【英语语言学习】年轻的移民寻找安全的居所

 SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Among the thousands of asylum¹-seekers pouring into Germany every week are scores of children who are alone. Most of these unaccompanied minors² are teenagers sent by their parents to escape poverty and violence. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Munich that the unaccompanied young people are often traumatized and under pressure to find work so they can send money to their families back home.

SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE³: I don't have to search long to find children who've come here to seek asylum. The first two I meet are 17-year-old Syrians, Malaz and Wissam. We are identifying them by their first names because they are minors dealing⁴ with difficult personal and legal situations. Of the two boys, Malaz is the more outgoing.

MALAZ: We are friends.

NELSON: So you came together?

MALAZ: No, I saw him here.

WISSAM: Yes.

NELSON: And how long have you been here?

WISSAM: Two days.

NELSON: Their friendship may be new, but the boys never leave each other's side at this intake⁵ center, set up in a Munich military barracks built during Nazi⁶ times. The teens are nervous living in a male dormitory with strangers from so many countries. Malaz says he finished 10th grade in Damascus and that his family paid $3,000 to a smuggler⁷ to get him to Germany. The hazel-eyed teen lights up as he shares his plans to learn German and go to school here, at least for a while.

MALAZ: I'm not going to say here, I think. Go to U.K., I think. I don't know for right now.

WISSAM: It's very hard.

NELSON: Wissam, who is less ambitious than his new friend, says he only has one goal.

WISSAM: I want to be safe here.

NELSON: You want to safe here?

WISSAM: Yes.

NELSON: Monika Steinhauser, who heads Munich's refugee council, says finding safe havens⁸ for these children is a top priority.

MONIKA STEINHAUSER: They're supposed to go to specialized⁹ homes for young people. And, of course, we don't have enough places now because the numbers have gone up considerably¹⁰.

NELSON: The EU, in a recent report, estimated 4 percent of the migrants that arrived in Europe last year were unaccompanied minors. Four out of five are boys and are mostly from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia and Syria. Most head to Sweden and Germany, where they try to find work so they can send money to their families back home.

Munich's youth authority says 195 unaccompanied minors arrived in a single weekend this month. Like the adults, they almost never carry identity documents. Steinhauser says German authorities estimate 40 percent of the unaccompanied minors are actually adults who lie about their age to avoid deportation¹¹. In most cases, Germany won't send kids back, even if their asylum requests are denied.

STEINHAUSER: Authorities are wrong, I think, in at least half of those cases, if not more because when those young people - they arrive here - they have gone through very, very hard situations, so they look old when they come here.

NELSON: One of the places these children recover is a newly-opened group home in Munich, run by HPKJ, an organization that provides education and therapy to at-risk children. Ninety boys and girls, ranging in age from 6 to 17, who came to Germany over the past few months, live in this building. One of the home's directors is Anna Lena Goedeke, who says they provide unaccompanied children a stable environment, where they eat three healthy meals a day, learn German and, most importantly, heal.

ANNA LENA GOEDEKE: When they are here, it's too early to look in the deep problems. We have psychologists here. They're looking if they have sleep problems or if they hurt themself, but we are not going in therapy.

NELSON: She says the young residents quickly settle into their new routine and are happy just to be kids again.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Foreign language spoken).

NELSON: Like these smiling boys, who crowd around the group home's foosball table. Even so, it will be a long time before these children are whole again, says Jutta Stiehler, who is an administrator¹² with the organization that runs the home.

JUTTA STIEHLER: During the night, maybe the ghosts come back - the fear and the sleeplessness¹³.

NELSON: She says her hope is for these children to heal in their souls and in their hearts. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Munich.

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 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

6 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。

7 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

8 havens   

n.港口，安全地方( haven的名词复数 )v.港口，安全地方( haven的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Your twenty havens would back out at the last minute anyhow. 你那二十个避难所到了最后一分钟也要不认帐。 来自辞典例句
• Using offshore havens to avoid taxes and investor protections. 使用海面的港口避免税和投资者保护。 来自互联网

9 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

10 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

11 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

12 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

13 sleeplessness   

n.失眠，警觉

参考例句：

• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness. 现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. 医生们对他的奇异的不眠感到疑惑。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）