46]is urgently needed
[00:16.10]after a powerful
[00:17.59]earthquake wrecked
[00:19.04]much of Haiti's capital
[00:20.79]on Tuesday.
[00:22.64]Bodies lay in the streets
[00:24.86]of Port-au-Prince.
[00:26.19]Some estimates are
[00:27.84]as high as
[00:28.60]one hundred thousand dead.
[00:31.01]Each passing hour
[00:32.90]cuts the chances of survival
[00:35.04]for the trapped and untreated.
[00:38.11]Other countries moved quickly
[00:40.76]to send rescuers and supplies.
[00:43.52]But the airport is damaged
[00:46.01]and crowded with planes.
[00:48.50]The main seaport was also damaged.
[00:51.98]Blocked roads and
[00:54.18]limited communications
[00:55.87]have only further
[00:57.63]slowed aid efforts.
[00:59.62]Anger is a growing concern.
[01:02.61]President Obama
[01:04.65]announced an immediate
[01:06.34]one hundred million dollars
[01:08.24]for relief efforts.
[01:10.33]Thousands of American troops
[01:12.86]should be in the area by Monday.
[01:15.92]An aircraft carrier and
[01:18.68]more helicopters arrived Friday,
[01:21.72]and a hospital ship
[01:23.61]is expected by the end of next week.
[01:26.80]People have donated millions
[01:29.36]of dollars through text messages
[01:31.84]to the Red Cross and other aid groups.
[01:35.50]But the public was warned
[01:37.91]to be careful of false appeals.
[01:40.97]Haiti is the poorest nation
[01:43.96]in the western half of the world.
[01:46.55]The former French colony
[01:49.05]in the Caribbean has a history
[01:51.40]of political violence
[01:53.17]and natural disasters.
[01:55.83]Yet before this week,
[01:57.98]there were signs of promise
[01:59.98]of better times ahead
[02:01.82]for its nine million people.
[02:04.46]On Friday, the United Nations
[02:07.35]made an emergency appeal
[02:09.45]for more than half a billion dollars.
[02:12.60]Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said
[02:15.89]many of the three million people
[02:18.72]in the Port-au-Prince area lack food,
[02:21.88]water, shelter and electricity.
[02:25.30]"A major humanitarian effort
[02:27.19]is now well underway.
[02:29.13]Although it is inevitably slower
[02:31.85]and more difficult than
[02:34.26]any of us would wish,
[02:35.81]we are mobilizing all resources
[02:40.00]as fast as we possibly can."
[02:43.44]Ban Ki-moon also said
[02:44.94]he will visit Haiti "very soon."
[02:47.73]President Obama spoke Friday
[02:50.48]by phone with Haiti's
[02:52.38]President Rene Preval,
[02:54.32]who himself lost his home
[02:56.56]in the quake.
[02:58.25]"I pledged America's
[02:59.46]continued commitment
[03:00.63]to the government and the people
[03:02.09]of Haiti in the immediate effort
[03:04.06]to save lives and deliver relief
[03:05.90]and in the long-term effort to rebuild.
[03:08.74]President Pr¨¦val and I
[03:12.66]agreed that it is absolutely essential
[03:14.40]that these efforts
[03:15.27]are well coordinated
[03:16.28]among the United States
[03:17.48]and the government of Haiti;
[03:18.76]with the United Nations,
[03:20.10]which continues to play
[03:21.61]a central role;
[03:22.56]and with the many
[03:23.70]international partners
[03:24.55]and aid organizations
[03:25.64]that are now on the ground."
[03:27.30]The new head of the
[03:29.09]United States Agency
[03:30.30]for International Development
[03:32.07]is supervising the American
[03:34.36]disaster relief.
[03:36.16]Rajiv Shah became administrator
[03:38.90]of USAID earlier this month.
[03:42.17]He is a trained medical doctor
[03:45.01]and an agricultural expert.
[03:47.77]He held top jobs at the Department
[03:50.67]of Agriculture and the Bill
[03:52.62]and Melinda Gates Foundation.
[03:55.21]Doctor Shah is the thirty-six
[03:58.05]year old son of Indian immigrants.
[04:01.19]USAID had been without
[04:03.99]a leader for almost a year,
[04:06.18]raising concerns about its future.
[04:08.92]The agency has changed
[04:11.31]over the years
[04:12.80]-- it now does its work largely
[04:15.29]through private contractors.
[04:17.78]The Obama administration
[04:20.27]wants to raise development
[04:22.41]to the same level of importance
[04:24.99]as defense and diplomacy.
[04:28.24]Rajiv Shah says he plans
[04:30.58]to hire more experts.
[04:32.72]USAID now provides
[04:35.41]twenty billion dollars a year
[04:38.05]to development projects
[04:39.69]around the world.
[04:41.59]The plan is to increase that
[04:44.22]to fifty billion a year
[04:46.67]by two thousand twelve.
[04:48.88]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:51.39]in VOA Special English.
[04:54.35]I'm Steve Ember.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
ENTER NUMBET 0015yrgmgj.com.cn
www.akoo.org.cn
www.5352153.com.cn
www.chigger.com.cn
www.biyejob.com.cn
www.sxdata.net.cn
zhangluyang.com.cn
tazg.com.cn
www.11yy.com.cn
www.scjsx.com.cn