VOA标准英语2015--Classes Resume in War-Torn Kobani

Classes Resume in War-Torn Kobani

KOBANI, SYRIA—

With Syria in its fifth year of conflict, most of the norms of prewar life are gone. Many schools, clinics and other social services have long been shuttered or bombed.

But in the aftermath of fighting in Kobani, residents who had fled to safety are returning, and some teachers are doing their best to get education back on track.

Few places in Syria offer hope.  The Matry Osman school in war-battered Kobani is a rare exception.

Three months after Islamic State militants¹ were forced to retreat from this town, children are back, playing in the schoolyard and going to daily classes. There’s still major work to be done, but the teachers try to make the children feel welcome.

"After the liberation of Kobani, we wanted to start education again," one teacher said. "We want our children to return to school.  By coming to school, hopefully they will be able to get rid of the negative impacts of the war.  We want to help them.  But we don’t have enough teaching materials.”

Yet armed with only chalk and a few notebooks, the teachers might just be succeeding.  In a land awash with fighters, they offer a different narrative².   

“I am very happy to be here," a young boy said of his school. "We have a school, and I like my teacher.  When I graduate, I’ll be a teacher, too.”

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。