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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
By Benjamin Sand
Kabul
08 August 2006
A reporter record sounds from burning of sacks of narcotic1 drugs during the biggest destruction of drugs in the history of Afghanistan on the outskirt of Kabul, July 5, 2006
The United Nations says addiction3 rates in war-torn Afghanistan have doubled in the past two years, to the point that nearly a million people are now using illegal drugs.
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The lyrics4 are a prayer. A drug counselor5 is asking God to help end drug addiction in Afghanistan.
As he sings, about 25 men sit on cushions scattered6 across the floor of the drug treatment center, nodding their heads as they listen. Several of the men are in their 50s or 60s and silently stroke their beards in time to the music.
The clinic is an old two-story building with a small central courtyard. From the street the building is anonymous7, just one more dilapidated house on a dusty street outside Kabul. But inside, the men are taking their first steps toward ending their addiction. Most are still using drugs but have promised to cut back. Within a week, they will try to stop entirely8.
Upstairs, 43-year-old Abdul Jalil is in the second stage of recovery. He stopped taking drugs several days ago, and is going through the painful process of withdrawal9. As he speaks, he wraps his arms around his stomach and leans forward slowly until he is almost doubled over.
He says he started abusing drugs more than 20 years ago, during the Soviet10 Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
Like so many other men here at the clinic, he says he began smoking hashish after he lost his job and could not find new work. Soon he was experimenting with tiny bits of opium11. Within months, he says, he was a heroin12 addict2, injecting himself with the opium derivative13 several times a day.
According to a recent United Nations survey, there are nearly a million drug abusers in Afghanistan today. Almost 200,000 of them are hard-core opium and heroin addicts14.
Dr. Tariq Suliman runs the Nejat Center in Kabul, where Jalil is recovering. He says addiction rates throughout the country are higher now than ever before.
He says the number of female addicts, in particular, is on the rise. More than 100,000 women addicts were identified in the U.N. survey, but he says the real number could be several times higher.
Like the men, many of the women started taking drugs while living in refugee camps in neighboring Pakistan or Iran during the war against the Soviet Union, or the subsequent civil war. For thousands of these refugees, he says, drugs were one of the only ways to relieve the pain and frustration15 of camp life.
Today, Suliman says, Afghanistan's grinding poverty and massive illegal drug trade are creating a new generation of addicts, male and female.
The country produces an estimated 90 percent of the world's illegal opium, and the drug is readily available in almost every town and city throughout the country.
When the strict Islamist Taleban group controlled the country in the late 1990s, it used draconian16 measures to cut the opium crop sharply. But since the Taleban's overthrow17 in 2001, impoverished18 farmers have returned to growing the lucrative19 opium.
The international community has committed millions of dollars to help Afghanistan fight opium production. But Suliman says funding to help drug addicts like Jalil is almost non-existent.
He says his clinic only has room for 20 live-in patients. Another 20 take part in an out-patient program. In the entire country, he says, there are only three other drug centers, with fewer than 100 beds among them.
For women the situation is even worse. The clinics are all reserved for men out of deference20 to Afghanistan's conservative social customs.
Female addicts can only receive treatment in their own homes, and without the benefit of support groups.
The Afghan government says it plans to build at least five new clinics around the country. But so far, funding is short, and construction has yet to begin. For now the focus is on prevention. The U.N. is helping21 train local health workers and funds public awareness22 campaigns in an effort to limit the number of new addicts.
Back at the Nejat Center, the patients say they know just how lucky they are to have at least a chance of recovery.
As the day patients play music to pass the time, several of the men jump to their feet and start dancing.
Upstairs, Abdul Jalil says he can feel the drugs leaving his body. He says that in a few days, he should be healthy enough to go home and see his family. If he is lucky, he says, he will find a job.
收听单词发音 |
1
narcotic
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| n.麻醉药，镇静剂；adj.麻醉的，催眠的 | |
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addict
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| v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人 | |
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3
addiction
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| n.上瘾入迷，嗜好 | |
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4
lyrics
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| n.歌词 | |
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counselor
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| n.顾问，法律顾问 | |
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6
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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7
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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Soviet
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| adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃 | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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12
heroin
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| n.海洛因 | |
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13
derivative
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| n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的 | |
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addicts
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| 有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人 | |
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frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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draconian
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| adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的 | |
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overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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21
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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awareness
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| n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智 | |
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