彭蒙惠英语：Demining Cambodia by Hand

Demining Cambodia by Hand

By Karen J. Coates

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When Aki Ra was five years old, the Khmer Rouge¹ killed his parents. At age 10, Aki Ra got his first gun, an AK-47, and he learned to plant landmines³, fire rockets and make bombs. By 18, Aki Ra had fought for three armies—the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese and the Cambodian government— all enemies, each pitting Aki Ra against former friends and relatives. He did what was necessary to stay alive.

 

Every day was the same: “Go to fight, lay mines, kill.”

 

But now, this brave Cambodian risks his life to undo⁴ his past. Before Cambodia’s 1993 elections, the United Nations (UN) asked Aki Ra to help demine the country. He knew where the mines were, he knew the language, and he knew the culture of war. The UN offered Aki Ra a chance at peace, and he took it. For the first time, he saw life outside his ravaged⁶ existence. He saw the town of Siem Reap with its concrete homes, so different from the thatch⁷ and bamboo he knew. He was dazzled by paved streets, cars, electric lights, toilets and people of all kinds.

 

“No war. We had good food.” He realized life could be good, too.

 

Ra carries on

 

When the UN left in 1994, Aki Ra kept on, determined⁸ to disarm⁹ his country step by step. “I now work solely¹⁰ for the people of Cambodia,” he writes in his autobiography¹¹, which he sells for $3 to help fund his work. He runs a museum, raises orphans¹², educates the world about landmines, and faces danger every time he steps into Cambodia’s fields.

 

More than 4 million mines remain in Cambodian soil, according to the London group Adopt-A-Minefield. Half of all Cambodian villages reportedly have mines in and around them. Villagers can’t wait for trained deminers, so they try to clear their lands alone.

 

It’s extremely dangerous work. Landmines still kill and maim¹³ more than 60 Cambodians a month. “For us, the horror is not yet over,” Aki Ra writes.

 

Vocabulary Focus

plant (v) [plB:nt] to put something secretly in a particular place

pit against (idiom) to cause one person, group or thing to fight against or be in competition with another

ravage⁵ (v) [5rAvidV] to cause great damage to something

maim (v) [meim] to injure a person so severely¹⁴ that a part of his or her body no longer works or is completely missing

 

Specialized¹⁵ Terms

demine (v) 扫除地雷 to remove bombs hidden in the ground that explode when touched

landmine² (n) 地雷 a bomb placed on or under the ground that explodes when a person steps on it or a vehicle drives over it

 

徒手为柬埔寨清除地雷

张梵 译

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阿基·拉5岁时，父母遭柬共军队杀害，10岁得到生命中的第一把AK-47步枪、学会埋设地雷、发射火箭弹及制造炸弹。他18岁时，已曾为柬共、越南及柬埔寨政府等3支军队效命。这些都是敌军部队，迫使阿基·拉必须与之前的朋友及亲戚敌对作战。为求生存，他什么都做。

每日都是如此：“战争、埋设地雷、杀戮。”

但如今，这名勇敢的柬埔寨人冒着生命危险，企图扭转过去。联合国于柬埔寨1993年选举前，请求阿基·拉及其它退役军人协助清除当地的地雷。这些军人知道地雷埋设何处，并熟悉当地语言及战争文化。联合国提供阿基·拉一个过太平生活的机会，阿基·拉也接受了。这是他第一次见识毁灭性生存方式之外的生活。阿基·拉看到暹粒镇的混凝土房屋，这与他所熟悉的茅屋竹屋截然不同。柏油的路面、车辆、电灯、厕所及各式各样的人，都令他赞叹不已。

“没有战争，我们吃得不错。”他了解了生命也可以美好。

 

努力不懈

当联合国人员于1994年撤离柬埔寨时，阿基·拉依旧努力不懈，决心逐步解除家园的地雷危机。他在自传中写道：“我现在完全为柬埔寨人工作。”自传每本售价3美元，资助他的工作。他同时经营一家博物馆、收养孤儿、向全世界宣换地雷的危害，而且在每次踏入地雷区时，都面临生命危险。

伦敦反地雷慈善团体“认养地雷区”资料显示，柬埔寨仍遗留逾400万枚地雷。半数柬埔寨村落里或其周围，据报均埋有地雷。由于当地居民无法等待受过训练的除雷人员，因此便尝试自己动手。

排雷工作非常危险，柬埔寨每月仍有逾60人因误触地雷而丧生或残废。阿基·拉写道：“对我们而言，恐惧尚未结束。”

 

1 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

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 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

5 ravage   

vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废

参考例句：

• Just in time to watch a plague ravage his village.恰好目睹了瘟疫毁灭了他的村庄。
• For two decades the country has been ravaged by civil war and foreign intervention.20年来，这个国家一直被内战外侵所蹂躏。

6 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

7 thatch   

vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋)

参考例句：

• They lit a torch and set fire to the chapel's thatch.他们点着一支火把，放火烧了小教堂的茅草屋顶。
• They topped off the hut with a straw thatch. 他们给小屋盖上茅草屋顶。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

10 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

11 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

12 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

13 maim   

v.使残废，使不能工作，使伤残

参考例句：

• Automobile accidents maim many people each year. 汽车车祸每年使许多人残废。
• These people kill and maim innocent civilians.这些人杀死和残害无辜平民。

14 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

15 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。