2006年VOA标准英语-Kurdish Students in Iraq Hopeful for the Future

By Margaret Besheer
Irbil, Iraq
19 June 2006

In the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the insurgency¹ wracking other parts of the country seems remote. In a region that has long attended to its own affairs, people are looking to the future. In the city of Irbil, university students are preparing for final exams. VOA's Margaret Besheer visited with some students at Salaheddin University, and brings us this report.

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Salaheddin University gates in Irbil, Iraq  
  

Far from the violence of Baghdad and other cities around the Iraqi capital, students in this mostly Kurdish city say they are hopeful about their futures².

At the girls-only dormitory, 22-year-old Sumaya says she believes she will have a brighter future than her parents, who were among thousands of Kurds who fled to Iran, Turkey and Syria under the regime³ of Saddam Hussein.

Sumaya was born and raised in Iran. Her family returned to Iraq in 1993, after the first Gulf⁴ War, when the United Nations established a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to protect the Iraqi Kurds, who were largely left to handle their own affairs. Sumaya says there has been a lot of change for the good.

"I see Kurdistan has great changes. They [Kurds] have come back to their country, and they use their money here and make buildings," she said.

She says people are also now free to move between cities, which they could not do when Saddam was in power.

Salaheddin University students studying  
  
In the cafeteria, Hawman is studying with classmates from his engineering course. This 22-year-old says politics do not interest him and his friends.

He says, "we do not talk about politics, we talk about friendship and our studies and our lives."

But they all express concern about the quality of their education and the ability to find jobs when they graduate. Many say they are likely to go abroad to complete their studies and work.

Many of the students here do not speak Arabic, the principal language in Iraq, because they were raised in Turkey or Iran.

Eighteen-year old Tola says the books they have at university are from the 1970s and are completely out of date.

Kwestan, a 25-year-old English major agrees the syllabus⁵ is out of date. She says, in her English courses they are studying the plays of 16th century English playwright⁶ William Shakespeare, and she thinks it would be more useful to read modern writers.

"So many teachers said that after Saddam Hussein finished they wanted to change the syllabus of the college," she said. "But it is unfortunate that until now there is no change and it is very boring for the students."

And some of the students say, despite the changes around them, they do not yet feel completely free.

Tola says life here is not free the way it is in the West, and he hopes some day it will be.

1 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

2 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

3 regime   

n.政体，政权，制度

参考例句：

• Under the new regime in our office,no one is allowed to leave early.在新的办公制度下，谁也不能早退。
• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime.人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 syllabus   

n.教学大纲，课程大纲

参考例句：

• Have you got next year's syllabus?你拿到明年的教学大纲了吗？
• We must try to diversify the syllabus to attract more students.我们应该使教学大纲内容多样化，可以多吸引学生。

6 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。