VOA慢速英语2015 学生组织就世界地雷问题做调查报告

AS IT IS 2015-05-11 Students Report on Worldwide Landmine¹ Problem 学生组织就世界地雷问题做调查报告

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines² says there are nine new landmine victims around the world every day. A group of young people from the United States recently went overseas to investigate the problem.

Melanie Saltzman is a student at Northwestern University’s Medill Graduate School of Journalism³ in Evanston, Illinois. She recently traveled half way around the world to Cambodia. She met there with members of a rural community who have suffered horrible injuries from landmine accidents.

Cambodia has one of the largest populations of amputees – individuals who have had an arm or leg removed.

“So I knew that I wanted to go there and meet people on the ground and see how survivors⁴ were affected⁵.”

Melanie Saltzman met a 17-year-old girl who had lost a leg a month earlier. She says the girl was frightened.

“I wanted to tell this story because I wanted to see what survivors go through on a daily basis long after landmines are gone, or long after accidents have happened.”

Ms. Saltzman was part of a team of students from the Medill Graduate School of Journalism. They studied the effects of landmines and cluster bombs around the world and what steps the United States is taking to disarm⁶ them. The U.S. government is spending $3.2 billion on the cleanup effort.

Josh Meyer led the student journalism project.

“Each year, we pick a topic that we think is a real substantive⁷ topic for the students to tackle … something that is going to give us a good story one way or the other that will allow them to travel internationally, and this year we picked landmines and cluster munitions⁸.”

In addition to Cambodia, students also reported from Jordan, Mozambique, Ukraine and a still-active battle area: Iraq. Matthew Schehl studied mine clearance⁹ operations in Iraqi Kurdistan.

“It was exhilarating. It’s what we’ve invested so much time in researching this topic and to be out there in the field face-to-face with people who are actually doing this work was magnificent. I’m a (military) veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and I have a personal investment in the country. And so, I think the subject matter is something which speaks very directly to me.”

Matthew Schehl carried out his investigation¹⁰ for the Medill Graduate School of Journalism’s National Security Reporting Project. The project deals with issues related to defense¹¹, security and civil liberties.

Josh Meyer was happy with all the work this year.

“Getting them out there, traveling to places like this, I think, is just a really cool experience for the students, and they really do learn things that you can’t just learn in a classroom.”

The United States is a world leader in landmine cleanup work. But the students found a lot more still needs to be done to disarm and remove these weapons.

Their findings were published on GlobalPost, an award-winning digital journalism website. The site was created especially for their projects.

Based on her trip to Cambodia, Melanie Saltzman produced a film. It is called Living with the Legacy¹² of War.

“By producing stories and by showing survivors and the needs that are still out there, and humanizing it, you hope that it will encourage not only people, but also governments to stand up and do even more.”

Words in This Story

landmine(s) – n. a bomb that is buried in the ground

journalism – n. the job of collecting, writing and publishing stories for newspapers, magazines or other media

amputee(s) – n. someone who lost an arm or a leg

munition(s) – n. arms or weapons; a shortened form of the word ammunition¹³

exhilarating – adj. causing someone to feel excited or happy

1 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

2 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

3 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

4 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

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

7 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

8 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

9 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 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。

12 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

13 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。