VOA常速英语2007-Uncertainty Haunts Refugees as Ethiopia-Eritrea

By Peter Heinlein
Shimelba Refugee Camp, Northern Ethiopia
31 October 2007

Rising tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea have led to an increasing flow of refugees across their common frontier. A border war between the Horn of Africa neighbors from 1998 to 2000 cost an estimated 70,000 lives, and the simmering dispute over the location of the boundary is heating up again. VOA's Peter Heinlein has just returned from a refugee camp in northern Ethiopia where 16,000 people sit, and wait, for resolution of a quarrel that has put their lives, and their dreams on hold, in some cases, for years.

The red dirt streets of Shimelba refugee camp are as wide as a four lane-highway. But under the cloudless blue sky of this late October afternoon, not a car can be seen. Here and there, children play, veiled women trudge¹ along, bent² under the weight of twin buckets of water dangling³ from a branch balanced on their shoulders. Inside walled gardens, groups of men sit, whiling away the hours, the months, the years, playing cards.

Shimelba is a tidy place. Residents generally live in single-family homes. A host of organizations, from the International Rescue Committee to the U.N. refugee agency and the Ethiopian government, provide food and medical services. There are schools and churches. Some tradespeople and entrepreneurs operate thriving businesses.

Still, there is a palpable undercurrent of anxiety. One of the two main elements of Shimelba's population is essentially⁴ a community of Eritrean draft dodgers⁵. Many are university-educated men who fled to Ethiopia to avoid serving in Eritrea's armed forces.

Now they sit in virtual isolation⁶, their lives in limbo⁷, nervously⁸ watching the clouds of war gathering⁹ a short distance away, along the disputed border.

Solomon, who asked that his last name not be used, has been at Shimelba for more than four years. He and his wife were married there. Meeting a visiting reporter in the street, he speaks in guarded tones about what he might do if war does break out. But in the privacy of his immaculate two-room mud-brick home, the pent up frustrations¹⁰, borne of years of uncertainty¹¹, bubble to the surface.

"I don't know what I'd do. I'm not in my homeland under a secure situation," said Solomon. "So I don't know what happens, because I'm not leading my life, my life is being led. I'm not an individual free, so I can't tell you what happens tomorrow to me."

Not far from Shimelba, Eritrean and Ethiopan forces are said to be making preparations for war. Each accuses the other of violating the Algiers accord that stopped the fighting seven years ago. With the decision of an independent boundary commission set to take permanent effect at the end of November, tensions are peaking.

Solomon says the threat of war hanging over them is nothing compared to the agony of years of sitting in limbo, waiting, with little or no hope.

"Eritreans tell me, this is a kind of prison, no one knows that threat," said Solomon. "And this time, people are asking about something, these people are here for sake of resettlement, to go to abroad, something America or Canada or something. So there are here, not concerned about politics. It's being hard. It's making the people so crazy."

He says inmates¹² at Shimelba live in constant fear that if war breaks out, they could be targeted, not only by Eritrean forces, but also by hostile residents of nearby villages who view them as competitors for scarce firewood and other resources.

"We here in Africa are narrow minded, maybe I say, you don't trust anybody because if something happens, he may kill you," said Solomon. "So if something happens in Eritrea, something may happen to us, by Eritreans, or Ethiopians, or by the community, no one trusts each other. Because of the ideology¹³ inside of us."

For Sbimelba's community of Eritrean draft dodgers and military deserters, one long day of waiting blends into the next. Inside the camp's confines, there is only a vague awareness¹⁴ of the military activity going on at the frontier. Sitting in his garden on the edge of the camp, Solomon and a few friends discuss which is worse, the certain horrors that would accompany a resumption of war, or sitting in Shimelba's limbo of uncertainty, waiting for the unknown.

1 trudge   

v.步履艰难地走；n.跋涉，费力艰难的步行

参考例句：

• It was a hard trudge up the hill.这趟上山是一次艰难的跋涉。
• The trudge through the forest will be tiresome.长途跋涉穿越森林会令人疲惫不堪。

2 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

3 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 dodgers   

n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a crackdown on fare dodgers on trains 对火车逃票者的严厉打击
• But Twain, Howells, and James were jeeringly described by Mencken as "draft-dodgers". 不过吐温、豪威尔斯和詹姆斯都是被门肯讥诮地叫做“逃避兵役的人。” 来自辞典例句

6 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

7 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

8 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

9 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

10 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

11 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

12 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

14 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。