2006年VOA标准英语-Lebanese Families Facing Hardships Fleeing Emba

By Challiss McDonough
Sidon, Lebanon
23 July 2006

Israeli air strikes have intensified¹ in southern Lebanon, tearing apart villages near the border. The Shiite militant² group Hezbollah has continued to fire missiles at northern Israel, despite the massive bombardment of its Lebanese stronghold. The Israeli Defense³ Force has warned residents of southern Lebanon to flee for their lives, but with most of the roads and bridges in the region destroyed, many people are still stranded⁴.

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Lebanese children look out the window of an old jail in the port city of Sidon that has been turned into a center for displaced people who have fled their homes  
  
The little boy squirms in his grandmother's arms as his father describes the family's escape from their village in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

Mahmoud Balhas says it normally takes 20 minutes to get from his village to Sidon, but this trip took three or four hours.

With the main roads and bridges destroyed, hundreds of cars crammed⁵ with people are winding⁶ their way through narrow mountain roads leading out of southern Lebanon. Most of the cars have white bedsheets or t-shirts tied to their antennas⁷ or doors, signaling to the Israeli planes high above that these are civilian⁸ vehicles.

The road out is perilous⁹. Balhas says he passed two burned-out vehicles on the way to Sidon, still holding the bodies of travelers who were not so lucky.

Tens of thousands of refugees have stopped here in Sidon, a mainly Sunni town on the coast that is considered safer than the surrounding countryside. Others are heading further north to Beirut, or to the Druze villages up in the Chouf mountains.

Escaping from the south has become expensive, or even impossible, for poor families without cars. Some residents of this schoolhouse shelter report paying up to $300 for rides out of their villages further south.

People who want to leave are also having trouble finding fuel for the journey. VOA saw at least five gas stations that had been bombed out between Beirut and Sidon. Further south, the gasoline shortage is reported to be severe. Balhas says he did not leave home earlier because he does not have a car, and because he thought the Israeli bombing would only last a few days. If it were not for his cousin, who does have a car, he might not have made it.

For this simple farming family, it is hard to believe that their lives have come to this. Balhas says his wife's father stubbornly refused to leave his home because he wanted to stay and look after his chicken farm. But he says the chicken coop was destroyed by a bomb, and his wife's father was injured and is now in the hospital in Tyre. He says when the bombing starts, he huddles¹⁰ his children together and makes loud noises, trying to cover up the noise of the explosions and turn it into a game.

Volunteer Ibrahim Al-Hariri, a member of the youth Scouts¹¹ group running this shelter, says they are trying to help the children there feel as normal as possible. "We make special programs for small children, boys and girls. The boys were playing football, basketball, in order to let them forget, because they are little children and they came here in a very horrible situation," he says.

For the girls, he says, there is a room with crayons and paper for drawing. But the stark¹² reality of their daily lives is showing up in the children's art. "There is the pictures, and you can see airplanes and missiles and some things," he says.

Neat rows of crayon and pencil drawings are taped to the school windows. One little girl drew a dead body engulfed¹³ in flames.

Another has drawn¹⁴ the same scene twice, labeled before and after. On the left side of the page is a brightly colored house, with a red flower and a smiling yellow sun in the sky. The scene on the right is in stark black and white, with a shower of bombs falling from an airplane. The house has been blown to pieces. The sunshine and flower are gone.

1 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

5 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

6 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

7 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

8 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。

9 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

10 huddles   

（尤指杂乱地）挤在一起的人（或物品、建筑）( huddle的名词复数 )； （美式足球）队员靠拢（磋商战术）

参考例句：

• The little girl huddles herself up. 小女孩把身子缩成一团。
• The child huddles down in the bed, listening to the sound of the storm. 孩子听到雷雨声，就在床上缩成了一团。

11 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

12 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

13 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。