2006年VOA标准英语-Refugees Endure Difficult Existence in Sri Lank

By Patricia Nunan
Kantale, Sri Lanka
02 October 2006
 
watch Sri Lanka refugee report

The United Nations says as many as 200,000 people in northern and eastern Sri Lanka have been displaced in recent weeks by fighting between the Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces. VOA's Patricia Nunan recently met with a family living in a refugee camp in the town of Kantale, in eastern Sri Lanka, and then visited the home they had fled.

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Daoud's wife and children have fled their home and are living with him in a refugee camp
It isn't much, but for Daoud Ajith and his family, this is home.  
  
For the past three weeks, Daoud, his wife and two young children have lived in this makeshift tent. They share it with two other families.  They live on assistance from aid groups.

They are among the roughly 50,000 refugees to flee Muttur, the predominantly Muslim town that became a front line for fighting between the Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels.  Fierce clashes erupted in the Muttur area more than a month ago.

Daoud and his wife carried what little they could to this refugee camp in Kantale. They were forced to leave most of their possessions behind.

"This isn't the first time we've gone through this,” he says. In 1989 and 1990 we also had to leave when the Tamil Tigers came into government territory. But no matter what happens, we want to die on our soil."

Today Daoud, for the first time since fleeing, has decided¹ to take a bus sponsored by the government to visit Muttur. He intends to check on his house and return to the safety of the refugee camp at night.

With ongoing² artillery³ fire between the two sides, most of the passengers are men, who think Mutture remains⁴ too dangerous for their wives and children to visit. It wasn't meant to be this way. 

 
Daoud inspects the damage to his home and belongings⁵ after fighting between rebel and government forces 
  
The Tamil Tigers and the government signed a ceasefire deal in 2002. It was meant to help put an end to nearly two decades of civil war, and find a compromise to the rebels' demand for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority.

Observers estimate that 800 people died earlier this year in ceasefire violations⁶ committed by both sides. And that was before the fighting in Muttur.  There are no precise figures, but some say another 1,000 people died in the recent month of clashes alone. 

Both sides claim to uphold the ceasefire.  But the reasoning behind that is difficult for many here to fathom⁷, when checkpoints and fears for one's safety are simply a fact of life.

Muttur itself is hardly encouraging. The city is a veritable ghost town, with few daring to come back to live.

Daoud's house bears the scars of the recent fighting, which included house-to-house combat in his neighborhood, located near a military base. 

Searching with a relative, Daoud says it was the impact of bombs and artillery shells landing nearby that has left clothes and furniture in heaps.

The Sri Lankan military can intercept⁸ the rebels' radio signals, Daoud says, so they knew the rebels had infiltrated⁹ a civilian¹⁰ neighborhood.  The army responded, he says, ignoring civilian lives. 

Still, most of his anger is saved for the Tamil Tigers.  "We've heard about the ceasefire through television and newspapers.  But the Tamil Tigers infiltrated our neighborhood and started firing, and that is why residents are in this situation," says Daoud.

Moments later, an explosion nearby.  Daoud says it's time to go, and leaves for a safer part of town.

The next morning, at the refugee camp in Kantale, Daoud's wife, Ajith Maheera, has taken their young son to bathe.  

Daoud did not come back from Muttur on the return bus, as he promised Ajith he would.

"I'm worried, she says, "because of all that has happened there."

It is quite possible that Daoud simply missed the bus, and would return to Kantale later that afternoon. But that undercurrent of fear and uncertainty¹¹ that Ajith and Daoud face is shared by tens of thousands of others, displaced in what may be the first battle of Sri Lanka's renewed civil war.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

3 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

6 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

7 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

8 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

9 infiltrated   

adj.[医]浸润的v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The headquarters had been infiltrated by enemy spies. 总部混入了敌方特务。
• Many Chinese idioms have infiltrated into the Japanese language. 许多中国成语浸透到日语中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

11 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。