2006年VOA标准英语-Sectarian Divides in Lebanon Both Strained and

By Challiss McDonough
Broummana, Lebanon
21 July 2006

 
People flee southern cities and towns in Lebanon with white flags attached to their vehicles 
  
The Lebanese government estimates that half a million people have been forced from their homes by Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon and south Beirut. Many of the Shiite refugees are taking shelter in Christian¹ villages, an idea unimaginable 25 years ago when Lebanon was enmeshed in a sectarian war. In some places, the strain is showing, but in others the crisis is bringing people together.

--------

It was behind the school, around noon, when she learned that her brother and father had been killed.

The woman, whose name we never learned, fell to her knees. She tore at her veil, and pounded with her small fists on the belly² of the man who had given her the news.

Friends and neighbors tried to console her. She collapsed³ in anguish⁴, and screamed her brother's name over and over.

Her cousin Majid turned away, his eyes red-rimmed, trying to choke back tears.

He said his cousin Hussein had been working in Beirut when the fighting broke out, but his wife and children were still trapped in the southern city of Tyre. Hussein and his father, Zake, had gone down to try to rescue them, but an Israeli bomb tore their car apart and killed both men.

Majid had gotten the news from neighbors an hour earlier. Hussein's sister was just finding out.

The port city of Tyre has been pummeled by Israeli airstrikes since the beginning, but the bombing has intensified⁵ in recent days. The public hospital there has started burying unclaimed bodies in a temporary mass grave because there is no more room in the morgue.

Israeli planes have repeatedly dropped leaflets warning residents to flee, but with many roads and bridges bombed out and the shells still falling, thousands of people remain trapped.

  
  
But others have gotten out. Hundreds of people from Hezbollah's stronghold in south Lebanon have taken refuge in this Christian village high in the mountains above Beirut. These Shiite Muslim families are sleeping in a schoolhouse, where the windows are stained glass and the roof is topped with a Christian cross.

The shelter is staffed by volunteers from the village, including George Abisamra.

"There is nothing else we can do. We have to help them. They are Lebanese, and they are poor, and their families are divided, everyone is somewhere," he said.

But it was not so long ago, when Abisamra was a child, that villagers from Broummana could look down from their mountaintop at Beirut and watch Christians⁶ and Muslims lobbing artillery⁷ at one another across the so-called Green Line that divided the city in half along sectarian lines.

"I dunno. We had a conflict with the Shiites. Everybody knows that there was a war in Lebanon. I don't call it civil war, but it was a war," he said. "We used to fight them, and they used to fight us, Christians and Muslims. But now, I'm leaving my family and my children and I'm staying here 24 hours a day, because we forgot that there was a war between us."

Abisamra is a member of the Free Patriotic⁸ Movement, the country's largest Christian political party. It is headed by General Michel Aoun, who has allied⁹ himself politically with Hezbollah, which has the support of the majority of Shiites from the embattled south.

"But what we are doing right now is only as humanitarian¹⁰ help. If it was not Hezbollah, if it was another part of the Lebanese, we would have done the same," he said.

But there are some Lebanese Christians who feel less charitable. In a lot of Christian areas, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has never been popular, but resentment¹¹ against him has grown sharply since the war started. The tourism industry has collapsed, and with it jobs have evaporated. The country's infrastructure¹² is being destroyed.

In the East Beirut neighborhood of Achrafiyeh, bartender George Slim stood talking with a group of friends who wore the insignia of a different Christian faction¹³, the Lebanese Forces.

"Yeah, I think the people of the south and dahiya (southern suburbs) of Beirut, they were asking for this. Because if they stopped supporting Nasrallah, everything would be solved," he said.

Slim and his friends point toward a school in their neighborhood that is also hosting Shiite refugees from the south. They cynically¹⁴ say they doubt that the refugees will remember who came to their aid.

The Israeli offensive has exposed some of Lebanon's sectarian divides that has been papered over since the end of the civil war. Some speculate that Israel may be trying to spark a new round of sectarian conflict, to turn Christians against Hezbollah.

If that is the goal, political science professor Paul Tabet says it will not work.

"The attack, the Israeli attack and the Israeli war on Lebanon is not going to create divisions. It's going to, on the contrary, overcome divisions and create stronger unity¹⁵ among people," he said.

There have been many calls for national unity in this time of crisis, for Lebanese of all religious groups to put aside their differences. Those calls have come even from the factions¹⁶ most hostile to Hezbollah, including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.

Several statements by members of the government indicate their priority is simply dealing¹⁷ with the crisis and pushing the United Nations to broker¹⁸ a cease-fire. But they also imply that Hezbollah could have to answer for its own actions after the Israeli strikes end.

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

5 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

7 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

8 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

9 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

10 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

11 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

12 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

13 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

14 cynically   

adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地

参考例句：

• "Holding down the receiver,'said Daisy cynically. “挂上话筒在讲。”黛西冷嘲热讽地说。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比
• The Democrats sensibly (if cynically) set about closing the God gap. 民主党在明智（有些讽刺）的减少宗教引起的问题。 来自互联网

15 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

16 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

17 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

18 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。