2006年VOA标准英语-Convoy Escapes South Lebanon Town, Hundreds Rem

By Challiss McDonough
Tyre, Lebanon
26 July 2006
 
A small group of Americans and Australians have made a perilous¹ journey to safety from a tiny village near the Lebanese border.  After the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon began, they spent two weeks under siege in one of the most dangerous parts of the country, not daring to leave their homes and begging their embassies to save them.  They have finally escaped, but they leave behind relatives and friends still stranded² in the town near the center of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. 

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A man tries to protect himself from a fire's smoke at the rubble³ of a destroyed building in Tyre, Lebanon   
  
When the fighting started, Sekna Tehfa, 56, was stranded in the village of Yaroun, just three or four kilometers from the Israeli border.  She moved to Australia from Yaroun 30 years ago and was back in the town visiting relatives.  It turned out to be a terrifying vacation.

"Fifteen days, I never sleep two hours.  You believe?  All night the bomb and the airplane hitting the houses," she recalled.  "We say, maybe this one for us, maybe second one for us. We were very lucky.  We pass.  I do not know [about] tonight!"

Tehfa and others say they were living a nightmare in Yaroun, hiding in bathrooms and basements as the walls shook from airstrikes and barrage⁴ after barrage of artillery⁵ rounds.  They say they saw badly wounded neighbors begging for help, but did not dare run outside to try to save them.

It has been all but impossible to get first-hand information about conditions in Lebanese border towns like Yaroun that have come under the heaviest attack.  One Lebanese journalist trying to do that was killed in an Israeli airstrike hit the car she was riding in.  The stories of the escapees from Yaroun reveal a nightmare scenario⁶ of civilians⁷ caught in the crossfire⁸ with little or no chance of escape.

Yaroun is not far from the town of Bint Jbeil, which has been the scene of intense fighting between Hezbollah militants⁹ and the Israeli Defense¹⁰ Force.  But Tehfa says the bombs are not the only danger.  Yaroun is all but cut off from the outside world.
 
 
People search the rubble of a destroyed building, minutes after an Israeli warplane missiles attack in the center of the southern coastal¹¹ city of Tyre, Lebanon 
  
"Plus, the people die without food.  There is no water, no electricity, no gas.  Nothing!" she added.

Tehfa literally¹² walked to safety, wearing a pair of black flip-flop sandals and carrying nothing but her shiny black handbag.  After nearly two weeks under siege, she and a group of about 70 townspeople - waving a large white flag - walked six kilometers to the nearest village, a place called Rmeich.

Another Australian, Fatima Salim, managed to find a car to take her to Rmeich, and then slept in a cramped¹³ apartment with 80 other people for three days.

"I lost my mother, my brother, my sister-in-law.  I do not know where they are gone," she said.  "Because I go out from one door, they go out from another door.  And for one minute, I cannot see my parents.  I do not know where they are."

Salim is traveling with her five-year-old son, who she says has been crying in his sleep, even though she has tried to protect him from the ugly reality of war.

"You know what I explained to my son?  When he asked me what is going on, I said to him, 'This is fireworks.  Because we have Christmas,'" she added.

From Rmeich, the women joined a vehicle convoy¹⁴ of more than 100 American and Australian citizens who were escaping to Tyre by road.  Some had been living in southern Lebanon, and others, like Tehfa and Salim, were on vacation.

Their ordeal¹⁵ sheds light on the still-desperate situation in southern villages, where an unknown number of Lebanese people remain stranded and besieged¹⁶. 

New Jersey¹⁷ resident Ali Chahine said he had contacted the U.S. embassy hoping that they could be rescued.  The embassy would not or could not send vehicles to pick them up, but negotiated with the Israelis for safe passage of a small convoy.

"They guaranteed our passage.  We pass.  We bring about 11 cars.  We got here safe, no problem whatsoever," he said.  "Now, there is a lot of people left there in the town of Rmeich, in our town, Yaroun, who was very badly hurt.  Also, almost the whole town is destroyed.  And there is still a lot of people there in Yaroun."

Several journalists covering the story noted¹⁸ angrily that the United States asked Israel for safe passage to get its own citizens out of Yaroun, but will not push Israel for an immediate¹⁹ ceasefire to protect the lives of other Lebanese civilians who happen to lack Western passports.

The people who escaped from Yaroun spent the night in a hotel lobby in Tyre and spoke²⁰ about their nightmarish odyssey²¹ as they prepared to board a chartered cruise ship that would take them to Cyprus and safety.

A second convoy was sent to Yaroun and Rmeich to bring out the remaining Americans and Australians in time to get them on the boat.  But hundreds of other people without the luxury of foreign passports remain stuck there, with Israel vowing²² to reoccupy a strip of southern Lebanon that would be almost certain to include both villages.

Israeli planes have dropped leaflets warning residents of southern Lebanon to flee, and even though many civilians remain stranded there, the Israeli military has said it now considers just about everything in southern Lebanon to be a military target. 

Sekna Tehfa says civilians are being caught in the crossfire.

"Israel ... she said 50 percent we kill Hezbollah.  Hezbollah's not there!  Hezbollah's in the bush!  Hezbollah's somewhere, but these are honest people," she explained.

The travelers were exhausted²³ and frightened.  They were also frustrated²⁴ to be stranded in the same hotel, without transportation to get them across town to the port where the ship was waiting.  They sat for hours in the blazing sun, having made it all the way from Yaroun but unable to travel the last few kilometers to safety.

Every Australian and American citizen who made it out of Yaroun left behind friends, relatives, and neighbors who have few options for escape.  Fatima Salim said their minds remain fixed²⁵ on those who have not yet made it out.

"You cannot believe.  You cannot believe the people.  You cannot believe the kids up there.  God save the little kids.  God save the old people," she said.

1 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

2 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

3 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

4 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

5 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。

6 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

9 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。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

14 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

15 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

16 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

17 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

18 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

19 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

20 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

21 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

22 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

23 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

24 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。