VOA英语2010年-'Lost Boys' of South Sudan Lead Diaspora Vot

Hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese who fled their homeland during Sudan's civil war are signing up to vote absentee in the January 9 independence referendum. Former war orphans¹, the so-called 'Lost Boys', are leading the absentee vote campaign at a registration² center in the Ethiopian capital.

Wartime memories

Nihal Aciek David has only vague memories of his childhood in southern Sudan. It was wartime, 1989. He was seven. Children were separated from their families. He was part of a group that walked eastward³, to Ethiopia.

"I have seen a flame of fire, and I [did not] have possibilities of supporting myself or walking," David said. "Most of the people simply escorted me. They carried me. I did not know where to go actually, and finally a huge number of people were simply moving. Until now I did not go back to my family."

Youth share a dream

That was 21 years ago. Today, David is a student with a scholarship from the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. He also heads the Addis Ababa registration center for south Sudan's January 9 referendum on whether to secede⁴ from the north.

The referendum was a key element of the 2005 peace agreement that ended a 21-year civil war that killed two million people.

David says youth of his generation share a dream of being reunited with surviving family members scattered⁵ across the globe.

"So we [are] fed up war in Sudan," David added. "Why not southern Sudanese having her own independent state? Be sovereign such that we [can] enjoy our own right as our fellow Africans enjoy their own life, and this is the position of all Sudanese youth in Ethiopia as well as those in the diaspora."

Moment of Pride for 'Lost Boys'

Duoth Deng Got is another of the "Lost Boys". He proudly wears a badge that reads, "Head of voter registration, section four", as he tells of his trek⁶ to Ethiopia as a seven-year-old.

"When I lose my family this was in 1991, between Ethiopia and Sudan border," Got said. "Go to the refugee camp, I live there as a refugee boy, gathering⁷ in one place, 36 boys, we lived there, collect the firewood, get the food from UNHCR, and more difficulty we face together as a group with my friends, some of them lose their lives, so for that I find myself without any family."

Got, now 26 and a graduate of Addis Ababa University, discovered after the 2005 peace agreement that his family had survived the war. He says he prays for the day he can introduce his family back home to the family he started in Ethiopia.

"One of my brothers came to the camp to find me, and he found me there in Dima, a refugee community in Ethiopia," he added. "I am alive in Dima, and he took me there to Sudan this time I have a family. I know they are alive. I see them and I married and I am a father of two daughters and a boy."

Vote in memory of fallen

As Got speaks, three young couples arrive to register. One of the women, 28-year-old Nyabyou Kong says she wants to vote to honor the memory of family members who died in the war.

She says my dad was a soldier and died for the land of south Sudan, and our brothers and relatives have lost their lives for a long time founding that land. So for the lives of those people, to be sensitive, I want to vote for south Sudan.

Kong expressed gratitude⁸ to Ethiopia for hosting an estimated 45,000 south Sudanese refugees, many of them for more than 20 years. But she says, "We do not live here because we love to live in exile. We want to go back, whatever the consequences, because our children should be raised in their homeland."

Voter registration ends December 8. Those who register must come back to the center on referendum day, January 9 to cast their ballots⁹.

1 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

2 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

3 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。

4 secede   

v.退出，脱离

参考例句：

• They plotted to make the whole Mississippi Valley secede from the United States.他们阴谋策划使整个密西西比流域脱离美国。
• We won't allow Tibet to secede from China and become an independent nation.我们决不允许西藏脱离中国独立。

5 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

6 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

7 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。

8 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

9 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》