VOA慢速英语2015 数千名移民抵达印尼和马来西亚

AS IT IS 2015-05-12 Thousands of Migrants Arriving in Indonesia, Malaysia 数千名移民抵达印尼和马来西亚

Since Sunday, more than 2,000 people have arrived in Indonesia and Malaysia by boat. Thousands of others could follow. They are all migrants – moving from country to country to find work.

The arrivals follow efforts by Thailand against human traffickers. Thai officials want to punish criminal groups that secretly helped ethnic¹ Rohingya from Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Officials say more than 1,400 Rohingya migrants were rescued Monday from four boats in Indonesian and Malaysian waters. This followed the arrival of at least two overcrowded wooden boats on Sunday along the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh Province. Those boats were carrying about 600 people. Some of the passengers were women and children.

An Indonesian official said those migrants were tricked and told they were off the coast of Malaysia. They were then told to swim to land. Some of the survivors² were sick and weak with hunger. They were taken to Indonesian medical centers for treatment.

At an Islamic center in Aceh, a migrant named Muhammad Juned spoke³ to reporters. He said his group had been at sea for two months.

The man said there were more than 500 people on three boats. A reporter asked him where they were going and why? The man said, “We wanted to enter Malaysia to earn money.”

Malaysian police said they were processing more than 1,000 migrants on the island of Langkawi.

The International Organization for Migration⁴ said its workers were going to Indonesia to assist the migrants. Joe Lowry is a spokesman for the group.

“People are brought in, registered, given accommodation, food, water, medical attention if they need it by a combination of IOM teams and the authorities, depending on what the authorities need and what they want us to supply.”

This month, Thailand launched a campaign against the trafficking of Rohingya Muslims to neighboring countries. The campaign began after the discovery of human remains⁵ buried at what have been called “slave camps” in the southern part of the country.

Joe Lowry says Thai officials have, at least for now, stopped traffickers from bringing Rohingya to Thailand.

“With all the attention of the camps situation in Thailand in the last couple of days and weeks, it seems that Thailand is closed off for smugglers at the moment.”

Thailand’s army chief on Monday told reporters that a search continues for more camps where illegal migrants were detained.

The Rohingya are Muslims from Bangladesh and Myanmar. The United Nations considers the ethnic group one of the world’s most mistreated minorities.

Myanmar is a largely Buddhist⁶ country. It considers the Rohingya illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Yet many Rohingya have lived in northern Myanmar since the early 1900s. They have faced religious violence in recent years. The unrest has led many to flee the area by sea.

Thailand has been a stopping point for Rohingya usually fleeing Sittwe province in Myanmar. The Rohingya are hoping to reach Indonesia or Malaysia, two countries where Muslims are in the majority.

But traffickers in Thailand have victimized the Rohingya. They demand more money from them for their freedom. Others have sold debt bondage⁷ in Malaysia -- the migrants promise to work for someone or a business there until their debt is repaid.

As a result of Thailand’s campaign, thousands more Rohingya are still at sea. Chris Lewa operates the Rohingya rights group, The Arakan Project.

“I’m interested to see how many will start landing. I think there should be at least 7,000 in my opinion. But maybe not all [are] landing. Maybe some will return [to Myanmar or Bangladhesh], who knows. But I’m just trying to monitor that.

The United Nations’ refugee agency estimates that 25,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis sailed on traffickers’ boats in the first three months of 2015. That is two times as many as the number in the same period last year.

Words in This Story

migrant – n. a person who moves from place to place in search of work

overcrowded – adj. something that is too crowded, filled or carrying too many people or things

accommodation – n. a place where travelers can sleep and find other services

mistreated – adj. treating someone or something badly

debt bondage – n. the period in which someone is required to work for someone else

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 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

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

7 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。