College students in Ukraine prepare for their future during a threat from Russia

College students in Ukraine prepare for their future during a threat from Russia

Transcript¹

Students at Kyiv Mohyla Academy² long for peace but have emergency plans ready if Russia attacks Ukraine's capital.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

People here have a lot to be anxious about right now. More than 100,000 Russian troops are on the border. The U.S. is comparing the Russian threat with the Cold War, and volunteers are signing up to defend Ukrainian cities if need be. And on top of all that, there's a bad COVID-19 surge³ here. Now, imagine you're a college student living through all this. You're supposed to be free to explore, to dream about what you want your life to be. But that's a luxury⁴ right now.

ALINA SEMENOVA: It's pretty hard to plan when you're living next to Russia.

MARTIN: But a small group of students in Kyiv did make plans to meet us near their school, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, at a tiny place called the Vagabond Cafe.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: So if you - 'cause I can...

MARTIN: Inside, the walls are decorated with beat-up American license⁵ plates, and students balance their coffees and laptops on tiny tables. Our students make their way inside one at a time.

Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Good evening.

MARTIN: Good evening.

They are Daria Shevchenko (ph), Veronica Kukharchuk (ph) and Sofia Kehkuv (ph), all between the ages of 17 and 20, all from Kyiv. They're studying marketing⁶, human rights, international law. And just as they finish introducing themselves, a fourth young woman walks in. She peels off her coat and beanie cap and shakes out her blonde hair. She sits at the edge of the group, but then the others all urge her forward towards the microphone⁷.

SEMENOVA: I'm Lina (ph).

MARTIN: Lina, nice to meet you. Can you tell me your last name, Lina?

SEMENOVA: Semenova (ph) and I'm a second-year law student, so I study law, both national and international law as well.

MARTIN: And are you from Kyiv, like these guys?

SEMENOVA: I'm from Crimea. So, yes, I have a lot to share.

MARTIN: Russia annexed⁸ Crimea in 2014, so, yes, Alina Semenova has a lot to share. But when I ask how everyone is feeling about the current moment, it's Daria who speaks up while fidgeting in her chair.

DARIA SHEVCHENKO: I felt a little bit anxious. I use all these anxiety tricks, tricks that...

MARTIN: What's an...

SHEVCHENKO: Tricks that can help you with your....

MARTIN: Help you with your anxiety.

SHEVCHENKO: Yes. Yes. Yes.

MARTIN: What are your tricks?

SHEVCHENKO: For example, I ask a question, what can I do now? If I can do something, for example, to make international passport, I go and do this.

MARTIN: Like, keep occupied, keep busy.

SHEVCHENKO: Yes. Yes, not concentrate on this situation because it will be crazy.

VERONICA KUKHARCHUK: Well, I can relate. I'm Veronica. I can relate to...

MARTIN: This is Veronica here - curly⁹ haired, wearing a red sweatshirt and sneakers.

KUKHARCHUK: My family and I, we developed some kind of plan. We just discussed this thing because I think it's very important that we should not just only be reading this and know newspapers and posts and just panic over and over and over. But we should discuss it more calmly and develop some strategy¹⁰ and a lot of options - what to do if, for example, if Russia are really going to - is going to invade¹¹ Kyiv...

MARTIN: Alina said her mom called the other day, and there was something different in her voice.

SEMENOVA: Now she recorded the voice message to me yesterday, and she said, if you plan to, like, move around Ukraine - because I really travel a lot and I came from leave yesterday - she said, please keep your international passport with you because no one really knows what is going to happen. And this is what is - what scared me a lot yesterday because my mom never panicked, and she did yesterday.

MARTIN: Then the conversation shifts¹² away from this hypothetical war to the one that is actually happening in the east, where Russian-backed separatists took over in 2014 and are still fighting today. More than 10,000 people have died as a result. Sofia tells me about her friend in Luhansk whose apartment was destroyed by a bomb.

SOFIA KEHKUV: It's a big tragedy that the war is going for eight years, more than eight years, especially there. It's every day, every month, and we need to remember that it's all people. So it's the main problems that we can lose of our, like, nation.

MARTIN: Alina has already suffered that loss in a certain way. She was 12 years old when Russia took Crimea.

SEMENOVA: When all of this was happening, people and my classmates were coming up to, like, each other and say, who are you standing¹³ - like, who are you standing for - Ukraine or Russia? And people, they're, like, completely divided, and these are, like, 12 years old. But they were trying to tell us that nothing is going to happen, nothing is going to change. Maybe the flag outside the school is going to change, but, like, inside of the school, everything will stay the same. But it was a complete lie. We didn't have Ukrainian language and history in our curriculum¹⁴ no longer. And I used to be in an English-speaking class, and we had, like, American flag all over our room. And guess what? It was completely, like - I don't know how to say - it was painted all white. So, like, America is now the biggest, like, enemy of Russia and Ukraine as well...

MARTIN: Someone painted over the flag.

SEMENOVA: Yes, because, like, why would you have the symbol of the enemy country right in your class?

MARTIN: Alina's family is all still back in Crimea. But her world is broader now, and she's got a choice to make.

SEMENOVA: Whether I should stay here and - I don't know - pray or wait for my family to come here if anything happens. But they cannot, for example, transport all of my grandparents because they cannot physically¹⁵ move across the border between Russia and Ukraine. Or should I go there and be, like, on one side of whatever is going to happen, but to be with my family because I have no one, like, from my family in Kyiv or any other cities of Ukraine? So, like, what should I do right now?

MARTIN: And when Alina says this, it's clear she's speaking for all of them.

SEMENOVA: We all just want peace, and this is so simple. We want to wake up every morning and to know that we can plan in three weeks and not be sick by COVID and killed or occupied by any country.

MARTIN: And really, is that too much to ask?

(SOUNDBITE OF LIAM THOMAS' "BITTER FEELING")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 academy   

n.(高等)专科院校；学术社团，协会，研究院

参考例句：

• This is an academy of music.这是一所音乐专科学院。
• I visited Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday.我昨天去访问了中国科学院。

3 surge   

n.汹涌，澎湃；vi.汹涌，强烈感到，飞涨；vt.放开，松手

参考例句：

• The surge travelled southwards along the coast.浪涛沿着海岸向南涌去。
• It failed to stimulate a surge of investment in industry.这没有能刺激工业投资的激增。

4 luxury   

n.难得享受到的愉悦；奢侈，奢华的生活

参考例句：

• He invited me to his suite. The luxury takes your breath away.他请我到他的套房里去，那豪华的气派真会令你吃惊。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods.政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。

5 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 microphone   

n.扩音器，麦克风，话筒

参考例句：

• He gave a tap at the microphone before speaking.他在讲话前先轻叩了一下扩音器。
• She behaved naturally before the microphone.她在话筒前表现自然。

8 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

9 curly   

adj.卷曲的，卷缩的

参考例句：

• The little boy has curly hair.这小男孩长着一头卷发。
• She is tall and dark with curly hair.她高高的个子，黑皮肤，卷头发。

10 strategy   

n.方法，策略，战略

参考例句：

• The only way to take the enemy position is by strategy,not by forceful attack.只可智取，不可强攻。
• Tactics differs from strategy.战术有别于战略。

11 invade   

v.侵略，侵犯；闯入，侵扰

参考例句：

• I don't want to invade your private life unnecessarily.我不想过多地干涉你的私生活。
• He ordered the army to invade at dawn.他命令军队在拂晓入侵。

12 shifts   

n.转换( shift的名词复数 )；切换键；（汽车等的）变速；更换v.改变( shift的第三人称单数 )；去掉；摆脱掉；换挡

参考例句：

• The action of the novel shifts from Paris to London. 小说情节从巴黎移到了伦敦。
• I work split shifts in a busy restaurant. 我在一家繁忙的餐馆上间隔班。

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 curriculum   

n.课程，（学校等的）全部课程

参考例句：

• Is German on your school's curriculum?你们学校有德语课吗？
• The English curriculum should stress both composition and reading.英语课程对作文和阅读应同样重视。

15 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。