美国国家公共电台 NPR--People are picking up the pieces around Kharkiv after liberation by Ukrainian forces

People are picking up the pieces around Kharkiv after liberation by Ukrainian forces

Transcript¹

MALAYA ROHAN, Ukraine — The village of Malaya Rohan, east of Kharkiv, lies largely in ruins. Burned-out tanks are sandwiched between collapsed² buildings. Hot tub-sized craters³ pock the roads. The school is shattered.

Sergei Shapoval is one of the luckier residents. His house is still standing⁴, though most of the windows are broken. A grenade went off inside and shrapnel ripped through his television. He and his family fled to a bomb shelter, the basement of his aunt's house, in the first days of the fighting. Russian troops took over his house and camped in his living room.

"Everything is ripped. Everything is destroyed," he says as he walks through the rubble⁵ in his hallway. "You can see the ceiling is burnt out."

Russian forces took over the village soon after launching the large-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Now, areas like this are finally being liberated⁷ as the Ukrainian military makes advances in the northeast. The battles have been going on since the invasion. A senior U.S. defense⁸ official said Monday that Ukrainians forces continue to gain ground around Kharkiv, pushing Russian forces to within two miles of the Russian border.

Shapoval, 49, says he spent half his life working hard — maybe too hard — to build this house. Now he'll have to work even harder to repair it.

"You can see the bullet holes here," he says, pointing to puncture⁹ marks in a wall.

Shapoval ended up living for weeks in the basement of his aunt's house. Soon after the invasion, the power went out. Shapoval and his family lived without lights or heat, he says, cooking potatoes over an open fire and eating canned vegetables they found in nearby cellars.

Larisa Skorkina, helping¹⁰ to organize humanitarian¹¹ aid distribution, says the entire village needs to be rebuilt. In the short term, the most pressing needs are reconnecting electricity, gas and water lines. Many residents also need food. Over the weekend, volunteers brought in buckets of hot soup and tubs of red cabbage salad for dozens of residents who'd remained throughout the occupation or recently returned.

And there are shortages of matches and powdered laundry soap. The matches have run out because so many people are still cooking over open fires, and they need more laundry detergent¹² as they try to clean up.

"Pretty much every building got some level of destruction," says Skorkina, who also spent most of the Russian occupation in a basement.

"When our forces started to liberate⁶ the village, there was heavy bombs and heavy shelling," she says. "It was really bad. The walls, the ceiling, even the earth, the soil, was trembling because they were bombarding it so hard."

The invasion has fundamentally changed people's attitudes toward Russia

Shapoval never thought the Russians would actually attack Ukraine. His part of the country is heavily Russian speaking. Downtown Kharkiv is just 30 miles from the Russian border. People used to go shopping in Russia.

"They were like animals or beasts," he says of some of the invading Russian troops. They shot at people who tried to flee. They rammed¹³ over front gates with their vehicles rather than opening them. He says one soldier raped¹⁴ a young girl. NPR has not verified these allegations. But for Shapoval, the occupation fundamentally changed his vision of Russia.

"I have a family in Russia right now and my whole ... life, I was speaking Russian," he says. "Now I feel disgust to speak Russian. I don't want to speak the language anymore."

In the days after the invasion, sitting in his aunt's cold, dark basement, Shapoval says he was struck by how different Ukraine is from Russia. "It was only at that stage that I realized that we'd lived in a European village," he says. "We had European roots. We had European TVs. We had the European community here. Now we have simply nothing."

Disbelief over Russia's invasion has given way to determination to rebuild

Until last week, Russian ground troops continued to fire mortar¹⁵ rounds and artillery¹⁶ shells into residential¹⁷ neighborhoods in Kharkiv. By Saturday, Ukrainian troops pushed the Russian lines back to the point that a Ukrainian military spokesman said that for the first time in weeks, there had been no strikes on Ukraine's second-largest city.

Like Shapoval, Maria Miroshnyk says she couldn't believe that Russia actually invaded her village.

"They were saying to us that Russians are going to attack, but we simply refused to believe it," she says as she takes a break from cleaning up shattered glass in her granddaughter's house. "We know people from this village who are in Moscow, working there. It was simply unimaginable to us."

Miroshnyk, 77, is retired¹⁸ but worked for much of her life as welder¹⁹ in Malaya Rohan. Russians and Ukrainians got along well here, she says.

"I thought we were always like brother and sister before," she says. "And I was even going to Moscow to buy some supplies for my house."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the reasons for his invasion of Ukraine was to liberate oppressed Russian speakers in this part of Ukraine. But Miroshnyk says there was no issue.

"We never had any problems like that before," she says. "If you want to speak Russian, speak Russian. If you want to speak Ukrainian, speak Ukrainian."

Miroshnyk spent the entire occupation living with a dozen other people in a basement. She says she wouldn't have left even if she'd been able to, because her husband and daughter are buried in the local cemetery²⁰.

Miroshnyk, who's also known as the local granny "Baba Marusya," says the alleged²¹ Nazis²² who Putin says he wants to get rid of in Ukraine simply don't exist.

"Putin is a liar," Miroshnyk says. "We always lived peacefully here. There are no Nazis here. He simply wants more land."

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 craters   

n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等

参考例句：

• Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The battlefield was full of craters made by exploding shells. 战场上布满弹坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

6 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。

7 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 puncture   

n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破

参考例句：

• Failure did not puncture my confidence.失败并没有挫伤我的信心。
• My bicycle had a puncture and needed patching up.我的自行车胎扎了个洞，需要修补。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 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。

12 detergent   

n.洗涤剂；adj.有洗净力的

参考例句：

• He recommended a new detergent to me.他向我推荐一种新的洗涤剂。
• This detergent can remove stubborn stains.这种去污剂能去除难洗的污渍。

13 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 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

15 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

16 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

17 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

18 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

19 welder   

n电焊工

参考例句：

• He left school at 15 to become an apprentice to a welder.他15岁离开了中学成为一个焊接工人的学徒。
• Welder done at least once a month when the dust handling.焊机时每月至少做一次除尘处理。

20 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

21 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

22 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》