VOA慢速英语2016--叙利亚难民努力完成高等教育

AS IT IS 2016-08-14 Syrian Refugees² Seek to Complete Their Higher Education 叙利亚难民努力完成高等教育

Studying at a university in his home country of Syria made Amer Horani very proud.

But that was before the war in Syria forced him to leave his country.

Horani was the first in his family to attend a university. He began studying psychology³ at Damascus University in 2012. He dreamed of using his education to help others.

Then his friend, also a student, disappeared.

“The army came for him. I never saw him again,” Horani told VOA. The disappearance⁴ of his friend was one reason the 22-year-old chose to leave Syria. He left after completing only eight months of his studies.

Horani and many other Syrians were forced to abandon higher education to become refugees.

“Everything is bad here,” Horani said. He now works in a small convenience store in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

More than one million refugees live in Lebanon. Some Lebanese do not want them there. The refugees also face difficult living conditions and restrictions⁵ on job opportunities.

“Sometimes it feels like I have lost everything here, my life has stopped,” Horani said. “I’m not a criminal, I’m not bad. I just want to study.”

At one point, at least 250,000 students studied at universities in Syria. Now experts suggest that almost 200,000 students have fled the country.

There are many reasons that refugees are prevented from re-entering higher education. The biggest reason is the lack of money to pay the cost. Also studying in a different country may mean they must learn in a language that is not their own. Or the refugees may not have the right documents to register at a university in their new country.

Allan Goodman is the president of the Institute of International Education, or IIE. The IIE is an organization that studies and supports the exchange of students between countries.

“This is the most challenging higher education emergency we have ever faced,” Goodman said.

International media have brought attention to the efforts of Syrian refugees to reach Europe. However, over 4.5 million refugees are now living in countries close to Syria like Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.

These countries already struggle to accept and help these refugees. But, support efforts continue.

In Lebanon, the Ministry⁶ of Education and several United Nations agencies are discussing the problem. They are working to make 300 scholarships available to refugees this year.

Estimates suggest 10,000 Syrians are enrolled⁷ in higher education programs in Lebanon. One report says about 5,000 people are enrolled in Turkey. Turkey has offered almost 1,000 scholarships.

But, those numbers do not show how many of those Syrians are refugees.

Goodman said, “I’d be amazed if the number of Syrian [refugees] back in higher education were more than a few thousand.”

“There’s not the capacity in Jordan or Lebanon or even Turkey,” he said.

Efforts to solve this crisis⁸ have spread all over the world.

The IIE is working with universities in many different countries to help more than 500 Syrian students and 100 professors. The IIE is only one of several organizations seeking to connect Syrians with universities.

Other groups also are creating different ways to help.

In Berlin, one organization has started Kiron University. Kiron University offers online courses designed for refugees.

Also, an engineering student at Oxford⁹ University named Thais Roque started her own scholarship program for refugees.

The program will help students beginning their studies in 2017. Roque hopes to raise enough money for 20 scholarships. This would cost around $320,000.

“I can’t believe how many emails we’ve been getting – some have said that this is their last chance [to get higher education],” Roque said. She asks others to follow her example.

“We are students too,” she added. “We just happen to be luckier than them.”

But the gap between refugees’ needs and what is offered is still very large.

Goodman says there is already one example of how refugees can really be helped. During World War II, a university designed for refugees was created in New York. Goodman says the IIE is investigating the idea of re-creating this university.

For Syrian refugee¹ Amer Horani, getting back into university is still a major challenge.

But, his desire to become a psychologist is still very strong. He knows that in his war-torn country, his training and skills would be more important than ever.

“After the war,” Horani said, “everyone in Syria is going to need someone.”

Words in This Story

proud – adj. very happy and pleased because of something you have done, something you own, someone you know or are related to

abandon – v. to stop doing or having something

convenience store – n. a small store that is open for many hours of the day

challenging – adj. difficult in a way that is usually interesting or enjoyable

scholarship(s) – n. an amount of money that is given by a school, or an organization to a student to help pay for the student's education

enroll(ed) – v. to enter someone as a member of or participant in something

amazed – adj. feeling or showing great surprise

gap – n. a difference between two people, groups, or things

1 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

2 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

3 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

4 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

5 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

9 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。