环球英语 — 29：Elie Wiesel

　　Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight¹ program. I’m Liz Waid.
Voice 2
And I’m Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
“Let us remember, let us remember the heroes of Warsaw, the people who died for their beliefs at Treblinka, the children of Auschwitz. They fought alone, they suffered alone, they lived alone, but they did not die alone, for something in all of us died with them.”
Voice 1
These words belong to Elie Wiesel. He is a Jew. And he is a survivor². He lived in Europe during the Second World War. The German Nazis⁴ killed about six million [6,000,000] Jews in Europe. This was the Holocaust⁵. Elie survived this time. He says there are no words to describe these terrible events. But he will not be silent.
Voice 2
Jews were not the only non-military people killed during World War Two. The Nazis killed people with physical problems. And they killed people with different religious or political beliefs. Five million [5,000,000] other people died because the Nazis hated anyone who was not like them.
Voice 1
In 1928, Elie was born in Sighet, which is now part of Romania. He lived with his parents and his three sisters.
Voice 2
World War Two began in 1939. The Wiesel family heard about the terrible ways the Nazis were treating Jews in other countries. But Sighet had not seen the effects of the war. So Elie’s family believed they were safe.
Voice 1
But in 1944, the Nazis came to his town. They put his family and many other Jews on trains. These trains were supposed to move animals. But the Nazis used them to move people. The conditions on the train were bad. The trains were very full. The people travelled for many days without food. Many people died on the trains.
Voice 2
The trains took the Jews to concentration⁶ camps. At these camps, the Nazis separated the men from the women. They killed some people. They forced others to work. But they did not give them much food. At the camps, many people became sick and died.
Voice 1
The train took the Wiesel family to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There the Nazi³ guards separated Elie and his father from his mother and his sisters. He never saw them again. After the war, Elie learned⁷ that the Nazis killed his mother and one sister. Millions of Jews died from fire, gas poisoning, hunger, and sicknesses in these camps.
Voice 2
Elie and his father were not sent to die right away. They were strong enough to work. The Nazis forced them to work very hard. They were given very little food. Every day Elie and his father got weaker.
Voice 1
In the middle of winter the Nazis decided⁸ to move all the Jews from Elie’s camp to another place. For ten days they made the Jews run many miles in the snow. It was very cold. Most of them did not have shoes. They were starving. People that could not run fast enough were killed. Many more people died on these death marches.
Voice 2
After the run, the Nazis forced Elie and other survivors⁹ to get on another train. The train travelled for days. More people died. There were one hundred [100] people on Elie’s train. Only twelve [12] people were still alive when the trip was over. Elie and his father were still together.
Voice 1
Being with his father helped Elie not to give up. But over time, Elie’s father became too weak to move. Elie could do nothing. He watched his father die. He was all alone now. Elie was only fifteen [15].
Voice 2
Soon after Elie’s father died, the Nazis were defeated. All the Jews in the concentration camps were free. Elie had survived. But Elie already felt like he was dead. He did not want to live anymore. He did not think he had any reason to live.
Voice 1
For the next few years, Elie lived in a home for children without parents. There he re-united with his other two sisters. They had also survived the concentration camps.
Voice 2
After the war Elie began to write for newspapers. He wrote about the news in different parts of the world. But Elie did not write about his experiences during the war. For ten years he did not talk about the Holocaust. Later, he said:
Voice 3
“I waited for ten years. But I wanted to be sure that the words I would use are the right words. I was afraid of language.”
Voice 1
Then a friend told Elie that he should write his story. He wanted Elie to do it so that people would never forget about the Holocaust.
Voice 2
Elie listened to his friend. It was time to share his experiences. He wrote a book called ‘Night’. This book tells his story to millions of people around the world. He said:
Voice 3
“I wrote it not for myself. I wrote it for the other survivors who found it difficult to speak. And I wanted to tell them, ‘Look, you must speak. As poorly as we can express our feelings, our memories, we must still try’.”
Voice 1
But Elie Wiesel is not just a writer. He is also an activist¹⁰. He has spent the rest of his life working for peace. He has defended refugees¹¹ from Cambodia, victims of mass killing¹² in Africa, and many more groups of people.
Voice 3
“I always try to listen to the victim... If I remain silent, I may help my own spirit but because I do not help other people, I poison my spirit. Silence never helps the victim.”
Voice 2
In 1986, Elie received the Nobel Peace Prize. He won it for opposing hate, violence and oppression against people of any race.
Voice 1
Because of Elie’s work, many peoples’ lives have been changed. This world is a better place because Elie chose to work for peace instead of keeping silent.
Voice 2
Elie Wiesel came from Jewish¹³ roots, but his work was for everyone. It is common for people to struggle for their own rights. But it is less common for people to struggle for other people’s rights. And two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ¹⁴ taught “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who hurt you, that you may be children of your Father in Heaven.”
Voice 1
Such teaching¹⁵ talks of the need to fight evil¹⁶ with love. The struggle for victims of violence, hate and injustice¹⁷ won a Nobel Prize for Elie Wiesel. The same struggle has an even greater prize for all people - the prize of a peaceful world, the way God wanted it to be.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

3 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

4 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》

5 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

6 concentration   

n.集中；专注；浓度；浓缩

参考例句：

• She wrinkled her brows in concentration.她蹙额皱眉，陷入沉思。
• If smoke is going that way,then it means the concentration here should be decreasing.如果烟雾沿着这个方向飘，这意味着，这里的浓度应该是减少的。

7 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

10 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

11 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

12 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

13 Jewish   

adj.犹太人的，犹太民族的

参考例句：

• The coin bears a Jewish symbol.硬币上有犹太标记。
• They were two Jewish kids;I was friendly with both of them.他们是两个犹太小孩；我同他们都很要好。

14 Christ   

n.基督，救世主，耶稣

参考例句：

• I regarded him as the Christ.我把他当作救世主。
• Christ preached that we should love each other.基督在布道中说人们应该互爱。

15 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

16 evil   

n.邪恶，不幸，罪恶；adj.邪恶的，不幸的，有害的，诽谤的

参考例句：

• We pray to God to deliver us from evil.我们祈求上帝把我们从罪恶中拯救出来。
• Love of money is the root of all evil.爱钱是邪恶的根源。

17 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。