2006年VOA标准英语-Terrorist Attacks Close Hundreds of Afghan Scho

By Benjamin Sand
Islamabad
13 July 2006

Students take a class in the shadow of trees after militants¹ burn their school, July 10, 2006  
  
Afghan extremists have attacked hundreds of teachers, students, and schools in recent months, leaving thousands of children, particularly girls, without access to education. 

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The new report, released this week by Human Rights Watch in New York, documents scores of brutal² attacks on Afghan schools.

New schools have been burned to the ground, hundreds of students threatened, and their teachers savagely³ beaten. In one particularly chilling case a school principal was beheaded in front of his children.

Sam Zarifi, who co-wrote the report, says his team documented more than 200 separate cases since January 2005.

"What is disturbing about that is the rate of attacks has escalated⁴ sharply, so there were more attacks in the first half of 2006 than all of 2005," he said.

He says that on average, there is one attack every day and as a result, dozens of districts have been forced to close their schools.

"Our estimates are now that hundreds of thousands of students, particularly girls, are being kept out of schools and these are girls that would have been in school otherwise, so that is a significant blow to the advances made after the fall of the Taleban," continued Zarifi.

When the Taleban controlled Afghanistan, the Islamic militants claimed women's education was unIslamic and banned girls from schools.

The country's new democratic government, installed after the Taleban was ousted⁵ in 2001, has made rebuilding schools and expanding education for girls a top priority.

Human Rights Watch says most of the recent attacks are carried out by Taleban insurgents⁶ and their supporters.

But Zarifi says criminal gangs, many with ties to the country's illegal drug industry, are increasingly involved in the violence.

Both groups, he says, hope to weaken the central government and expand their control over local communities.

The U.S., NATO, and Afghan forces currently are mounting a massive counterinsurgency operation in the Taleban's traditional stronghold in southern Afghanistan, which is also a major opium-producing region.

But Zarifi says security alone will not be enough. He says local religious leaders, most of whom have been relatively⁷ silent on the issue, need to get involved.

"There has to be a very clear statement from the Afghan clergy⁸, and from clergy around the Muslim world, condemning⁹ such attacks and clarifying that Islam is a religion that greatly values education and that those that attack these schools are weakening the Muslim people of Afghanistan," he said.

After more than 30 years of war and civil conflict, Afghanistan remains¹⁰ one of the world's poorest and least developed countries. According to the United Nations, the general literacy rate is below 50 percent and only 14 percent of women are literate¹¹.

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

3 savagely   

adv. 野蛮地，残酷地

参考例句：

• The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。
• He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

4 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

5 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

6 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

9 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 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。

11 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。