VOA慢速英语2021--前南苏丹儿童兵用幽默帮助康复

Former Child Solider in South Sudan Uses Humor to Help Heal

A former child soldier in South Sudan now aims to use humor to help others heal from emotional problems suffered during years of conflict.

The comedian¹, Kuech Deng Atem, said he also wants to educate soldiers on how to improve their relations with civilians². The 26-year-old spoke³ with VOA about how he tries to use laughter to put smiles on the faces of the South Sudanese people.

Atem said he hopes his jokes can disarm⁴ soldiers who harass⁵ citizens to get money from them.

One of Atem's jokes deals with what he said is a common experience of many people in South Sudan. It involves being stopped by officers on the road who make false accusations⁶ about registration⁷ documents. The officers then demand money from the drivers.

Atem is commonly known by his performing name of Wokil Jeesh Commando. He became a soldier when he was 10 years old. He and other children were trained in Aweil and Mapel and later joined the fighting in Heglig and Abyei in 2006. He told VOA that, in the beginning, child soldiers like him were mainly used to care for wounded soldiers and carry ammunition⁸.

In 2008, Atem's mother followed him to Mapel and was able to bring him back home to Juba where he finally returned to school. That is where he started performing comedy and telling other students stories about life in the military.

"They would laugh, and teachers would come in sometimes and get me and be like, 'Tell me the story,'" Atem said. "I would tell them, and they would laugh."

He said once one of the teachers suggested that he try telling his stories in front of all the students in an assembly. "So I started doing this in the assembly, and people would laugh every morning. That's when I discovered that I could do stand-up comedy," Atem told VOA.

In 2013, Atem joined a group called South Sudan Film Limited, which permitted him to perfect his comedic skills. Later, he started performing comedy skits¹⁰ on the state-run SSBC TV. He also joined another local stand-up comedy program called "Kilukilu Ana." This led him to perform weekly at Juba's Nyakuron Cultural Center.

Atem said he has won several awards for comedians¹¹ in South Sudan.

He is currently studying information technology in his final year at Juba's Starford International University. He said if his mother had not taken him out of the army, he might still be looking for the next war to fight in.

Atem is urging the South Sudan government to take steps to prevent children from being recruited into the army. Young people should be permitted to study so that later, if they choose to join the army, they will be educated soldiers who can make good decisions.

Healing through comedy

He added that comedy is one way to help ease the stress that many South Sudanese feel after living through years of civil war. He said he hopes one day to become an international success, so he can take his humor to other parts of the world to help people forget their painful past experiences.

Words in This Story

comedian – n. a person who performs in front of an audience and makes people laugh by telling jokes or funny stories or by acting¹² in a way that is funny

harass – v. to continue to annoy or upset someone over a period of time

assembly – n. a regular meeting of all the students and teachers at a school

skit⁹ – n. a short, funny play that makes a joke of something

recruit – v. to persuade someone to join a company, organization or armed forces

stress – n. a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc.

1 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 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。

4 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

5 harass   

vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰

参考例句：

• Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
• They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。

6 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

7 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

8 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

9 skit   

n.滑稽短剧；一群

参考例句：

• The comic skIt sent up the foolishness of young men in love.那幅画把沉溺于热恋中的青年男子的痴态勾勒得滑稽可笑。
• They performed a skit to amuse the crowd.他们表演了一个幽默小品来娱乐观众。

10 skits   

n.讽刺文( skit的名词复数 )；小喜剧；若干；一群

参考例句：

• One of these skits, "The King of Beasts" resembles a traditional frontier prank. 一出滑稽短剧《兽王》酷似传统的边疆闹剧。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
• Kids can develop ad campaigns, commercials and skits to illustrate character traits. 孩子们会发动宣传运动，制作广告宣传片和幽默短剧来说明性格品质。 来自互联网

11 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

12 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。