VOA标准英语2010年-Ethnic Unrest Grips Southern Kyrgyzsta

men pray during a funeral ceremony for the people killed during ethnic¹ rioting between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks, in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, Wednesday, 16 Jun 2010

Hundreds are dead and hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes following a week of ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan.  The victims have been ordinary people, including women and children.

Rape², pillage³ and plunder⁴.  The phrase is associated with pirates and barbarians⁵ of old.  But such madness is widespread today in southern Kyrgyzstan, where an ethnic Kyrgyz majority has perpetrated a furious attack on the local Uzbek minority.

The official death toll⁶ after eight days of violence is around 200, but interim⁷ Kyrgyz leader Roza Otunbayeva says the actual figure may be higher; an exact count lost in the chaos⁸.  Businesses have been looted and burned.  Homes have also been set ablaze⁹. The United Nations estimates as many as 400,000 people have been driven from the area.  There are also numerous reports of young girls being raped¹⁰.

 

In the city of Osh, Matlyuba Akramova says her 16-year-old relative was raped when she came out of hiding to bandage her father's head following an attack.

 

Akramova says a crowd saw the girl and immediately assaulted her in front of her father. She says what was done to the girl is not even done by animals.

An Uzbek doctor in Osh told reporters many victims are reluctant to speak about their experience.  And a researcher with Human Rights Watch, Anna Neistat, says the number of victims is difficult to determine.

"I just documented at least one case where I spoke¹¹ to the woman who was raped and it is clear that this is not the only case. There are several other women here in the very same location, so I think by now I can say with confidence that cases like this did happen. The question is the scale," said Neistat.

Alisher Khamidov, a Central Asian researcher with Johns Hopkins University, says that kidnapping by criminal gangs is another crime being committed.

"They're taking hostages of rich ethnic citizens, and they're demanding ransom¹² for their release.  So the state government structures are unable to restore order, totally," said Khamidov.

The United Nations, the United States, Russia and others are providing humanitarian¹³ assistance to refugees.  As many as 100,000 refugees may have crossed into Uzbekistan.  Others are huddled¹⁴ on the Kyrgyz side of the border. 

Already traumatized by the recent violence, many refugees face more difficulties ahead.  Calvin White is a mental health specialist with Doctors without Borders in one of the refugee camps.

"As each day passes they are going to be more and more wondering about their futures¹⁵. And there's going to have to be some answers. And that's when the real stress is going to begin. It's when they get to that position when they are going to say, 'Now what? What's going to happen to us?'" said White.

Another question is what will happen to the perpetrators.  Alisher Khamidov suggests, perhaps, nothing.

"Several thousand young men have participated in the clashes that have taken place in the past few days.  And the problem is that it is very hard to identify those young men, because as soon as the conflict subsided¹⁶, most of those young men quickly changed their hats.  Now they are civilian¹⁷ population," said Khamidov.

In a sign the violence is subsiding¹⁸, interim Kyrgyzstan leader Roza Otunbayeva finally arrived in Osh.  Security concerns prevented an earlier visit.  She promised to rebuild the city and allow refugees to return.  And U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake visited refugee camps in Uzbekistan ahead of meetings with interim officials in Kyrgyzstan.

 
 

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

3 pillage   

v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物

参考例句：

• The invading troops were guilty of rape and pillage.侵略军犯了抢劫和强奸的罪。
• It was almost pillage.这简直是一场洗劫。

4 plunder   

vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠

参考例句：

• The thieves hid their plunder in the cave.贼把赃物藏在山洞里。
• Trade should not serve as a means of economic plunder.贸易不应当成为经济掠夺的手段。

5 barbarians   

n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人

参考例句：

• The ancient city of Rome fell under the iron hooves of the barbarians. 古罗马城在蛮族的铁蹄下沦陷了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It conquered its conquerors, the barbarians. 它战胜了征服者——蛮族。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

8 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

9 ablaze   

adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的

参考例句：

• The main street was ablaze with lights in the evening.晚上，那条主要街道灯火辉煌。
• Forests are sometimes set ablaze by lightning.森林有时因雷击而起火。

10 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

13 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

14 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

15 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

16 subsided   

v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上

参考例句：

• After the heavy rains part of the road subsided. 大雨过后，部分公路塌陷了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• By evening the storm had subsided and all was quiet again. 傍晚， 暴风雨已经过去，四周开始沉寂下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

18 subsiding   

v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的现在分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上

参考例句：

• The flooded river was subsiding rapidly. 泛滥的河水正在迅速退落。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gradually the tension was subsiding, gradually the governor was relenting. 风潮渐渐地平息了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）