VOA标准英语2012--N. Nigeria City Fears Both Police Brutality and Boko Haram

 

N. Nigeria City Fears Both Police Brutality¹ and Boko Haram

Scenes of chaos² have become the norm in Kano. Attacks and security raids are daily occurrences in recent months, and Kano’s residents say they are trapped by threats and fear.

During the night, the army attacked a house suspected of sheltering members of Boko Haram. Hamza Abdulayi was there when it happened:

"We heard the sound of a gun, we got scared," said Abdulayi. "We could not get out of our houses, even to get food. We thank god that no one got injured. And only one house got destroyed. No other house was damaged. Now it's the only thing we talk about."

People in Kano are scared of Boko Haram, but they share the group’s anger at the government. 

Even though Nigeria is the most important oil producer in Africa, 60 percent of Nigerians live on less than $2 a day. In the less-developed northern states, two out of three young people are unemployed³ and hopeless.

"There is absolute poverty in the environment," said Musa Baban Iya who works with a civil society group in Kano. "Go to some typical rural areas in the Northern far of the country where people are homeless, they are unemployed, no road, no electricity."

An oppressive atmosphere prevails along the city streets. Security checkpoints are everywhere and every vehicle is subject to inspection⁴.

Police and soldiers, top Boko Haram targets, are on edge.

The drivers of the common moto-taxis say they are regularly abused by security forces -- who suspect them of transporting members of the jihadist group.

"I don't know how these security people, they are treating us," said moto-taxi driver Salisu Nuku. "Because we are not terrorists. We are not the people who are doing these action. So they come in order to give us peace, they come to protect us, but they come to beat us."

A feeling of injustice⁵ is spreading within the population, a frustration⁶ that can only feed the cycle of violence. 

1 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

2 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。

3 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

5 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

6 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。