2007年VOA标准英语-Malians Deported to Senegal Waiting to Return H

By Jordan Davis
Dakar
23 January 2007

More than 400 African migrants deported¹ from Spain's Canary Islands arrived in Senegal early this week. A number of Senegalese were on board, but dozens of those sent back to Senegal were not Senegalese. A group of nearly three dozen confused Malian migrants were sent to Dakar to contact their embassy to get home. Jordan Davis caught up with them and filed this VOA report.

 
Malian deportees spend the afternoon under a shade tree in Dakar, waiting to return home
When Souleymane Doumdia got on a wooden boat headed for Spain's Canary Islands, he left his studies to become a school teacher.

He says he imagined that by working hard in Europe he might be able to make the equivalent of $600 a month. That, he says, is more than 10 times what he would make as a teacher in Mali.

Doumdia and 30 of his fellow travelers sat under a wide shade tree, not in Europe but in Dakar, across from the Malian embassy where they spent the night.

Their journey began a month ago, when, after a long road trip to northern Mauritania, the men set sail for the Canaries. But after several weeks in a migrants' camp, they were sent back on a plane Sunday to the northern Senegalese city of Saint-Louis.

The group of Malians say they were sad to hear they would not have a new life in Europe, and stunned² to learn they were being deported to a country that is not theirs.

 
Moussa Camara 
Moussa Camara says from the time they landed in the Canary Islands, Spanish authorities repeatedly classified them as Senegalese, despite their protests to the contrary.

To avoid a quick deportation³, migrants traveling to Spain typically do not bring identity papers with them. Spanish officials say they are often overwhelmed with the job of identifying the nationality of the crush of migrants arriving in the Canaries.

Waiting to return to Bamako, Camara says going home will not be easy. To pay the $2,000 to a smuggler⁴, he says he had to borrow from many friends and family.

Camara says even if they do not ask him to pay the money back, he says he dreads⁵ the shame of returning empty-handed.

1 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

3 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

4 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

5 dreads   

n.恐惧，畏惧( dread的名词复数 )；令人恐惧的事物v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The little boy dreads going to bed in the dark. 这孩子不敢在黑暗中睡觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A burnt child dreads the fire. [谚]烧伤过的孩子怕火（惊弓之鸟，格外胆小）。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》