VOA标准英语2009年-Australia Grants Asylum to Afghans Who Sur

By Phil Mercer
Sydney
12 October 2009

A group of Afghan asylum¹ seekers who survived an explosion that killed five people in the Timor Sea are to be granted refugee status in Australia. The government, however, has signaled it will deport² anyone convicted of causing the explosion, which investigators³ suspect was sabotage⁴.

In April, a boat carrying 47 Afghan asylum seekers was rocked by an explosion that killed five men and injured almost everyone else on board.
 
The Australian navy, which found the vessel⁵ about 600 kilometers off Australia's northwest coast, was escorting it when the blast occurred.
 
 
Afghan refugees from left Khadadad Dosti, Ali Khosh Razaee, Zaman Haidari, obscured, and Hassan Varasi, right, gather at a house in an Adelaide, Australia (File)
Earlier this month, police said that passengers had deliberately⁶ started a fire after the boat was intercepted⁷. Despite suspicions of sabotage, senior officers ruled there was insufficient⁸ evidence to charge anyone with a crime.
 
Two Indonesian crewmen, however, have been accused of people smuggling⁹.
 
Immigration officials have assessed the asylum applications of the surviving passengers and have granted them refugee status.
 
Immigration Minister Chris Evans says police had no objections to the men being granted permanent residency.

"It wasn't appropriate to continue to have these men in detention¹⁰. There is no charge laid against any of them and there may never be so," said Evans. "So, and the Northern Territory Police weren't suggesting anyone was likely to be charged just that that possibility might arise if the coroner found evidence that they hadn't uncovered, so there is no impediment as far as the Northern Territory Police were concerned to these men being granted refugee status and so that has occurred."
 
Refugee advocates say the men would have faced human rights abuses had they been forced to return to Afghanistan. However, if any are eventually convicted of causing the explosion Australian officials have indicated they would be deported¹¹.

Twenty of the men are being held in immigration detention in Brisbane, while the rest are incarcerated¹² in the western Australian city of Perth. They are expected to be released later this week with residency visas and will be re-settled with help from the federal government.
 
Conservative politicians in Australia accuse Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of being soft on illegal immigration because he ended mandatory¹³ detention for asylum seekers who enter the country illegally. He also changed the rules so that those found to be genuine refugees could receive permanent, instead of temporary, visas.
 
Several people-smuggling boats have been intercepted this year in Australian waters. Authorities predict that unrest in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will force thousands of people to seek refuge in Western countries, including Australia.
 
Canberra resettles about 13,000 refugees under official humanitarian¹⁴ programs each year.

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

3 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

5 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

6 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

7 intercepted   

拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻

参考例句：

• Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave the hotel. 他正要离开旅馆，记者们把他拦截住了。
• Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave by the rear entrance. 他想从后门溜走，记者把他截住了。

8 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

9 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

10 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

11 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

13 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

14 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。