【英语语言学习】她跟丈夫说过不希望他去欧洲

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Many migrants die as they try to reach out for a better life. But what's often not considered is the family left behind. It's been a year since one woman's husband left their home in eastern Senegal in the hopes of finding work in Europe. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton has been listening to her story.

OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE¹: Aissatou Sanogo is 29 and lives in Tambacounda. The main city in eastern Senegal is in a region that is seeing an oversized number of its young men attempt to migrate. We met at the modest home Sanogo shares with her sick father-in-law and the three children she bore during 10 years of marriage to Souleymane Diaby.

AISSATOU SANOGO: (Foreign language spoken).

QUIST-ARCTON: Her husband was a bakery delivery man. Sanogo says he was supportive, compassionate³ and loved his family. But, she says, one evening in November 2014, he told her, Aissatou, I'm leaving for Europe - That very night.

SANOGO: (Foreign language spoken).

QUIST-ARCTON: "I told my husband I didn't want him to go, and that the little money he brought home was enough for us to live on," says Sanogo. "But he got angry with me," she says. He said reaching Europe was the only way he could properly provide for her and the family and earn enough to look after his ailing⁴ father.

That was the last time Sanogo saw her husband. Souleymane Diaby left their home and began the treacherous⁵ 3,300-mile odyssey⁶ to Europe, first to neighboring Mali and on to Niger, across the Sahara desert en route to the last stop on land, Libya, where he spent difficult months, she says.

SANOGO: (Foreign language spoken).

QUIST-ARCTON: They used to speak on the phone late at night, says Sanogo. Then in April last year, her husband called to say he was boarding a smuggler's boat heading to Italy. She ended that long conversation saying she needed to charge her cell phone. They never spoke² again.

SANOGO: (Foreign language spoken).

QUIST-ARCTON: At this point, Sanogo breaks down, weeping quietly. She learned later that the boat her husband boarded in Libya capsized the next day. And he perished in the Mediterranean⁷. Sanogo says she was told by the Red Cross that, as some Senegalese put it, Souleymane remained in the water.

We're sitting on a king-sized bed, and Aissatou Sanogo stands up to adjust a whirring fan to keep cool her youngest child, 2-year-old Alioune. The toddler is sprawled⁸ out on a floor sleeping. Sanogo's eldest⁹, Issa, who's 7, a boy with a strikingly steady gaze and a mournful air about him, is outside with his playful younger sister, 3-year-old Binetou. Sanogo's father-in-law is lying immobile on a bed on the veranda¹⁰. She is one of a growing number of young widows coping with the reality of life without their husbands, the breadwinners. She hopes to begin work.

SANOGO: (Foreign language spoken).

QUIST-ARCTON: "But there's no official assistance or coordination¹¹ to bring these widows together," says Sanogo. A senior official at Senegal's immigration ministry¹³, Sory Kaba, told NPR by phone they have difficulty even identifying such widows.

SORY KABA: (Through interpreter) It's hard to find these widows because they hide and keep themselves to themselves. Can you give me names and numbers? If we can find them, then we can link these women up with the social and protection services that can help them.

QUIST-ARCTON: Aissatou Sanogo says it would help to talk to other women to share their experiences. Fondly fiddling¹⁴ with a treasured photograph of herself and her husband, smiling in happier times, the widow makes this vow¹⁵.

SANOGO: (Foreign language spoken).

QUIST-ARCTON: Aissatou Sanogo says, "I failed to stop my husband leaving Senegal, but the only way any of my children will ever travel to Europe is armed with a plane ticket and valid¹⁶ papers and definitely not by boat."

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So Ofeibea joins us now. How common is her story?

QUIST-ARCTON: All too common, Lourdes. In the few days that we were in the Tambacounda area of eastern Senegal, we met a handful of widows, all of them very young, in their 20s like Aissatou Sanogo, and each one with two or three children to raise on their own. And they feel isolated¹⁷, no networking or support groups that you'd find in the Western world.

And NGOs - Nongovernmental organizations and nonprofits - don't seem to have cottoned on to this added problem linked to migration¹². And we're talking about an exodus¹⁸ of mainly young men from this part of Senegal. Aissatou Sanogo wants to work to look after her children and her father-in-law, but unemployment is also high in the area. So it's a huge and growing problem.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton in Dakar, Senegal. Thank you.

QUIST-ARCTON: Always a pleasure. Thank you.

1 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。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

4 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

5 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

6 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

7 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

8 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

9 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

10 veranda   

n.走廊；阳台

参考例句：

• She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
• They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。

11 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

12 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

13 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

14 fiddling   

微小的

参考例句：

• He was fiddling with his keys while he talked to me. 和我谈话时他不停地摆弄钥匙。
• All you're going to see is a lot of fiddling around. 你今天要看到的只是大量的胡摆乱弄。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

15 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

16 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

17 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

18 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。