彭蒙惠英语：Demining Cambodia by Hand（在线收听）

Demining Cambodia by Hand

By Karen J. Coates

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When Aki Ra was five years old, the Khmer Rouge killed his parents. At age 10, Aki Ra got his first gun, an AK-47, and he learned to plant landmines, fire rockets and make bombs. By 18, Aki Ra had fought for three armies—the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese and the Cambodian government— all enemies, each pitting Aki Ra against former friends and relatives. He did what was necessary to stay alive.

Every day was the same: “Go to fight, lay mines, kill.”

But now, this brave Cambodian risks his life to undo his past. Before Cambodia’s 1993 elections, the United Nations (UN) asked Aki Ra to help demine the country. He knew where the mines were, he knew the language, and he knew the culture of war. The UN offered Aki Ra a chance at peace, and he took it. For the first time, he saw life outside his ravaged existence. He saw the town of Siem Reap with its concrete homes, so different from the thatch and bamboo he knew. He was dazzled by paved streets, cars, electric lights, toilets and people of all kinds.

“No war. We had good food.” He realized life could be good, too.

Ra carries on

When the UN left in 1994, Aki Ra kept on, determined to disarm his country step by step. “I now work solely for the people of Cambodia,” he writes in his autobiography, which he sells for $3 to help fund his work. He runs a museum, raises orphans, educates the world about landmines, and faces danger every time he steps into Cambodia’s fields.

More than 4 million mines remain in Cambodian soil, according to the London group Adopt-A-Minefield. Half of all Cambodian villages reportedly have mines in and around them. Villagers can’t wait for trained deminers, so they try to clear their lands alone.

It’s extremely dangerous work. Landmines still kill and maim more than 60 Cambodians a month. “For us, the horror is not yet over,” Aki Ra writes.

Vocabulary Focus

plant (v) [plB:nt] to put something secretly in a particular place

pit against (idiom) to cause one person, group or thing to fight against or be in competition with another

ravage (v) [5rAvidV] to cause great damage to something

maim (v) [meim] to injure a person so severely that a part of his or her body no longer works or is completely missing

Specialized Terms

demine (v) 扫除地雷 to remove bombs hidden in the ground that explode when touched

landmine (n) 地雷 a bomb placed on or under the ground that explodes when a person steps on it or a vehicle drives over it