美国国家公共电台 NPR Bombs In Baby Food Jars Are Just One Part of Colombia's Land Mine Problem

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

In Colombia, a decades-long conflict between FARC guerrillas and the government might be officially over. But the country still grapples with a nasty legacy¹ of that war - landmines³. Farmers are afraid to return to some fields. Parents worry about children stumbling into hidden explosives. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports how mines continue to cast a pall⁴ over daily life there.

JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE⁵: Kevin Canas Quitumbo was 13 years old when shrapnel from a landmine² ripped through his left leg, up his torso and all the way to the back of his skull⁶. He's 18 years old now, and doctors are still working to repair the damage.

KEVIN CANAS QUITUMBO: (Through Interpreter) In January and February, I have to go back. The doctors are going to put additional metal rods in my foot.

BEAUBIEN: Canas lives in the southwestern Colombian region of Cauca. He was at a protest for indigenous⁷ rights with a group of friends from school when he stepped on the mine. The boys wanted to get to the front of the march, so they ran off the main road to cut to the head of the rally.

CANAS: (Through interpreter) After the accident, I was in the hospital for four months.

BEAUBIEN: He was in a coma⁸ and had infections in several parts of his body. It's not clear who planted the mine that exploded under Canas. But more than 50 years of fighting between heavily armed, well-financed rebels and the government has left mines strewn all over Colombia. According to government statistics, more than 11,000 people in Colombia have been injured by landmines over the last decade. Nearly 2,300 of those blasts were fatal.

For Kevin Canas, the damage from the mine goes far beyond his physical wounds. The months in the hospital set him back significantly at school. He now works days on a construction site and is trying to finish high school at night. The explosion, he says, also killed his boyhood dream.

CANAS: (Through interpreter) The hardest thing is that I can't go back to playing soccer.

BEAUBIEN: He still avidly⁹ supports Atletico Nacional, a professional team in Medellin. But he walks with a significant limp and struggles to fully¹⁰ straighten his left leg.

Since the peace accord with the FARC was signed last year, efforts are ramping¹¹ up to clear what could be tens of thousands of landmines that still litter the Colombian countryside. Handicap International is one of the groups setting up de-mining teams. Currently a team from the nonprofit is clearing a suspected minefield in the town of La Venta, not far from where Canas lives. Aderito Ismael, who heads up de-mining for Handicap International in Colombia, says the time period right after a peace deal is often one of the most dangerous when it comes to landmines.

ADERITO ISMAEL: When they were finished, the number of accidents seems to be increasing because people just go back for new land or land that they don't have knowledge about.

BEAUBIEN: He's originally from Mozambique and has seen this happen in many post-conflict zones around the world.

(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE RUNNING)

BEAUBIEN: Near a busy road in La Venta, the Handicap International de-miners in bulky blast-proof suits are methodically removing the top five inches of dirt from an overgrown lot. Two years ago, a man was injured by an explosive here, and this team found another bomb buried in the soil. Maria Yolanda Mosqueda, who lives across the street from the lot, says the place terrifies her and she wouldn't risk walking through there.

MARIA YOLANDA MOSQUEDA: (Speaking Spanish).

BEAUBIEN: "Before the lot was fenced off, kids used to cut through it on their way to school. Once this patch of land is finally declared mine-free," Mosqueda says, "it will be as if a weight is lifted from the whole community."

Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Cauca, Colombia.

(SOUNDBITE OF AROVANE AND HIOR CHRONIK'S "EIN KLEINES LIED")

1 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

2 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

3 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

4 pall   

v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕

参考例句：

• Already the allure of meals in restaurants had begun to pall.饭店里的饭菜已经不像以前那样诱人。
• I find his books begin to pall on me after a while.我发觉他的书读过一阵子就开始对我失去吸引力。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

7 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

8 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

9 avidly   

adv.渴望地，热心地

参考例句：

• She read avidly from an early age—books, magazines, anything. 她从小就酷爱阅读——书籍、杂志，无不涉猎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her melancholy eyes avidly scanned his smiling face. 她说话时两只忧郁的眼睛呆呆地望着他的带笑的脸。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

11 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？