VOA慢速英语2014 红色高棉领导人获刑

 

With Sentencing of Khmer Rouge¹ Leaders, Memories Return 红色高棉领导人获刑

The recent court decision and sentencing of two aging Khmer Rouge leaders holds deep personal meaning for survivors³ of the 1970s genocide in Cambodia.

Two of these survivors shared their stories with VOA after the former Cambodian head of state, Khieu Samphan and party official Nuon Chea were found guilty.  The men were sentenced to life in prison. Their crimes included murder and political  persecution or oppression. 

Samphan is 83 years old and Chea is 88.

A court supported by the United Nations announced the judgment⁴.  It came more than 30 years after rule by the Communist group resulted in the death of a quarter of the population of Cambodia.  Some estimates say more than one and one-half million people died as a result of Khmer Rouge actions between 1975 and 1979.

Reasey Poch serves as an editor in the Khmer Service of VOA.  He said he was seven or eight years old when he and his family were evacuated⁵ – or removed - from Phnom Penh in 1975.  He compared it to a terrible dream. 

“It’s horrible, it’s a nightmare. Sometimes I still have that nightmare after so many years.”  

To gain cooperation, the Khmer Rouge told people they had to leave home because the United States might bomb Phnom Penh.  At the time, the U.S. was involved in the Vietnam War. 

The Cambodian leadership, the Khmer Rouge, told people in Phnom Penh and other areas that they would return home after three days.  Instead, they were continually forced toward rural areas.  Mr. Poch said the Khmer Rouge never explained where they were going.  Instead, they just kept pushed the people to keep moving.

“Once we were out of the city limits, then we realized there was no way we were going to turn back. So word spreads. And nobody told us anything. “

Currency lost its value during their evacuation. The Communist government had canceled use of money.  He remembers that people traded gold and jewelry⁶ -- and anything of material value. 

“There’s no way to buy food, so what you did was you bartered⁸.  So, you have a watch, you barter⁷ for rice.  So, you negotiate the amount, and that’s how you get the food.”

Reasey Poch said he saw no executions.  But he saw people die every day of hunger and disease.  His younger brother and sister died of the intestinal⁹ disease diarrhea that could have been treated.  But no medicine or hospital was available. 

The young boy helped his father bury them.  And much later under Khmer Rouge rule, he saw his father taken away, supposedly to work on a forced labor¹⁰ project.  He never saw his father again. 

Sarem Neou is a former member of VOA’s Khmer Service.  She was far away when the evacuation began.  She had left her husband and their two daughters in Cambodia for a year of study in France on a scholarship.  She said she followed the French media and other sources for news about events at home very carefully.

“I follow the news every day.  I knew everything about the evacuation. And yeah.  Everything.  I was very, very sad. ”

She was permitted to return to Cambodia in January, 1976.  But she could not find any of her family members.  Time passed without news.  Then: 

“…I came to United States in 1979, like June, and six months later I get a letter from Paris, from my cousin, counting only the survivor², only three people survive from my family and extended family.  Only girls.” 

 Now, so long after their crimes, two Khmer Rouge leaders finally face punishment.  Mr. Poch says he feels satisfied with the verdict and sentence of the two Khmer Rouge leaders.

“..Now in history books …the future generations can see that the Khmer Rouge were arrested …then were put on trial and found guilty…To me that’s enough because it happened so many years ago.  But I’m happy to see they’re found guilty. You cannot change the past.”

Ms. Neou offered a more severe judgment. 

“I think, you know, for justice in Cambodia, nothing is enough. It is like a drop of justice in the middle of the ocean.” 

This story is based on a report by Ira Mellman of VOA’s Daybreak Asia, adapted by Jerilyn Watson and edited by Mario Ritter.

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 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

5 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

6 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

7 barter   

n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易

参考例句：

• Chickens,goats and rabbits were offered for barter at the bazaar.在集市上，鸡、山羊和兔子被摆出来作物物交换之用。
• They have arranged food imports on a barter basis.他们以易货贸易的方式安排食品进口。

8 bartered   

v.作物物交换，以货换货( barter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The local people bartered wheat for tools. 当地人用小麦换取工具。
• They bartered farm products for machinery. 他们用农产品交换机器。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。