VOA标准英语2012--Afghans Hopeful, But Worried About Future（在线收听）

Afghans Hopeful, But Worried About Future

Modest changes

There is a growing middle class in Afghanistan’s cities, including the capital Kabul.

在阿富汗的城市中，包括首都喀布尔在内，中产阶级正在不断壮大。

It is an increasingly urban population. They are Muslim, modest, and enjoy having fun.

这是一个日益增长的城市人口。他们是穆斯林教,谦虚而且享受乐趣。

Places like this bowling alley are new to Afghanistan, as is the idea of women playing sports with men, even their brothers, in public.

像保龄球馆这样的地方对阿富汗人来说是新鲜事物,因为这里妇女在公共场合与男人们同场竞技,即使是她们的兄弟。

Sarwar Sarwari says the bowling alley opens up new possibilities. “To me, I think, it is a step toward democracy, where you see women and men come together and play something like this," he stated. "I never had this in Afghanistan when I was a child.”

萨瓦尔?萨瓦里称保龄球馆开辟了新的可能性。“对我来说,我认为,这是迈向民主,你在这里可以看到女人和男人一起玩,从事这样的活动。”他说道。“而自我孩提时代这在阿富汗未曾有过。”

But Sarwari says people are uncertain about their future. “Nervousness is all around, you can feel it in the city, within the government, within the people, when people talk around. I am hoping that things will work out to the best in this country, because people put in [worked] their hardest to make it happen,” he said.

但萨瓦里称人们对他们的未来仍然不确定。“紧张常伴身旁,你能感觉到它就在这个城市,在政府内部,在人们当中,甚至是人们交谈的时候。我希望这个国家的一切呈现出最好的一面,因为人们艰辛工作来使其实现。”他说道。

Extravagant wedding halls show there is a lot of money is some parts of Kabul.

奢侈婚礼大厅是喀布尔一些地区中最需要花钱的地方。

There are many businesses investing here.

有许多企业在这里投资。

Reshaping Afghanistan

But Afghanistan’s six national flags and six national anthems in less than 40 years are reminders of how different leaders tried to shape the country’s direction.

然而在区区不到40年的时间里阿富汗的6面国旗和6首国歌都在提醒着人们不同的领导人如何试图改变这个国家的进程。

Afghans are very different from 11 years ago when the Taliban was thrown out. They are more educated. More people live in cities and almost half own cell phones. But many remain uncertain about the future.

阿富汗人已经同11年前塔利班被赶走的时候大不相同。他们大多受过高等教育。更多的人生活在城市中,几乎一半的人拥有手机。但许多人仍然对未来不确定。

Afghan analyst Omar Sharifi says violence will not dictate who runs the country. “Now nobody sees a coup d’etat, or overthrowing the government, or the taking by force of power as a legitimate means. The people believe in elections as a legitimate means of establishing authority,” he explained.

阿富汗分析师奥马尔?沙里夫称暴力不会听命于谁掌控这个国家。“现在没有人看到一场政变,或颠覆政府,或以合法的手段使用武力。人们还是相信合法手段的选举来建立权威。”他解释道。

Despite the political changes, many women in Kabul remain too frightened to speak on camera. Privately, they say they fear losing the few rights they have gained in the past decade.

尽管政治上风云变幻,但在喀布尔的许多妇女仍然害怕的不敢在镜头前说话。私下里,她们称自己害怕失去在过去的十年里得到的少数权利。

In a male-only billiards hall, patrons worry about the increasing violence and about the future of Afghanistan’s democratic government.

在一家以男性为主的台球厅,老主顾们担心日益增多的暴力流血事件和阿富汗民主政府的未来。

Yar Gul Nader Safi is pessimistic. “The future as I can see it: for the past two months there are a lot of suicide attacks, and also the Taliban they are attacking all different places. It seems to us that it [the future] will be dark,” he said.

萨菲纳德非常悲观。“我可以预见到未来:在过去的两个月里有很多自杀式袭击,而塔利班也对不同的地方发起了攻击。在我们看来,未来一片黑暗。”他说道。

After 40 years of dramatic political swings, many Afghans in Kabul worry that the country’s political future may be similar to its tumultuous past.

在经历过40多年戏剧性的政治动荡后, 喀布尔的许多阿富汗人担心这个国家的政治前途可能类似于其动荡的过去。