VOA标准英语2009年-Korean Families Begin Brief Reunions after

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
26 September 2009

 
S. Korean Lee Jung-ho (l) cries with his N. Korean elder brother Lee Kwae Seok (r) during the reunion meeting, on the Diamond Mountain in N. Korea, 26 Sep 2009
North and South Korean families have begun the process of meeting with long lost relatives separated by the Korean divide. Most are in their 80s or older, and have not seen each other for more than 50 years.

More than 90 South Koreans passed through checkpoints Saturday to cross the heavily armed border between North and South Korea, on their way to bittersweet reunions half a century in the making.

Buses transported the elderly South Koreans to North Korea's Kumgang Mountain resort, where they got the chance to see family members they left behind in the early 1950s.

South Korean broadcasters have begun relaying images of the families exchanging their first words in decades, along with laughter and tears.

North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, unleashing¹ three years of war. Many Koreans fled to the South, leaving wives, husbands, sons, and daughters behind.

The fighting was halted by a 1953 armistice² but with no peace treaty, the two Koreas remain technically³ at war, amid decades of isolation⁴ and hostility⁵.

The reunions getting underway are the 17th in a series organized by the Red Cross.  They began after a historic 2000 inter-Korean summit thawed⁶ relations between the two sides. They have been on hold for two years amid tensions over North Korea's nuclear weapons development.

Shin Gwang-sun is 92. He is reuniting this weekend with his daughter.

He says when he left his family behind, his youngest daughter was just a few months old. She will not recognize his face, he says, and she has never seen a photo, either.

Shin is one of a lucky few winners of a selection process for these reunions that involves both a random⁷ lottery⁸ and a screening based on age and family history.

Tens of thousands of other Koreans are on waiting lists, hoping for a similar chance.

Shin says when he got the call from the Red Cross, he was so happy, he wondered if he was dreaming. He says he never dared imagine he could see his daughter alive, and hear about his hometown. He considers himself very lucky.

Included in the swell⁹ of emotion at these events are, for some, pain and frustration¹⁰. That is because out of three days and two nights, the families will only see each other for a total of about 11 hours. North Korea holds the events in banquet halls with no real opportunity for privacy, and forbids the families from spending the night together.

Many of the reunion participants also realize that when the buses leave Mount Kumgang, it will be the beginning of another period of separation, likely to last the rest of their lives.

 

1 unleashing   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Company logos: making people's life better by unleashing Cummins power. 公司理念：以康明斯动力建设更美好的生活！ 来自互联网
• Sooner or later the dam will burst, unleashing catastrophic destruction. 否则堤坝将崩溃，酿成灾难。 来自互联网

2 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。

3 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

4 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。

5 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

6 thawed   

解冻

参考例句：

• The little girl's smile thawed the angry old man. 小姑娘的微笑使发怒的老头缓和下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He thawed after sitting at a fire for a while. 在火堆旁坐了一会儿，他觉得暖和起来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

8 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

9 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

10 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。