2006年VOA标准英语-Northern Uganda's Children Growing Up in S

By Raymond Thibodeaux
Gulu, Uganda
06 March 2006

It's not easy being a child anywhere, especially in northern Uganda, where thousands of children are forced to flee their villages every night to avoid capture by the Lords Resistance Army, an elusive¹ and deadly rebel group that reinforces its ranks with abducted² children. With Uganda's army stepping up its pursuit of these rebels, children are being rescued, or are escaping, at higher rates than before. Now, many of them face difficulties returning to the communities they once were forced to terrorize.

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Formerly³ abducted children play traditional music at the Gulu Save the Children Organization (GUSCO) in Gulu, northern Uganda  
  

These are among the tens of thousands of children who, at night, commute⁴ from outlying villages in Uganda's far north to the relative safety of larger cities, in places like this one, called Noah's Ark, in Gulu, about 350 kilometers north of the country's capital, Kampala.

They are here to escape the grasp of a shadowy rebel group known as the Lords Resistance Army, or LRA, which wants to topple Uganda's government and replace it with one based on the biblical Ten Commandments. For nearly two decades they have wreaked⁵ havoc⁶ in this region, killing⁷ as many as 100,000 people and displacing about 1.7 million, according to U.N. estimates.

Most often the attacks are carried out by children like these, whom the rebels kidnap, brainwash and train to kill. Any resistance from the children is met with beatings, even torture.

Richard Kinyera is 15-years-old. LRA rebels abducted him from his village four years ago. Rescued by Ugandan army soldiers just two weeks ago, he began a rehabilitation⁸ program for former child soldiers and others abducted by the LRA, many of them forced to become wives of rebel commanders or used as human mules⁹ to carry equipment.

At first, LRA rebels trained Richard to dismantle¹⁰ and clean their weapons. Later, they taught him to fire an automatic rifle, and then forced him to carry out raids on villages, looting mainly crops and livestock¹¹. They beat him with sticks when he tried to escape. At times, he or other abductees were called on to kill. Richard recalls this incident, translated from his native Luo language:

"As we were moving we found footmarks of soldiers," said Richard Kinyera. "Then the commanders, under which we were, asked a woman who were those who passed through that road. And this woman said, for her, she didn't know. But they said that since she was not willing to tell them the exact people who had passed from there, one boy was called to kill this woman, and he had to do it."

During the interview, Richard is fidgety, always looking down at his hands, which seem to be wrestling each other, an outward sign, perhaps, of internal struggle as he comes to terms with some of the atrocities¹² he was forced to commit. Atrocities he's still not ready to admit to.

Abducted children make up about 90 percent of LRA's fighting force, analysts¹³ estimate. A 2004 study in the British medical journal, Lancet, found that the vast majority of these former child captives in northern Uganda have experienced at least a half dozen "clinically significant" traumatic events by the time they turned 13. These events include beatings and torture, being forced to witness killings¹⁴, even the murder of their own parents or siblings¹⁵. According to the researchers, more than a third of these children were forced to kill.

Martin Workos, 48, is one of the counselors¹⁶ for a program run by the aid group, World Vision, that has rehabilitated¹⁷ nearly 13,000 former LRA child soldiers and abductees since 1995. He says most of the children, especially boys Richard's age, are likely to have committed multiple atrocities, but most of these children are reluctant to confess them, fearing arrest and imprisonment¹⁸ by Ugandan authorities.

The bigger hurdle¹⁹ by far, Mr. Workos says, is getting the local communities to accept them back into the fold. He explains why.

"Let us just imagine a group of rebels come to attack maybe a village," said Martin Workos. "They will be killing very many people. So, since they normally kill after having gathered people from the village. And when they are committing those atrocities they want members of the community to watch as they kill. So you find that the community has that bitterness in them. The community would be rejecting them. They would even revenge on them. They may even deny them any support."

Twenty three-year-old Pamela Amena loves to write and sing her own songs. This one is about a child who returns to her village and instead of being joyful²⁰ at her return, her family and relatives are saddened.

For Pamela, a former LRA soldier and a wife to a rebel commander for most of her teen years, the song is autobiographical. When she left the rehabilitation program five years ago to return to her village, her family and relatives rejected her. Instead of welcoming her back, they stole the clothes, bedding and money given to her by the rehabilitation center to help restart her life.

It's not an isolated²¹ story.

Mr. Workos says that much of the work of the rehabilitation program is sensitizing the communities to the childrens' plight²², explaining to them that the children were forced to carry out beatings and killings, often threatened themselves with beatings and death if they did not.

For now, LRA attacks have slowed in northern Uganda, causing some people to credit recent military successes by Uganda's army. Others say it's just the dry season, when the lack of water and thinning brush make it more difficult for the rebels to maneuver²³. Still, most in the outlying northern villages are not taking any chances. As night falls, they send their children away rather than risk their being captured by rebels.

But either way, aid workers here say, the children are being robbed of their childhoods.

1 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

2 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

3 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

4 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

5 wreaked   

诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city. 地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• They have wreaked dreadful havoc among the wildlife by shooting and trapping. 他们射杀和诱捕野生动物，造成了严重的破坏。

6 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

9 mules   

骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者

参考例句：

• The cart was pulled by two mules. 两匹骡子拉这辆大车。
• She wore tight trousers and high-heeled mules. 她穿紧身裤和拖鞋式高跟鞋。

10 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

11 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

12 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

14 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

15 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

16 counselors   

n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师

参考例句：

• Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。） 来自超越目标英语 第4册

17 rehabilitated   

改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复

参考例句：

• He has been rehabilitated in public esteem. 公众已恢复对他的敬重。
• Young persons need to be, wherever possible, rehabilitated rather than punished. 未成年人需要受到尽可能的矫正而不是惩罚。

18 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

19 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

20 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

21 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

22 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

23 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。