DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Clearing Land Mines in Afghanistan

By Jill Moss¹
DEVELOPMENT REPORT - January 21, 2002: Clearing Land Mines in Afghanistan

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Each year, thousands of people are killed or injured by explosions² from land mines. This is a serious problem in
many developing countries that are experiencing war. Afghanistan is considered the most heavily land-mined
country in the world. Soviet³ forces fighting in Afghanistan placed most of the bombs during the Nineteen-
Eighties.

The United Nations estimates⁴ that as many as ten-million land mines were buried in
Afghanistan before the American-led war against terrorism started. That number has increased.
United States military planes dropped unexploded cluster⁵ bombs in Afghanistan. These bombs
are especially dangerous because they look like games for children to play with.

Now, the United States is helping⁷ Afghanistan remove these dangerous land mines. It has
employed a company based in Washington, D.C., called Ronco Consulting Company. Ronco is
sending an eleven-man team of experts to Afghanistan to help remove the bombs. The team

will also train Afghan officials in mine removal⁸ techniques. They will start in Jalalabad, then move to four other
areas of the country.

Stephen Edelmann and Ronald Boyd started Ronco in Nineteen-Seventy-Four. Since that
time, the company has worked on more than three-hundred projects in more than fifty
developing countries. About ninety people work for Ronco in the United States. More
than three-hundred people work for the company around the world.

In recent years, Ronco experts have gone to several other countries to find and remove
land mines. The company uses metal sensing equipment and specially⁶ trained dogs to
find the buried bombs. It also helps countries create special picture books for children.
These books warn children about the dangers of land mines.

Human Rights Watch estimates that a single land mine costs between three and thirty
dollars to make. Yet, the cost of finding⁹ and removing a single bomb is between three-
hundred and one -thousand dollars. Although the cost is high, the United States believes it is money well spent.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the United States will help rebuild Afghanistan and bring hope to its
people. He says that hope will begin with clearing the country of land mines.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.

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Land mine victim in
Afghanistan

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 explosions   

爆炸( explosion的名词复数 )； 爆发； 激增； （感情，尤指愤怒的）突然爆发

参考例句：

• Soon afterwards five explosions were heard from the area. 此后不久从那个地方传来五次爆炸声。
• They were monitoring the upper air to collect evidence of atomic explosions. 他们正在检测高空空气以收集原子爆炸的证据。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 cluster   

n.串，簇，群，组；vi.群集，丛生；vt.集中

参考例句：

• She held a cluster of flowers in her arms.她抱着一束鲜花。
• A cluster of tourists was surrounded in the hill.一群游客被困在了山中。

6 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 removal   

n.去除，消除；挪走，移走，搬迁

参考例句：

• After the removal of the soup,fish was served.汤撤去后，鱼就上来了。
• The factory announced its removal to another town.这家工厂宣布迁往另一座城镇。

9 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。